craig@breaden:~
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# about

Craig and his dog

Controls engineer by training. Systems thinker by nature. Builder by choice.

I'm Craig -- a multidisciplinary engineer with 15+ years building control systems for the energy sector. I've designed microgrid controllers with millisecond-level response times, built monitoring platforms from zero to one, and led integration projects for utilities across the UK and USA.

My work lives at the intersection of power systems, software, and real-time simulation -- from grid-forming inverters and hardware-in-the-loop validation to full-stack platforms for the grid edge. Most at home where electrons meet code.

Originally from Scotland. Now based in New York.

If you're in NYC or Scotland -- come find me for a coffee, a run, a cycle, or a chat about AI and energy. I'm also always up for a game of chess -- I need the practice if I'm going to keep beating my 8-year-old nephew, Leo.

New York, NY Glasgow Born MEng Electrical & Mechanical MIT Dog Dad

# skills

Technologies and protocols I work with across energy, controls, and real-time systems. Click a category to explore.

Power Systems & Control

Designing control and protection systems for microgrids, DER, and the grid edge

Microgrid Control Control
Grid Forming Inverters Power Electronics
DER Orchestration Integration
Protection Coordination Reliability
IEEE 1547 / UL 1741 Standards
Model-Based Design Methodology
Anti-Islanding Safety

Industrial Control & Telemetry

Specialized expertise in the communications protocols that connect field assets to control systems

Modbus Field Bus
DNP3 SCADA
IEC 61850 Substation
BACnet BMS
OPC Data Exchange
OpenADR Demand Response
IEEE C37.118 Synchrophasor

Software Development

Building high-integrity software for safety-critical and research-driven environments

Rust Systems
Python Automation
GoLang Backend
MATLAB / Simulink Modeling
IEC 61131 (PLCs) Industrial

Real-Time Simulation & Validation

Modeling the grid and validating control firmware before it meets the real world

Typhoon HIL C-HIL
RTDS EMT Simulation
OPAL-RT Real-Time
DIgSILENT PowerFactory Analysis
PHIL (Power HIL) MW-Scale

Platform & System Architecture

Scalable infrastructure for monitoring, analytics, and control platforms

AWS Cloud
GCP Cloud
Docker Containers
InfluxDB Time-Series
Grafana Visualization
BigQuery Analytics

# interests

The rabbit holes I willingly fall into. Hover to explore.

Curiosity
AI & Optimization
Teaching machines to find better answers than we can
Quantum Computing
Superposition: being wrong and right simultaneously
Control Theory
The math behind making things behave predictably
Home Automation
My house, my rules -- literally programmed
Power Electronics
Where electrons get interesting and efficient
Energy Markets
Supply, demand, and electrons in between
Philosophy
The original debugging tool for human thinking
Computer Science
The field that keeps on giving -- and taking my weekends
DeFi
Decentralized finance -- protocols replacing paperwork

# life.log

System diagnostics from outside the control room.

Running

Enthusiasm: High

Pounding pavement around NYC. The best debugger is a long run -- solutions compile themselves somewhere around mile three.

Cycling

Enthusiasm: Very High

Two wheels, open roads, and the occasional Hudson Valley headwind. Nothing clears the mind like a long ride along the river or through the hills.

Chess

Skill: Work in Progress

Practising just enough to stay one step ahead of my 8-year-old nephew Leo. The gap is closing fast.

Dog Dad

Enthusiasm: Off the charts

I am more than happy to share pictures of my dog, even when you aren't asking for them.

# reading

Currently working through far too many books simultaneously. Always looking for recommendations.

Applied Optimization

Ross Baldick

Engineering

Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

History

The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

Fiction
See more on Goodreads

# musings

Not an expert in most of these -- just learning out loud. Corrections and conversations welcome.

musings.sh

$ ls -la ./posts/

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 2 craig staff 64 Feb 18 2026 .

$ echo "Coming soon..."

Coming soon...

$ cat topics.txt

# Things I'm learning about:

- Microgrid control and the grid edge

- Energy markets & policy

- AI, optimization & control

- Hardware-in-the-loop war stories

- Curiosity-driven explorations

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