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In times of social climate protection movements, such as Fridays for Future, the priorities of society, industry and higher education are currently changing. The consideration of sustainability challenges is increasing. In the context of sustainable development, social skills are crucial to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, the impact that educational activities have on people, communities and society is therefore coming to the fore. Research has shown that people with high levels of social competence are better able to manage stressful situations, maintain positive relationships and communicate effectively. They are also associated with better academic performance and career success. However, especially in engineering programs, the social pillar is underrepresented compared to the environmental and economic pillars.
In response to these changes, higher education institutions should be more aware of their social impact - from individual forms of teaching to entire modules and degree programs. To specifically determine the potential for improvement and derive resulting change for further development, we present an initial framework for social impact measurement by transferring already established approaches from the business sector to the education sector. To demonstrate the applicability, we measure the key competencies taught in undergraduate engineering programs in Germany.
The aim is to prepare the students for success in the modern world of work and their future contribution to sustainable development. Additionally, the university can include the results in its sustainability report. Our method can be applied to different teaching methods and enables their comparison.
This study analyses the expected utilization of an urban distribution grid under high penetration of photovoltaic and e-mobility with charging infrastructure on a residential level. The grid utilization and the corresponding power flow are evaluated, while varying the control strategies and photovoltaic installed capacity in different scenarios. Four scenarios are used to analyze the impact of e-mobility. The individual mobility demand is modelled based on the largest German studies on mobility “Mobilität in Deutschland”, which is carried out every 5 years. To estimate the ramp-up of photovoltaic generation, a potential analysis of the roof surfaces in the supply area is carried out via an evaluation of an open solar potential study. The photovoltaic feed-in time series is derived individually for each installed system in a resolution of 15 min. The residential consumption is estimated using historical smart meter data, which are collected in London between 2012 and 2014. For a realistic charging demand, each residential household decides daily on the state of charge if their vehicle requires to be charged. The resulting charging time series depends on the underlying behavior scenario. Market prices and mobility demand are therefore used as scenario input parameters for a utility function based on the current state of charge to model individual behavior. The aggregated electricity demand is the starting point of the power flow calculation. The evaluation is carried out for an urban region with approximately 3100 residents. The analysis shows that increased penetration of photovoltaics combined with a flexible and adaptive charging strategy can maximize PV usage and reduce the need for congestion-related intervention by the grid operator by reducing the amount of kWh charged from the grid by 30% which reduces the average price of a charged kWh by 35% to 14 ct/kWh from 21.8 ct/kWh without PV optimization. The resulting grid congestions are managed by implementing an intelligent price or control signal. The analysis took place using data from a real German grid with 10 subgrids. The entire software can be adapted for the analysis of different distribution grids and is publicly available as an open-source software library on GitHub.
Market abstraction of energy markets and policies - application in an agent-based modeling toolbox
(2023)
In light of emerging challenges in energy systems, markets are prone to changing dynamics and market design. Simulation models are commonly used to understand the changing dynamics of future electricity markets. However, existing market models were often created with specific use cases in mind, which limits their flexibility and usability. This can impose challenges for using a single model to compare different market designs. This paper introduces a new method of defining market designs for energy market simulations. The proposed concept makes it easy to incorporate different market designs into electricity market models by using relevant parameters derived from analyzing existing simulation tools, morphological categorization and ontologies. These parameters are then used to derive a market abstraction and integrate it into an agent-based simulation framework, allowing for a unified analysis of diverse market designs. Furthermore, we showcase the usability of integrating new types of long-term contracts and over-the-counter trading. To validate this approach, two case studies are demonstrated: a pay-as-clear market and a pay-as-bid long-term market. These examples demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed framework.
Scientific questions
- How can a non-stationary heat offering in the commercial vehicle be used to reduce fuel consumption?
- Which potentials offer route and environmental information among with predicted speed and load trajectories to increase the efficiency of a ORC-System?
