emergenCITY likes to promote the talk with Henrik Lund, one of the top scientists in engineering, as part of our Distinguished Lecture Series. Lund is currently a professor for Energy Planning at Aalborg University, and he will present the latest insight into the theory, concept and application of smart energy systems based on the 3rd edition of his book “Renewable Energy Systems”.

Title: “New Insights into Smart Energy Systems. Theory, Concepts and Applications”

Date: Thursday, January 30, 2025, 2 p.m.

Speaker: Henrik Lund, Professor in Energy Planning at Aalborg University, Denmark

Venue: S3|20 room 18, Campus Stadtmitte (City Centre), TU Darmstadt

About the Lecture:

This presentation includes new insights into the concept, theory and application of smart energy systems. The concept was introduced in 2012 and shortly after received a scientific definition. As opposed to, for instance, the smart grid concept, which puts the sole focus on the electricity sector, smart energy systems include the entire energy system in its approach to identifying suitable pathways to the green transition. Based on the 3rd edition of “Renewable Energy Systems” a theory of two smart energy systems hypotheses has been formulated. First, that one must take a holistic and cross-sectoral smart energy systems approach in order to be able to identify the best solutions of affordable and reliable transitions of the energy system into a carbon-neutral society. Next, that subsector studies (no matter if they consider the role of a specific technology or the role of a region or country) should aim at identifying the role to play in the context of the overall system transition rather than aim at decarbonizing the sub-sector on its own. The concept and theory have been applied to the analysis of the need for energy storage and electricity balancing in a future climate-neutral society. In five Smart Energy System Integration Levels (SESIL), progressing from a sole electricity sector focus to a fully integrated system of electricity, heating, cooling, industry, transport, and materials, optimal investments in storage and resulting levels of curtailment are identified. It is illustrated how overall least-cost solution is only identified in a fully integrated smart energy system, with affordable types of energy storage and little curtailment that cannot be found in a sole electricity sector approach.

About the Speaker

Henrik Lund is M.Sc. Eng and Professor in Energy Planning at Aalborg University, Denmark. He holds a PhD in the Implementation of Sustainable Energy Systems (1990), and a Dr Techn in Choice Awareness and Renewable Energy Systems (2009). Henrik Lund is a highly ranked world-leading researcher. For 10 successive years, he is listed among ISI Highly Cited researchers, ranking him among the top 1% researchers in the world within engineering, and is on the Stanford list of top 2% scientists. He is member of The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) and has been awarded the Royal Order of Chivalry of the Dannebrog. For 15 years, Henrik Lund has been Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s high-impact journal Energy with annual 15000+ submissions and is the founding editor of the journal Smart Energy. He is the author of more than 500 books and articles, including the book ”Renewable Energy Systems”. He is the architect behind the advanced energy system analysis software EnergyPLAN, which is a freeware used worldwide that have formed the basis of more than 300 peer-reviewed journal papers around the world.

Further information: University Profile