Next-Generation Grid Codes: Towards a New Paradigm for Dynamic Ancillary Services
Speaker
Verena Häberle
Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zürich’s Automatic Control Laboratory and Power Systems Laboratory
Title
"Next-Generation Grid Codes: Towards a New Paradigm for Dynamic Ancillary Services"
Abstract
This talk introduces a conceptual foundation for Next Generation Grid Codes (NGGCs) based on stability and performance certificates, enabling the provision of dynamic ancillary services such as fast frequency and voltage regulation through decentralized frequency-domain criteria. The NGGC framework offers two key benefits: (i) rigorous closed-loop stability guarantees, and (ii) explicit performance guarantees for frequency and voltage dynamics in power systems. Regarding (i) stability, we employ loop-shifting and passivity-based techniques to derive local frequency-domain stability certificates for individual device dynamics. These certificates ensure the closed-loop stability of the entire interconnected power system through fully decentralized verification. Concerning (ii) performance, we establish quantitative bounds on critical time-domain indicators of system dynamics, including the average-mode frequency and voltage nadirs, the rate-of-change-of-frequency (RoCoF), steady-state deviations, and oscillation damping capabilities. The bounds are obtained by expressing the performance metrics as frequency-domain conditions on local device behavior. The NGGC framework is non-parametric, model-agnostic, and accommodates arbitrary device dynamics under mild assumptions. It thus provides a unified, decentralized approach to certifying both stability and performance without requiring explicit device-model parameterizations. Moreover, the NGGC framework can be directly used as a set of specifications for control design, offering a principled foundation for future stability- and performance-oriented grid codes in power systems.
About Speaker
Verena Häberle is a Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zürich’s Automatic Control Laboratory and Power Systems Laboratory, working with Prof. Florian Dörfler and Prof. Gabriela Hug. Her research focuses on the control and interoperability certification of power electronics–dominated power systems. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from ETH Zürich in 2018 and 2020, followed by a PhD in 2025 on dynamic ancillary services in future power systems. Her work has been recognized with the ETH Medal, the SGA Award, and the Hans-Eggenberger Award. In 2024, she was also a visiting scholar in Prof. Steven Low’s group at Caltech.