What is your project about?

I work with market design for consumers. The idea is to find out how we can integrate consumers into the power market, to support local renewable energy and flexibility. The problem with today´s market is that it allows very little active participation from consumers. At the same time, we see that the average size of power production and flexibility is getting smaller because more and more people are buying solar panels, electric cars and so on. These are valuable resources that are not rewarded for the service they can potentially provide.

NVE, which is the Norwegian regulator of the power market, have estimated that the costs of upgrading the power grid will be more than 130 billion NOK over the next 10 years. We can avoid some of these costs if we start to smart control the flexible resources in the power grid. So, what I am working with is trying to model different types of market design, as well as designing incentives that gives the consumer an economic reason to use their resources in an optimal way, both for the system and for themselves.

Why did you want to work with this specific topic?

I wrote my master thesis on optimization of batteries and electric vehicles batteries, and then I worked for a year with an EU project, called Invade. The project looked at coordinating flexible resources, which I found very interesting and therefore wanted to go on working with something similar.

Do you have a target audience?

As I am working with market design, which is regulated, my goal is to reach decision and policy makers within the field. I also work with investment modeling, which can advise consumers that want to invest. Still, my main audience will be those who implement changes and regulations at a political level.

Do you have any collaborators?

I am currently in Switzerland, working with researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, who are very experienced within the field of system modeling. In the past I have worked with modeling for the consumer, so now I am trying to integrate this with system modeling together with the researchers here in Lausanne. I am also collaborating with other researchers at NTNU and SINTEF Energy.

What is the most challenging part of your project?

The models we work with in academia are quite complicated, which can make it hard for consumers to understand what we actually do. The level of knowledge in the public, when it comes to technology and the energy market, is also very different from consumer to consumer. This sometimes makes it challenging for us to explain why the consumer should for example sign a flexibility agreement which makes us able to control the charging of their electric car. Generally, we try to appeal to them by showing how they can contribute to the integrating of renewable energy and how this is good for the power system. But of course, it is also important that the incentives are in place, as very few people want to invest in something without gaining anything.

What would you say is the goal of your project?

What motivates me is the idea of ​​a green future, so I hope my work will come to use for someone who makes decisions within the energy field. I especially want to influence NVE (The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate) and Statnett when they make decisions regarding flexibility markets.