黑料福利网

Re-designing the full system

The first speaker, Varsha Pridhivi, Program Manager at EIRES, briefly introduced what the energy research institute is about. 鈥淭he energy transition requires a redesign of the full energy system and its operation. Our role at EIRES is to connect researchers with societal and industrial partners, and to create impact with researchers, student teams, and startups. We can provide you with a home by supplying office spaces and meeting rooms; with knowledge and connections; and with advice and co-creation of content and strategy. In return, we ask for your help in showcasing your teams鈥� work during site visits and events like Energy Days.鈥�

After a brief presentation by Bas Gieling about the EIRES PhD community, which organizes informal gatherings and company visits for PhD researchers involved in energy research at 黑料福利网, Erik Matien took the stage to talk about the BEHeaT program. The program was set up in January 2023 to conduct transdisciplinary research into the development of various materials, components, and/or systems related to smart buildings, heat storage, heat networks, and electricity grids. 鈥淲here we started with nine postdoc projects funded by EIRES, now some 17 projects are part of the program,鈥� he explained.

Varsha Pridhivi: Our role at EIRES is to connect researchers with societal and industrial partners, and to create impact with researchers, student teams, and startups. 

Real-world testing ground

Pridhivi then took the floor again to present the GENIUS and BACH projects, which employ the 黑料福利网 campus as a living lab for energy research. 鈥淲ith 20,000 people, 42 buildings, 56 labs, and some 3,000 cars in a closed distribution system, the 黑料福利网 campus is an excellent testing ground for integrated energy management involving multiple energy carriers, ranging from electricity in the GENIUS project to also include heat, hydrogen, and synthetic gas in the BACH project,鈥� she stated. 鈥淔or researchers, these projects offer unique opportunities to demonstrate innovations in a real-world setting and in a multi-stakeholder collaboration.鈥�

鈥淪ince we are collaborating with distribution system operators who share their data with us, through these projects you can also gain access to their data, which are usually rather hard to come by,鈥� Matien added.

The final presentation of the day was given by PhD student Farzaneh Mousavi Motlagh. She presented the results of her recent research on using thermal mass as a cost-free source of flexibility to alleviate grid congestion. By exploiting a building鈥檚 thermal mass to shift heating and cooling loads, building energy demand can be actively managed, she demonstrated. 鈥淲e have shown that thermal mass delivers load shifting comparable to that of a 200 kWh battery.鈥�

If aggregated at a larger scale, grid operators can pool the flexibility potential of multiple buildings to create sufficient volumes for participation in the balancing market. This can be used to improve overall grid reliability, reduce curtailment of renewables, and support a more efficient and resilient energy system, the PhD student stated. She concluded: 鈥淲ithin our built environment, we have resources that we can use for free. So let鈥檚 first look into those before we consider taking other measures.鈥�

During the closing drinks, participants got to know each other better and engaged in lively discussions that sparked new ideas for future collaborations.