Master Thesis Proposals

The scope of these proposals can be adjusted and are equally suitable for students from the 5-year integrated masters (30sp) and the 2-year master’s program in Physics (60sp) 

The Renewable Energy group have in close collaboration with Troms Kraft identified the follow master project proposals for the 2024/2025 akademic semester:

1. Troms Kraft Production (helge.eklund at tromskraft.no)
1. Snow in the mountains. Combination of measurements, observations and modelling for hydro power potential
2. Flood warnings. Water model development and hydro power plant operation
3. Risk management for hydro power dams
4. Rein deer herding and hydro power installations
2. Troms Kraft Wind (hilde.sjurelv at tromskraft.no)
1. Wind measurements at Fakken 2. Wind resource assessment and identification of weather events
2. Wind power forcasting. Weather forecasting and machine learning algorithms
3. Strupfjellet location. Wind resource assessment and atmospheric icing
4. Wind power economy. Future wind power development, energy price and production correlations for the NO4 region
3. Arva (julien.moisan at arva.no)
1. Energy flexibility for Tromsøya power grid
2. Techno-Economic analysis of batteries in the power grid at Nord-Senja (SmartSenja)
3. District heating and electrisity. Existing projects, and modeling of a future combined energy system (Tromsø/Bodø)
4. Fjuel (tomas.solstad at fjuel.no) 
1. Ports as future energy hubs. Zero carbon shipping operation
5. Ishavskraft (marie at ishavskraft.no)
1. Lack of energy in the future energy system. Evaluation of energy flexibility on the Statnett energy reserve market
2. Energy consumption in houses. Machine learning to identity the main energy usage

Company presentations from spring 2024 can be found to the right . Contact persons for each division are listed over, and Johannes.F.Hojem@uit.no and Yngve.Birkelund@uit.no can help with more information and internal supervisors at UiT.

The Renewable Energy group have in addition the following project proposals available for new students:

• Wind measurements at Fakken wind power plant (updated, August 2024)
• Local cloud climate and its impact on solar energy production
• Turbulence-resolving wind climate simulations with impact on wind energy production

• Life Cycle Assessment of V2G Technology (posted Aug 2024)

• Small scale energy production in Northern Norway (posted May 2022)
• Atmospheric icing on structures (updated, June 2023)

Wind measurements at Fakken wind power plant 

Supervisor: Yngve Birkelund, yngve.birkelund@uit.no
Posted: June 2023 (update august 2024) 

Background
Fakken wind power plant was built in 2012 with 18 Vesta V90 wind turbines a 3MW, and it has an average yearly production of 138GWh. Troms Kraft production owns the park, and several master and PhD students have used data from this park in their work at UiT. Currently, the owner is looking into expansion possibilities for the wind park, and during spring 2023 UiT, UiB and Troms Kraft had two LiDARs placed in the terrain to measure wind phenomenas in the park. In 2024 Troms Kraft installed a measurements mast in the area, and it would be interesting to compare different measurements and numerical models for this area.

Project description

In this project the student will

• analyse data from the LiDAR at Fakken wind power plant
• analyse data from the new measurement mast 
• analyse wind profiles, wind resources from fixed points and horizontal scans
• compare and verify measurements with numerical weather model data and/or WAsP

External collaboration
Troms Kraft Produksjon  

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Local cloud climate and its impact on solar energy production

Supervisor: Igor Ezau, igor.ezau@uit.no

Background

Energy production by photovoltaic panels (PV) is sensitive to attenuation of incoming solar radiation by clouds. Clouds are highly variable in space and time. Attenuation in clouds depends on their micro-physical properties, altitude, and thickness. Satellite imagery reveals complex spatial organization and fine-scale structures in cloud fields. Both organization and structure of cloudiness are of primary importance for solar energy production as well as for forecasting of energy output. Although in situ cloud observations are sparce and models do not reproduce spatial organization of clouds, satellite observations provide sufficiently detailed high-resolution information to study local cloud climate. E.g., the MODIS cloud mask data product could be used to build-up 20 years of 1 km cloud climate assessment globally..

