Thesis Work - Future Value of Residential Flexibility: Aggregation and Service Stacking Across Energy Markets

Are you a student looking to apply your knowledge to real-world solutions that support the energy transition? With us, you will have the opportunity to complete your thesis project close to the business, working alongside experienced specialists and tackling challenges where your ideas and perspectives can make a real difference

About the Thesis Work

At Digital Energy Solutions, we develop Vattenfall's digital solutions that make tomorrow’s energy system more efficient, flexible, and secure. Our work spans technologies such as batteries, e-mobility, solar PV, demand response, automation, and secure IT/OT integration, helping accelerate the transition to fossil freedom.

Residential energy assets such as batteries, electric vehicles, solar PV, and heat pumps can provide flexibility to both customers and the electricity system through participation in spot, intraday, and ancillary-service markets. However, the value of these markets changes over time due to variations in prices, competition, system needs, and market design. As a result, market participation strategies need to be flexible and adaptive rather than dependent on a single service or market.

This thesis will investigate how aggregated residential energy assets can be dynamically coordinated across multiple energy markets to maximize long-term value. The work may include:

• Historical market analysis
• Development of representative asset and household profiles
• Future market scenarios
• Optimization and/or simulation modelling
• Evaluation of different service-stacking strategies

The analysis will consider factors such as asset constraints, customer needs, market commitments, forecast uncertainty, and operational costs.

Research Question

How can an aggregated portfolio of residential energy assets dynamically adapt its service-stacking strategy to create long-term value under changing electricity and ancillary-service market conditions?

Expected Outcome

The thesis is expected to:

• Characterize the flexibility potential of aggregated residential assets
• Analyse how the value of different markets evolves over time
• Develop a framework for multi-asset aggregation and service stacking
• Assess the benefits of asset diversity and adaptive market allocation

The results will support future residential flexibility offerings and provide recommendations for scalable, adaptive, and customer-centric energy services.

This assignment is for one Master's student.

We are looking for a student who are about to complete their academic studies and are eager to apply their knowledge in a real-world setting through a thesis project at Vattenfall. You are someone who shares our values and identifies with our principles: Active, Open, Positive and Safety. 

• Master’s student in Energy Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field
• Fluent in English, written and spoken
• Experience with Python and market or time-series data is an advantage
• Experience with optimization, simulation, modelling, and/or data analysis
• Strong analytical skills and ability to structure complex problems and evaluate trade-offs
•  Familiarity with spot, intraday, balancing, or ancillary-service markets is beneficial
•  Interest in electricity markets, energy flexibility, and residential energy assets
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines and communicate technical concepts effectively
• Scope: Master’s thesis (30 ECTS)

• Start date: Mid of January 2027, exact starting date is by agreement.
• Location: Solna, Stockholm, with possible visits to selected church properties and participating organizations.
• Application – one file containing both your CV and a copy of your transcripts.
• Application deadline: 2026-10-18, the hiring process is ongoing, therefore please apply as soon as possible,Contact person and supervisor at Vattenfall: Monica Löf, monica.lof@vattenfall.com & Omar Zabian, omar1.zabian@vattenfall.com.

Diversity and Inclusion – In Everything We Do 

At Vattenfall, we value being Active, Positive, Open, and Safety-conscious. We are looking for employees who share our vision and can contribute to strengthening our company culture. We believe that diversity helps build a more successful and attractive company, and we strive to be role models in diversity and inclusion. Vattenfall actively works to ensure that all employees have equal opportunities and rights, regardless of age, ethnic or cultural background, gender identity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or disability. Read more about how we work with diversity and inclusion here. 

Vattenfall is part of Sweden’s critical infrastructure, and many of our positions are therefore classified from a security perspective. If this position is security-classified, a security screening will be conducted prior to employment in accordance with the Swedish Security Protection Act. 

Vattenfall is a leading European energy company serving approximately 12 million customers and employing around 21,000 people. We believe there is a way to build a future where everyone can choose fossil-free ways to move, make, and live.