17.01.2023

At the start of the new year, KET is excited to launch two new projects funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) with a total amount of almost €2 million. The focus of the two projects lays on the integration of sustainable energy components such as storage systems, heat pumps and solar modules in residential quarters and on industrial production sites. Together with our IT colleagues from the SI-Lab, we will digitally map the systems and develop retrofitting concepts that will enable users to estimate the impact of the new components on the local energy system in advance.

We look forward to working on new energy technology concepts and to a successful collaboration with our project partners from research and industry!

As part of the A:RT-D Grids project, members of the KET working groups LEA and EET visited the East African country of Kenya in August 2023. During the visit, they exchanged ideas with local project partners and visited demonstration sites.

In this project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a consortium of African and German universities is seeking solutions to the stability issues in electrical power grids in East Africa. To address this, an innovative smart grid topology is being developed, based on a cellular system of interconnected mini/microgrids. Additionally, a graduate school is being designed and established, focusing not only on technical aspects but also on issues related to social, political, and economic governance.

For more information on the project, click here.

This year, KET will be present at Hannover Messe again. From April 17-21, interested visitors can get information about the project Microgrid-Laboratory and topics like sustainable process heat utilization, thermal energy storage and sector coupling at the KET booth, which will be located in the sustainability area of the OWL joint booth in hall 7. For more information on the university's participation at Hannover Messe, see the press office release.
As an exhibitor, KET is entitled to a contingent of free visitor tickets, which we are happy to share with you.

On Friday, 23.09.2022, the KET will be present at the Mechanical Engineering Night in the Y-building of the University of Paderborn. Between 17:00 - 23:00 visitors will have the opportunity to get an insight into current research activities of KET and to get to know the other institutes and research groups of the faculty up close.
The event is part of the university's anniversary activities and thus one of the 50 mosaics. More information can be found on the event's website.

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Together with the Paderborn-based company WestfalenWIND IT, the two megatrends of digitization and climate change were rethought and the underlying infrastructures, data centers and regenerative energies, were brought together. The result is a concept for data centers in the towers of wind turbines as cornerstones of a sustainable digital infrastructure. We invite you to discuss the topics of digitalization, energy transition and the future of Green IT with scientists and entrepreneurs. In particular, the focus will be on the development of sustainable digital infrastructure in the Paderborn area and the pioneering role of the region.

As the plant is located outside the city, our guests will be brought to the wind power plant via shuttle service. On site, you can expect a tour of the plant as well as short presentations on the topics of digitalization and climate change and a standing reception.

Time: Tue., 09/13/2022, 5:00 - 8:00 pm
Meeting point: Vattmannstraße 6, 33100 Paderborn
Registration via the event page of 50 Mosaike by Uni Paderborn

On Monday, July 4, KET celebrated its tenth anniversary. The focus of KET activities is the transformation of the energy supply system towards a sustainable structure characterized by renewable energies. Specifically, this involves environmentally friendly and innovative energy generation, conversion and use. Numerous guests from science, politics and industry attended the festivities.

Ulf C. Reichardt, Chairman of the Management Board of NRW.Energy4Climate GmbH, a new state company for energy and climate protection, and Hubert Hermelingmeier, GTZ/QM/Energy Management Miele & Cie. KG, gave keynote speeches on the topics of climate-neutral industry and modern energy concepts. In a panel discussion, Wibke Brems, energy policy spokeswoman for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, Johannes Lackmann, Managing Director of WestfalenWIND GmbH, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Kreusel, Hitachi Energy, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eva Schwenzfeier-Hellkamp from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences discussed the contributions that science can make to promising energy systems. The event was moderated by Klaus Meyer, managing director of Energie Impuls OWL e. V. Finally, there were laboratory tours with unique insights into research at KET for all interested parties.

The transformation of the energy system toward a sustainable state is a central social challenge of the 21st century. On the way to flexible, cross-sector and intelligent energy systems, the focus lies on ensuring the secure, clean, efficient and cost-effective energy supply, which is also resilient to unexpected changes and crises.

Let us celebrate 10 years of KET! We will show you the practical and implementation-oriented successes of the past decade and discuss with stakeholders from industry, research and politics the significant contribution KET is making towards the smart energy system of the future.

PROGRAM

Moderation: Klaus Meyer, Energie Impuls OWL

REGISTRATION: Registrations are requested by July 1st, 2022 at the following online registration. Spontaneous visitors are also welcome. The event is free of charge and will take place on Monday, July 4th, starting at 2:00 p.m. in Lecture Hall G at Paderborn University.

We are looking forward to your participation!

27.05.2022
The employees of KET are very pleased to present the competence center as part of the UPB community booth at the Hannover Messe next week. The focus will be on the initiative "New Mobility Paderborn" (NeMo), which is looking for possibilities for flexible, resource-saving ánd connected passenger and freight transport systems. For more information on the university's appearance at the Hannover Messe, please see the press release. 
As an exhibitor, KET is entitled to a contingent of free trade visitor tickets, which we will be happy to provide you with.

10.09.2021
During a visit of the president of the Federal Environment Agency in September, our board took the opportunity to present the topics of KET and to discuss future issues of energy policy. Furthermore, interesting insights into the work of the UBA could be gained and possibilities for cooperation were examined.

