Energy in Transition

This project is part of the Reset Project and aims to develop hands-on perspectives for fostering Just Energy Transitions in the Netherlands.  The transition to a post-fossil society and deepening social inequities are two of the most important developments of this time. Where it is often thought that a low-carbon transition leads to positive justice achievements, empirical research in the past decades suggest that the opposite is often the case. This project aims to address this by investigating together with policymakers in the Netherlands how the Dutch government can take an active role in aligning energy transitions and justice. Amongst Dutch policymakers there is strong sense that they need ‘to do something’ about just transitions. Yet, while there are many ideas about relevant aspects, an overarching and integrative perspective is missing. In contribution to this, we aim to develop a comprehensive perspective on the processes and actions through which policymakers can re-align low-carbon transition and justice – combining a scientific and popular publication. We will work towards the following outputs: i) a webpage with interdisciplinary essays on just energy transitions (with legal, philosophical, financial, technical, and political perspectives) published at www.energyforsocialequity.org; ii) a peer-reviewed publication with three case studies about possible pathways to just energy transitions.  

For more information, contact Dr. Jesse Hoffman, Urban Futures Studio, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development,  j.g.hoffman@uu.nl.

Bottom-up initiatives in the energy transition such as energy and heat cooperatives are important to accelerate the energy transition, foster societal acceptance and meet societal goals like energy justice and the limitation of energy poverty. These bottom-up initiatives amongst others aim to collectively produce and store electricity with solar pv panels and wind turbines and to trade with neighbours or participate in demand response schemes. To date, these essential initiatives face legal barriers and are unable to participate fully in the energy transition. Although there is sufficient knowledge on these barriers, yet no fundamental research has been conducted into the necessary legal changes to enable bottom-up initiatives. In this project we aim to bridge this knowledge gap, by developing new regulatory principles, informed by empirical data on the wishes and ambitions of small-end users and use cases, and assessing how legislative frameworks should be adapted.  

For more information contact Dr. Sanne Akerboom, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, s.akerboom@uu.nl

Access to sustainable and reliable energy in humanitarian contexts is a key enabler of the longer-term development of the refugees and their host communities. Yet, recent estimates suggest that more than 80 per cent of forcibly displaced people lack access to electricity and rely on solid biomass for cooking. This is particularly evident in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where numerous refugee settlements are located in areas where the host population also lacks access to electricity. Critical reasons for lack of access include the complexity of the decision-making process leading to the development of energy infrastructures in the hosting country and a severe lack of information on the energy needs of refugees. This project aims to collect field data and design a model for estimating the latent demand for electricity in refugee camps in Africa - necessary elements to optimally size mini-grids and directly address the ‘lack of information’ challenge. Moreover, the project aims to form a network of scholars and practitioners to scale up the work and build a program of transdisciplinary research to support UNHCR’s goal of providing sustainable electricity access to all refugees living in camp settings by 2030.

For more information contact Dr Elena Maria Fumagalli, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development - Energy & Resources, e.m.fumagalli@uu.nl 

This project aims to explore possibilities for transforming a structure of investment in projects that deepen decarbonization through green hydrogen projects. We pay particular attention to the historical context and possibilities to transform investment practices in the global South towards ensuring fair and just transitions. With joining researchers from networks like Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC) and Inside the Investment Frontiers (InFront) as well as other collaborative experts, we will produce case studies on pathways towards systems transformation through public and private investments in green hydrogen development in South Africa and Brazil by asking: will socioeconomic sustainability of local communities of places where the hydrogen is developed, be actively achieved through transformative investments? We apply the Theory of Change (ToC) where the social, economic and environmental sustainability is set as an outcome of a green hydrogen project and evaluate pathways towards this outcome. A short scoping field research in South Africa and Brazil will help us grasp realities of green hydrogen development on the ground, involving expert and investor interviews and local community visits. We plan a workshop in the beginning of December 2022 in order to exchange experiences and envision a new research project where we can consolidate the networks and deepen our engagement with future hydrogen development for all.

For more information contact Dr. Kei Otsuki, Human Geography and Spatial Planning - International Development Studies, k.otsuki@uu.nl

Green hydrogen is expected to play an important role in our future energy system. This fuel constitutes a strong alternative to fossil fuels in industry and transport and can act as a seasonal storage medium of surplus variable renewable energy. A promising technology for producing green hydrogen is the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyser. However, current PEM electrolysers rely on the scarce platinum and iridium as electrocatalysts, which has so far hampered the large-scale use of PEM electrolysers. To address this challenge, we use machine learning coupled with computational materials evaluation to accelerate the discovery of novel low-cost materials for catalytic energy conversion. We will further develop a machine learning model that we previously proposed for ethanol reforming catalyst discovery for green hydrogen production, i.e., the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. Data on costs, availability, and electrochemical properties (catalytic activity and selectivity) of materials will be collected from the literature and from atomistic simulation databases in a central data repository. The data will be analysed using our ML models simultaneously to identify the most promising catalyst and coating compositions and combinations thereof, which will be shared with the scientific community in the spirit of UU Open-Science. 

For more information contact Dr. Artrith Nong, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science - Materials Chemistry and Catalysis, n.artrith@uu.nl