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Modelling of Swiss Electricity Sector in a Sector-Coupled Energy System
In this thesis, you will extend a sector-coupled energy system model of Switzerland to investigate the economic and environmental impact of the energy system transition. In particular, you will focus on hydropower technologies and the impacts of seasonality on optimal system design and operation. You will also focus on the impact of power trade with neighboring countries.
Keywords: energy system, mathematical optimization, linear programming, modeling, Switzerland, hydropower, transition pathways, time series aggregation, Python, net-zero, renewables
The Swiss energy system faces a fundamental transition in the coming years that needs to encompass multiple sectors. This transition towards a more sustainable energy system faces multiple challenges, including the integra-tion of volatile renewables, the decarbonization of the heating and the transportation sector, and the phase-out of nuclear power generation. Distinctive features of the Swiss energy system are the high share of hydropower in electricity generation and the high volume of electricity transmitted with its neighbors. Ensuring a sustainable and affordable future energy system is a complex task. To guide the transition of the energy system, large-scale ener-gy systems optimization models are valuable tools to generate insights into the cost and environmental impacts of transition scenarios.
The Swiss energy system faces a fundamental transition in the coming years that needs to encompass multiple sectors. This transition towards a more sustainable energy system faces multiple challenges, including the integra-tion of volatile renewables, the decarbonization of the heating and the transportation sector, and the phase-out of nuclear power generation. Distinctive features of the Swiss energy system are the high share of hydropower in electricity generation and the high volume of electricity transmitted with its neighbors. Ensuring a sustainable and affordable future energy system is a complex task. To guide the transition of the energy system, large-scale ener-gy systems optimization models are valuable tools to generate insights into the cost and environmental impacts of transition scenarios.
In this thesis, you will extend a sector-coupled energy system model of Switzerland by a detailed model of hydro-power. The Swiss hydropower capacity can be categorized into run-of-river, large dam, and pumped storage hydro reservoirs. The large dam and pumped storage hydro reservoirs offer an immense flexibility potential for the Swiss energy system for balancing fluctuating renewable power generation and seasonality. Seasonality introduces time coupling to the model that prohibits standard time series aggregation methods for reducing computation time. Therefore, you will extend the time series aggregation applied by the model to allow for seasonal storage. In addi-tion, you will extend the model by the power trade with the neighboring countries Germany, Austria, Italy, and France to capture the impacts on the energy transition in a European context. The extended model will then be used to determine long-term transition pathways towards a low-carbon Swiss energy system. Using life-cycle as-sessment, you will analyze the impacts of the determined pathways considering environmental impacts and cost. You will gain insights into the state of the current Swiss energy system, collaborate with other researchers in a large software project, and analyze and interpret transition scenarios.
In this thesis, you will extend a sector-coupled energy system model of Switzerland by a detailed model of hydro-power. The Swiss hydropower capacity can be categorized into run-of-river, large dam, and pumped storage hydro reservoirs. The large dam and pumped storage hydro reservoirs offer an immense flexibility potential for the Swiss energy system for balancing fluctuating renewable power generation and seasonality. Seasonality introduces time coupling to the model that prohibits standard time series aggregation methods for reducing computation time. Therefore, you will extend the time series aggregation applied by the model to allow for seasonal storage. In addi-tion, you will extend the model by the power trade with the neighboring countries Germany, Austria, Italy, and France to capture the impacts on the energy transition in a European context. The extended model will then be used to determine long-term transition pathways towards a low-carbon Swiss energy system. Using life-cycle as-sessment, you will analyze the impacts of the determined pathways considering environmental impacts and cost. You will gain insights into the state of the current Swiss energy system, collaborate with other researchers in a large software project, and analyze and interpret transition scenarios.
Please, apply via the SiROP portal or send your application directly to the following contact persons:
Patricia Mayer +41 44 633 88 51 patmayer@ethz.ch
David Shu +41 44 632 06 79 davshu@ethz.ch
https://epse.ethz.ch
Please, apply via the SiROP portal or send your application directly to the following contact persons: