Dr Ben Anderson of the Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG) at the University of Southampton has been awarded a prestigious three year EU Global Fellowship under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme.
The two year outgoing phase of the fellowship will be hosted by the University of Otago’s flagship Centre for Sustainability where Dr Anderson will be embedded in the ongoing New Zealand GREEN Grid project. This project explores future trends in renewable electricity generation and household demand in New Zealand through a range of data collection, analysis and modelling approaches. Dr Anderson will be working on the integration of electricity smart meter consumption, time diary and census data to develop local area demand models for the Otago region as well as contributing to the Centre’s teaching and knowledge transfer activities.
On his return to the University of Southampton for the final year of the fellowship, Dr Anderson will then lead the application of these developments to ongoing SERG research in general and the LCNF funded SAVE project in particular.
The fellowship provides the opportunity for the University of Southampton to further develop its relationship with one of New Zealand’s most research intensive universities with a particular focus on build longer-lasting collaborative research programmes in the fields of energy efficiency and sustainable energy systems.
Professor AbuBakr Bahaj head of SERG and the Energy & Climate Change Division (ECCD) at the University commented “This award is further confirmation of the global impact of the work undertaken by SERG/ECCD which provides real evidence to policy maker in the renewables and energy efficiency areas. I congratulate Ben on the award and I am confident that his work will provide seminal outcomes which will augment and enhance our current and future research areas in cities, renewables and the data underpinning these”.
Dr Janet Stephenson, Director of Otago’s Centre for Sustainability said “We are excited to have someone of Dr Anderson’s calibre working with us on our smart grid research. With over 80% of New Zealand’s electricity now generated renewably, it is increasingly important to understand consumer demand so as to better manage variability in supply and demand. We hope Dr Anderson’s work with us will generate insights that are transferable to the EU/UK development of a smarter, greener electricity system”.