Anna Luna Hofmann receives funding award for her master's thesis on the role of battery storage in the future German electricity system
Every year, the Energy and Environment Foundation Leipzig awards prizes for outstanding theses and dissertations as well as innovative scientific project work to promote young talent and to intensify cooperation with scientific training and research institutions in the city and region of Leipzig.
M.Sc. Anna Luna Hofmann impressed the foundation's jury with her master's thesis "Long-term scenarios of the German electricity market using a linear optimisation model based on the merit order principle in Python" and won the 2025 sponsorship award in the "Energy & Environment" category with prize money of EUR 1,000.
She investigated the role of battery storage in the future German electricity system in her master's thesis, which was supervised by Prof Jens Schneider, Professor of Networked Energy Systems, and M.Eng. Martin Hafemann, research assistant, from the Faculty of Engineering at HTWK Leipzig.
Against the backdrop of the energy transition and the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, Anna Luna Hofmann's master's thesis analyses how different expansion paths for renewable energies and battery storage affect key parameters of the electricity market. In particular, the focus is on the electricity price level, price volatility, technology-specific market values of renewable energies and the CO₂ emission intensity of electricity generation.
The methodological basis is a techno-economic fundamental model of the German electricity market developed as part of the work. The mixed-integer linear optimisation model maps the power plant deployment with hourly resolution and minimises the overall system costs of the energy system. On this basis, various scenarios for the year 2030 are examined and the effects of battery storage on electricity prices, market values of renewable energies and emissions are analysed. The results show, among other things, that an increasing share of renewable energies leads to falling average electricity prices, but at the same time to higher price volatility. Battery storage systems can have a stabilising effect here by shifting energy from low-price phases to periods of high demand. This can reduce price peaks and at the same time increase the market value of renewable energies. Overall, the work shows that storage systems play an important role in the integration of renewable energies and for a cost-efficient, low-emission electricity system.
We wish the prizewinner every success in her future career and research work.
The Leipzig Energy and Environment Foundation Award
The Energy and Environment Foundation Leipzig awards annual sponsorship prizes totalling 1,000 euros in the categories "Energy & Environment" and "Energy Networks & Data Networks".
The foundation has set itself the goal of promoting Leipzig-Halle as a centre of excellence for future-oriented and environmentally friendly energy technologies and thus strengthening the economy of the Central German region, which is to be achieved by awarding sponsorship prizes, among other things.
Every year, graduates and young scientists from universities and research institutions in the city of Leipzig and the Leipzig region have the opportunity to apply for one of the foundation's two sponsorship awards with their final thesis or project work.
The "Energy & Environment" prize honours research and development work on environmentally friendly technologies for energy generation and the use of energy resources as well as processes and methods for the rational use of energy and energy saving.
In the "Energy Networks & Data Networks" category, prizes are awarded for the best research and development work on decentralised energy supply systems, SMART GRIDs, communication technology in energy generation plants, simulation of interconnected electrical networks, regulation and control of complex energy supply facilities or monitoring and diagnosis in energy supply facilities.
