This is NTNU

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

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About the position

Are you motivated to take a step towards a doctorate and open up exciting career opportunities? Are you interested in energy systems based on photovoltaics (PV) and batteries, and do you have a background in PV system design, operation and performance, and energy system modelling? As a PhD Candidate with us, you will work to achieve your doctorate, and at the same time gain valuable experience that qualifies you for a further career in higher education and research, both in and outside academia.

The Department of Electric Energy (IEL) at NTNU is seeking a highly motivated candidate for a full-time (100%) PhD position for 3 years. You will join the research group Power System Operation and Analysis (PSOA) at IEL, where we foster an open, inclusive, and collaborative working environment.

Our working environment is characterized by a friendly, supportive atmosphere, with regular gatherings such as professional meetings within the research group, monthly colloquia, shared lunches, and “Friday coffee” sessions to wrap up the week. These formal and informal occasions provide opportunities to exchange ideas, celebrate milestones, and strengthen connections. PhD candidates also organize social activities open to everyone who wishes to join, creating a welcoming and inclusive community.

Your immediate leader will be the Head of Department.

About the project

Decentralized solar photovoltaic (PV) systems combined with battery storage are becoming crucial for ensuring reliable and autonomous energy supply in a world facing rising climate variability, grid disturbances, and increasing energy uncertainty. Designing such systems requires balancing performance, cost, resilience, and sustainability, particularly in locations where environmental conditions and load patterns change significantly throughout the year.

A key challenge is developing resilient PV and battery systems — solutions that maintain stable operation under variability, recover quickly from disturbances, and remain reliable in remote, harsh, or unpredictable conditions. This demands optimized system sizing, robust control strategies, and careful consideration of meteorological factors such as irradiance variability, temperature fluctuations, dust or snow soiling, and various other environmental and external factors.

Decentralized and resilient PV and battery systems play an important role in three areas:

Energy security under uncertainty – ensuring a stable supply despite climate impacts, extreme weather, or grid instability.
Reliable off-grid power – enabling autonomous energy access for remote facilities, rural areas, islands, mountain cabins and other isolated applications.
Bottom-up energy transition – supporting local participation and empowering small-scale actors in the shift to renewable energy.

Research Topic: Resilient Design and Operation of Decentralized Solar PV and Battery Systems

The PhD candidate will develop methods, tools, and models to improve the resilient design, operation, and long-term performance of decentralized PV and battery systems.

Core Research Objectives:

Solar meteorological data and resource variability: Incorporate high‑resolution meteorological data—particularly solar irradiation—together with environmental factors that impact PV performance, such as temperature, wind, dust and snow soiling, shading, and seasonal effects. These data will be used to model system behavior, quantify uncertainties, and evaluate the resilience of decentralized PV‑battery systems under diverse and challenging conditions.
Resilient and holistic PV-battery system sizing: Create and evaluate methodologies for sizing PV and battery capacity based on load profiles, environmental conditions, and a holistic evaluation of constraints, focusing on long-term reliability and autonomy.
Robust operation and control of decentralized PV-battery systems: Explore control algorithms and operational approaches that maintain stable performance under various conditions, among them variable irradiance, temperature changes, soiling, short- and long-term load fluctuations, and unexpected events.

The main supervisor will be Associate Professor Ida Fagerli (IEL). Co-supervisors will be announced after hiring.

Duties of the position

Carry out research of good quality within the framework described above.
Participate in activities of the research group Power System Operation and Analysis (PSOA).
Academic publications and dissemination.
Participate in international activities such as conferences and/or research stays at foreign educational/research institutions.
Complete academic training consisting of coursework corresponding to a minimum of 30 ECTS.

Career-enhancing work, which is in addition to the research project and doctoral education, may be offered to a candidate who demonstrates clear motivation and ability for such work, and if the Department determines there is a need. Examples of career-enhancing work include, but are not limited to, contributing to teaching, laboratory and exercise teaching, supervision, and examination work within the employee's areas of competence.

Be prepared for changes to your work duties after employment.

Required selection criteria

You must have a relevant Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, or an equivalent field. Your course of study must correspond to a five-year Norwegian course, with 120 credits obtained at master's level. Master's students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before starting the position, and no later than autumn 2026.
Experience in solar energy (PV systems).
Experience in optimization, preferably through university courses and/or a master's thesis.
You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and have an average grade from your Master's degree study, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared to NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic foundation. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be considered if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education, i.e., by having relevant work experience and/or published/publishable scientific papers.
You must meet the requirements for admission to the Faculty's Doctoral Programme.
You must have English language skills, both written and spoken, corresponding to the scale B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Applicants who are not native English speakers are encouraged to document their English language proficiency. This can be done through an approved English language test. One of the following test scores could be documented for this purpose:
- TOEFL internet-based test (iBT) - Score equivalent to the B2 level: 79 - 101.
- IELTS - Score equivalent to the B2 level: 5.5 - 6.0
- Cambridge English - Score equivalent to the B2 level: 160 - 179.

