Full Name
Chethan Acharya
Job Title
Principal Engineer
Company or Organization
Southern Company Services
Speaker Bio
Chethan Acharya is a principal engineer in Southern Company Research and Development (R&D). He leads fossil fleet modernization research as part of the Generating Fleet R&D team.
Since joining Southern Company in 2011, Chethan has developed research strategies and evaluated carbon capture, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) technologies. He also supported Alabama Power’s 25-megawatt carbon capture project. Recently, his focus has shifted to plant modernization for O&M cost reduction and flexible operations. He is developing digital technologies such as advanced controls, sensors and analytics.
Chethan also collaborates directly with external organizations, like the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the U.S. Department of Energy. He serves as the advisor for EPRI’s instrumentation, controls, and automation research program. Under this program, his primary initiative is developing an infrastructure to enable digital transformation at power plants.
Chethan received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Madras University in India and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama. After graduation, he worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California at San Diego, where he focused on biomass gasification for power generation and liquid fuel production.
He was born and raised in India before moving to Alabama in 2001. Chethan, his wife, Dana, and son, Logan, live in Birmingham. They enjoy hiking, playing tennis, traveling, running—he’s completed a marathon and a few half-marathons.
Since joining Southern Company in 2011, Chethan has developed research strategies and evaluated carbon capture, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) technologies. He also supported Alabama Power’s 25-megawatt carbon capture project. Recently, his focus has shifted to plant modernization for O&M cost reduction and flexible operations. He is developing digital technologies such as advanced controls, sensors and analytics.
Chethan also collaborates directly with external organizations, like the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the U.S. Department of Energy. He serves as the advisor for EPRI’s instrumentation, controls, and automation research program. Under this program, his primary initiative is developing an infrastructure to enable digital transformation at power plants.
Chethan received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Madras University in India and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama. After graduation, he worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California at San Diego, where he focused on biomass gasification for power generation and liquid fuel production.
He was born and raised in India before moving to Alabama in 2001. Chethan, his wife, Dana, and son, Logan, live in Birmingham. They enjoy hiking, playing tennis, traveling, running—he’s completed a marathon and a few half-marathons.
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