Research Focus:
This thesis investigates how to optimize corporate business cases for strategic decision-making in sector-coupled energy systems. Using Esbjerg as a contextual case, the research explores how commercial, technical, legal, and organizational aspects shape system configuration and value creation.
The work examines how different energy-flow configurations can enhance system performance, focusing on:
- Synergies across electricity, district heating, district cooling, hydrogen, and related energy carriers
- Techno-economic evaluation of system-wide and actor-level value
- Commercial benefits, risks, and distributional impacts among stakeholders
A core theoretical foundation is the following definition of sector coupling, which structures the analytical framework. Sector coupling refers to the sharing of resources between two or more energy sectors, characterized by three complementary dimensions:
- Technical sector coupling refers to the techno-economic performance effect of resource sharing, establishing a sector-coupled energy system for analyzing synergies, benefits and impacts.
- Commercial sector coupling addresses the fair distribution of benefits and impacts, through allocation keys, contracts and pricing mechanisms for a strategic business case .
- Organizational sector coupling sets the boundaries for technical and commercial by evaluating stakeholder strategies and risks, as well as geographical, infrastructural, legal, regulatory, and permitting constraints.
Anchored in this definition, the thesis aims to:
- Quantify technical synergies between energy streams
- Evaluate commercial impacts and benefit distribution
- Identify organizational constraints and enablers for implementation
Altogether, the research enables a structured and holistic evaluation of sector-coupling opportunities, supporting informed and robust strategic investment decisions for corporate actors in the green-energy transition
Research group: Energy System
Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Ali Khosravi, Prof. Christian T. Veje, and Bjarne Korshøj
Duration: Jan 2024 – Jan 2027
A link to SDU research Portal profile or publication list:
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3450-7256