Our aims
The future lies in clean, affordable and secure energy supply, capable to live in symbiosis with zero-pollution and toxic-free environment. Sustainable energy platform targets exactly these goals which inherently call for innovative solutions for efficient fostering of renewable energy sources, higher energy efficiency and interoperable energy systems, all with minimal LCA footprint and environmentally invisible operation. The platform supports these complex challenges in all key stages of development process and in all three major steps of energy lifecycle. Our expertise if thus focused on energy production with minimal environmental footprint, on stable and secure energy distribution and storage to achieve decentralized energy systems and on smart and adaptable energy utilization across all sectors of society. All three pillars of the platform are closely intertwined and continuously generate innovative solutions for large-scale and niche applications.
Our expertise
We are pushing the boundaries in processes for sustainable energy production with large share of renewables, where we focus on emerging technologies of nuclear fusion with plasma facing components, topped with solid state energy harvesting and solar thermal as well as solar PVT systems. On established technologies, we develop environmentally invisible advanced combustion concepts using low-carbon renewable fuels, advanced flexible hydropower systems and polygeneration systems combined with thermo-chemical conversion processes for smart energy carrier production. Our expertise stretches from experimental development to deployment of real-time digital tools across the entire TRL scale, which we simultaneously evaluate with Life cycle and cost analyses.
To establish resilient multi-energy systems we intertwine the processes of energy generation with development, optimization and planning of heating, cooling and gas networks with high share of renewables, intertwined with hydrogen and poly-generation concepts. Digitalization of energy systems is supported by machine-learning based forecasting solutions and SoX observers and conceptualization of thermal management. To enable their uninterrupted and efficient functioning, we develop mechanistic models for batteries as well as concepts and digital twins for hot and cold hydraulic energy storage systems which are capable to support high seasonal and diurnal variations, regardless of their temperature levels and applications.
When it comes to energy use, our focus is on zero-energy and energy-positive sustainable buildings with smart technologies and devices and energy efficient structures and heating options. These are supported by novel thermal management technologies, where we develop heat recovery systems with low environmental impact, active and systems for passive and active thermal management of all relevant electro-chemical technologies, supported by physically consistent models of all relevant heat generating devices, including batteries and electronics. Beyond sustainable buildings, energy intensive processes are high on our agenda, where we pursue defossilization with substantial inclusion of renewables. Here, we are not forgetting on the circularity, where we design and implement thermo-chemical processes for energy recovery from waste streams with focus recovery of secondary raw materials to be ready for deployment in sustainable cities of the future.
Interested?
We can help you to solve your challenges. Contas us at nas rr@fs.uni-lj.si.