Focus area of Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES)

System Integration

This focus area is home to scientific discussions and collaborative research opportunities on systems integration.

INTRO

The main ambition of this program is to develop integral models to evaluate future scenarios for energy production, conversion, storage, demand and distribution, for a range of scale levels. Following the NWO definition, “energy systems integration focuses on the integration issues of energy systems on various scales, such as coupling and optimizing the infrastructures for production, transport and storage of energy, finding optimal transition paths, etc. The system as a whole is central here, not specific parts”. Energy systems integration is characterized by decentralization, electrification, new market mechanisms (such as peer-to-peer trading and active market participation of prosumers) and is driven by digitization.

Iconic project: DEEP DIGIT - a digital twin of our power system

De-carbonizing our power system requires new methods, technology and principles to keep it stable, reliable, and resilient, since renewable and intelligent energy resources (such as photovoltaic, wind or batteries) are connected via power-electronic converters that lack inertia and have faster dynamics than existing resources. Researching and analyzing such systems requires dedicated super-computers that can solve the underlying physical equations in real-time. With DEEP DIGIT, researchers can solve complex stability problems before they cause harm in the real system.

Principal Scientists

Departments involved/ contributing to EIRES

The following departments are currently actively involved in the focus area on Systems Integration. However, the aim is to involve more departments and research groups in the very near future.

  • Built Environment
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering

Research and application areas

In the coming decades we have to achieve a transition towards a carbon neutral energy system. This future energy system will be drastically different than the current energy system. The future energy system:

  • Will be a multi-energy system, in which multiple energy carriers (e.g. electricity, heat, hydrogen) are produced, transported and/or stored and consumed. This leads to an increasing interdependency between different carriers due to cogeneration, energy storage of specific carriers, and conversions between energy carriers;
  • Will be highly dynamic, as it will rely on the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources, the electrification of mobility (e.g. electric cars) and heating (e.g. heatpumps), cogeneration, and intermittent power sources in general. This will drastically change the requirements of the energy grid;
  • Will be both more internationalized and more localized. On the one hand, the intermittent and localized nature of renewable energy generation and the deployment of large-scale offshore grids requires stronger internationalized energy markets, with strong international connections. On the other hand, the distributed generation and storage of renewable energy, combined with electrification of both vehicles and heating, will contribute to a decentralized energy system with local energy markets and peer-to-peer energy trading.

Related Research Groups

We acknowledge the TU/e research groups which are already involved with EIRES, either through the TU/e Sector Plan positions and PhD projects. We welcome all research groups interested in collaborating and contributing to the research focus of EIRES.

Current and planned collaborations

Current projects and collaborations where Principal Investigators (PI) or Sector Plan positions are involved:

  • MMIP TKI Urban Energy: BTIC-IEBB consortium TU/e, TNO, TU Delft program related to energy transition & renovation.
  • Cross-over consortium NEON: New energy and mobility outlook for the Netherlands, departments IE&ES, ME, EE, AP (and other NL academic partners and industry).

Researchers

We acknowledge the TU/e researchers which are already involved with EIRES, either through the TU/e Sector Plan positions and/or PhD projects. We welcome all researchers interested in collaborating and contributing to the research focus of EIRES.

Contact

EIRES | Focus Area: Systems Integration