Process Control of Energy Systems

By ensuring that energy demand and storage are optimally balanced on a daily basis, energy systems can operate more cost-effectively, reducing energy waste and potentially lowering operational costs. This optimization has the potential to benefit a wide range of sectors, including residential, commercial, and industrial, leading to cost savings and improved resource management.

This research line focuses on building distributed control and optimization tools for real-time decision-making in large-scale interconnected systems. Part of this work is also supported by a prestigious VENI grant from NWO.

As different sectors electrify, the burden of a zero carbon society is pushed more towards the energy production. Renewable energy alone do not have the capability to fully replace fossil fuels and meet the growing energy demands. Nuclear Fusion is the holy grail of future energy systems that have the capability to produce a clean and stable baseload. However, safe and optimal operation of nuclear fusion reactors is not possible without control engineering. This research line also aims at addressing the control challenges within nuclear fusion, and collaborated with the Energy Systems and Control group at DIFFER.