Research collaboration with China to strengthen Danish innovations within wind

7 October 2016

DTU Electro has recently started a cooperation with scientists and energy companies in China to increase the share of wind energy in the power grid and utilize excess electricity, gas and heat. The project EPIMES will over the next three years, with the support of the Danish Innovation Fund, enable more wind energy in the Danish and Chinese power grid.

The CEO of Research and technology, Jørgen S. Christensen from the Danish Energy Association is pleased with the opportunity for DTU.
China is an engine for the development for energy technology, so it is positive that DTU has started a closer cooperation with Chinese researchers and practitioners, he says.

Many turbines, low voltage
China is expanding their capacity of wind turbines. In 2015, 30,000 MW of new wind capacity was erected, which means that China is now the world's largest wind power country. But because of a small number of high voltage power lines and market regulations that favour coal-driven power plants, the wind turbines are standing still, even when it is windy; all though wind turbines provide CO2-free electricity.

For several years, Denmark and China, under the auspices of VE-center CNREC in Beijing, have worked together to find solutions to these challenges. The new project is adding new layers to this cooperation, which include DTU Electro, the elite Chinese Tsinghua University, CNREC, and several major Chinese energy companies.
Henrik Bindner, a researcher at DTU Electro and project leader for the Danish part of EPIMES, sees great potential in the cooperation:

If the project manages to convert 30 percent of China's energy production to wind energy in 2030, it will save the planet 1.1 gigatonnes of CO2 per year. This is equivalent to three percent of the world's total CO2 emissions in 2014, he says, and points out that the cooperation gives DTU a unique opportunity to test their models in a much larger scale:

- We expect to get much better insight into several tools for how we can reshape and store wind energy, gas and heat in Denmark, says Henrik Bindner.

Multi-mindset
Jørgen S. Christensen also believes that cooperation with the Chinese can be beneficial for Danish energy.

- We have a very well-functioning power grid for electrical outlets 99.99 percent of the time. The coverage of electricity from wind turbines in the power system will soon exceed 50 percent, so we need to have more experience with demand response, and we must become better at thinking across electricity, heating, water / waste water and transport, he says.

The idea of controlling the interaction between the main gas system and the heating system in difficult conditions to achieve an effective "multi energy", is an important part of the project for DTU Electro.

The incentive for innovation
The Chinese effort consists of the examination of how individual components such asheat pumps and fuel cells can be controlled so that the transformation of gas and heat becomes effective. The Chinese will also build prototypes for gas and heating systems - and demonstrate results from these models.

- It is rare, that we can get tested solutions in reality. Thus, we find out how good our models are in practice, how close we are to be able to store wind energy, gas and heat in Denmark and how we do it best, says Henrik Bindner.

Jørgen S. Christensen from the Danish Energy Association, who is working with DTU, among others under the auspices of the EcoGrid 2.0 project, finds it exciting that the

Danish experience with wind power will be shared in other parts of the world. He states that there is much to work on in Denmark, where Denmark must remain focused:

- I hope that the future regulations of the electricity grid companies and other utility sectors will be stronger incentives for innovation than in the current regulations, says Jørgen S. Christensen.