Main Topics
The primary mission of research at E.ON ERC is to develop a comprehensive understanding on how a sustainable energy supply can be realized, in particular in the urban environment. It is our vision that this can be achieved by reducing energy consumption, while maintaining and even increasing the standard of living and by using environmentally friendly energy sources. Research in the area of a sustainable energy supply is complex and has many facets. It covers materials science, components development, system engineering and a deep understanding of all social, environmental and economic aspects needed to develop sustainable energy markets. The four E.ON ERC institutes bring together competences and expertise which can be categorized in four main research trusts, i.e. flexible grids and storage systems, energy efficient buildings and city quarters, renewable heat and power plants, as well as energy markets and policies.
Specific competencies of the E.ON ERC institutes:
ACS I Institute for Automation of Complex Power System
- Distributed monitoring and control of power grids
- Future Power Grids as Cyber-physical Infrastructures
- Electrical power distribution and usage in home, neighborhood and urban energy systems
- ICT solutions for advanced energy services
- Advanced simulation methods based on High Performance Computing approaches
- Real time simulation and Hardware in the Loop testing
EBC I Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate
- Building Automation
- Building Energy Systems
- Holistic Building Design and Management
- HVAC systems
- User Behaviour & Comfort
- Urban Energy Systems
FCN I Institute for Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior
- Energy economics, -management and -policy
- Needs and behavior of energy consumers, prosumers; structural change
- Economics of innovation and technical change (esp. technology adoption, -diffusion, and -transfer)
- Energy investment and financing under uncertainty, spatial aspects
- Risk analysis, risk management, portfolio optimization in the energy sector
- Quantitative modeling and analysis/ empirical and experimental research in economics
GGE I Institute for Applied Geophysics and Geothermal Energy
- Geothermal heating and cooling systems
- Geothermal energy usage
- Geological CO2 storage
- Petrophysics
- Borehole geophysics
- Reservoir simulations
PGS I Institute for Power Generation and Storage Systems
- Power electronic converters including DC converters, power converter control technology
- DC technology for Smart Grids, medium-voltage distribution grids, offshore wind parks
- High-power semiconductor devices, packaging and design of semiconductors
- High-power drive systems, control of high-speed electric motors and generators
- Decentralized generators, CHP and renewables (PV, Wind)
- Electrochemical storage systems for grid applications
- Analysis of components and modeling for a sustainable energy supply