Project description

Using MODIS, Sentinel, LandSat and other high spatial resolution satellite cloud products, the candidate will:

• Create a cloud climatology for a variety of selected Norwegian PV sites
• Retrieve attenuation of solar radiation by different clouds comparing actual production and predictions of global radiation models
• Suggest the best locations for the selected Norwegian PV sites

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Turbulence-resolving wind climate simulations with impact on wind energy production

Supervisor: Igor Ezau, igor.ezau@uit.no

Background

Energy production by wind turbines is sensitive to interaction between wind and turbulence over complex terrain. Winds are highly variable in space and time. Turbulence transport momentum (and energy) downward making it accessible to wind turbines. But turbulence also creates wind gusts and changes wind direction. Turbulence-resolving (large-eddy simulation) models can help with more accurate assessment of wind climate as well as with more accurate prediction of wind fluctuations in complex terrain where other models fail. Turbulence-resolving model PALM is now under active development and testing. It includes modules for simulation of both physio-morphological properties of terrain and wind turbines. Its application to the real wind farms needs more studies.

Project description

Using PALM for wind simulation of a selected period, the candidate will:

• Setup PALM for simulations of the Fakken wind park
• Use wind data from MET.NO to identify the wind regimes at the park
• Simulate wind climate at 10 m resolution for a subset of wind regimes
• Evaluate short-term wind prediction with PALM

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Life Cycle Assessment of V2G Technology

Supervisor: Shemin Sagaria, shemin.sagaria@uit.no and Tobias Boström, tobias.bostrom@uit.no

Background

The primary objective of this MSc thesis is to conduct a comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, focusing on its environmental and economic impacts. V2G technology uses the batteries in EVs to store energy and retrieve it when needed, thus integrating the electrification of transportation systems with grid support. Through this, it is possible to reduce the need for economical, human and material resources to manufacture new pristine energy storage systems

Description

The MSc thesis research will involve a detailed examination of the carbon emissions associated with V2G systems across their entire life cycle, from production to end-of-life. Additionally, the study aims to quantify the potential reduction in carbon emissions when V2G technology is used as an energy storage solution, comparing these reductions with those achieved by traditional energy storage systems. The economic benefits of V2G, including cost savings for both grid operators and electric vehicle owners, will also be evaluated, along with the financial impact of reduced carbon emissions, such as the potential for carbon credits. By the end of this research, students are expected to produce a comprehensive report that not only details the environmental impacts of V2G technology but also offers a quantitative analysis of emission reductions and an economic evaluation of its benefits. This work will also include a comparative analysis between V2G and other conventional energy storage systems, providing recommendations for the integration of V2G into the energy grid from an LCA perspective.

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Small scale energy production in Northern Norway

Supervisor: Yngve Birkelund, yngve.birkelund@uit.no
Posted: May, 2022

Background
Local energy production is expected to be growing market. The decreasing price for installation of solar cell modules, availability of scale wind turbines, the use of combined power and heat bio energy and run-of-river hydro power can provide sustainable and decentralized energy systems for the future. UiT has been contacted by the owner of a property in Målselv kommune which would like to invest and install an energy system. The property is approximately 660k square meters (660 dekar), contains both cultivated land and forest areas, and covers both flat land and a nearby mountain.

Project description
In this project the student will

1. investigate the potential for solar, wind, hydro and bio energy at the site
2. investigate technical solutions for small scale energy production
3. calculate investment cost as well as yearly cost and revenue

External collaboration
Land owner

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Atmospheric icing on structures

Supervisor: Yngve Birkelund, yngve.birkelund@uit.no
Posted: May 2023, updated: June 2023

Background

Human activities are increasingly extending into the high north areas of the Nordic region, where structural icing is a concern from operational, maintenance, safety, and financial perspectives. Structural icing events do not only take place in the Nordic region but are also an issue for other cold regions across the world. UiT recently got funding from the Research Counsel of Norway to the nICE project which aims to establish a multi-disciplinary icing centre to address scientific and technological issues related to icing on structures. nICE involves researchers at several departments at UiT, and a total of 2 postdoctor and 4 PhD positions have been hired to build up this activity.

Project description
The nICE project at UiT is mainly about atmospheric icing on infrastructure, and this master project will contribute with

1. Field measurements of meteorological parameters from stations and UAVs
2. Analyze data from numerical weather models
3. Investigate icing models on structures
4. Investigate of icing on wind turbines

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