Future Electricity Systems

It’s predicted that there will be 5 to 7 million battery electric vehicles (EVs) on UK roads in 2030, and that the electricity system will expect to require 25-45GW of within-day energy flexibility, a large proportion of which will need to be delivered by battery EVs. This flexibility can take the form of dynamically changing the charging schedule (V1G) to consume energy at optimal times. Another form incorporates equipment that allows the vehicle to discharge energy back into the household or the grid (V2X).

This project aims to quantify the level of flexibility provision that might be available given driver behaviour and the charging demands. We will investigate the willingness of drivers to additionally engage with V2X contracts and how they might respond to incentives and structures. This will consider how flexibility potential will be distributed spatially and across different socio-economic groups. The V2X contracts will be designed to leverage a series of different revenue streams, including providing energy and power services. The incentives and structures will examine a multiple degrees of charging control and different methods for delivering participant reward.

We invite enthusiastic candidates with a background in engineering, or related fields to apply for this exciting opportunity in the Brown Group in collaboration with EDF UK. The project offers the chance to develop skills in agent based modelling spatial-analysis, optimisation and economic analysis, as well as contribute to the UK’s decarbonisation.

How to apply

Please see this link for information on how to apply: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cbe/postgraduate/phd/how-apply. Please include the name of your proposed supervisor and the title of the PhD project within your application.

The candidate will require a good first degree with strong mathematical skills in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or similar discipline.

If English is not your first language then you must have an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) average of 6.5 or above with at least 6.0 in each component, or equivalent. Please see this link for further information: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/english-language.