ETHZ/Institute for Automatic/Automatic Control Laboratory
Expert in nondeterministic and stochastic hybrid systems, networked control systems
John Lygeros
ETHZ
HeatReserves
Using building and residential thermal loads as reserves, to facilitate renewable integration into the grid
Printable Summary in PDF


ETHZ/D-ITET/EEH/PSL
Expert in electric power systems, energy system analysis
Göran Andersson
ETHZ
EMPA/Laboratory
Expert in multiscale materials, building and nanomaterials, sustainable buildings, urban physics, fire technology
Jan Carmeliet
EMPA
University
Expert in organisation science, cognition heuristics, firm performance, emerging industries, sustainability
Moritz Loock
University
SwissGrid
Expert in power system structures
Marek Zima
SwissGrid

Project Description

The electricity grid has been going through drastic changes and will continue to do so in the upcoming years. One important cause of the changes originates from the strong increase of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, which are fluctuating and hard to predict. Since in a power grid demand and supply must be balanced at all times, the uncertainty in renewable generation increases the need for so-called ancillary services. Control reserves are the most important form of ancillary services and provide a fast reacting compensation for a power shortage or surplus in the network. Control reserves are traded in the control reserve market and are today mainly covered by conventional generators. In Switzerland, control reserves are prominently provided by hydro power plants, which pump water to high altitudes in case of power surplus and release water through turbines in case of power shortage. Although in Switzerland the electricity production of wind and solar is currently limited, the need for ancillary services is significant also here, because of the nuclear phase-out as well as business opportunities with neighboring countries with substantial renewable generation such as Germany.  

[read on]

Read the Project Presentation

Our researchers in the media



The Value of Precision

'Cyborg' yeast genes run by computer

Scientists have created "cyborg yeast" that can be controlled by a computer

Notable publications

Optimisation of urban energy systems: case study of the Empa Areal
M. Hohmann, C. Waibel, R. Evins, J. Carmeliet
CISBAT 2015

A scenario approach for non-convex control design
S. Grammatico, X. Zhang, K. Margellos, P. Goulart, and J. Lygeros
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 61 (2) (2016) 334-345

On the Sample Size of Random Convex Programs with Structured Dependence on the Uncertainty
X. Zhang, S. Grammatico, G. Schildbach, P. Goulart, J. Lygeros
Automatica

Convex Approximation of Chance-Constrained MPC through Piece-Wise Affine Policies using Randomized and Robust Optimization
X. Zhang, A. Georghiou, J. Lygeros
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 2015


[more]

Posters from 2016


Energy management of the NEST demonstrator building
Marc Hohmann, Ralph Evins, Jan Carmeliet, John Lygeros

Demand Response for Ancillary Services: Thermal Storage Control
Xiaojing Zhang, Evangelos Vrettos, Theodor Borsche, Maryam Kamgarpour, Göran Andersson, John Lygeros

Business models for HeatReserves
Moritz Loock, Lisa Knoche

Posters from 2015


Demand Response for Ancillary Services: Thermal Storage Control
Xiaojing Zhang, Evangelos Vrettos, Theodor Borsche, Maryam Kamgarpour, Frauke Oldewurtel, Goran Andersson, John Lygeros

HeatReserves: Business Participation in Demand Response
Lisa Knoche, Prof. Dr. Moritz Loock

Control system of NEST
Robert Weber, Philipp Heer, Marc Hohmann

Posters from 2014


HeatReserves: Demand Response for Ancillary Services_Working Package 5
Karoline Gamma, Moritz Loock

Demand Response for Ancillary Services: Thermal Storage Control
Xiaojing Zhang, Evangelos Vrettos, Theodor Borsche, Frauke Oldewurtel, Maryam Kamgarpour, Luis Baringo, Göran Andersson, John Lygeros

Electrical versus thermal energy transport for future sustainable districts
Boran Morvaj, Ralph Evins, Jan Carmeliet

Posters from 2013


Demand Response for Ancillary Services: Thermal Storage Control
M. Kamgarpour, F. Oldewurtel, G. Andersson, J. Lygeros

    

Project Photos