In May 2025, Dr. Ali Darudi joined the Energy Science Center (ESC) as Technical Lead for the Nexus-e group. The ESC is pleased to welcome Ali to its team!
Category: News (page 4)
New study on the potential role of hydrogen in the future Swiss electricity system.
Hydrogen and e-fuels and their potential role in future energy systems are hotly debated topics. Using The modelling platform Nexus-e, a team of researchers at the Energy Science Center at ETH has looked at the potential role of imported or domestic hydrogen or e-methane for the Swiss electricity system.
New scenarios based on cooperation with Energy Infrastructure Partners
Energy Infrastructure Partners and the Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich have signed a research collaboration. In this collaboration, EIP and ESC under the lead of Dr. Marius Schwarz have developed scenarios for the future of Switzerland’s electricity system and tested several shock scenarios. Results show that reducing grid transfer capacities to 30 percent in 2050 as an unforeseen shock or drastically reducing the availability of nuclear power plants in France as the same type of shock does not result in supply issues. Only the scenario forcing Switzerland to keep a balanced winter trade balance results in supply issues.
Solar PV will be a key technology of the Swiss energy transition according to new model intercomparison study
Models are valuable tools to assess potential future pathways of the energy transition. Such models can diverge in their objective functions, data inputs and assumptions. Multi-model analyses can provide important insight into such divergences and similarities and provide more robust assessments. In a recent study, we have compared Nexus-e, EXPANSE and OREES, three electricity system…
New Nexus-e management! Jonas joins Nexus-e as the new project manager
Jonas Savelsberg joined the Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich as a senior project manager for Nexus-e in August 2023.
Nexus-e is growing! Matthieu Boubat joined as new scientific assistant.
Matthieu Boubat joined the Energy Science Center (ETH Zurich) in July 2023 as a scientific assistant. He is working on scenario developments for various projects at ESC and collaborating toward making the Nexus-e platform open source.
Nexus-e welcomes Desiree de Ferrars as new MSc Student
Désirée is currently a MSc student in Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich. She will conduct her Master’s thesis on “The role of solar photovoltaics in the alps for the Swiss electricity system”.
Her analysis will focus on conducting literature and developing GIS datasets. Also including alpine PV in the Nexus-e databare will be part of her Master’s Thesis.
Check out our contribution to the October edition of the VSE Bulletin!
(in German only) Mit dem russischen Einmarsch in die Ukraine wurde klar, wie abhängig die Energieversorgungssicherheit der Schweiz von den Entwicklungen im Ausland ist. Um diese Abhängigkeit zu reduzieren, sind diverse technische, politische, regulatorische und gesellschaftliche Massnahmen nötig. Ein Energiesystemmodell berücksichtigt diese nun. Link to the article!
Arijit joins the Nexus-e team!
The Nexus-e team is very proud and pleased to welcome a new team member! Arijit Upadhyay joined the Energy Science Center (ETH Zurich) in July 2022 as a scientific assistant. He is working on scenario developments for various projects at ESC and collaborating toward making the Nexus-e platform open source. Previously he obtained a Master’s degree…
Can solar PV in the alps help Switzerland’s energy transition?
Dr. Marius Schwarz contributed to the study “Alpenstrom jetzt!”, in which four researchers from different fields outline their perspective on alpine PV in Switzerland. Photovoltaic (PVA) systems in alpine areas could make an important contribution to building-up of domestic winter electricity production, which is crucial for the security of electricity supply in Switzerland. Alpine PV generate significantly more…
Maria joins the Nexus-e team!
The Nexus-e team is very proud and pleased to welcome a new team member! María Parajeles is a doctoral researcher at Power Systems Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Gabriela Hug. She obtained her master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Futures in 2021 from Imperial College London. Her research now focuses on the transportation sector electrification and…
Check out our open positions for master thesis and semester projects!
At Nexus-e, we are looking for excellent students who are highly motivated and are able to work independently on 🔌The security of electricity supply in Switzerland (PDF, 128 KB) ⛄The role of alpine solar photovoltaics (PDF, 128 KB) Are you interested? Please send your CV, a short letter of motivation (max. one page), and transcripts…
Dr. Marius Schwarz outlines the impact of neighboring countries on the Swiss energy transition – check out the insights in our interactive results viewer!
