KIT drives energy transition forward in Energy Lab 2.0
Decentralized, renewable and environmentally friendly: the future of energy supply is an important field of research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The many different concepts for the energy transition are brought together in the Energy Lab 2.0 on KIT’s North Campus. Here, scientists are testing the conversion of renewable energy into sustainable storage systems in a real laboratory. The research was praised by Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
Fight against climate change
“Energy is the basis for our prosperity. That’s why what’s happening here is immensely important,” emphasized Stark-Watzinger during an on-site visit. According to the Minister, there are currently two major challenges. The fight against climate change and independence from fossil fuel imports in the energy supply.
That is why the combination of renewable energy must be driven forward faster than before. In addition, we must continue to focus on smaller pieces of the big energy puzzle, such as the use of hydrogen.
Energy Lab 2.0: Solar power
must be stored
Energy Lab 2.0 brings together the current challenges of the energy transition in a small space. Sustainable electrical energy is generated by 40 solar modules on the photovoltaic field. But what to do with the electricity when the sun is shining and surplus energy needs to be stored? The Energy Lab provides several innovative solutions.
Batteries, gas and fuel
The storage of electricity in electric cars or in lithium batteries plays just as important a role as lesser-known technologies. For example, electrical energy is stored in the research laboratories using the power-to-gas principle in methane as well as the power-to-liquid principle in liquid fuel.
The Energy Lab 2.0 also includes a micro gas turbine combined heat and power plant and research facilities in the two branch offices at Forschungszentrum Jülich and German Aerospace Center in Stuttgart.
Practice-oriented research in three KIT show houses
For the direct transfer of knowledge from the research laboratories into practice, three identical model houses have also been set up on the Living Lab Energy Campus at . However, each of the houses is equipped with different controllable heating systems , one with a heat pump, one with direct power-to-heat technology and one with gas-to-heat technology.
When the sun is shining, the solar power is to be distributed to all three houses. In practice, this can mean that cars from the entire neighborhood can be filled up when the weather is nice. This is the way forward for smart cities.
Network must remain stable
For Minister Stark-Watzinger, the biggest challenge for the future is to ensure that grid stability is guaranteed even after the last nuclear, coal and gas-fired power plants have been phased out. coal and gas-fired power plants are phased out. This is where KIT’s hydrogen research comes into play again. As a result, the surplus electricity produced in wind farms can be stored sustainably and taken again when needed.
In addition to specialist knowledge, the researchers at Energy Lab 2.0 need one thing above all: staying power. When the ground-breaking ceremony for the first buildings was held in June 2017, the research factory was set to operate for 20 years. The Energy Lab 2.0 is being funded by the federal and state governments with around 22 million euros.