Methods
- Desktop bound holistic simulation model for a heavy duty truck incl. an ORC System
- Prediction of massflows, temperatures and mixture quality (AFR) of exhaust gas
The performance and biomass yield of the perennial energy plant Sida hermaphrodita (hereafter referred to as Sida) as a feedstock for biogas and solid fuel was evaluated throughout one entire growing period at agricultural field conditions. A Sida plant development code was established to allow comparison of the plant growth stages and biomass composition. Four scenarios were evaluated to determine the use of Sida biomass with regard to plant development and harvest time: (i) one harvest for solid fuel only; (ii) one harvest for biogas production only; (iii) one harvest for biogas production, followed by a harvest of the regrown biomass for solid fuel; and (iv) two consecutive harvests for biogas production. To determine Sida's value as a feedstock for combustion, we assessed the caloric value, the ash quality, and melting point with regard to DIN EN ISO norms. The results showed highest total dry biomass yields of max. 25 t ha⁻¹, whereas the highest dry matter of 70% to 80% was obtained at the end of the growing period. Scenario (i) clearly indicated the highest energy recovery, accounting for 439 288 MJ ha⁻¹; the energy recovery of the four scenarios from highest to lowest followed this order: (i) ≫ (iii) ≫ (iv) > (ii). Analysis of the Sida ashes showed a high melting point of >1500 °C, associated with a net calorific value of 16.5–17.2 MJ kg⁻¹. All prerequisites for DIN EN ISO norms were achieved, indicating Sida's advantage as a solid energy carrier without any post-treatment after harvesting. Cell wall analysis of the stems showed a constant lignin content after sampling week 16 (July), whereas cellulose had already reached a plateau in sampling week 4 (April). The results highlight Sida as a promising woody, perennial plant, providing biomass for flexible and multipurpose energy applications.
Innovative breeds of sugar cane yield up to 2.5 times as much organic matter as conventional breeds, resulting in a great potential for biogas production. The use of biogas production as a complementary solution to conventional and second-generation ethanol production in Brazil may increase the energy produced per hectare in the sugarcane sector. Herein, it was demonstrated that through ensiling, energy cane can be conserved for six months; the stored cane can then be fed into a continuous biogas process. This approach is necessary to achieve year-round biogas production at an industrial scale. Batch tests revealed specific biogas potentials between 400 and 600 LN/kgVS for both the ensiled and non-ensiled energy cane, and the specific biogas potential of a continuous biogas process fed with ensiled energy cane was in the same range. Peak biogas losses through ensiling of up to 27% after six months were observed. Finally, compared with second-generation ethanol production using energy cane, the results indicated that biogas production from energy cane may lead to higher energy yields per hectare, with an average energy yield of up to 162 MWh/ha. Finally, the Farm²CBG concept is introduced, showing an approach for decentralized biogas production.
The increasing share of renewable electricity in the grid drives the need for sufficient storage capacity. Especially for seasonal storage, power-to-gas can be a promising approach. Biologically produced methane from hydrogen produced from surplus electricity can be used to substitute natural gas in the existing infrastructure. Current reactor types are not or are poorly optimized for flexible methanation. Therefore, this work proposes a new reactor type with a plug flow reactor (PFR) design. Simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics ® showed promising properties for operation in laminar flow. An experiment was conducted to support the simulation results and to determine the gas fraction of the novel reactor, which was measured to be 29%. Based on these simulations and experimental results, the reactor was constructed as a 14 m long, 50 mm diameter tube with a meandering orientation. Data processing was established, and a step experiment was performed. In addition, a kLa of 1 h−1 was determined. The results revealed that the experimental outcomes of the type of flow and gas fractions are in line with the theoretical simulation. The new design shows promising properties for flexible methanation and will be tested.
The planned coal phase-out in Germany by 2038 will lead to the dismantling of power plants with a total capacity of approx. 30 GW. A possible further use of these assets is the conversion of the power plants to thermal storage power plants; the use of these power plants on the day-ahead market is considerably limited by their technical parameters. In this paper, the influence of the technical boundary conditions on the operating times of these storage facilities is presented. For this purpose, the storage power plants were described as an MILP problem and two price curves, one from 2015 with a relatively low renewable penetration (33 %) and one from 2020 with a high renewable energy penetration (51 %) are compared. The operating times were examined as a function of the technical parameters and the critical influencing factors were investigated. The thermal storage power plant operation duration and the energy shifted with the price curve of 2020
increases by more than 25 % compared to 2015.