Grid Capacity - Challenges and Opportunities

PhD defense - Martin Lundberg

Thesis title: Grid Capacity - Challenges and Opportunities

Date: 3 October, 2025

Time: 09:00

Location: Lecture hall M:B, M-building, LTH campus, Klas Anshelms väg 4, Lund.

Entrance from the parking is Ole Römers väg 1F.

Online via Microsoft Teams: Contact Olof Samuelsson (olof.samuelsson@iea.lth.se)

Faculty Opponent: Professor Sami Repo, Tampere University, Finland

The thesis deals with alternative ”non-wire” solutions to grid reinforcement, which allow the expansion rate of renewable energy sources to be increased with minimal need for infrastructure upgrades. To achieve this, control features already built into the power electronic converters that connect wind and solar power plants to the grid are utilised. Through control algorithms developed within the research project, the flexibility of these grid resources can be utilised to adapt production to respect the grid’s current (or power) and voltage limits. If other flexible grid resources, such as energy storage systems, are available, they can also be used to optimise the grid capacity usage. By controlling the charging and discharging of energy storage systems in different parts of the grid, virtual power lines can be created, and the total grid capacity can be increased without the need for new lines.