Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: Energy system of the future- Federal Research Minister starts large-scale simulation at KIT
With the goal of climate neutrality in mind, researchers in the Energy Lab 2.0 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have built a detailed “digital twin” of the German energy system. With the real integration of future technologies such as solar park, network storage or power-to-X systems, they are now using this to virtually test the energy system of the future with all its components. Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger started the simulation today (October 28, 2022) during her on-site visit.
The Minister was accompanied on her visit by Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, Michael Theurer.
The research at the Energy Lab 2.0 aims to clarify how a climate-neutral and resilient energy system should be constructed and how it can be controlled safely and stably. The simulation is based on renewable energies and a closed carbon cycle, i.e. on an energy system as it should be in reality in 2045 according to the plans of the federal government. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) finances the work on the Energy Lab 2.0 to a large extent.
“The advancing climate change and the energy crisis make it clear that we need more speed in the transformation of our energy supply,” said Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger. “In order to achieve our ambitious goals, we depend on intensive research. The energy research here at KIT and in the Helmholtz Association makes an important contribution to accelerating the conversion and building up the energy supply of the future in a targeted manner, for example in the form of green hydrogen.”
“With the Energy Lab 2.0, we can show that a climate-neutral energy system is possible in the future,” said Professor Thomas Hirth, Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs at KIT and representative of the Executive Committee of KIT during the visit. “Even if Germany will probably always remain an energy importing country, we can provide the technologies and build up the know-how to implement this internationally and locally. The energy research, as it is carried out here at the Energy Lab 2.0, makes it clear in the best sense of the word how practically relevant science is to the great challenges of our time.”
The Energy Lab 2.0: test field for sector coupling
The Energy Lab 2.0 is Europe’s largest research infrastructure for renewable energies and sector coupling. Among other things, high-performance models are created here, with which a flexible interaction of electrical, thermal and chemical energy sources can be realistically simulated. The intelligent networking of future hydrogen infrastructures or planned wind farms with real Power-to-X systems, energy storage systems and other energy system components is already being practiced today. Solar fields and geothermal energy, innovative energy storage, power-to-x systems, residential buildings, electric cars – and a lot of computing power are available on the campus. In the next few years, a new generation of professionals will learn here
Together for more speed in the energy transition
In terms of technology development, research at the Energy Lab 2.0 spans the spectrum from basic research to finished prototypes. No matter whether plants for the production of fuels from renewable energy and the CO 2of the ambient air, large-scale redox flow storage tanks or production strategies for various key components – a lot of things can be bought and produced here by companies that have already been developed. Industry is also invited to use the sophisticated simulation tools to test energy system components developed in-house or in cooperation projects in a realistic environment. For politicians, on the other hand, the Energy Lab 2.0 is available as a real laboratory: Here, for example, it can be quickly checked how the loss of gas supplies from Russia can be cushioned by renewable energies or savings or how a ramp-up of the hydrogen economy should be organized technically.