Leslie Herding

Leslie Herding is an Invited Researcher at the Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT) of the School of Engineering at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain, since June 2025. Her work focuses on renewable energy integration in power systems with emphasis on grid connection and network modeling.

Her educational background includes:

• Bachelor's in Renewable Energy Engineering from Technische Hochschule Köln (2018)
• Master's in Research in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability from UPV/EHU Bilbao (2019)

Her research spans renewable energy integration, power grid connection, smart grids, and power system modeling. She investigates distribution grid reinforcement requirements, dynamic hosting capacity approaches, and transmission expansion impacts under high renewable penetration, with particular focus on Spanish and comparative large-scale grid studies. Her methodology combines technical grid analysis with economic and regulatory considerations for the energy transition.

Recent publications reveal strong trends in quantifying grid investment needs for renewable integration, developing security-aware dynamic hosting capacity frameworks, and analyzing geographical allocation effects on transmission costs. Her work consistently employs rigorous case studies of the Spanish power system while drawing comparative insights from international large-scale networks.

Dr. Herding actively participates in major research initiatives including European Commission projects (BeFlex, FLEXENER, MODESC) and industry collaborations with Iberdrola and regulatory bodies. Her grant portfolio demonstrates expertise in flexibility mechanisms, decarbonization modeling, and grid service market design for renewable integration.

She maintains active international collaborations through research stays at NREL (USA) and INESC-TEC (Portugal), contributing to global efforts in grid planning and power systems analysis within the IIT's Distributed Resources, Networks and Flexibility area.