"Summer School Fuel Cells and Batteries" starting today at the Institute of Networked Energy Systems
- The 13th Lower Saxony Summer School Fuel Cells and Batteries will take place from 19 to 23 September 2022 at the Institute of Networked Energy Systems.
- The event is organised by CUTEC, supported by the Energy Research Centre of Lower Saxony (EFZN) and this year hosted by the DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems.
- 42 participants from all over Germany and around 25 experts from research and industry are expected to attend.
- Focus: Energy, fuel cells, knowledge transfer, young talents
What prospects do fuel cell systems open up in a renewable energy system? What challenges will future battery technologies for mobile applications face? - When the 13th Lower Saxony Summer School Fuel Cells and Batteries begins today, Monday 19 September 2022, at the DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems in Oldenburg, everything will revolve around application-oriented expertise for young scientists for a whole week. During the event, which will bring together 42 participants from all over Germany, around 25 experts from research and industry will provide in-depth insights into their work with fuel cell and battery technologies.
"With the successful Lower Saxony summer school concept, we want to raise awareness of the immense potential that fuel cell and battery research opens up for future fields of application in the energy system," says Dr Alexander Dyck, Head of the Urban and Building Technologies Department at the Institute of Networked Energy Systems. This includes, for example, broad areas of the mobility sector or fuel cell heating appliances that efficiently provide electricity and heat from hydrogen. There are countless career opportunities in a wide variety of sectors. "With this in mind, we want to show young researchers from the technical-scientific field the diversity of topics and contribute to practical career preparation". This approach has long since borne fruit: "Many participants from previous events are now working in industry and research on solutions to issues that were discussed at the Summer School," adds Dr Andreas Lindermeir from the Clausthal Environmental Technology Research Centre (CUTEC) at Clausthal University of Technology.
In terms of content, this year's Summer School will focus on the basics of electrochemistry, materials research and electrode production, among other things. Insights into selected DLR laboratories and an excursion to the EWE test field in Huntorf will provide practical impressions. Building on this, specialist presentations will illustrate how, for example, energy storage systems can intelligently stabilise the energy system or how low-voltage batteries can be used for efficient vehicle electrical systems. Environmental effects and life cycle analyses will also be evaluated from a system analysis perspective.
Several speakers will be discussing possible applications for fuel cells, including in cars and the maritime sector. Current research projects will show how fuel cell CHP plants can be converted to hydrogen during operation: the Institute is currently researching the system aspects of so-called H2-ready technology for fuel cell CHP plants. Within such systems, hydrogen is already being produced from natural gas using a reformer. In addition to the highly efficiently generated electricity, the waste heat is also utilised directly in the building to supply heat, resulting in a high overall efficiency. The H2-ready principle enables the system to also process natural gas/hydrogen mixtures, so that a later conversion to hydrogen can be realised with the same equipment infrastructure.
The Lower Saxony Summer School Fuel Cells and Batteries took place for the first time in 2008. It is organised by CUTEC, supported by the Energy Research Centre of Lower Saxony (EFZN) and this year hosted by the DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems. Oldenburg is hosting the Summer School for the third time this year after 2012 and 2016.
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