Postdoc Decision Support for Power System Restoration and SCADA Recovery

Postdoc Decision Support for Power System Restoration and SCADA Recovery

Increase resilience of interconnected power grids by developing real-time decision support systems for power system restoration and SCADA recovery.

The eFORT project, funded under Horizon Europe, is recruiting a talented, enthusiastic, and ambitious candidate to perform excellent research and achieve breakthroughs in the field of power system resilience. The main objective of eFORT is to make interconnected power grids more resilient and reliable to failures, cyber attacks, physical disturbances, and data privacy issues. To this end, a set of technological innovations will be developed for the detection, prevention and mitigation of risks and vulnerabilities with positive impacts on power system operation and stability. The eFORT solutions will be demonstrated at TSO, DSO, digital substation, and microgrid levels in 4 real demonstration environments.

Within the eFORT project, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is hiring a postdoctoral researcher on the subject: "Cyber-physical power system restoration."

You will conduct research to develop a decision support methodology for restoration of both SCADA and physical power grid infrastructures. A digital twin will be used to help system operators evaluate in real-time the feasibility of restorative actions based on the system condition. The decision support methodology will use computational and artificial intelligence to (i) assess the SCADA condition and generate courses of action for an efficient recovery and (ii) support the operator decision making for restoration of interconnected power grids using black-start resources and tie lines (interconnectors).

Our large RTDS infrastructure coupled with a digital substation and Control Room of the Future (CRoF) will be used to conduct research and demonstration of prototype solutions.

You will be a member of the section Intelligent Electrical Power Grids, in Electrical Sustainable Energy (ESE) Department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. This project offers excellent opportunities to work in a dynamic team consisting of experts from academia, utilities, and vendors.

About the department

The research in ESE Department is inspired by the technical, scientific, and societal challenges originating from the transition towards a more sustainable society and focuses on four areas:

• DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage (DCE&S)
• Photovoltaic Materials and Devices (PVMD)
• Intelligent Electrical Power Grids (IEPG)
• High Voltage Technologies (HVT)

ESE Department owns the ESP laboratory and a large RTDS cluster that is actively used for real-time simulation of future electrical power systems, AC and DC protection, and wide-area monitoring, protection and control.

IEPG group, headed by Professor Peter Palensky, works on the future of our power system. The goal is to generate, transmit and use electrical energy in a highly reliable, efficient, stable, clean, affordable, and safe way.

Job requirements

Essential job requirements:

• Demonstrable interest in interdisciplinary and intersectoral research, and specifically the interface between power systems, information and communication technologies, and cyber security.
• Completed a PhD degree in a highly quantitative and analytical discipline (electrical engineering with an emphasis on power systems, applied mathematics, and/or computer science).
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.
• Very good command of English. The minimum requirement of a TOEFL overall band score of 100 (with scores of at least 21 for all sections) or IELTS overall band score of 7.0 (with scores of at least 6.5 for all sections: writing, reading, listening, speaking) applies to all candidates wanting to pursue a PhD at TU Delft.
• Strong knowledge of power system modelling, operation, stability and control.
• Strong knowledge of mathematics including differential algebraic equations, discrete systems, and probability theory and statistics.
• You enjoy performing research. You are independent, self-motivated, and eager to learn.
• You are keen to work with industry partners to link real-world challenges to fundamental research questions.
• Demonstrable experience with computer modelling and simulation.
• You enjoy programming and hold your code to a high standard.

Desirables:

• Knowledge of computer networking and cyber security.
• Experience with Python and machine learning libraries.
• Experience with collaborative software development (e.g. open source).

About TU Delft

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Additional information

We offer a pleasant working environment with a dynamic and highly knowledgeable team consisting of experts from TSO utilities and manufacturers. For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Alex Stefanov: a.i.stefanov@tudelft.nl.

You will be supervised by Dr. Alex Stefanov (Associate Professor). You will join the Cyber Resilient Power Grids (CRPG) team led by Dr. Alex Stefanov that conducts research on cyber security and resilience of power grids.

You will benefit from extensive training in technical and transferrable skills. You will be expected to assist in teaching activities (student supervision, labs) related to your subject area.

You will have access to excellent research facilities including the RTDS infrastructure, digital substation, cyber-physical system simulators, Control Room of the Future (CRoF) and a cyber range.