HusumWind 2019

•••6••• Innovationen Chemical storage of renewable energies Research on catalytic systems under uctuating operation conditions using wind or solar power I n 2050, 80 per cent of the elec- tric power in Germany has to be based on renewable resources. To reach this goal, it is required to store electric power in the form of chemical energy carriers. With- in the priority program “Catalysts and Reactors under Dynamic Con- ditions for Energy Storage and Conversion” (SPP 2080, DynaKat) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), twelve big re- search consortia study how cata- lytic reaction systems behave un- der such conditions. The program is coordinated by Karlsruhe Insti- tute of Technology (KIT). Sun and wind are the most impor- tant renewable energy carriers, but their availability is fluctuating considerably. On windy and sunny days, the amount of electric pow- er produced exceeds the capacity of the grid. This overproduction of power from wind and photo- voltaic facilities can be stored in chemicals. Later on, electric pow- er can be made available again or the chemicals can be used as sus- tainable feedstocks for the pro- duction of fuels or platform mol- ecules for chemical industry. For the conversion of carbon diox- ide or hydrogen into energy-stor- age molecules, such as methane, hydrocarbons, or alcohols, cata- lysts, electrochemical cells, and reactors are required. However, the influence of dynamic external conditions on catalytic reaction systems, for example caused by fluctuating wind and solar power, has hardly been studied so far. “But we know that the structure of solid catalysts and, hence, their catalytic activity can vary considerably under changing re- action conditions. This is a highly fascinating scientific topic,” says Professor Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt of KIT’s Institutes for Chemical Tech- nology and Polymer Chemistry (ITCP) and of Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT). He coor- dinates the DFG Priority Program SPP2080 DynaKat in which, apart from KIT, a number of renowned research institutions from all over Germany are involved: Forschungszentrum Jülich, TUMu- nich, and several Max Planck Insti- tutes. DFG will fund the DynaKat Priority Program scheduled for a duration of six years with EUR 8.5 million for three years initially. “We want to understand and then optimize the catalytic mate- rials to be efficiently used under dynamic conditions,” says Dr. Eri- sa Saraçi, senior scientist at IKFT and co-organizer of the kickoff meeting at KIT. For this purpose, all processes are studied from the phenomena at the atomic level of the catalyst to the spatial dis- tribution of feed concentrations and to temperature variations on the reactor level. For a basic understanding of processes and development of new materials and reactor designs, classical, es- tablished experiments as well as latest spectroscopic methods and modeling approaches are applied. Schematic representation and overview of activities within the Priority Program 2080: renewable energies are used to produce chemicals and fuels from carbon dioxide and water by electrolysis and catalytic conversion. Photo: Grunwaldt Group, KIT Searching for wind for the future Mapping the potential for wind power of the Arabian Peninsula Using outputs from a high-resolution regio- nal climate model, researchers from the Saudi King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have confirmed the potential for wind as a significant ener- gy resource across the Arabian Peninsula. This is an important first step in developing a strategy for Saudi Arabia’s wind energy sector. As part of an ongoing collaboration with the University of Notre Dame in the United States, Marc Genton’s research group recently turned its attention to how the latest regional climate models might in- form an analysis of the potential for wind power across the Arabian Peninsula – a re- gion that has very little recorded wind speed data, but also has complex topogra- phy and diverse terrain and meteorology. “Saudi Arabia has mostly relied on fossil fu- els for its energy needs, but this is changing due to the rising energy demand resulting from industrial development, urbanizati- on and growth of its population,” explains Wanfang Chen, a doctoral student in Genton’s team. Wind power could therefo- re become a significant source of renewab- le energy, but the scale of the wind energy resource has yet to be rigorously quanti- fied. As direct wind-speed measurements are available only for very sparse locations across the peninsula, an assessment of the potential for wind as an energy source over the whole region is not feasible based so- lely on observational data. Computer simu- lations can help, but previously could not deliver the spatial or temporal resolution needed to accurately characterize resour- ces for wind-farm planning in this region. Through its collaboration with Notre Dame, Genton’s group used the high-resolution data of the recently developed Middle East North Africa (MENA) model of the Interna- tional Coordinated Regional Climate Down- scaling Experiment (CORDEX) to investiga- te possible changes in wind resources as a result of climate change. “While we knew the Saudi Arabia has regions of high wind- power density, particularly along the Red Sea coast and over areas in the southeast and adjacent to the Persian Gulf, this work revealed considerable potential for wind energy in other regions during specific seasons,” says Chen. The MENA-CORDEX model also predicts a number of high-potential areas to con- sistently project high wind-power density for many decades into the future, making these areas promising locations for harves- ting wind energy. Richtung Energiewende Neues Zentrum für Leistungselektronik eingeweiht Das Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme (ISE) in Freiburg weihte im Juli 2019 sein neues Zentrum für Leistungselektronik und nachhaltige Netze ein. „Wir benötigen neuartige Komponen- ten und Funktionen, damit Wech- selrichter die Stromnetze der Zu- kunft zuverlässig und sicher regeln und stabilisieren können“, erklärt Prof. Hans-Martin Hen- ning, Leiter des Fraunhofer ISE. Zu den Herausforderungen ge- hört vor allem die Entwicklung neuartiger Komponenten und Systeme für die Leistungselek- tronik mit deutlich erweiterten Eigenschaften. Dafür werden zu- nehmend Silicium-Karbid- und Gallium-Nitrid-basierte Leistungs- halbleiter eingesetzt. Diese arbei- ten mit hohen Taktfrequenzen und ermöglichen dadurch höhe- re Leistungsdichten. Auch neue Netzdienstleistungen werden er- forscht, insbesondere hinsichtlich der Stabilität von zukünftigen, wechselrichterbasierten Netzen. Im Fokus stehen auch Prüfver- fahren zur Netzdienlichkeit von Wechselrichtern im Vordergrund, wie beispielsweise zur Span- nungs- und Frequenzhaltung. Vorsicht hochspannend! Unsere 110-kV-Windsteckdose. www.netze-bw.de/dienstleistungen Halle 1, Stand 1D08