International Research Atelier 2.0 on the decarbonization of industry and society

AGNES Website

Sustainable and reliable energy supply around the world: research and industry from Germany, Brazil, Bolivia and Nicaragua addressed this challenge in particular.

The Grids and Energy Systems Working Group (AGNES) of the Institute of Energy Systems ITES organized an international research atelier for the second time as part of HSBI's International Week from 08 to 12 May. The topics this year were international research and decarbonization pathways for power grid applications. Speakers from Brazil, Bolivia and Nicaragua were present, along with numerous guests from industry and research that contributed.

International Research

The first panel focused on the research of our international guests. The challenge in Brazil, Bolivia and Nicaragua is that not all areas of the countries are connected to the national grid. Sustainable and reliable solutions are to be developed for these areas. For example, Prof. Iury Bessa, professor at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas in Brazil, presented how their research group is investigating the use of second-life batteries in several projects. "In a few years we will have a lot of batteries from electric vehicles, and if we don't plan something, we will get a waste problem." concludes Prof. Iury Bessa. The batteries will be used as storage in combination with PV systems in rural areas. Álvaro Christian Montaño Saavedra, a scientist at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA) from Bolivia, presented the energy system in Bolivia and current research topics of the IIIE research institute at the UMSA. Among other things, they are investigating photovoltaic generation and energy efficiency and want to continue to expand research in these areas in the future.  Prof. Norman Reyes from La Salle University of Technology in Nicaragua presented the potential for using geothermal energy in his country. "Nicaragua is in the middle of the Ring of Fire," he explained. A region of the world with a particularly large number of volcanoes and the perfect conditions for exploiting this regenerative energy source.

Decarbonization paths for power grid applications in industry and society
The identification and creation of decarbonization pathways for electric grid applications in industry and society represents a great opportunity to further advance the energy transition. Volatile energy generators and new consumers with high outputs, such as charging stations for electric vehicles, pose new challenges for the grid. With intelligent systems and controls, sustainable, secure grid operation can be guaranteed in the future. Stadtwerke Bielefeld gave impressions of what decarbonization paths in industry and society can look like in relation to electric grid applications among others.

Dr. Michael Kelker explained in his presentation "An important step towards decarbonization by means of electric vehicles and heat pumps is the digitalization of low-voltage grids". He went on to give an overview of the joint research project AI-flex between the Stadtwerke and HSBI, which Lars Quarkernack, research assistant at HSBI, elaborated on. In the project, an autonomous control algorithm based on artificial intelligence is to be developed for cellular energy systems in order to enable secure grid operation in the future with sector coupling. Katrin Schulte, research assistant at HSBI, presented a control system for charging electric vehicle fleets in companies that maximizes the share of renewable energies in the charging current and thus decarbonizes company fleets

Young Researchers Atelier

The last session was dedicated to future scientists and researchers. A sustainable and reliable energy supply can only be created if sustainable research is also carried out on it. They presented their current research work, which ranged from hardware to software to teaching. Controls based on linear optimization for battery storage to avoid back-feeding in the grid and to increase the local share of renewable energy, presented by Katrin Handel, as well as for the scheduling of combined heat and power plants, presented by Julian Hövelmann, were topics of this session. The setup of a HiL testbed, presented by Felix Annen, described the necessary hardware for testing and validating such control algorithms. Fynn Liegmann focused on teaching: "A good education of engineers can only be achieved with practical relevance. This is, especially in electrical engineering, sometimes difficult to access or offers dangers." The solution: building an environment in virtual reality (VR) to convey the practical relevance. From exploring a switchgear to working under voltage, the participants were able to dive into the VR world themselves.

The international research atelier was sponsored by the non-profit association Electrical Networks and Energy Systems (ENES e.V.) and supported by the IEEE Student Branch Bielefeld.