Further assessment of both written and oral English language skills, as well as the ability to communicate fluently, will be conducted throughout the selection process and during any interviews for all applicants.

PLEASE NOTE: For detailed information about what the application must contain, see paragraph “About the application”.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with NTNUs guidelines for recruitment positions and Regulations for the degrees philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) and philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) in artistic development work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) for general criteria for the position.

Preferred selection criteria

Experience with PV system modelling.
Very good programming and modeling skills, preferably Python or a similar programming language.
Work and/or research experience in a field related to the topic of this PhD.
English language skills, both written and spoken, corresponding to the scale C1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). See which scores are equivalent to the C1 level here.

Personal characteristics

To complete a doctoral degree (PhD), the candidate is expected to:

demonstrate strong motivation, curiosity, and a learning-oriented mindset
work independently, take initiative, and maintain good structure and discipline in their work
communicate effectively and collaborate well with supervisors and peers
show resilience and work constructively when facing challenges or setbacks
demonstrate integrity and a strong sense of responsibility in their research conduct

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

An exciting job with an important mission in society
Developing tasks in a strong and international professional environment
Career guidance and follow-up during the PhD period
Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues
Social activities organized by PhD Students
Weekly social gathering on Fridays (Friday coffee)
Working capital that can be used to implement the project
Mentor programme as a new employee at NTNU
Favorable terms as a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK)
Free Norwegian language training at a basic level (A2)

As a PhD Candidate at NTNU, you will have access to employee benefits.

Diversity

Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse, and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals.

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education.

If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, functional ability, and cultural background, or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.

At NTNU we want to increase the proportion of women in scientific positions. We have a number of measures to promote equality.

Salary and conditions

In the position of PhD Candidate, code 1017, your gross salary will normally be NOK 550 800,- per annum depending on qualifications and seniority. A 2% statutory contribution to the State Pension Fund is deducted from the salary.

The employment period is 3 years, with the possibility of an additional 3 to 12 months of employment related to career-enhancing activities.

The option for career-enhancing work may be offered to a candidate who has clear motivation and ability for such work, and if the Department deems it necessary. This will be clarified with the candidate during and after any interview.

For employment as a PhD Candidate, it is a prerequisite that you gain admission to the PhD programme in Electric Power Engineering within three months of your employment contract start date, and that you participate in an organized doctoral programme throughout the period of employment.

The position is conditional on funding.

As an employee at NTNU, it is important that you keep yourself up to date with academic and organizational changes and adapt to them.

For the necessary professional and social interaction, it is a prerequisite that you are physically present and available to the institution on a daily basis.

The appointment is carried out in accordance with the principles of the State Employees Act.

About the application

The attachments (including a description of your scientific work) must accompany the application as these documents form the basis of the application assessment. The documents must be in Norwegian/a Scandinavian language or English.

Please note: the application will only be assessed on the basis of the information we have received by the application deadline. Therefore, make sure that your application clearly shows how your skills and experience meet the criteria described above. The application and all attachments must be sent electronically via Jobbnorge.no. If you are invited to an interview, you must bring certified copies of certificates and diplomas upon request.

The application must include:

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both Bachelor's and Master's education, in addition to other higher education. If your institution uses “diploma supplement” (normal for most European institutions), you must attach this. A description of the documentation required can also be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), please attach this as well.

Joint work will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint work, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

When assessing the best qualified, we emphasize necessary qualifications such as education, experience and personal suitability. Motivation for the position, ambitions, and potential for research will also count when assessing the candidates.

NTNU recognizes a wide range of academic contributions and has committed itself to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment and CoARA (responsible assessment of research and recognition of a greater breadth of academic contributions in accordance with NTNU's social mission).

Aptitude and personality tests

We use aptitude and personality tests to evaluate candidates’ characteristics, abilities, and suitability for the position. These tests help ensure a fair and objective evaluation of all candidates and support us in identifying the most qualified person for the role.

General information

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you wish to be exempt from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the exemption is not granted.

If you think this position looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, you are welcome to apply.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Ida Fagerli by e-mail at ida.fagerli@ntnu.no.

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact senior HR consultant Sven Robert Storø by email at sven.r.storo@ntnu.no.

Application deadline: 30.03.2025

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For practical information about working at NTNU, please visit this webpage.

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the tech capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

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