The Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) is to set up five new Helmholtz research centres for energy storage and cross-linked infrastructures with a five-year budget of $365m.
Aim of the programme is to close research gaps in the energy storage and smart grids field to meet Germany’s energy turnaround goal, the abolition of coal and other non-renewable energy sources.
“A renewable-based power supply needs three important technical solutions: adequate energy storage systems for balancing fluctuations, efficient infrastructures for energy distribution and a solution that connects and increases the flexibility, efficiency and profitability of energy systems,” said Matthias Noe, academic spokesperson of the programme.
Alongside the research focus battery storage and storage-connected grid-systems, the programme will also concentrate on fuel cells, thermal storage, electrolysis and hydrogen as well as hydrocarbons.
The project will also use KIT’s new 1MW PV plant coupled with a 100kWh lithium-ion battery storage system at its research centre in Karlsruhe for the battery storage research.
KIT’s research partners are the German Aerospace Centre, the research centre Jülich, the Helmholtz-Centre Berlin and the Helmholtz-Centre Dresden-Rossendorf.