January 22, 2019
More efficient power grids are essential prerequisites for a successful transformation of the energy system. To ensure this, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) extends the funding for an interdisciplinary research project for three years, involving seven institutes, including Jacobs University with the Professors Gert Brunekreeft, Stefan Kettemann and Hildegard Meyer-Ortmanns. The joint project is funded by the BMBF with a total of 2.5 million euros; Jacobs University will receive funding of about 430,000 euros. Talented applicants can apply for two PhD positions.
Ensuring a reliable power supply with high performance quality and maximum flexibility requires innovations. Therefore the German government launched the Power Grids research initiative in 2013, in which Hildegard Meyer-Ortmanns, Professor of Physics, Stefan Kettemann, Professor of Complex Systems, and Gert Brunekreeft, Professor of Energy Economics, performed research. Basic criteria for stability, reliability, risks and market connection of sustainable power grids were examined. The results at Jacobs University alone were documented in 17 publications. This project will now be continued for another three years.
It is an integral part of the interdisciplinary joint project called "ConDyNet2". This abbreviation stands for "Collective nonlinear dynamics of complex power grids", a collaboration between Jacobs University, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), the TU Dresden, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the TU Clausthal. Other partners are the DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems Oldenburg, Siemens AG, Easy Smart Grid GmbH, Tennet, Transnet-BW, Elena International and the University of Aarhus.
At Jacobs University, interdisciplinary research is carried out at the intersection of physical and economic questions of future power grids. It investigates the interaction between the organization of electricity markets and the development and use of electricity grids from the perspective of economic efficiency and physical grid stability. This goes hand in hand with the identification of conflicting goals between costs and risk, the spread of disturbances in the grid and local overloads, together with the development of new control strategies. Thus, this project will contribute to a successful energy system transformation and a stable and sustainable power supply with renewable energies such as solar and wind energy.
Contact for further information and applications for the two doctoral positions:
h.ortmanns [at] jacobs-university.de and s.kettemann [at] jacobs-university.de