Ingrid Ulrich

Ingrid Ulrich is a master’s student of Industrial Engineering and Management at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. She also obtained her B.Sc. in Economics Engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

In her master’s thesis at the Institute for Industrial Production (IIP), Ingrid is focusing on "Demand Response in the Commercial Sector - An Analysis of Employee Preferences in Office Buildings for Providing Flexibility". The ongoing expansion of renewable energies has effects on both the supply side (e.g., by the expansion of photovoltaics) and on the demand side (e.g., by new appliances as electric vehicles and heat pumps). These changes lead to greater fluctuations in electrical power on both sides than was previously the case. The electrical distribution grids are not designed for this type of electricity system, which can lead to temporal and local grid congestion. One option to provide flexibility on the demand side is a so-called "quota model". Its purpose is to avoid grid congestion ex-ante through less power consumption. The goal of this master thesis is to investigate whether office workers are willing to participate in quota schemes and how quota schemes need to be designed. This investigation will be carried out with the help of a Choice-based Conjoint (CBC) Analysis.