Sector Coupling
About
The scientific work of the Reserach Group Sector Coupling team focuses on the modeling, analysis and evaluation of infrastructures for the transport of electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, heat and other final energy sources. The integrated consideration of infrastructures requires modeling with a high spatial and temporal resolution for the respective energy sources and their coupling options. By modeling the energy exchange between regions, taking into account existing, new or converted infrastructures, important results can be obtained regarding their transformation and integrated grid planning with a view to greenhouse gas neutrality. The portfolio of models will be expanded to include detailed models of electrical transmission grids, natural gas and hydrogen transportation grids and heating grids.
Research Topics
The requirements for energy transport and energy storage infrastructure are changing with the increasing integration of renewable energies into the energy system. Reasons for this include, for example, the failure to feed in renewable energies in line with demand on the electricity side or the possible switch to hydrogen on the gas side. The following questions, for example, need to be answered in order to derive requirements: What kind of infrastructure do we need in the energy system of the future? What will it look like at best? And what contribution can the existing infrastructure actually make?
With the ETHOS model suite, our team has a comprehensive range of tools and models at its disposal to answer the above questions at the transmission level for the energy sources electricity, gas, hydrogen and heat. This includes cross-sector infrastructure analysis with the ETHOS.Infrastructure model and the simulation of energy transport with the EUROPOWER and GFopt models. The basis of our team's expertise is an extensive collection of data for parameterizing the models.
Team Members
Research Fields
Our analyses were used, for example, in the scientific study accompanying the Hydrogen Roadmap NRW and can also be used to generate comprehensive scenario analyses in collaboration with the Integrated Transformation Strategies team. One successful example is the study „Wege für die Energiewende“. Our clients and project partners are diverse; in addition to the public sector and scientific institutions, these include in particular grid operators, energy suppliers, industrial companies, component developers and engineering firms. Through intensive cooperation with other research groups, we are excellently positioned in terms of depth and breadth. Please feel free to contact us.
Integrated Network planning
Our ETHOS model suite allows us to consider the energy infrastructures for electricity, gas, hydrogen and heat not only in great detail individually, but also across sectors and in an integrated manner. FINE.Infrastructure allows the model-based design of infrastructure components across several hundred regions and all relevant energy sources with high temporal resolution. The model covers a regionally specified demand for electricity, gas, hydrogen and district heating through cost-optimized design and operation of the energy infrastructure and energy generation plants. The model is based on the open model generator ETHOS.FINE . In addition, acceleration methods developed at the institute, including for complexity reduction, as well as our extensive computing capacities are used to gain particularly detailed insights into integrated network planning through high-resolution modeling.
Electricty Grids
The EUROPOWER model enables the detailed load flow calculation of the European electricity transmission grid for studies from the present to the scenario-based consideration of the year 2050 and, if required, beyond. In addition to grid utilization, the results also include the temporally and spatially high-resolution curtailment requirements of renewable energies due to grid bottlenecks, the use of generation and storage facilities and load shifting options. It is also possible to determine zone and node prices.
Gas and Hydrogen Grids
To go more in details, we developed a gas flow model for gaseous energy transportation. GFopt offers the possibility of realistically calculating the load flow in the German gas transportation network, explicitly taking pressure loss into account. In addition to the pipelines of the gas network, the model also includes compressor and pressure control stations. The investigations provide comprehensive results on network utilization, gas flows, operating pressures and flow velocities for network use cases that can be generated flexibly; in addition to natural gas, this also applies to hydrogen as an energy source. In this way, statements can be made about the consequences of switching gas networks from natural gas to hydrogen and in-depth knowledge about changes in network operation can be gained. Our modeling approach is flexible enough to examine in detail not only (inter-)national but also (supra-)regional and even local gas transport systems on a multi-scale basis.
Last Modified: 19.05.2025