Investigating tomorrow's locations and technologies today
Energy system analysis
Have you ever asked yourself which measures are necessary on the way to a sustainable energy system in your region, in your country? Simply starting to build and hoping that everything will fall into place is not an option - there is too much at stake. This is why energy system analyses are necessary. Optimization and simulation programs are usually used as a basis. This allows the local, national or even international energy system to be mapped in detail and, for example, the measures required to meet climate protection targets to be identified.
Research activities in the field of
Energy system analysis
Local and national energy systems, as well as international partnerships in the energy sector, are constantly changing. The climate crisis, political changes and demographic change are just some of the reasons for this dynamic. Energy system analyses are required in order to be able to react strategically and rationally to these changes. The first step is to map the current energy system (inventory). Based on this, various scenarios are carried out using energy models depending on the research question (modeling). Finally, the analysis of the technical, economic and ecological results helps to make a rational decision.
Inventory: Mapping the current energy system
Any energy model is only as good as its input data. For this reason, the actual state of the regional, national or even international energy system is first examined in order to reflect reality as accurately as possible. The current generation, consumption and storage of energy all play a role here. In addition to the technical aspects, the inventory of economic and ecological energy system data is also relevant.
Modeling: creating various future-oriented scenarios
Energy systems are generally very complex, making manual calculations problematic or almost impossible. The use of energy models, such as the open-source tool PyPSA-Earth, the hydrogen atlas or the energy model developed in-house by FENES, offers a remedy. These can be used to create and model various future-oriented scenarios. The current energy system is used as a basis and various transformation paths are examined.
Analysis: Designing the future energy system
Examining the results is the final and decisive step in the energy system analysis. Depending on the research question, the interaction of different technologies, the role of individual energy sources or the relevance for compliance with climate protection measures, for example, becomes clear here and forms the basis for discussions with regional and national decision-makers.
