IET Institut für EnergietechnikWissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
+41 58 257 43 12boris.kunz@ost.ch
How can long-haul road transport in Europe reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and meet the European targets? With battery-electric trucks, hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles or with trucks with internal combustion engines powered by renewable methane or e-fuels? In a European partnership, the IET shows synergies between these new technologies.
The project intends to assess electric storage with batteries, conversion to e-methane via electrolysis of water and methanation of H2 at a bus terminal to optimize the utilization of variably produced electricity from solar PV cells in a transport system with electric and gas vehicles.
Ebs Energie is expanding one of their hydropower plant to produce hydrogen in the summer time, when the electricity prices are low. The IET, together with HSLU supports them in this task by bringing expertise and conducting research on the project.
A large part of the rural population in Ethiopia suffers from energy poverty. For those affected, biomass (primarily firewood) is the only available source of energy. The overexploitation of Ethiopia's forests can only be stopped if the population has access to suitable fuel alternatives. Locally produced solar fuels using Power-to-X can be this alternative. In order to be able to use this potential in the future, the aid organization Solafrica and the IET are planning to establish a center of excellence for solar fuels and power-to-X technology at the Adama Science and Technology University in Ethiopia.