http://newenergy.tuwien.ac.at #004 / 04 - 2014 newenergy@tuwien.ac.at

REN NEWS | Page 1

Special Offer for Alumni: Country Module „Turkey“ - June 19-22, 2014 Istanbul & Izmir

msc renewable energy

The international orientation of the program is reflected not only in the curriculum, but also in the cross-border cooperation with universities and organizations of other countries in the scope of country modules. Tailor-made country modules are offered to gain in-depth knowledge on energy markets in CEE.

In June 2014 the country module in Turkey will be offered for the very first time. As with all country modules so far, country specific

lectures will include a market overview, legal issues, and promotion schemes. Experts report on how they experienced implementing renewable energy projects there. This country module takes four days, including two days with excursions.

As Turkey is an emerging market, this country module will definitely be very interesting. The lectures start in Istanbul on June 19, in the morning. So it´s recommended to arrive on the day before. On the way down from Istanbul to Izmir on the second and the third day, you´ll see a biogas plant, PV- and wind parks, a small hydro power plant and a large geothermal plant. Lectures on the last day in Izmir complete

the program.For alumni it is possible to attend this new country module to a special alumni price, including the seminar fee, lecture notes (as PDF), refreshments during breaks, and two days excursion. Travel expenses, cost of room and board remain at the participants’ own expense.

If you are interested in the new country module “Turkey”, please register until April 30, 2014, the latest: newenergy(at)tuwien.ac.at.

Detailed information (time schedule, hotels with special rates etc.) will be sent to you upon registration. Please don´t forget to take care of your visa.

Career SpotlightGet to know the graduates of the MSc!

Career Spotlight:DI (FH) Franz Mühlbacher, MSc (Frequentis AG), Alumni Class 2008-2010s

Why did you choose for the master course at the Vienna University of Technology?

A very intensive and stressful phase in my professional life was the crucial factor which induced me to reconsider my lifestyle and my dealing with resources (also personal resources). One can say safely, that I have asked myself a kind of question of meaning. At the time I was already interested in the topic of renewable energy and besides it was in the media often, which is still the case. Then I discovered the master course about a newspaper advertisement and I did not think it over for a long time. Even though there were hardly overlaps with my immediate professional tasks which has not changed up till now in fact. But I thought it was an appropriate perspective to advance myself. So I started in autumn 2008.

How was the REN master course crucial for your professional development?

As said, I cannot really use the acquired knowledge in my professional life. At least I have the possibility to bring in some ideas in a consulting function, because I am member of the internal environmental board, to influence my company to act resource-conserving as possible. My direct professional environ-ment reacted also positively to my further education. However it is definitely my aim to work in the field of renewable energy in the medium term. This Septem-ber I successfully completed the “energy efficiency consultant course”. It was a good possibil-ity to refresh and advance my knowledge.

What advices would you want to give to new prospective students for the master course - what you should they know?

My main message: If you are interested in renewable energy – SUBSCRIBE, APPLY, DO IT.The study has a broad spectrum of subjects and covers nearly all issues of renewable energies. But it is clear that you cannot convey each topic up to the last details. If you like to drill into certain details then just get in contact with the lectors and ask, ask, ask…there is an open culture of discussion in the master course. Students are welcome if they are looking for special information. In general you will meet very interesting lectors as well as students / colleagues. In addition, working with like-minded persons makes the study very recommendable.

How has the REN master course changed your lifestyle?

Well, I try if possible to get by avoiding the use of a car. In town, I usually use public transport or use my bike. Currently, I am actually wonder-ing if I really need that much living space (which also means energy). A book which I am currently reading motivates me to think this way. The energy efficiency consultant course induced me to observe my electricity consumption with a measurement device. That way I tried to identify the main energy consuming appliances in my apartment. “Self – awareness” is an important step to optimize or cut down your own energy consumption. Regarding consumer products I am looking for regional goods to lower the share of products from Far East which is sometimes very difficult – especially with textiles.

What was your funniest experience during your REN study time?

