PhD student within energy transition

PhD student within energy transition, with focus in regional energy storage planning for islands

Are you interested in working with research in energy transition, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD student position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University is Sweden´s largest and most versatile department of its kind. The department have approximately 280 employees. Our activities are interdisciplinary and combine natural science and technology with social science. We have research programs in air, water and landscape science; geophysics; natural resources and sustainable development; petrology, mineralogy and tectonics; paleobiology, and wind energy. By investigating the history of Earth, we understand how our planet has developed over time and how sustainable development benefits from this knowledge. For more information: Department of Earth Sciences

The Wind Energy Division is located at Campus Gotland, an international campus in the middle of world heritage town Visby. Our division is engaged in activities related to wind power project development and sustainable energy transition. These activities include teaching, research and outreach. The group currently consists of about 25 persons who focus on the high-fidelity modeling, planning, development and management of wind power projects as well as on sustainable energy transition. These individuals have a range of backgrounds and the group has competencies in technical, natural- and social science. The group’s teaching consists of both campus and distance education at the bachelor’s level and beyond. With us you will find a pleasant workplace in a unique environment, in the world heritage city of Visby on Gotland. This position will strengthen our research further within the field of sustainable energy transition.

The division is located at Campus Gotland, an international campus in the middle of world heritage town Visby. Read more on the division´s website. Wind energy

Description of PhD Subject Area

Geographical islands suffer from several barriers in the traditional electrical energy grid model. They are highly dependent on the mainland energy market, while the transmission of energy is costly and inefficient. This affects energy security and increases the energy costs. In addition, many islands have significant population fluctuations, between the tourist and non-tourist season resulting in highly variable energy load profiles.

Islands’ clean energy transition highly depends on increasing the penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the electricity mix. Research has already been done in relation to how to adequately accommodate more RES into existing islandic energy grids, but not nearly so much has been done to consider how to couple appropriate energy storage technologies/options into the emerging energy systems for autonomous and semi-autonomous systems found on geographic islands, or in isolated areas far away from the main grid.

Duties
As a PhD student in regional energy storage system planning, you will participate in a research group that focuses on the systematic assessment and planning of suitable RES/storage-based infrastructures, while considering the existing economic, energy, societal and technological assets. This will include assessment of RES storage potential, design and sizing of energy storage-based systems and their life cycle evaluation in terms of techno-economic aspects and environmental impact via MCDA. The project also focuses on further development of demand side management programs that will provide a better understanding of the user context and how to improve the user involvement, while also shaping the underlying energy demand response strategy.

In addition to the work on the research projects and graduate courses, you will participate in other activities within the division of wind energy. These may consist of teaching and/or administrative work and will be up to 20% of the work hours.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in energy, economics, engineering, environmental science or equivalent, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

You also need to have knowledge in applied mathematics.

Additional qualifications
Relevant experience and knowledge of MCDA as a decision-making method for energy transition processes is meritorious. It is also an advantage that the applicant has academic and/or industrial experience in the field of energy storage.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2025-03-01 or as agreed. Placement: Visby, Gotland.

For further information about the position, please contact: Associate Professor Heracles Polatidis, E-mail: heracles.polatidis@geo.uu.se telefon: (+46)18-4718373

Please submit your application by 28 January 2025, UFV-PA 2024/4459.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden.

About Campus Gotland: Uppsala University Campus Gotland offers the best of two worlds: the full-scale university’s broad offering and weight and a unique, small-scale campus in an interdisciplinary research environment. Campus Gotland is a hub for the University’s research and education in sustainability. Find out what it’s like to live on Gotland.