The Netherlands: TU Delft’s Associate Professor Receives Subsidies for Offshore Energy Projects

Pavol Bauer (UHD, Electrical Power Processing section) received subsidies from the top sector Energy for a grand total of three projects. The total subsidy of the projects amounts to one million euros for research and half a million euros for components and equipment. It concerns research on Integrated Offshore Electricity Infrastructure, Electrical Vehicle Supported PV Smart Grid and Cellular Smart Grid Platform.

Synergies at Sea – Integrated offshore electricity infrastructure (Wind energy at Sea)

A consortium of nine parties coordinated by Grontmij will be conducting research over the next four years into the possible reduction of the cost price of wind energy and the development of an innovative electricity infrastructure on the North Sea. At the moment each country has its own independent electricity infrastructure. These infrastructures are increasingly linked to each other by means of interconnectors. In this project the offshore wind farms are also directly connected to the international electricity grid by means of such an interconnecting link (work is done with high direct voltage, HVDC, of approximately 320 kilovolts). By connecting several wind farms to one interconnecting link the overcapacity of generated energy can be transported from one area to another. In this way the energy arrives where it is needed at that time. This makes the total system more flexible, more efficient and cheaper.

The ‘Synergies at Sea’ research, which is conducted with partners Nuon/Vattenfall, ECN, RUG , Royal Halskoning DHV, Liandon, Energy Solutions, DC offshore and Energy Solutions and Grontmij, is closely connected to the objectives of the second Rutte cabinet to generate 16% more sustainably generated energy by 2020. The consortium conducts research into the technological solutions, changes in international legislation and new financing models.

Electrical Vehicle Supported PV Smart Grid

The possibility of generating energy with solar panels at business parks is currently used sub-optimally through lack of affordable storage capacity and insufficient local energy management. And this while the Netherlands would be one of the best countries to experiment with roads that offer the possibility of charging electric vehicles without contact. Pavol Bauer is working on a technology which enables electric vehicles to run on ‘grid power’, or even better, on electricity generated by solar panels and windmills placed along the motorway instead of on a battery: the Electrical Vehicle Supported PV Smart Grid (EVPV Grid).

As a result of this new smart-grid technology, work is also being carried out on the development of a multi-port converter for bi-directional DC-DC conversion, to which the local and public energy grid, PV-installation and several electric vehicles can be connected. Furthermore, an energy management system (EMS) is being developed which directs the energy flows for each system, business parks and customers, taking into consideration the requirements of energy firms. During this research, which is conducted jointly with partners PRE, ABB, Kema, TNO and Aliander, work is being carried out with direct voltage of a couple of hundred volts.

Cellular Smart Grid Platform

TU Delft, together with partners Alfen, Aliander, Kema, Bredenoord, HAN, Pfixx and Wind Energy Solutions, is researching and developing a grid concept in the Cellular Smart Grids Platform project. Within this grid concept part grids operate at the distribution level mainly in a self-sufficient and self-regulating manner for local, decentralised generation and usage of energy. This takes place with relatively small energy storage and by means of smart grid technologies. The objective is to achieve a maximum local balance of supply and demand and a maximum integration of decentralised sustainable energy such as solar energy and wind.

[mappress]

Press release, April 3, 2013; Image: TU Delft