21.05.2021
The official kick-off of the PV-2-Heat to Mongolia project recently took place in May. The overall objective of the project, which is being pursued jointly by German and Mongolian partners, is the development of a heating system suitable for the harsh conditions of Mongolia that converts regenerative energy generated by means of photovoltaics (PV) into heat (H). In addition, the foundations will be established to enable the Mongolian government to carry out a large-scale rollout of the system and thus to provide the population with a sustainable supply of electricity and heat via RE-2-Heat systems. Furthermore, the project aims to enable the transfer of know-how on topics like conversion or storage of renewable energy as well as sector coupling via international cooperation in a research alliance of universities and companies, and to establish and deepen partnerships on an academic and corporate level.

21.04.2020
The Press and Communication Office published a news article on the university’s home page about our participation in the project “RENBuild”, which started in January this year. Goal of the project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economy Affairs and Energy for a duration of four years is the development and monitoring of an overall system for the combined regenerative supply of buildings with heat, cold, electricity and fresh air.

We are excited about the university’s interest in our research topics and would like to share the article here (in German).

13.02.2020
On February 12th, KET management board member Matti Grabo (FVT) visited ZAE Bayern in Würzburg to take part in the kick-off meeting of the project RENBuild. With the project partners from industry (PA-ID, Neuberger, Ratiotherm, Hölscher, Renz, Hanse Haus and ESDA) and academia (Responsible Manager Jülich, ZAE Bayern) the development and monitoring of an overall system for the combined regenerative supply of buildings with heat, cold, electricity and fresh air were discussed. Matti Grabo presented the KET and its tasks in the project, which officially started on January 1st, 2020 and is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) with up to € 235,000 for a four-year duration.

04.12.2019
On December 2nd, the kick-off event for the “Microgrid Laboratory” project took place at Paderborn University. The Department of Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (LEA) and KET in cooperation with Energie Impuls OWL invited participants from industry, research and politics to the lecture hall L. Project goals and opportunities for participation were presented. The participants also discussed the potential that the Microgrid Laboratory offers for intelligent energy systems of the future.

Under the leadership of the LEA department, KET develops the infrastructure which can be used to simulate the behavior of battery storage, wind turbines or combined heat and power plants in the laboratory. The Microgrid Laboratory in Paderborn creates a platform for future research and development projects to test and verify new innovative concepts under realistic conditions. This also strengthens the competitive position of the local industry.

05.10.2019
The profile of KET will be sharpened with a junior professorship initiated and co-funded by WestfalenWIND GmbH. The focus of the new professorship will be on energy system technology, which addresses the integration of renewable energies into existing energy networks and the coupling of the electricity, heat and mobility sectors. The corresponding appointment procedure will be finished soon. WestfalenWIND will grant € 70,000 per year to set up and finance the new professorship, which will be incorporated into the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics. The remaining funding is provided by Paderborn Unversity.

22.10.2018
KET successfully applied for the 4th round of the EFRE.NRW funding competition "Research Infrastructures". Under the leadership of the Department of Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (LEA), the concept "Microgrid Laboratory - Energy Infrastructure of the Future" was submitted in spring this year and has recently been suggested for the final project proposal submission. Six concepts were selected from a total of 21 applications, while KET's Microgrid Laboratory obtained a large part of the total € 15 million budget,with a project volume of around € 4 million and a funding sum of € 3.5 million. After submission of the formal documents, the three-year project is expected to start in spring 2019.

24.10.2017
KET was awarded for two projects at KlimaExpo.NRW, thus making a critical contribution to the energy transition in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Chair of Thermodynamics and Energy Technology (ThEt) of Prof. Vrabec achieved the reduction of the energy consumption of household refrigerators by up to 17 percent with the project "Efficient Refrigerators" using latent heat and cold storage based on integrated phase-change materials (PCM). The project "Power to Heat OWL", which was carried out by the Department of Power Electronics and Electric Drive Technology (LEA) by Prof. Böcker, successfully demonstrated that the intelligent control of heating systems can adapt the electricity consumption to the fluctuating electricity production from renewable energies and thus reliving the electricity grids. KlimaExpo.NRW is an initiative of the NRW state government and awards positive examples of climate protection in North Rhine-Westphalia until 2022.

17.10.2017
In cooperation with ESDA Technologie GmbH, the project MoLaWS - "Development of a modular heat storage system using high-capacity, innovative latent heat storage elements " has been successfully started with a kick-off meeting at Paderborn University. The aim is to develop a new, modular, air-guided heat storage system consisting of innovative low-pressure-loss and cascadable high-performance latent heat storage elements. The aim is to adapt the heating and cooling supply to the current demand and to minimize the cost-intensive consumption of electricity and fossil fuels. The focus of KET is on the modeling and CFD-based investigation of the heat transfer processes induced by the phase change as well as on the design of the heat storage elements in regards to optimal heat transfer. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) as part of the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) with €188,690.

01.07.2016
KET has started the €535,000 funded project “SoLifE”
In cooperation with Solarword AG and ESDA Technologie GmbH, KET started a project aimed at increasing the lifetime of PV-modules. Within the next three years, the practical integration of phase-change materials into the next generation of PV-modules will be investigated under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Stefan Krauter. The main factors contributing to the degradation of the modules can be limited using targeted cooling and temperature stabilization of the solar cells. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) supports this project by contributing €535,000.
 

KET discussed the topic of energy storages with representatives from research, industry, and parliament and presented ongoing projects; for example “Intelligent Domestic Appliances as Virtual Large-Scale Consumers.”