Partner No 2: AIT

Partner No 2: AIT

The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria's largest non-university research organization with more than 1000 employees is taking a leading position in the Austrian innovation system in the areas of Energy, Mobility, Health & Environment as well as Safety & Security. The Energy Department favours a holistic approach to the environmentally friendly electricity supply, heating and climate control of the buildings and cities of tomorrow. Using sophisticated measurement technology and innovative simulation tools, its interdisciplinary 150 full-time researchers combine decentralised energy producers, efficient distribution networks and smart buildings with efficient heating and cooling technologies to form a single, sustainable energy system. AIT Energy has more than 20 years of experience in managing and participating in large-scale national and international R&D projects.

For the project at hand AIT brings significant knowledge in modelling and simulation of thermal and electric storage systems as well as co-simulation approaches into the consortium. Much of the Know-How is based on and supplemented by the active development and analysis of heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, thermal storages, electrochemical storage systems and power electronics on both component and system level. With that AIT is giving visible added value to the project, since it offers expertise in all engineering domains relevant for hybrid thermal-electrical energy systems both on the component as well as the system level.

Johannes Kathan

Johannes Kathan, MSc. Engineer at the AIT Energy Department received his BSc. in Energy and Environmental Management, specializing in electric energy systems in 2009, from the University of Applied Sciences Pinkafeld, Austria. Since 2009 he works as researcher at the Business Unit for Electric Energy Systems at AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) and his master-degree in urban renewable energy systems at the University of Applied Sciences FH-Technikum Vienna. He is actively involved in several R&D projects in the field of the integration electrical storage systems into the distribution system and their applications. He is currently active in the European Energy Research Alliance in the Joint Programme on Smart Grids.
Dr. Edmund Widl

Dr. Edmund Widl, senior scientist at the AIT Energy Department received an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from the Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, in 2004 and 2008 respectively. From 2003 to 2011 he worked for the Institute of High Energy Physics (HEPHY), Vienna, Austria, on several projects for the CMS Collaboration, one of the particle physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. In 2011 he joined the Complex Energy Systems group of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), where he works on topics related to the modelling and simulation of cyber-physical multi-domain energy systems. A special focus in his work is the analysis and design of hybrid thermal-electrical energy systems.
DI Sawsan Henein

DI Sawsan Henein, scientist at the AIT Energy Department studied from 2002 to 2008 Electrical Engineering with specialization in electrical power and drives at the University of Vienna. From 1992 to 1997 she studied Electrical Engineering with specialization in electrical power and machines at the University of El–Mansoura, Egypt. From 1998 to 2001 she worked as a research assistant and lab assistant at Technical University of El-Mansoura (Egypt). Since 2009 she has been working as researcher at the Austrian Institute of Technology, Energy Department. She has experience in reliability assessment of electrical power networks, network simulations and optimisation. Her main research interests are reliability assessment, simulation, and control methods for electrical distribution networks with high penetration of distributed generation.
Daniele Basciotti

Daniele Basciotti is working at AIT in the Scientist position since 2008. Daniele holds a BSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli as well as a MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the University degli Studi di Pisa, Italy. He has specialised in the fields of district heating system simulation and optimisation with a focus on modelling of district heating grids and heat and power generation plants. As project team member he is currently involved in national and international district heating research projects, among others within the FP7 OrPHEuS project in charge of the development of a multi-domain simulation environment for the analysis of advanced plant control strategies applied to hybrid grids (thermal, gas and electricity).
Benedikt Pesendorfer

Benedikt Pesendorfer received a M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Technology Vienna and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Vienna. In 2016 he joined the Complex Energy Systems group of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), where he works on topics related to the modeling and simulation of multi-domain energy systems. A special interest in this context, is the integration of energy intensive industry into hybrid thermal-electrical distribution networks.

The AIT SmartEST laboratory infrastructure offers an environment for testing, verification and R&D in the field of large scale distributed energy system integration and Smart Grids applications. The infrastructure accommodates distributed energy resource (DER) components as inverters, storage systems, CHP units, voltage regulators/controllers, and other types of related electrical equipment.  Powerful controllable AC and DC sources allow full-power testing capability up to 1 MVA (AC), including a high-performance PV Array (DC) Simulation and bidirectional source/sink for battery emulation. Additional equipment for simulating control and communication interfaces and the possibility of operating the equipment under defined (extreme) temperature/humidity conditions offer extended testing capabilities.

