Introduction
Data centres are rapidly becoming one of the most energy-intensive infrastructures in Europe.
With growing demand for cloud services, AI, and digitalisation, their electricity consumption and cooling needs pose significant challenges to the energy system. At the same time, data centres can also provide flexibility to the grid through demand response, waste heat utilisation, and co-location with renewable energy sources.
This PhD project will further develop an optimisation model to analyse the sustainable integration of data centres into the European energy system. The project will investigate trade-offs between energy demand, system flexibility, emissions, and cost-effectiveness under different policy, market, and technology scenarios.
The successful candidate will:
Further develop a long-term energy system model to capture the role of large-scale data centres in Europe’s net-zero transition.
Analyse the interaction between data centres and renewable integration, including grid balancing, flexibility services, and storage.
Explore sustainable cooling solutions and waste heat recovery for district heating and industrial use.
Conduct scenario-based techno-economic assessments, evaluating the impact of data centre growth on investment and operational decisions in generation, transmission, and storage.
Provide policy-relevant insights for European decarbonisation strategies.
The student will join the University of Southampton’s School of Mathematical Sciences, working at the intersection of optimisation, energy modelling, and sustainability analysis. There will be opportunities to collaborate internationally with leading research groups in energy systems.
We are seeking highly motivated candidates with a strong background in one or more of the following:
Energy systems modelling and optimisation
Techno-economic analysis or operations research
Data science or applied mathematics
Strong programming skills (Python, Julia, or similar)
The PhD will provide:
Specialist training in energy systems modelling, techno-economic analysis, and sustainability assessment
Opportunities to attend international conferences and workshops
A structured four-year research programme, including the preparation of high-impact publications