Funded by: The Federal Government, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, State of Brandenburg

Project duration: 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2026

Consortium partners: 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, IBAR Systemtechnik GmbH, Ingenieurgesellschaft für Energie- und Kraftwerkstechnik mbH (IEK), Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems (IEG)

Associate partners: ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., ASCORI GmbH & Co. KG, ASG Spremberg GmbH, BASF Schwarzheide GmbH, Cosmoblonde GmbH, Creative Quantum GmbH (Creative), DIgSILENT GmbH, DLR Institute of Low-Carbon Industrial Processes, E.DIS Netz GmbH, Elektroenergieversorgung Cottbus GmbH (EVC), Elena International GmbH (elena), EMEC-Prototyping GmbH (EMEC), EMIS Electrics GmbH (EMIS), Entwicklungsgesellschaft Cottbus mbH (EGC), Euro-K GmbH, Fachagentur Windenergie an Land e.V. (FA Wind), Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP), F&S Prozessautomation GmbH and F&S Converter GmbH, Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus GmbH (GWC), Global Climate Forum (GCF), Innovation Hub 13, KOSTAL Industrie Elektrik GmbH, Lausitz Energie Kraftwerke AG (LEAG), Lausitz Center for Artificial Intelligence (LZKI), LOGE Deutschland GmbH, MITNETZ STROM GmbH and MITNETZ GAS GmbH, NI Germany GmbH (NI), Siemens AG, State Chancellery of Brandenburg (SK BB), Stromnetz Berlin GmbH, WEMAG AG, Wirtschaftsregion Lausitz GmbH (WRL), WTZ Roßlau gGmbH, ZEDAS GmbH, Zukunft Lausitz | Puls e. V. (ZL)

EIZ website:https://www.b-tu.de/energie-innovationszentrum/

Project description: Achieving global climate goals requires effective and efficient management of CO2 in all sectors. From an economic point of view, this can only be achieved through a greater interconnection of the various energy systems (electricity, heat, gas, industry, transport and traffic) and the various system actors. The Energy Innovation Center (Energie-Innovationszentrum – EIZ) accompanies this global transformation of the energy sector by (co-)establishing and (co-)securing regional technology leadership for science and industry as well as the start-up competence of Lusatia in the areas of sector coupling and the intelligent, digital operation of energy systems. The aim is to ensure that the energy sector remains the mainstay of Lusatia's economic and technological identity even in the age of renewable energies and digitalization, and that the Lusatian mining region is further developed into a sustainable energy region serving this purpose. The EIZ consists of six networked laboratories (labs) with their own thematic focuses:

In the Energy Economics Lab (EECON Lab), energy economics solutions that bring together long-term investments in energy infrastructure and public acceptance of associated landscape interventions are being developed. The acceptance of energy infrastructure measures is quantified with the help of laboratory experiments and VR experiences. Furthermore, the EECON Lab especially provides forecasts for integrated energy systems (short-, medium- and long-term) with different methodological approaches from optimization and statistics and conducts market and competition analyses to gain insights for structural change and transformation of the energy system and to support the regional economy. The head of the EECON Lab is Dr. Christin Hoffmann from the Chair of Energy Economics at BTU. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-energiewirtschaft

The Electric Power Systems Lab (EPS Lab) addresses grid operation issues related to decentralization and transformation in the generation sector. The transmission and distribution grid level focuses on the simulator-based investigation of grid operation issues of system management and grid reconstruction. The head of the EPS Lab is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Prof. h.c. mult. Harald Schwarz from the Chair of Energy distribution and high voltage engineering at BTU. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-evh/

To efficiently and flexibly coordinate and monitor the operation of multi-sector energy systems, innovative, integrated concepts for control and instrumentation are necessary. In this context, the complexity of multi-energy systems requires new methodological approaches to operation and control with reliable quality, robustness and cyber security features. The development and demonstration of technologies to meet these challenges are the focus of the interdisciplinary Control Systems and Cyber Security Lab (COSYS Lab) facility. The COSYS Lab is led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Schiffer from the Chair of Control Systems and Network Control Technology at BTU. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-regelungssysteme/

The Energy Storage and Conversion Lab (ESC Lab) aims to model the three levels for sector-coupled energy systems – heat, electricity and mobility – in a CO2 neutral cycle approach based on hydrogen. The ESC Lab is headed by Prof. Fabian Mauß from the Chair of Thermodynamics / Thermal Process Engineering at BTU. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-tdtvt/

For the energy transition to succeed, battery storage is needed to bridge energy differences between generation and consumption in the hourly range and to provide control power, as well as hydrogen or methane gas storage as an energy reserve for times when there is not enough renewable energy available for days and weeks. What both types of storage have in common is that they require relatively low DC voltage (in the range of a few hundred volts) both for storage (battery charging, electrolysis) and for withdrawal (battery discharging, fuel cell or similar). This results in the task of converting grid scale relevant power with several 100 MW up to 600 MW with the grid connection voltage of 110kV, 220 KV or 380 kV into this low DC voltage and back. The High Power Grid Converter Lab (HPGC Lab) headed by Prof. Georg Möhlenkamp from the Chair of Power electronics and drive systems at BTU is tackling this challenge. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-lea/

The Scientific Computing Lab (SC Lab) bundles competencies in the field of scientific computing as well as mathematical modeling and optimization of complex (energy) systems. The main goals and tasks of the SC Lab are method and software developments in the areas of stochastic multiscale and multiphysics models, efficient optimization methods for complex networks, and co- and real-time simulation of multi-energy systems. The SC Lab is headed by Prof. Dr. Carsten Hartmann from the Chair of Stochastics and Applications thereof at BTU. https://www.b-tu.de/fg-stochastik/