University of Groningen’s Hydrogen Challenge Wins at New Energy Hackathon

The New Energy Hackaton took place on 16 and 17 May at Gasunie Groningen. The event was all about innovative solutions and creative ideas for a more sustainable society. The University of Groningen’s Faculty of Economics and Business, represented by Arpan Rijal , Songul Tekeli , and Evrim Ursavas , contributed to the event by developing a challenge focused on hydrogen: ‘Optimisation of hydrogen production at wind farms’.

The challenge: Create a data-driven optimisation model that supports owners and operators of wind farms in making decisions about hydrogen production. The model should provide insight into whether, when, and how much hydrogen can be produced, taking into account factors such as energy demand, grid capacity, market prices and weather forecasts. Dycon  took on this complex challenge and, after an exciting round of discussions and competition, emerged as one of the winners, alongside Bencom Group.

Smart decisions

Maximising hydrogen production efficiency at wind farms involves making smart decisions about timing and output based on grid limitations, energy prices, and weather conditions. As a result, Dycon Groningen developed a real-time decision-making model that continuously evaluates these factors and delivers straightforward guidance on when to start or stop production and how much hydrogen to produce. Scalable from a 100 kW pilot setup to a 500 MW industrial electrolyser, the model empowers operators to quickly determine the most cost-effective actions. With slight modifications, it also holds potential for use in battery storage and other industrial applications.  

Functional prototype

The other joint winner, Bencom Group, developed  a functional prototype that enables households with a smart meter to view not only their electricity usage, but also the source of that electricity — broken down quarterly by the energy mix (green vs. fossil).

The event was organised by Gasunie and the National Energy Dashboard, a joint initiative by Gasunie and TenneT to improve access to real-time energy data, along with Hanze, Samenwerking Noord, Diepzeekonijn, Bencom Group, and University of Groningen.