At this year’s Energy Research Talks Disentis 2022, Dr. Marius Schwarz addressed the question of how dependent is the Swiss energy transition on developments in its neighboring countries? Check out the scenarios in our interactive results viewer! The three key statements: Expansion targets for new renewable energies (i.e., solar, wind, biomass) are not achieved in…
Prof. Gabriela Hug presents new Nexus-e scenarios at Energy Week
Last week, Prof. Gabriela Hug presented the new scenarios that we developed using the Nexus-e platform at the Energy Week 2021. On the topic “Climate Neutral Switzerland 2050: What Energy System Do We Need?” Gaby – project lead of Nexus-e – highlighted three key learnings: Solar power is responsible for by far the largest addition…
Two new researchers joined the Nexus-e project
The Nexus-e team is very pleased to welcome Ludger Leenders and Mengshuo Jia as new members. Ludger Leenders will be responsible for the integration of SecMOD into the Nexus-e framework. Mengshuo Jia will bring in his expertise in power flow modeling. Ludger Leenders studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University in Germany specializing in energy engineering. He…
Nexus-e annual strategy meeting 2021: Clear roadmap for the future
With the second annual strategy meeting, the Nexus-e team concluded the past fruitful year and discussed questions that are key for the future direction of Nexus-e. In a hybrid format with members joining online and in-person, the team decided that Nexus-e is more than “just” 5 interlinked models but should also act as a modeling…
André Bardow joins Nexus-e as new PI
Prof. Andre Bardow, full professor for Energy and Process Systems Engineering, joins the Nexus-e team as a Principle Investigator (PI). Andre and his team bring in their rich expertise in energy system modeling and optimization. André Bardow has been full professor for Energy and Process Systems Engineering (EPSE) at ETH Zurich since 2020. In this…
Nexus-e participates in Energy Hackdays 2021
In September 2021, the Energy Data Hackdays will take place for the fourth time at the Hightech Zentrum Aargau. Nexus-e will participate and provide a challenge on identifying key changes in the Swiss energy system on its path to achieve 2050 net-zero decarbonization targets. Please find more information on the Energy Hackdays Website: www.energydatahackdays.ch
SWEET PATHFNDR just kicked off, with Nexus-e as the central tool
This June, the SWEET PATHFNDR (PATHways to an Efficient Future Energy System through Flexibility aND SectoR Coupling) project kicked off. PATHFNDR is a research project that aims to develop and analyse transition pathways for renewable energy integration in Switzerland. It is sponsored by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy’s SWEET programme. As the central tool…
The Nexus-e team welcomes Steffen at the ETH Zurich!
Steffen Kortmann joined the Power Systems Laboratory (PSL) and the Nexus-e project at ETH Zurich to investigate how investments in solar photovoltaics affect distribution networks in Switzerland. Steffen is an MSc student in Business Administration and Engineering with a focus on Electrical Power Engineering at RWTH Aachen in Germany. He joins Nexus-e for a research…
Nexus-e welcomes Conor Killeen as new MSc Student
Conor is currently a MSc student in Integrated Building Systems at ETH Zurich. He will conduct his Master’s thesis on coupling the two energy system modeling platforms: City Energy Analyst and Nexus-e.
Publication by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy: “Precision tool for energy policy”
With the decarbonization and decentralization of energy production, Switzerland faces two mammoth tasks in the coming years and decades. The restructuring of the energy supply requires political and investment decisions. The stakeholders in the energy sector act based on scenarios that show possible developments. Scientists at ETH Zurich have now created the modeling platform Nexus-e. It enables to create scenarios for the electricity sector and, in particular, also includes economic and grid-related issues.
Pilot project release: The role of flexibility providers in shaping the future energy system
The Nexus-e team has successfully completed the pilot project “The role of flexibility providers in shaping the future energy system” supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The established platform will serve as a modeling infrastructure to facilitate the analysis of future energy systems.
ETH GLOBE: Nexus-e helps researchers to understand the future energy system
Nexus-e is mentioned in the GLOBE magazine as a tool helping researchers to understand the future energy system and get ready for the cleantech race.
Energy blog: Nexus-e and modeling for policymakers
Computational models can provide technical analysis to objectively evaluate the impact of energy policies. But why are they rarely used in public policymaking? Unclear quality of the input, non-transparent methodology, lack of validation, neglecting behavioural irrationality, and oversimplification are some of the barriers. Nexus-e makes a first step to tackle these challenges.
Presentation of the Centralized Investments Module (CentIv) at the MEDPOWER 2020 conference
Congratulations to Elena Raycheva for having successfully presented the methodology and results of the CentIv module at the MEDPOWER 2020 conference!
Nexus-e annual strategy meeting: fruitful achievements in the past and clear roadmap for the future
The Nexus-e team successfully held its annual strategy meeting to conclude the past fruitful year and to draw a roadmap for the future. In a hybrid format with members joining online and in-person, the team aligned on the vision and identified tasks for the coming months and years.
Nexus-e featured in the ETH Industry eWeek 2020
Nexus-e was presented online in the virtual exhibition of the ETH Industry eWeek 2020. It was also demonstrated as a video case study under the topic “energy and construction”. During the event, Prof. Gabriela Hug answered questions regarding the case study and the Nexus-e platform.
Pranjal Jain joins Nexus-e as new MSc Student
Pranjal is currently a MSc student in Energy Science and Technology at ETH Zurich. She will conduct her Master’s thesis on the diffusion of solar PV and battery storage in Switzerland under different energy system scenarios.
Successful participation in Energy Data Hackdays 2020
Last weekend, the Energy Science Center participated in the Energy Data Hackdays 2020 in Brugg. The Hackdays provided an excellent opportunity to challenge an interdisciplinary team into rethinking ways of visualising existing energy data. In a rapid and creative process and under the guidance of ESC team members, a team of four successfully tackled the posed challenge and presented a well-functioning prototype after only 30 hours.
Dr. Florian Landis joins Nexus-e
The Nexus-e team welcomes Dr. Florian Landis to be in charge of the macroeconomic modelling as one of the core modules in the Nexus-e platform.
Two new researchers joined the Nexus-e project
The Nexus-e team is very pleased to welcome Marius Schwarz and Xuqian Yan as new members. Marius Schwarz joins as project manager and Xuqian Yan as project engineer.