Industrial PhD in Investment Models for Flexibility Trading - IBM CIC

Job description

This industrial PhD project is funded by Innovation Fund Denmark, and offers a multidisciplinary research at the interface of power systems, operations research, energy economics and data science. The successful candidate will be employed by IBM during the PhD, while will be enrolled as a PhD student at DTU. The successful candidate will be primarily based in the Data Science practice of the IBM Client Innovation Center Denmark.

Project description

IBM has recently developed an advanced and novel digital platform built upon IoT, AI and Blockchain technologies, namely “Flex Platform”, which enables electrical power consumers to quickly change their consumption level in response to a signal indicating the state of the power system. This capability, the so-called “consumer flexibility”, is playing a key role in integration of green renewable energy sources with stochastic generation.

Taking the advantage of Flex Platform, IBM intends to take an active market role by facilitating the access of flexibility markets to the flexibility potential of power consumers. The target flexibility markets for selling power flexibility services are fourfold:

·  1. Upcoming local flexibility markets to be operated by power distribution system operators,
·  2. Currently existing national balancing market, running by the Danish transmission system operator,
·  3. Upcoming regional flexibility markets, e.g., Nordic balancing market for trading frequency restoration services via manual activation, and
·  4. Upcoming European-level flexibility markets, e.g., MARI and PICASSO, that trade manual/automated frequency restoration reserves.

The business idea related to this industrial PhD project is to incentivize currently inflexible power consumers in Copenhagen neighborhoodDenmark to invest in new flexible assets, to procure flexibility from these consumers, and to eventually sell flexibility services in the target flexibility markets. The Flex Platform is market making platform enabling energy consumers IBM may decide to sell flexibility services indirectly via another entity, the so-called flexibility aggregator. However, this will not change the business idea.

The development of such a business model requires thorough cutting-edge research activities. The reasons are

·  The flexibility services to be sold in different flexibility markets are not necessarily identical. In addition, the operational and quality-of-service constraints of consumer-side flexible assets depend on their operating status and varying exogenous parameters. However, massive historical data about operation of such assets exist.
·  The price forecasting of flexibility markets is challenging due to the lack of data, as the majority of such markets have not been established yet. Consequently, it is not straightforward to model price uncertainty. In addition, an uncertain profit gives rise to risk preferences.

Given these challenges, this industrial PhD project will conduct cutting-edge research to investigate the extent to which data-driven optimization that deal with uncertainty and risk, can be used to learn the sequences of incentive policies that IBM should be provided to consumers and related market participants encouraging them to invest in flexible assets. Profiting the outcomes of this PhD project, Flex Platform will be improved by adding several new features.

Research tasks:

We envision three research tasks in this industrial PhD project:

·  The first task corresponds to the flexibility procurement side. The objective of this task is to take the advantage of available historical data related to the operation and control of consumer-side flexible assets, and to develop a data-driven portfolio management tool. This tool is expected to enable Flex Platform to make optimal resource allocation decisions when a specific flexibility service is requested.
·  The second task relates to the flexibility selling side. The objective of this task is to enable Flex Platform (as flexibility provider) to make optimal offering decisions under uncertainty in various flexibility markets.
·  The third task corresponds to incentive designs. Given the outputs of the first and the second task, the objective of the third task is to improve Flex Platform by determining the optimal incentives to be offered by IBM to consumers, encouraging them to invest in flexible assets.

Qualifications
Candidates should have a two-year master's degree (120 ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to a two-year master's degree.

The successful candidate will have both industrial and scientific competences. From industrial perspective, the successful candidate is familiar with the Danish energy model and current energy stakeholders in Denmark. It is desirable that the successful candidate has experience of working in relevant industry.

From scientific perspective, the successful candidate will have a strong background in most of the following points:

·  Knowledge of power systems and energy markets
·  Knowledge of convex optimization, forecasting and uncertainty modeling techniques
·  Knowledge of programming tools such as Julia, Python, GAMS and MATLAB
·  Excellent use of the English language
·  Ability to present results in technical reports, and prepare scientific papers for publication in international journals

Approval and Enrolment

The scholarship for the PhD degree is subject to academic approval, and the candidate will be enrolled in one of the general degree programmes at DTU. For information about our enrolment requirements and the general planning of the PhD study programme, please see the DTU PhD Guide .

Assessment
The assessment of the applicants will be made by Associate Professor Jalal Kazempour (DTU), Trygve Skjøtskift (IBM), Signe Birgitte Schmid (IBM), and Senior Research Henrik Bindner (DTU).

Salary and appointment terms

The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. The allowance will be agreed upon with the relevant union. The period of employment is 3 years.

You can read more about career paths at DTU here .

Further information

Further information may be obtained from Associate Professor Jalal Kazempour, DTU, seykaz@elektro.dtu.dk or from Associate Partner Trygve Skjøtskift, IBM, Trygve.Skjotskift@ibm.com .

Application

Please submit your online application at your earliest convenience, but not later than 20 February 2021 (local time) . Apply online at www.career.dtu.dk .

Applications must be submitted as one PDF file containing all materials to be given consideration. To apply, please open the link "Apply online", fill out the online application form, and attach all your materials in English in one PDF file . The fileThe application must include:

·  A letter motivating the application (cover letter)
·  Curriculum vitae
·  Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma
·  Excel sheet with translation of grades to the Danish grading system (see guidelines and Excel spreadsheet here )
·  Contact details of two individuals that can provide a letter of reference

Candidates may apply prior to obtaining their master's degree but cannot begin before having received it.

Auto req ID

330652BR
Required Education

Bachelor's Degree
Role ( Job Role )

Project Manager
State / Province

REGION HOVEDSTADEN
Primary job category

Project Management
Company

(1480) IBM Client Innovation Center Denmark Aps
Contract type

Regular
Employment Type

Full-Time
Is this role a commissionable/sales incentive based position?

No
Travel Required

No Travel
IBM Business Group

GBS
Preferred Education

None
City / Township / Village

Copenhagen
Being You @ IBM

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.
Required Technical and Professional Expertise

-
Country/Region

Denmark
Preferred Technical and Professional Experience

-
Position Type

Early Professional
Early Professional Track

Industry Early Professional
Location Statement

For additional information about location requirements, please discuss with the recruiter following submission of your application.
New Collar Role

No
Introduction

IBM Client Innovation Center er en spændende og nytænkende del af IBM, hvor vi arbejder som IBM global Businss Services tekniske delivery partner. Vores opgave er at udvikle for vores kunder indenfor områder såsom Data Science, Application Development, Softwareudvikling, Industry 4.0 og projektledelse. Det er ikke bare at gøre noget bedre men at afprøve nye aspekter, man ikke troede var mulige. Er du klar til at være en førende del af denne nye teknologiske æra og løse udfordrende problemstillinger?
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