The NEXT ENERGY research centre will be providing vivid insights into its research activities at this year's Hannover Messe from 4 to 8 April. The focus of its work in the fields of fuel cells and energy storage will illustrate how the Institute aims to actively shape the upcoming transformation process of the energy system with technologically sustainable and marketable solutions.

Visitors will be able to gain an impression of the importance of electromobility for the smart grid of the future. NEXT ENERGY scientists are aiming to use the expected boom in e-cars to stabilise the electricity grid in the future. Background:
The more electricity is generated from wind and solar energy, the greater the need for storage systems that ensure a stable power grid even when there is no wind and it is dark. Some of this capacity could be provided by the traction batteries of electric cars. Accordingly, it is not only necessary to be able to feed energy from the grid into the battery, but also in the opposite direction. NEXT ENERGY is currently preparing the commissioning of Germany's first battery exchange station for e-cars in order to investigate the influence of this bidirectionality on the battery and power grid.

By researching alkaline fuel cells, NEXT ENERGY scientists want to prevent future raw material shortages. Specifically, the aim is to enable the use of platinum-free catalysts. There is a need for alternatives because the precious metal is extremely expensive, is subject to major price fluctuations and is only mined in small quantities. The NEXT ENERGY scientists see these factors as a major obstacle to the future market penetration of fuel cell technology. Accordingly, they are working on the development of alkaline anion exchange membranes for use in fuel cells in order to enable the use of platinum-free catalysts.

Using energy as efficiently as possible is the central theme of combined heat and power (CHP) for domestic energy supply. Because existing systems often do not fully utilise their potential, the CHP research team at NEXT ENERGY has test platforms at its disposal that can be used to simulate real operating conditions for any micro-CHP technology. In addition to the evaluation of systems, these allow the validation of optimisation measures. Time-lapse tests make it possible to determine the expected annual utilisation rates of CHP systems. Industrial partners have the opportunity to characterise technologies with different degrees of maturity.

NEXT ENERGY's laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art technology. They are not only used for basic research and application-orientated projects, but also for external clients, such as the CHP test platforms. For example, nano-computed tomography, a rare characterisation method, is offered as a service for quality assurance in the optimisation of production processes. At the Hannover Messe, staff from the Energy Storage research department will be explaining the three-dimensional structural information provided by nano-computed tomography, which is primarily used in battery technology.