This autumn, DTU's students and researchers will have access to a new electrolysis facility offering realistic training opportunities for optimizing production, consumption, and storage of renewable energy using Power-to-X technologies. It will give users hands-on experience with producing sustainable fuels for ocean-going cargo ships, aircraft, trucks, and heavy industry.
The education and research facility will be located in GreenLab, which houses the world's first green and circular industrial park. Here, DTU and other Danish universities are engaged in developing and demonstrating methods for solving some of the climate challenges faced by Denmark and the rest of the world.
"Getting access to a physical training and research facility in Power-to-X is s a game-changer for both our students and researchers. The facility enables us to create an attractive education and research environment in Skive, where we can equip the engineers of tomorrow to meet global challenges in the green transition. It means that we can help educate more engineers for the whole of Denmark," says DTU Senior Vice President Carsten Orth Gaarn-Larsen.
From black to green transport
The education and research facility consists of an advanced electrolysis module from Green Hydrogen Systems, which develops and manufactures electrolysis facilities (electrolysers).
In GreenLab, the electrolysis facility will function in an interaction between electricity generated by wind and solar energy as well as batteries and be a mini version of the future facilities located in Denmark and the rest of the world.
Green fuels like Power-to-X will, in fact, play a significant role in constructing a 100 per cent renewable energy system in the future. The technology can be used to convert electricity from sun and wind into hydrogen or hydrogen-based substances such as ammonia, methanol, and methane.
"Our new Power-to-X facility for testing and training gives DTU's researchers and students a unique opportunity to gain practical hydrogen production experience. Green hydrogen is a key prerequisite for converting heavy transport from black to green, and, at GreenLab, we're proud to be the place where you can gain hands-on experience in new green technologies by testing them in practice," says Ebbe Kruse Vestergaard, Research Director at GreenLab.
An important piece in understanding energy systems
Although Power-to-X technology is not new, it is an innovation to integrate the technology in an energy system in a smart approach to up-scaling and cost-effectiveness. With the electrolysis facility in GreenLab, students and researchers can collect data and, among other activities, test how flexible the electrolysis facility is and what the relationship is between electricity, heat, and hydrogen production. This knowledge can be used to find answers to a number of questions, including how best to design and control an electrolysis facility, and how the interaction is between the individual energy system elements.
It is an important piece of the puzzle in understanding our overall energy system. The plant in GreenLab will also supplement DTU's energy laboratory PowerLabDK. Here, students and researchers can use Power-to-X facilities to test how best to link the different parts of the energy system. Jacob Østergaard, Professor at DTU Wind, explains:
"We don't have a sufficient understanding of the Power-to-X technology and its properties. It's therefore essential that we learn more about how an electrolysis facility works as an integrated part of an energy system. Today, we analyse the future energy system based on models of different types of facilities. These models are completely dependent on the data you feed into them. And there are actually only a few of them which are based on realistic facilities with real verified data, making in crucial to have access to a facility like the one in GreenLab."
Great potential for DTU's students
Søren Linderoth, Head of Department at DTU Energy, also sees great potential in the education and research facility. For example, he envisions that it can be included in the digital education Bachelor of Technology programme, where students work with Power-to-X as a recurring theme.
Another obvious option is a continuing education programme, a so-called flexible Master's programme with focus on Power-to-X. This study programme originates from a wish from the industry and has been composed and prepared by an advisory committee under Danish Center for Energy Storage (DaCES), where DTU collaborates with Aalborg University, Aarhus University, the University of Southern Denmark and companies like Topsoe and Vestas, says Søren Linderoth:
"It will be very exciting if DTU's students are given the opportunity to see, measure, and analyse data, and perhaps even be allowed to change parameters for the functioning facility. Finally, in the short term, we will also have a much higher proportion of part-time MSc graduates who may be able to benefit from using the facility. This could, for example, be in connection with the Master of Science (MSc) programme Sustainable Energy Technology, where it will be both useful and rewarding for the MSc students to test theories and experiments in practice."
