Analyst on system flexibility Service

Analyst on system flexibility Service (SRQ111531)

Excited to work on a project for a key Belgian player in the energy landscape? The Belgian and European energy landscape is in full swing. Did you know that Elia Belgium plays a crucial role in this? As part of Elia Group, a European transmission system operator, Elia Belgium ensures the reliability and sustainability of the electricity supply in our country.

Side-by-side with other Contingent Workers and ELIA staff, you will play a part in building a sustainable, green and reliable energy infrastructure that stimulates economic growth and reduces our ecological footprint. Only together can we make the biggest impact possible We believe in the power of diversity: we are convinced that an inclusive and diverse work environment leads to more innovation, creativity and better results.

The proper functioning of the electricity market is one of the key elements in the energy transition. Elia plays a central role in facilitating the market and is responsible, among other things, for numerous services designed to ensure reliable operation of the electricity system. A crucial facilitator is flexibility referring to the extent to which a power system can modify electricity production or consumption in response to variability, expected or otherwise.

Within the Customers department, the Flexibility Studies team is responsible to assess the flexibility needs and flexibility ressources (storage, generation, demand response) of the system by means. One of their activities is to quantify the current installed, unlocked and available flexibility delivered per technology, voltage level and product type. This initiative is referred internally to as the "Flexibility Track and Trace Initiative". The results are used to :

• Improve Elia's long-term projections on adequacy, flexibility and balancing needs
• Improve Elia's short-term forecasts on flexibility shortages and mitigation measures
• Provide strategy recommendations on the development of flexibility

The initiative was launched in 2024 to enhance Elia's ability to systematically monitor and predict flexibility of our system across various future time horizons. This requires to gather flexibility information from assets on the High voltage Elia Grid, as well as the Medium and Low voltage DSO grid. The latter will require collaboration with DSOs and market players.

Elia needs to accumulate information on load and/or flexibility capabilities from Electric Vehicles, Batteries, Heat Pumps, and Photovoltaics but also from industrial processes (electric boilers, heat pumps, electric ovens) on high, medium and low voltage grids. This entails on the one hand their participtation in Elia's balancing services via activation signals, and on the other hand reaction on price signals given by day-ahead, intra-day and balancing markets.

Elia is now looking for an experienced analyst to join the Flexibility Track and Trace Initiative. Within the team (consisting of two junior analysts and a manager) The consultant will contribute both to the project management and the analysis of flexibility in the system.

On the one hand, you will contribute to gathering, analyzing and disseminating information on flexibility provided by all technologies on all voltage levels and regions in Belgium, such as the number of installed flexible assets (heat pumps, electric cars, home batteries,...), the number of these assets that are effectively capable of responding or or already effectively responding to a price (dynamic tariffs) or other signals (capacity tariffs) and the profiles with which these assets can respond.

• The consultant will be expected to develop and execute strategies to seek information through desktop research (regulators' websites...), contacting market parties (distribution system operators, sector federations...) or devising and working out inventive ways to retrieve unavailable information.
• The consultant will be expected to conduct analyses on available time series of grid user consumption data (including data from smart meters), renewable energy forecast errors, market player behavior (nominations and their adjustments) and system imbalances. The consultant can apply basic statistical analysis and machine learning techniques where needed.
• The consultant will be expected to translate results and insigts translate results and insights into clear presentations / communications for internal and external audiences, as well as support the development of resulting applications or tools with relevant IT departments.

On the other hand, you will also be expected to contribute to project management and follow up on the Flexibility Track and Trace Initiative (scope, timing, budget, resources, communication plan), as well as manage the interactions with the involved departments (grid development, market development an