IEEE Seminar on Flexible Power Grids: BESS and Grid Adaptability in the Energy Transition
Welcome to this IEEE PES/PELS Joint Chapter Sweden event on Flexible Power Grids. This session brings together practitioners from the forefront of BESS deployment and grid flexibility to share technical insights — and, as part of the IEEE PES/PELS Young Professionals programme, it features an open conversation on career development, the transition from academia to industry, and the lessons learned along the way. Whether you are a student, a recent graduate, or an early-career professional in the power sector, this event is designed for you.
ABSTRACT
The ongoing decarbonisation of the power sector is placing unprecedented demands on grid flexibility. As variable renewable energy generation — wind and solar in particular — expands across the Nordic region and beyond, the ability of the grid to dynamically balance supply and demand has become a critical engineering challenge.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are emerging as a cornerstone of this flexibility paradigm. In the Nordic frequency control framework, FCR-N and FCR-D provide fast primary frequency containment, while aFRR and mFRR act as frequency restoration reserves — automatically and manually returning frequency to 50 Hz after a disturbance. Beyond frequency services, BESS can simultaneously capture value through intraday arbitrage and congestion management. Operating assets profitably across these stacked service streams requires sophisticated market intelligence, optimisation algorithms, and a deep understanding of balancing market mechanics.
This lecture presents practical perspectives on how modern BESS assets participate in Nordic electricity markets, how optimisation models enable multi-service dispatching, and what the future of grid flexibility looks like as the energy system evolves toward higher converter-interfaced generation penetration.
Young Professionals segment
In the spirit of the IEEE PES/PELS Young Professionals programme, the speakers will also share their personal journeys from academic research to working at the frontier of the energy industry. This segment covers the skills and mindset shifts that matter most when leaving university, how to navigate the gap between theory and practice in the power sector, and the unexpected challenges and opportunities they encountered along the way. There will be dedicated time for open questions from the audience.
AGENDA
• 15:00 — Welcome and introduction — IEEE PES/PELS Joint Chapter Sweden
• 15:10 — Lecture I: Stochastic Multi-Stage Optimization for Battery Energy Storage in Power Grids — Sara Frimodig
• 15:30 — Lecture II: From Activation to Cash Flow: Nordic Balancing Services in Practice — Johanna Holmqvist Larsson
• 15:50 — Q&A and open discussion
• 16:00 — Close and networking
SPEAKERS
Sara Frimodig
Head of Optimization, Ingrid — Stockholm
Talk: Stochastic Multi-Stage Optimization for Battery Energy Storage in Power Grids
Ingrid builds infrastructure and software that make the power grid more intelligent — including grid-scale energy storage, advanced optimisation for battery systems and renewable assets, green energy supply and offtake structures, and innovative grid services. In this talk, Sara Frimodig will present how Ingrid uses multi-market optimisation to determine capacity allocation for ancillary services and wholesale markets under uncertainty.
Bio:
Sara Frimodig is Head of Optimization at Ingrid. Holding a PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sara specialises in advanced optimisation techniques for energy market operations. She leads the development of algorithmic decision-support systems that enable efficient, data-driven participation in ancillary and wholesale markets.
Johanna Holmqvist Larsson
Ingrid, Stockholm
Talk: From Activation to Cash Flow: Nordic Balancing Services in Practice
In this talk, Johanna shares a practical perspective on how Nordic frequency control services (FCR-N, FCR-D) and mFRR flow through balancing settlement and back-office processes — and what this means for operating BESS portfolios profitably. Drawing on experience from trading and balance settlement, she links real-time activations and optimisation decisions to what finally appears on BRP/BSP cash flows, highlighting where elegant optimisation models meet the messy, regulated reality of the Nordic power system.
Bio:
Johanna Holmqvist Larsson has a multidisciplinary background spanning energy systems, engineering, and economics. She holds an M.Sc.Eng. in Sociotechnical Systems — Energy Systems, a B.Sc. in Business and Economics, and has completed exchange studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.
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- Ivar Herlitz Room
- Teknikringen 33
- Stockholm, Stockholms lan
- Sweden
- Starts 20 April 2026 10:00 PM UTC
- Ends 06 May 2026 10:00 PM UTC
- No Admission Charge