Postdoctoral researcher, HC3 project

KU Leuven boasts a rich tradition of education and research that dates back six centuries. The university’s basic research orientation has always been and will remain fundamental research. At the same time, the university remains vigilantly open to contemporary cultural, economic and industrial realities, as well as to the community’s needs and expectations. KU Leuven is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure (EUR 455.1 million in 2015). KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation.
In the Times Higher Education ranking KU Leuven is ranked as the 12th European university, while in the Reuters Top 100 of the World’s most innovative institutions, KU Leuven is listed as the first European university.

The ELECTA research group of the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) of KU Leuven performs research on aspects of generation, transmission, distribution and rational use of electrical energy. Topics covered are smart grids, reliable power systems with high penetration of renewable energy sources, HVDC and LVDC, energy markets, integration of renewable energy sources on transmission and distribution. Six professors lead the group. They manage the research assisted by a teams of senior researchers, post-doctoral researchers and about 50 PhD students.

EnergyVille is an association of the Flemish research institutes KU Leuven, VITO, imec and UHasselt in the field of sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems. EnergyVille brings research, development, training and industrial innovation together under one name, in close cooperation with local, regional and international partners. EnergyVille strives to become one of the top five European institutes in innovative energy research. For that reason, the center was embedded in big national and international networks from the start.

Responsibilities

This postdoctoral researcher position will look into the benefits and challenges of using digital substation technologies in HVDC protection applications. You will work within a group of HVDC protection engineers (8 researchers) as part of a wider research team working on HVDC grids (>30 researchers). The ideal candidate would have experience and interest in communication protocols for power system applications (e.g. IEC68150) with an interest in HVDC grids and meeting the unique challenges of fast protection applications. In this scope, you would be expected to address some or all of the following topics:

• Development of functional requirements for digital communications and instrument transformers for HVDC protection applications.
• Integration of standards and communication protocols relevant to digital substations into existing and/or novel DC protection.
• Assess functionality of DC relay hardware and existing functional test setups, with possible development of associated functional tests.
• Performing simulation studies to assess the requirements and the impact of communications in HVDC protection, including in non-real-time simulation (e.g. PSCAD) and real-time simulation (OPAL-RT or RTDS).

Profile

• PhD awarded or expected, with background in digital substations [MA1] (required) and HVDC protection (preferable).
• Available to work in person in Belgium - main work location EnergyVille, Genk.
• Fluent in English.
• Demonstrated ability to publish in international conferences and high tier journals.
• Willingness for occasional travel to international conferences and meetings as required.
• Practical experience with use and limitations of digital substations, with knowledge about IEC & IEEE standards.
• Insights into instrument transformer performance.

Offer

• 1 year postdoc with range of benefits (e.g. hospitalisation insurance,…) and possibility for extension.
• Work as part of an experienced team with a broad range of support, and be part of a new competence centre on HVDC and underground cables.
• Opportunity to work in state-of-the-art research laboratories and take part in both fundamental and applied research.
• Possibilities to contribute to standardisation in the field with international experts.
• The role should start in 2024.

More information

EnergyVille
Electa

Interested?

For more information please contact Mr. Geraint Chaffey, tel.: +32 16 37 36 81, mail: geraint.chaffey@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. ir. Dirk Van Hertem, tel.: +32 16 32 34 62, mail: dirk.vanhertem@kuleuven.be.

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