Katharina Esterl

Katharina Esterl is co-lead of the team Network Modelling (NeMo), a joint research group of Europa-Universität Flensburg and Hochschule Flensburg, based at the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems Flensburg (ZNES Flensburg). Since May 2022, she has been a research associate at Europa-Universität Flensburg, where she conducts research in the field of cross-sectoral electricity grid modelling. In the current project reGon, she supports the transfer of open models and tools developed through many years of research into practical applications. Her PhD research focuses on complexity management for cross-level optimization of open, sector-coupled energy system models. Her doctoral work is supported by a fellowship from the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft.

Driven by the desire to actively contribute to the transformation of the energy system towards a climate- and environmentally friendly future, Katharina studied Electrical Energy Systems Engineering (B. Eng.) and Systems Engineering (M. Eng.) at Hochschule Flensburg. During her studies, she worked as a student research assistant in the projects open_eGo and eGon. Since starting her career at Europa-Universität Flensburg, she has led the project OptIES Dörpum and contributes her expertise to the projects BiogasSH and SPREAD.SH. Across these projects, she has contributed to the development of open, spatially and temporally highly resolved models of Germany’s sector-coupled energy system, as well as optimization tools for cross-grid-level planning of electricity infrastructure considering various flexibility options.

In 2024, Katharina co-founded the NetzWende Agentur together with two colleagues from Europa-Universität Flensburg and Hochschule Flensburg. The aim of the spin-off is to transfer research-based methods and tools into practice and support stakeholders from science, industry, and public administration in shaping the energy system transition. In this way, it builds a bridge between scientific research and practical implementation.

• Esterl, K./ Büttner, C. (2026): Open Source Tools and Data for Cross-Sectoral Grid Planning on All Voltage Levels in Germany. Download
• Büttner, C. et al. (2025): Challenges of top–down flexibility deployment for grid expansion across all voltage levels. Environmental Research: Energy, 2, 045017. https://doi.org/10.1088/2753-3751/ae2686
• Esterl, K./ Oei, P.-Y. (2025): Offene Optimierung sektorgekoppelter regionaler Energiesysteme am Beispiel des IES Dörpum (OptIES Dörpum) - Abschlussbericht. https://zenodo.org/records/15687677/files/Projektabschlussbericht.pdf?download=1
• Esterl, K./ Epia Realpe, C. A./ Müller, U. P. (2024): Avoiding false inter-zonal meshing in the clustering of a large-scale German power grid. Energy Strategy Reviews, 56, 101569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2024.101569
• Flensburg University of Applied Sciences/ University of Flensburg, Reiner Lemoine Institute/ Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg/ German Aerospace Center Institute of Networked Energy Systems (2024): Ein offenes netzebenen- und sektorenübergreifendes Planungsinstrument zur Bestimmung des optimalen Einsatzes und Ausbaus von Flexibilitätsoptionen in Deutschland - Projektabschlussbericht. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10677901
• Büttner, C./ Esterl, K./ Cußmann, I./ Epia Realpe, C. A./ Amme, J./ Nadal, A. (2024): Influence of flexibility options on the German transmission grid — A sector-coupled mid-term scenario. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition, 5, 100082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rset.2024.100082
• Müller et al. (2019): "open_eGo - Netzebenenübergreifendes Planungsinstrument - zur Bestimmung des optimalen Netz- und Speicherausbaus in Deutschland - integriert in einer OpenEnergyPlatform - Abschlussbericht". ISSN: 2196-7164. https://www.uni-flensburg.de/fileadmin/content/abteilungen/industrial/dokumente/downloads/veroeffentlichungen/forschungsergebnisse/20190426endbericht-openego-fkz0325881-final.pdf?sword_list%5B0%5D=katharina&sword_list%5B1%5D=esterl&no_cache=1