NWO allocates € 1.25 million to sustainable energy projects at University of Groningen

The University of Groningen has been awarded a total of € 1.25 million for three public/private research projects looking into sustainable energy systems. Five PhD students will be appointed to the Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) to work on the projects.

The projects were awarded funding as part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW) Energy system integration - planning, operations and social embedding programme, which has allocated € 3.5 million to seven projects. Most of the money comes from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO ) itself and the rest is donated by industry.

More information about the NOW ESI programme

The projects at the University of Groningen are:

Project proposal 1:

Acceptable and sustainable integration of energy systems
Main applicants: Prof. E.M. (Linda) Steg, Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, in association with Prof. J.M.A. (Jacquelien) Scherpen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Discrete Technology and Production Automation, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG)
Partners: Alliander, Enexis, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research ( TNO)

Project description: The aim is to find ways of producing an efficient, reliable, sustainable and socially acceptable integrated energy system. The project focuses on integrating macro (energy plants) and micro (households generating their own energy) approaches, and explores ways of using new control mechanisms to achieve the optimum combination in the infrastructure for gas, electricity and heat. It is also important to find ways of encouraging users to make more efficient use of the system.

Funding from NWO: almost € 393,000. Funding from industry: € 130,000
2 PhD students will work on this project.

Project proposal 2:

Optimum control of integrated energy systems.
Main applicant: Prof. M.K. (Kanat) Camlibel, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Johann Bernoulli Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, in association with Prof. J.M.A. (Jacquelien) Scherpen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG).
Partners: Gasterra and DNV GL.

Project description:  We are studying new algorithms designed to make integrated systems work as efficiently as possible for ‘prosumers’ (consumers who also produce energy) of gas and/or electricity. Security of supply is vital and it is important to make optimum use of the capacity of the gas and electricity grids to guarantee stability.

Funding from NWO: almost € 272,000. Funding from industry: € 63,000
1 PhD student will work on this project

Project Proposal 3:

Study and development of an energy management system and user interface that can match supply and demand of various energy carriers using user preferences while contributing to user acceptability and proper adoption of the system.

Main applicants: Dr K. (Kees) Keizer, University of Groningen, Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences, Department of Psychology; Prof. E.M. (Linda) Steg, University of Groningen, Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences, Department of Psychology; Prof. M. (Marco) Aiello, University of Groningen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Johann Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science; Dr Faris Nizamic, University of Groningen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Johann Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science.

Partners: Municipality of Groningen, GasTerra BV, Province of Groningen

Project description: This research focuses on users as the managers of our energy system. It looks into ways of designing an acceptable, effective energy management system that can match supply and demand of energy from different sources, while meeting the needs and capabilities of the users.

Total funding from NWO: € 393,000. Funding from industry : € 57,000

2 PhD students will be appointed to work on this project