M.Sc. Kirill Kuroptev
Stress testing of electric power systems and energy markets
+49 (0) 6151 16-21723
fax +49 (0) 6151 16-21712
S3|10 320
Landgraf-Georg-Str. 4
64283 Darmstadt
Research Interest
- Cyber-Physical Electrical Energy System
- Electrical Energy Market Coupling
- Stress Testing
- Statistical Methods
- Control Theory
- Game Theory
Research Project:
The interconnectedness of the electric power system makes it necessary to view it as a cyber-physical system that is not only exposed to physical threats, such as natural disasters but is also increasingly subject to threats from cyberspace. Through a directed attack on the energy system, the goal of destabilizing the energy supply could be pursued by, for example, affecting the coordination of actors in the system or manipulating the physical system components.
In order to investigate the damage potential of possible cyber threats, the research project is conducting investigations on stress tests that consider the electric power system as a nexus of physical, information technology, and economic systems. Particular attention will be paid to the various stress testing approaches already used in the field of financial regulation.
Open theses
Supervisor: Kirill Kuroptev
Earliest start: immediately
Type: Master Thesis
Conduct your master thesis at the intersection of power system security and optimization. This thesis tackles the critical challenge of maintaining grid reliability when multiple transmission branches fail (N-k contingency), while operators have limited redispatch capabilities.
The goal of the system operator is to minimize the redispatch costs, while ensuring the lost load in worst-case scenarios of k simultaneous branch outages to not exceed a predefined threshold. The system operator can react to branch outages by slight increases of selected generators, mandated load shedding, and generator curtailment to maintain a feasible power system.
The master thesis formulates the setting as an adjustable robust optimization problem, and implements a decomposition algorithm to solve the problem efficiently. The thesis shows the applicability of the problem and the solution approach on differently sized grids, potentially devising heuristics to approach realistically sized grids.
The student will learn to translate a realistic setting into an abstract optimization problem, and how to solve this problem. Further, the student will learn about an advanced topic in mathematical optimization, power-flow computation, and implementing algorithms.
Supervisor: Kirill Kuroptev
Earliest start: immediately
Type: Bachelor Thesis
This thesis investigates how sudden cost shocks in energy carriers—such as natural gas or coal—impact wholesale electricity prices across European countries. Using the open-source PyPSA-Eur model as a foundation, the student will build a detailed representation of the European electricity system at the country level, incorporating realistic transmission capacities, generation portfolios, storage options, and renewable availability.
The research involves designing scenarios based on real-world events, such as the natural gas crisis or Germany’s nuclear phase-out, and simulating their effects on electricity prices over a one-year horizon with hourly resolution. Key performance indicators will include mean, median, and peak electricity costs. A case study will illustrate how shocks propagate through interconnected markets, with comparisons to historical crises where possible.
The thesis will conclude with actionable insights on how energy cost shocks spread and propose feasible countermeasures to mitigate their impact.
Can also be carried out as a master project seminar.
Short Bio
- Since 2022: PhD Student at EINS
- 2021 – 2022: Data Analyst at Suewag Energie AG
- 2019 – 2021: M.Sc. Industrial Engineering – specialising in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at TU Darmstadt
- Field of Specialization: Econometrics, Energy Management
- 2015 – 2019: B.Sc. Industrial Engineering – specialising in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at TU Darmstadt
- Field of Specialization: Automation System
Publications
[Report]
David Petermann, Karsten Hayn, Nicole Büchau, Kirill Kuroptev, Florian Steinke:
Projekt Cyberstress forscht für mehr Resilienz gegen IT-Angriffe.
In: EW Magazin für die Energiewirtschaft, 2025
[Journal]
Kai Cui, Sharif Azem, Christian Fabian, Kirill Kuroptev, Osama Abboud, Florian Steinke, Heinz Köppl:
Mean-Field RL for Large-Scale Unit-Capacity Pickup-and-Delivery Problems.
In: JMLR Transactions on Machine Learning Research , 2025
[Journal]
Kirill Kuroptev, Sina Hajikazemi, Florian Steinke:
Physical Defense Planning Against Voltage Distortion Attacks in Active Distribution Grids.
In: IEEE Access 13 , P. 95475-95488, 2025
[Conference]
Kirill Kuroptev, Roozbeh Abolpour, Florian Steinke:
Robust Model Predictive Defense against Stealthy Actuator Attacks based on a Novel Convex Reformulation of a Min-Max Problem.
In: American Control Conference 2025, Denver, Colorado, 2025
[Conference]
Kirill Kuroptev, Florian Steinke:
Stress Testing Power Grids for Cascades Due to Combined Cyber and Physical Attacks.
In: IEEE PowerTech 2025, Kiel, Germany, 2025
[Journal]
Pascal Friedrich, Kirill Kuroptev, Thanh Huynh, Stefan Niessen:
Stability Analysis and Mitigation of Thermo-Hydraulic Oscillations in Multi-Supplier District Heating Systems.
In: MDPI Energies 18 , P. 1126, 2025
[Conference]
Andreas Bott, Kirill Kuroptev, Florian Steinke:
Stochastic Optimal Control for Nonlinear Systems Based on Sampling & Deep Learning.
In: 63rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Milano, Italy, 2024
[Conference]
Adeel Jamal, Benedikt Grüger, Kirill Kuroptev, Michael Wolff, Florian Steinke, Gerd Griepentrog:
Exploring Cyber Threats based on Harmonic Distortions: A Testbed to analyze Attack Scenarios .
In: Energy Conversion Congress & Expo Europe, Darmstadt, 2024
[Conference]
Kirill Kuroptev, Florian Steinke:
Coordinated cyber attacks on smart grids considering software supply chains.
In: IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT Europe), Grenoble, France, 2023