After a visitation of a ship–mill in Mureck (Styria) the claim “Welcome to Mureck” became a running gag in our course. The owner of the ship-mill – a down to earth Styrian in his 80es – welcomed our group verbosely. Because he did not speak English one of our colleagues translated simultaneously. The wordy welcome was condensed to a short “Welcome to Mureck”. In addition, the guy´s wording was not always “political correct”, which was also filtered very skilfully by our colleague.Another experience is also still in my mind. During one of the intensive week modules in Bruck /Leitha I had an inspiring talk with Prof. Hofbauer of TU Vienna. My colleagues left me somehow alone for lunch and so I got the chance to discuss informally with Prof. Hofbauer about combustion engineering and cockle stoves.

Which book do you read currently?

Niko Paech: „Befreiung vom Überfluss“ / „Liberation from Excess“ and„Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften jenseits von Innovationsorien-tierung und Wachstum“ / „Sustainable economic activities beyond innovation and growth“ (This is the scientific basis for the theory of post-growth economy).

(Interview dtd. October 31. 2013)

These and other basic questions regarding wind energy were answered during the lessons of Module 4, at a weekend in Bruck / Leitha. In three days the students got an interesting in depth look in wind energy and “state of the art – technologies”.At the last day the students visited several construction sites of wind parks in the Brucker Becken, Lower Austria and Parndorfer Platte, Burgenland. From final assembling and test runs of a wind turbine generator to infrastructural construction activities for the wind park -

different phases in the construction process could have been observed.

Even the weather was competing with the lecturer to present the power of wind, by coming up with wind speeds of up to 20 m/s. So the visit of the wind turbine generator platform in Bruck / Leitha had to be postponed unfortunately.

Where does the wind come from?March 2014, Module 4 Wind, Class 2013-2015

Nevertheless, after that impressive look behind the scenes the message was received: Wind energy will serve as one cornerstone and a driving force for the application of a world energy system, which is driven by renewable energies to substitute fossil and nuclear sources.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES:

10 % Early Bird Bonus for applicationsuntil April 30, 2014

TU Vienna and Energiepark Bruck/Leitha award seven scholarships to the outstand-ing MSc Program "Renewable Energy in Central & Eastern Europe": 3 Scholarships for NGOs/NPOs (from CEE/SEE with Emerging Markets) and 4 scholarships for participants from Turkey.The NGO/NPO scholarships in the amount of EUR 6,500 each will be awarded to participants working at an NGO/NPO. In the case of

more than three applications, applicants from the below listed CEE/SEE countries with emerging markets will be preferred: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Ukraine. AApplication deadline: May 31, 2014.

The „Turkey“ scholarships in the amount of EUR 5,000 each are exclusively addressed to Turkish applicants with residence in Turkey. Application deadline: April 30, 2014.Detailed information: http://newenergy.tuwien.ac.at/admission/fees_financing/scholarships/

SCHOLARSHIPS 2014

Republic,

Hydrogen and the fuel Cell

Energy from renewable sources, energy efficiency and energy storage are three terms that, so one could say, form a triangle and are interdepen-dent factors. One such path could be the combination of a photovoltaic installation, an electrolyser, a fuel cell and the hydrogen storage. Another path could be employing a wind park as the primary energy source. The electroly-ser produces the hydrogen, and the fuel cell uses it.

The fuel cell, invented in 1839, shares the concept of a battery, however receives the reactants, which can be, for example, hydrogen and oxygen, by continuous supply. While the oxygen can be readily obtained from the atmosphere, the hydrogen, however, needs to be

produced first. One method of production is to apply electrolysis to water molecules, for which the electricity should be derived from renewable primary sources, and, yet in turn, only the excess energy of that source, i.e. which is not directly used, should be applied, rather than extracting the hydrogen from hydrocar-bons; the latter still being the dominant technology to date. As with any gas, safety measures and security issues are of the essence, also, and especially, in the application of hydrogen.

The products resulting from the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen inside a fuel cell are energy, heat and water. This is possible because hydrogen stores the energy which had been put into the water previously to split the molecules. Naturally, energy cannot be created. Therefore, more energy had to be put in to produce the hydrogen first, than can be gained from resp. reused at later stage when the

hydrogen reacts with the oxygen; inside the fuel cell.

