Registrations, certifications and memberships

Research interest areas

• Sustainability Management 
• Engineering Techno-Economics
• Energy Systems

Modules currently (and previously) taught

• Sustainability Management - Masters (2020 to current)
• Project economics and circular economics - Masters (2022 to current)
• Engineering techno-economics - Honours (2023 to current)
• Risk management - Masters (2021)
• Engineering Professionalism - Undergraduate (2014 to 2019)
• Short courses in sustainability management and risk management

Research profiles

• Google scholar
• Researchgate
• Scopus

Current projects involved

• Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of offshore wind power plants
• Clustering of industrial and domestic electrcity pricing: Panel analysis of select countries

Recent 10 journal publications

• Oyewole J and Thopil GA. ‘Data clustering: Application and trends’. Vol. 56 (7), pp 6439-6475. Artificial Intelligence Review, July 2023
• Oosthuizen AM, Inglesi-Lotz R and Thopil GA. ‘The relationship between renewable energy and retail electricity prices: Panel evidence from OECD countries’. Vol. 238, 121790, Energy, January 2022.
• Amadi-Echendu J and Thopil GA, ‘Resilience Is Paramount for Managing Socio-Technological Systems During and Post-Covid-19’ Vol. 48 (3) IEEE Engineering Management Review. June 2020.
• Thopil GA, Sachse CE, Lalk J and Thopil MS. ‘Techno-economic performance comparison of crystalline and thin film PV panels under varying meteorological conditions: A high solar resource southern hemisphere case’. Vol. 275, 115041, Applied Energy, October 2020.
• Prisha N and Thopil GA. ‘A framework for sustainable utility scale renewable energy selection in South Africa’. Vol. 224, pp 637-650, Journal of Cleaner Production, July 2019.
• Govender I, Thopil GA, and Inglesi-Lotz R. ‘Financial and economic appraisal of a biogas to electricity project’. Vol. 214, pp 154-165, Journal of Cleaner Production, March 2019.
• Mahlangu N and Thopil GA. ‘Life cycle analysis of external costs of a parabolic trough Concentrated Solar Power plant’. Vol. 195, pp 32‐43, Journal of Cleaner Production, September 2018.
• Amsterdam H and Thopil GA,  ‘Enablers towards establishing and growing South Africa's Waste to Electricity Industry’ Vol, 68, pp 774-785, Waste Management, October 2017.
• Thopil GA and Pouris A. ‘A 20 year forecast of water usage in electricity generation for South Africa amidst water scarce conditions’ Vol, 62, pp 1106-1121, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, September 2016.
• Thopil GA and Pouris A. ‘Aggregation and Internalisation of Electricity Externalities in South Africa’. Vol, 82, pp 501-511, Energy, March 2015. IF=7.14

Recent 5 conference publications

• Dissanayake S, & Thopil GA, ‘Exploring technologies and management strategies that can lead to sustainable water use  in South Africa’s agricultural sector’ 2nd International conference on Industrial Engineering, Systems engineering and Engineering Management, Somerset West, South Africa. October 2023.
• Mbiika C, Lalk J & Thopil GA, ‘Bridging the gap: The need for a systems approach to the management of energy in telecom networks across Sub-Saharan Africa’ presented virtually during the 15th INCOSE SA – Pretoria, South Africa. October 2021.
• Danisa N & Thopil GA, ‘Analysis of the South African Industrial Sector's Energy consumption profile’ presented virtually during the 11th International Conference on Applied Energy – ICAE, Bangkok, Thailand, 4 – 10 December, 2020.
• Amadi-Echendu JE & Thopil GA, ‘On renewables and the resilience of socio-technological energy systems’ presented virtually during 8th European Conference on Renewable Energy System – ECRES, Istanbul, Turkey, 24 – 25 August, 2020.
• Papadouris A and Thopil GA, ‘Scenario analysis of renewable energy desaliation integration in South Africa’ presented during 1st African Industrial Engineering and Operations Management conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 29 October – 1 November, 2018.