With the OPZuid project GENIUS, TU/e wants to tackle grid congestion together with companies, municipalities, and the province and, at the same time, set up a sustainable testing ground for relevant future innovations. The starting signal is to commission a battery pack in the size of no less than a sea container for the storage of electrical energy on Monday, 18 November.

The GENIUS battery is essential to a smart control platform that aligns different industrial users, energy sources, and storage systems to prevent energy peaks. The lithium iron phosphate battery contains no cobalt or nickel and acts as energy storage and a control tool. It can coordinate and optimize complex data, allowing it to advise on and anticipate the energy needs of the more than forty faculty and business buildings on the TU/e campus, on which approximately fifteen thousand people depend daily. The energy hub is connected to the public energy grid, allowing energy to be fed back into the grid or shared with users in the local area.

Spreading the rush hour

This battery pack ensures that TU/e no longer causes any exceedances on the contracted capacity and balances the energy consumption better. Simply put, the congestion problem on the energy grid is solved by spreading the morning and evening rush hours. This offers room for further sustainability and expansion of the campus within the current contracted capacity. Think, for example, of heat pumps in combination with Heat and Cold Storage and the arrival of a new clean room.

The package easily pays for itself thanks to smart charging and discharging and peak shaving (energy storage when there is little demand and deployment during peak periods). For TU/e, it provides an estimated 20% extra space on its energy grid and capacity because less has to be purchased at unfavorable times (during ‘rush hour’), which lowers the total costs.

This is also beneficial for the grid load in general because TU/e ‘gets out of traffic jams’ at such peak times. More gains can be made in (among other things) the areas of (minimal) CO2 emissions, balancing grid congestion at regional and national levels (TU/e can consume more energy without increasing its connection, leaving capacity for the local area), energy security, peak reduction or the prevention of exceedances on the energy connection.

Blueprint for Dutch industry and grid operators

The system approach not only alleviates the energy needs of the (growing) TU/e campus and distributes them more efficiently but should also ultimately provide a blueprint for Dutch industry and grid operators to tackle grid congestion efficiently. Initially, for the approximately 3500 industrial estates in the Netherlands, mainly in the south of the Netherlands, where grid congestion is slowing down the energy transition and hindering economic growth. That blueprint could then be on the market in four years. This makes OPZuid GENIUS (Grid Efficiency Network Integration for Universal Sustainability) a strategic project with interest from society as a whole, in which open innovation predominates.

In fact, the project functions as a micro-society on campus, providing valuable knowledge about user behavior and how it is influenced and changed by insight into energy use patterns in the long term. This behavioral knowledge is crucial to developing strategies that drive effective behavioral change and promote energy efficiency.

Consortium around OPZuid GENIUS

TU/e President of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits: “I am tremendously proud of this project because it brings together a lot of what we stand for as TU/e. With this we are working on sustainability, on solving the grid congestion that all of the entrepreneurial Netherlands is facing, and we are doing this – as a true 4th generation university – in collaboration with a wide range of partners in the region, focused on social impact.”

Mark Cox, Senior Program Manager Energy TU/e: “The GENIUS battery, in combination with intelligent software, can store energy when demand is low so that we can use it during peak times. Thanks to AI, other users, both on campus and in the local area, will not notice this. On the contrary, everyone can benefit from it. When the new Energy Act comes into effect next year, adjacent power grids can be connected. The cleverness of our system approach should then ensure that everyone is always supplied with energy without crossing borders.”

Tom Selten, founder of Simpl.Energy: “With our software, we control the battery, charging stations, and solar panels so that TU/e always remains within the connection. In addition, we optimize the purchase of electricity, thereby minimizing energy costs. And as icing on the cake, with our platform, TU/e has one place where they can see whether all systems are working properly and how much is being earned and saved.”

Daan Pelders, business developer Fudura: “At Fudura, we are proud to be able to participate in this innovative process. We are supplying one of the largest batteries in the Brainport area and integrating it into TU/e’s private grid. We have been TU/e’s partner in energy infrastructure and metering services for many years, and we are grateful for the trust we have received to carry out this project.”

The consortium around OPZuid GENIUS consists of the following parties: TU/e department Real Estate, EIRES, EAISI, Fudura, RIFT, Simpl.Energy, Voltgoed, VBOptimum, ZEnMo, Cube Charging, Enerzien, Eindhoven Engine and Woonbedrijf. An active and connected support group includes the province and municipality, as well as the regional grid operator Enexis. This project was co-financed by the European Union through the award of an OPZuid grant.

Eindhoven Engine’s initiative

In late 2021, Eindhoven Engine began investigating this issue as part of its mission to accelerate innovation to solve societal challenges. It quickly became clear that this is a wicked problem – a complex issue that is difficult or even impossible to solve due to incomplete or contradictory information in an ever-changing context. This problem, people with a lack of basic skills, is also present in the Brainport region, where the gap between society and people with reduced basic skills is widening. As part of the Brainport region, Eindhoven Engine feels responsible for tackling this problem in collaboration with others, including the Eindhoven Library and the Municipality of Eindhoven.

Fragmented support system

During the exploratory phase, it became apparent that there are many support agencies in our region, but there is no clear overview of these agencies. Moreover, people with reduced basic skills often feel ashamed, which makes them hesitant to seek help. This issue is frequently overlooked, even by social workers, because we are not aware that a lack of basic skills underlies the problems for which they seek help.

Within the Emergence Lab of Eindhoven Engine, TU/e Industrial Design student Inge Hootsmans conducted research during her final master’s project into this issue. She mapped the network of support agencies and discovered that the landscape is highly fragmented, people with reduced basic skills does not know which agency to turn to for their specific needs.

In the Netherlands, support for people lacking basic skills up to 18 years old is accommodated in the educational systems. For those aged 18-40, support is found by people with a background in NT2 (non-native Dutch speakers) as the reach out to the support themselves. People over 40 find it seemingly easier to seek help independently. The group of 18-40-year-olds with an NT1 (native Dutch speakers) appears to be the most difficult to reach. Therefore, Inge chose to concentrate on this group in her research.

Bridge Builders game

To help this group navigate the complex and scattered landscape of support agencies, Inge developed the Bridge Builders game that is designed to raise awareness of basic skills and consist of three steps (see illustration and photos below). The participant starts with experiencing what it is like to have a lack of basic skills. He/she needs to individually find and visualize action points in a letter. Then, step two, the participant will experience what it feels like to seek help in a scattered help landscape: participants need to find a right help institution for their letter. Step three is ‘Take action’. Increasing awareness of the complex societal problem and providing positive incentives to act together: participants are encouraged to reflect critically on their own role in this complex society and take away personal action points directly applicable in their daily and professional life.

Creating a more inclusive society

Inge extensively tested the Bridge Builders game at events such as the Festival of Disruption in 2023, a thematic session in April 2024, and the High Tech Campus day in June 2024. The letters have also been distributed and used as a trigger in presentations and talks within multiple networks. The responses to the tool were overwhelmingly positive. It allows you to briefly feel the challenges faced by those with reading difficulties.

Together with a team Inge is currently developing the workshop further to raise awareness and get to action among professionals and within their companies, with a call to become a bridgebuilder of an inclusive society by bridging the gap between society and people with a lack of basic skills.