Fuel cells have recently reappeared in the media in the context of mobility. However, they have been used a.o. in space missions, for power supply to telephone masts where there is no power grid, as well as in industrial applications. They are a logical step in the frame of the visionary hydrogen economy, which according to some sources, is still a long way ahead. Apart from the economic aspect, the energetic and ecological aspects of the hydrogen and fuel cell technology are seen as a rather efficient method of converting secondary energy carriers to do useful work. The challenge clearly lies in affordable prices or in alternative financing solutions.

The attached image is a self-portrait of the author [mortimer.schulz@a1.net] showing a fuel cell manufac-tured by the Upper Austrian company Fronius.

We are pleased to announce this year´s Alumni Energy Tour! Don´t miss the possibil-ity to see your courses - colleagues again and to meet the REN-people from other course and the faculty.It will be a day “in the sign of water.” Join us!

by Univ.Prof Dr. Reinhard Haas

In the last newsletter I have presented the issue of price formation in electricity markets. The conclusion was that in the future spot markets for electricity either have to accept temporarily higher market prices or capacity payments have to be implemented. This analysis was mainly presented from the generation point-of-view. I am clearly in favour of the

market solution with temporarily higher prices, because this allows further learning at the consumers side and they can at least partly adapt to these new price pattern. In the following I argue that most important for integrating higher shares of intermittent renewables in the future is to establish an electricity system with high flexibility. In this context a market-based approach – contrary to a central planning one – is the core element of such a system.A market-based approach will further-on consider all options on the supply-side and the demand-side. There are much more dimensions than just generation for bringing about

Integrating all options to ensure future electricity supplyEnergiewende Part 3

an equilibrium in electricity supply. The most important ones are, see Fig. 1:• Demand –side manage-ment (technical): Measures conducted by utilities like cycling, control of demand, e.g. of cooling systems) • Demand response due to price signals: Response of mainly large customers to price changes • Transmission grid extention:If the grid is extended there is in principle always more capacity available in the system and the volatility of RES a well as demand evens out.• Smart grids: They allow variations in frequency (upwards and downwards

http://newenergy.tuwien.ac.at #004 / 04 - 2014 newenergy@tuwien.ac.at

REN NEWS | Page 2

msc renewable energyUsing the excess photovoltaic or wind energy to supply the power necessary for water electrolysis and store the resulting hydrogen as a secondary energy carrier.

Energy Tour 2014 - SAT, June 14th, 2014“Let´s go to Bratislava – a day on the Danube”

09:00 Departure Twin City Liner to Bratislava10:15 Arrival in Bratislava

- Come together with our Slovak friends - Sightseeing in Bratislava Centre

14:00 Departure Boattrip to Čunovo14:45 Arrival in Čunovo

- Visit of the small hydro plant Čunovo(which is part of the large hydro plant Gabčíkovo)- “Feel the power of water” -> There is an offer for a short Rafting-Trip for the “brave” RENs right there.

16:30 Departure back to Bratislava Centre17:45 Arrival in Bratislava Centre

18:15 Dinner in Bratislava CentreCEC TU Wien & Energiepark Bruck/Leithaare pleased to invite you for the dinner!

22:30 Departure Twin City Liner back to Vienna00:00 Arrival in Vienna

Contact & Registration: n.koller@energiepark.at

We kindly ask for a quick reply (especially from those, who will start in Vienna), that we can book the tickets for the Twin City Liner as soon as possible!

regulation) and switch of voltage levels and contribute in this context to a load balancing.• Storages: Short-term and long-term storages – batteries, hydro storages, or chemical storages like hydrogen or methane – can help to balance significant volatilities of RES generati

The core problem is that so far the demand-side has been fully neglected with respect to contributing to an equilibrium of demand and supply in an electricity market. No culture of integration of demand has so far been developed. The major reason for this is that in times of regulated monopolies every demand could be met

due to significant excess capacities. And still in the liberalized markets a huge excess capacities remained. This aspect – to develop the impact of demand-side and customers WTP – is essentially for a real electricity

market and it is actually regardless of the aspect of an integration of larger shares of RES. (to be continued in the next newsletter with more focus on how to meet residual load in bottleneck situations)