KU Leuven boasts a rich tradition of education and research that dates back six centuries. The university’s basic research orientation has always been and will remain fundamental research. At the same time, the university remains vigilantly open to contemporary cultural, economic and industrial realities, as well as to the community’s needs and expectations. KU Leuven is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure (EUR 455.1 million in 2015). KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. In the Times Higher Education ranking KU Leuven is ranked as the 12th European university, while in the Reuters Top 100 of the World’s most innovative institutions, KU Leuven is listed as the first European university.
The ELECTA research group of the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) of KU Leuven performs research on aspects of generation, transmission, distribution and rational use of electrical energy. Topics covered are smart grids, reliable power systems with high penetration of renewable energy sources, HVDC and LVDC, energy markets, integration of renewable energy sources on transmission and distribution. Seven professors lead the group. They manage the research assisted by a team of senior researchers, post-doctoral researchers and about 50 PhD students.
EnergyVille is an association of the Flemish research institutes KU Leuven, VITO, imec and UHasselt in the field of sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems.
Within the KU Leuven Electa division and EnergyVille-Etch, the research team led by Prof. Jef Beerten is internationally recognized for pioneering work on HVDC systems, converter modelling, dynamic interactions, grid-forming control, impedance-based stability assessment and future AC/DC transmission networks. The group combines fundamental scientific advances with direct industrial impact and plays an active role in shaping the future of converter-dominated transmission systems.
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Project
Future transmission systems will contain growing numbers of inverter-based resources, including offshore wind, battery storage, HVDC systems and other converter-connected technologies. As a result, electromagnetic-transient (EMT) phenomena increasingly influence system stability and operation. While EMT simulation provides the required modelling detail, existing workflows do not scale efficiently to national and regional transmission systems.
Our Vision: make EMT-based stability assessment for future transmission systems as systematic, scalable and routinely applicable as RMS-based studies are today.
- This PhD aims to develop the computational foundations for scalable, automated EMT-based stability assessment of converter-dominated transmission systems. The research combines power systems, numerical methods and scientific computing, with a strong emphasis on software development and practical applications.
- Develop scalable EMT simulation methodologies for large transmission systems.
- Investigate model reduction, dynamic equivalencing and network partitioning techniques.
- Develop parallel and high-performance computing approaches for EMT simulation.
- Create automated workflows for large-scale stability assessment and contingency screening.
- Identify and analyse converter-driven stability phenomena involving HVDC systems, renewable generation and battery storage.
- Validate the developed methods on realistic utility-scale transmission-system models.
Profile
As the ideal candidate:
- Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Scientific Computing, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.
- Excellent academic results.
- Strong background in power systems and an interest in system dynamics and stability.
- Affinity with numerical simulation, algorithm development and scientific programming.
- Excellent communication skills in English.
- The following are considered assets:
- Knowledge of power electronics, HVDC systems and inverter-based resources.
- Experience with PSCAD, EMTP, RTDS, OPAL-RT, PowerFactory or MATLAB/Simulink.
- Programming experience in Python, Julia, MATLAB, C/C++ or related languages.
- Interest in high-performance computing and parallel algorithms.
Offer
- Fully funded 4-year PhD position at KU Leuven and EnergyVille.
- Research at the forefront of future converter-dominated power systems.
- Access to state-of-the-art simulation infrastructure and realistic utility-scale models.
- Collaboration with leading researchers, TSOs and industrial partners.
- Opportunities for international conference participation and high-impact publications.
- Working location: Genk, Belgium (EnergyVille).
Electa
EnergyVille
Interested?
Applicants should submit a CV, academic transcripts and a motivation letter through the KU Leuven application portal. In addition, candidates should provide a brief technical statement (maximum half an A4 page) discussing: (1) their motivation for applying; and (2) the main computational challenges associated with wide-area EMT simulation and automated stability assessment.
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Jef Beerten, mail: [email protected] or Mr. Jeroen Tant, mail: [email protected].
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