Master Thesis - Counteracting Strategies for Energy Supply Intermittency in 100% Renewable Energy Systems

Your Job:

The objective of your thesis is to analyze the occurrence of generation lulls within the power sector for international regions based on existing generation time series from renewable energy sources (RES). For this region, you will derive the probability of occurrence of generation lulls for different weather years. In a second step, you will analyze the impact of electrical grid restrictions and energy storages on the occurrence of energy system lulls, and you will derive a ranking of measures to counter lulls. The analysis will be done with the institute’s own energy system framework FINE ( https://github.com/FZJ-IEK3-VSA/FINE ). In detail, you will work on the following tasks:

• Further development of an existing approach to consider lulls based on an existing energy system approach including existing generation data from renewable energy sources
  
• Statistical analysis about the occurrences of lulls on different regional levels based on the implemented approach and the given RES generation data
  
• Analysis on the best use of flexibility options like capacity increase of generation units, storage and/or electrical grids to prevent lull occurrence at minimal cost

Your Profile:

• Very good academic records in your master studies in energy technologies, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, physics, or a comparable field
  
• Knowledge in the fields of energy system analysis, renewable energy systems or thermodynamics or comparable. Knowledge in optimization or statistics is advantageous
  
• Software skills: Knowledge of an object-oriented programming language (e.g., Python, Matlab) and MS Office
  
• Analytical and structural thinking
  
• Interest in energy system analysis and future technologies
  
• Fluent written and spoken English or German skills

Our Offer:

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with:

• You are working on an interesting and socially relevant topic for your thesis with a future-oriented theme
  
• You will have the opportunity to work with keen researchers from various scientific fields and be part of designing the future energy system
  
• You will be part of an international team in a pleasant working environment within in one of the most prestigious research facilities in Europe
  
• You will work at one of the ten best rated employers 2021 in Germany according to the rating plattform Glassdoor
  
• You will be remunerated, supported by top-end scientific and technical infrastructure as well as closely guided by experts
  
• You can write your thesis completely while working from home
  

The position is fixed for 6 months.

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.