Advanced power system experiment and verification methods available at the lab include real-time (RT) P-HIL simulation combining close-to-reality hardware system tests with the advantages of numerical simulation to allow for the integration of battery models into the laboratory analysis. By means of a controllable AC voltage source distribution network models can be coupled to the real components to develop, validate and evaluate control algorithms, system concepts and components for Smart Grid applications.

The laboratory setup is supplemented with extensive infrastructure for simulation-based analysis and design of electrical systems. Apart from access to state-of-the-art simulation tools for electrical energy systems (and other related engineering domains) the SmartEST lab provides a high performance computer cluster for advanced simulation studies. This allows the study of integrated energy concepts at the system level, while at the same time giving the possibility to analyse such approaches with a high level of technical detail.

The following infrastructure is available in the SmartEST lab:

  • Grid simulation (3 independent laboratory grids; 2 independent high bandwidth grid simulators - 0-480 V, 800 kVA; 3-phase balance or unbalanced operation; LVRT/FRT testing possibilities)
  • Line impedance emulation (adjustable line impedances for various LV network topologies: meshed, radial or ring network configuration)
  • Adjustable loads for active and reactive power (freely adjustable RLC loads up to 1 MW, 1 MVAr - capacitive and inductive behaviour; individual control possibilities)
  • Environmental simulation (test chamber for performance and accelerated lifetime testing)
  • DC sources (5 independent dynamic PV array simulators: 1500 V, 1500 A, 960 kVA)
  • DAQ and measurement (multiple high precision power analysers with high acquisition rate; simultaneous sampling of asynchronous multi-domain data input)
  • Multicore Opal-RT Real-Time Simulator (i.e., eMegaSim)
  • Typhoon HIL Real-Time HIL Simulator
  • Mathworks xPC-Target Simulator
  • P-HIL and C-HIL experiments at full power in a closed control loop
  • General simulation tools: Dymola, Matlab/Simulink, SimPowerSystems, PSpice/Cadence
  • Network simulation tools: DigSILENT PowerFactory, NEPLAN, PSAT
  • Communication network simulator: Omnet++
  • High-performance simulation cluster for complex and large-scale system simulations
  • SCADA and automations system (highly customizable laboratory automation system, remote control possibilities of laboratory components, visualization and monitoring)
  • Distributed control approaches: IEC 61499/4DIAC
  • Communication methods: IEC 61850, OPC/OPC-UA, Industrial Ethernet (e.g., Ethernet POWERLINK, Modbus/TCP)
  • Planning approaches and methods, interoperability and compatibility, integration: IEC 61970/61968 (CIM)
  • Network information system
  • Cyber-security assessment methods and tools for Smart Grid systems and components
  • T. Strasser, F. Andren, J. Kathan, C. Cecati, C. Buccella, P Siano, P Leitao, G. Zhabelova, V. Vyatkin, P Vrba, V. Marik: "A Review of Architectures and Concepts for Intelligence in Future Electric Energy Systems"; IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Volume 62 (2015), Issue 4; S. 2424 - 2438.
  • C. Seitl, J. Kathan, G. Lauss, F. Lehfuss: "Selection and Implementation of a Generic Battery Model for PHIL Applications"; Presentation: 39th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON 2013), Wien; 10.11.2013 - 13.11.2013; in: "Proceedings of the IECON 2013", IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, CFP13IEC-USB (2013), ISBN: 978-1-4799-0223-1; S. 5410 - 5415.
  • T. Barz, C. Zauner, D. Lager, F. Hengstberger: "Modelling with experimental validation of a latent heat thermal energy storage for industrial high temperature applications"; Presentation: 10th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, Nizza; 27.09.2015 - 01.10.2015.
  • K. Resch, A. Klutz, F. Hengstberger: "Novel latent heat storages for solar thermal applications"; Presentation: SHC 2013 - International Conference in Solar Heating and Cooling for Building and Industry, Freiburg; 23.09.2013 - 25.09.2013.
