Energy Grids – Shaping Complex Systems for the Future: Energy grids are highly complex and dynamic systems that require a holistic approach to ensure a reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy supply. These energy systems encompass not only producers and consumers but also converters and transmission networks. In addition to technical and economic factors, environmental compatibility and plant safety play a central role. The transition to a sustainable energy supply demands the intelligent integration of conventional and renewable energy sources. The challenge lies in providing energy with high efficiency, low emissions, and reduced vulnerability to fluctuations. Renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics, wind power, or tidal energy, inherently exhibit performance fluctuations. This poses new challenges for grid operators, power plant operators, and system manufacturers, especially in the areas of process control and optimization.

Hydrogen technologies play a key role in the transformation of our energy and industrial society. They are also critical for regional structural change, such as in the Lusatia region. Hydrogen, as a potential energy storage medium, offers the opportunity to balance fluctuations in energy supply, enabling a higher share of renewable energy sources in the energy system. At our department, we focus on innovative methods for hydrogen production (e.g., through electrolytic water splitting), new technologies for storage (e.g., using metal hydrides), and the efficient distribution of hydrogen. In doing so, we make a significant contribution to the development of sustainable energy systems.

The optimization of energy systems relies on validated process models, which are created using data from industrial operations as well as targeted experiments. With these models, simulations can be performed within defined validity ranges. This allows testing of new operating strategies, control systems, and load profiles without expensive and time-consuming experimental setups. Even stochastic influences, which complicate planning and control, can be realistically represented in simulations.

A milestone in simulation technology is the digital twin – a complete virtual replica of a real-world system. It integrates real production systems with a simulation layer and is used for experimentation, monitoring, and predictive maintenance. Developing digital twins requires precise mathematical modeling. Our multiphysical simulations for hydrogen technologies are based on:

• Energy and mass balances,
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD),
• Electrochemical models, and
• The integration of individual components into complete systems.

To perform these simulations, we utilize powerful software tools such as MATLAB®, including Simulink and Simscape, EBSILON®Professional, and COMSOL Multiphysics®.

Individual process models can also be implemented as soft sensors for industrial or experimental facilities. These sensors provide continuous estimates of process variables that cannot be measured directly, reliably, or economically. This significantly improves the observability and controllability of systems.