Research

The joint research topic in LiFE 2050 is the transformation of the energy system from an energy supply based on fossil and nuclear fuels to a sustainable and reliable energy supply by the year 2050.

The joint research topic in LiFE 2050 is the transformation of the energy system from an energy supply based on fossil and nuclear fuels to a sustainable and reliable energy supply by the year 2050.

In the transformation, it is not only the regenerative energy sources, the conversion processes affecting them into usable forms of energy such as electricity, the materials required for this, and the technical implementation into reliable plant and system solutions that play a role. Just as important is the integration into a sustainable, resilient and robust electrical energy supply system. In contrast to today, this energy supply system must also play a major role in supplying energy for mobility. Due to the highly volatile availability of renewable energies such as wind and solar, balancing the gap between the current supply and demand for energy cannot be solved without thermal power plants, even in the long term. This applies regardless of whether these power plants are fed with fossil fuels, as in the past, or in the future with synthetic energy sources generated, for example, by electrolysis and appropriate post-treatment. Such thermal power plants are increasingly used dynamically and decentrally in load-following operation, so that the thermal alternating loads and thus the material fatigue increase massively. 

In addition, the question arises of how to store energy as efficiently as possible. From today's perspective, solutions based on synthetic gases are promising, but they are not the only option. Research in LiFE 2050 is characterized by the tension between cost-effective utilization of renewable energies and the highest possible reliability of components and systems, as well as of the entire energy supply system. In this context, essential questions result from the new quality of the dynamic requirements on the plants and on the overall system. Reliability is also determined to a large extent by dynamic processes. On the one hand, this applies to alternating loads that lead to material fatigue, the magnitude of which is partly determined by dynamic interactions between different components of the mechanical/electrical energy system. On the other hand, dynamic or transient processes often lead to strong short-term overloads, which cannot always be accurately predicted today due to the lack of suitable tools.