  • C. Zauner, F. Stift, M. Hartl, T. Themessl, S. Manglberger, A. Simetzberger: "Energy Labeling and Advanced Insulation for Thermal Energy Storages in Solar Applications"; Energy Procedia, Volume 57, 2013 ISES Solar World Congress (2014), S. 2352 - 2359.
  • H. Brunner, S. Henein, D. Basciotti, R.-R. Schmidt, I. Weiss, S. Caneva: "How to optimise the over production of photovoltic electricity into the grid with the implementation of ICT devices - The Orpheus project"; Presentation: 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition - EU PVSEC 2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 22.09.2014 - 26.09.2014; in: "Proceedings EU PVSEC 2014", (2014), ISBN: 3-936338-34-5; S. 3587 - 3591.
  • P. Palensky, E. Widl and A. Elsheikh: "Simulating Cyber-Physical Energy Systems: Challenges, Tools and Methods," in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 318-326, March 2014.
  • E. Widl, F. Judex, K. Eder and P. Palensky: "FMI-based co-simulation of hybrid closed-loop control system models," Complex Systems Engineering (ICCSE), 2015 International Conference on, Storrs, CT, 2015, pp. 1-6.
  • E. Widl, W. Müller, D. Basciotti, S. Henein, S. Hauer and K. Eder: "Simulation of multi-domain energy systems based on the Functional Mock-up Interface specification," Smart Electric Distribution Systems and Technologies (EDST), 2015 International Symposium on, Vienna, 2015, pp. 510-515.
  • OrPHEuS: European R&D project, FP7 programme (GA: 608930), 2013-2016, 4.6 Mio. €, Elaboration of a Hybrid Energy Network Control system for Smart Cities implementing novel cooperative local grid and inter-grid control strategies for the optimal interactions between multiple energy grids by enabling simultaneous optimisation for individual response requirements, energy efficiencies and energy savings, http://www.orpheus-project.eu/
  • OptHySys: Austrian R&D project, Energy research program 2014 (FFG-No. 848778), 2015-2016, 242.339 €, AIT as coordinator, Planning and operation of hybrid grids based on co-simulation, no website available.
  • Leafs: Austrian Lighthouse R&D project, Energy research program 2015 (FFG-No. 850415), 2015-2018, 3.3 Mio. €, AIT as coordinator, Development of integration approaches for electrical storage systems and flexible loads (thermal loads and electric vehicles) for grid and market applications, https://www.ait.ac.at/themen/smart-grids/projects/leafs/
  • MEMS: Austrian R&D project, Smart Vienna 2012 program, 2013-2015, € 368.236 €, Development of assessment procedures and KPIs for domestic storage systems as well as laboratory evaluation, no website available.
  • StoreITup-IF: Austrian R&D project, Energy research program (FFG-No.848914), 2015-2018, 2,4 Mio. €, AIT as coordinator, development of optimised storages materials and of heat exchangers for industrial thermal storages on laboratory scale and their measurement, no website available.
  • iWPP-Flex: Austrian R&D project, Energy research program (FFG-No. 848894), 2015-2016, 186.600 €, AIT as coordinator (two participating business units of which “Thermal Energy System” and “Electrical Energy System”), 2 partners, development of a technical concept for heat pumps pooling and a tool to evaluate the profitability of the pooling concept, no website available.
  • Store4grid: Austrian R&D project, e!MISSION 2012 program (FFG-No. 838664), 2013-2015,  443.142 €, Optimised thermal ground storage for heat networks: Modelling and ystem integration of thermal ground storage systems into heat networks as well as control algorithm development, no website available
  • TES4SET: Austrian R&D project, e!MISSION 2012 program (FFG-No. 845020), 2014-2018, 4.3 Mio. €, Thermal energy storages for sustainable energy technologies: Development of numerical simulations tools and control approaches for thermal storage systems, no website available
  • S-ChameleonStore: Austrian R&D project, e!MISSION 2013 program(FFG-No. 843817), 2014-2015, 232.102 €, Assessment of use cases for electrical storage systems for grid integration of renewable and distributed energy sources, no website available
  • IEA EBC Annex 60: R&D project, Austrian participation funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG-No. 843149), 2013-2017, 148.216€. Development of new generation computational tools for building and community energy systems based on the Modelica and Functional Mockup Interface standards

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