Dare to change energy

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Electrical Sustainable Power Lab

In the ESP Lab, researchers from different fields work together under one roof to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Do you dare to work with us on the electricity grid of the future?

Research areas

Photovoltaics


How can we make solar cells as efficient and sustainable as possible and integrate them into our electricity grid?

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DC systems


Which components can safely transmit, use and convert green electricity?


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E-mobility


Which technical innovations are needed for a future in which vehicles will become fully electric?

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Intelligent energy system

How can technologies protect, monitor and control the electricity grid of the future?


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About ESP Lab

Dare to change energy!

To keep our planet liveable, we need to make decisions quickly and take tangible steps toward a sustainable energy system. A system that is greener and smarter and which is just as safe and robust as today’s electricity grid. A system that allows everyone to connect their solar panel and that allows any vehicle to recharge without any problems.

All about the ESP Lab

Yet to make such a future reality, a great deal of research and innovation is needed. In the Electrical Sustainable Power Lab (ESP Lab for short), researchers, companies, policy makers and business developers work together on the most crucial energy issues of our time. It is the ideal place where our electricity grid is being prepared for the future. Dare to change energy!

INFRASTRUCTURE

The control room of the future

The electricity grid is more complex than ever before, making it less stable and less reliable. Nowadays, a lot of switching in the grid is still being done manually in the control room. Digitisation of grid management is a prerequisite for modernisation of the electricity grid. Our “control room of the future” is used to study how technology can protect, monitor and control the new electricity grid.

Read more about the control room of the future

INFRASTRUCTURE

Digital twin for the win

The “digital twin” is a computer simulation of the Netherlands’ entire electricity grid. This environment is used to simulate, study and test both major and minor changes to technology and policy, without the possibility of damaging anything.

Read more about the digital twin

THE STRENGTH OF COLLABORATION

The energy transition is complex yet at the same time calls for haste. An integrated approach and collaboration are therefore indispensable, so the ESP Lab actively works with leading players in renewable energy supply, both within and outside Delft University of Technology. TenneT, for example, is an official partner associated with the ESP Lab.

Read more about the strength of collaboration

In the spotlight

Event

Latest news

Boosting the Cyber Security of European Power Grids

The increasing digitization of the power grid has brought about numerous benefits in sustainability, but it has also made the grid more susceptible to cyber threats. To address this challenge, the non-profit member organization dedicated to improving power grid security, ENCS, has joined forces with TU Delft's Control Room of the Future, signing a Memorandum of Understanding on June 12, 2024.

Stories

Protecting a Sustainable Future

If you want to know more about the research of Thomas Höllt, you could simply have a look at his work. It should – for the trained eye – speak for itself. And what you will see, will vary from the dispersion of proteins in cells, to the different layers in an old Vermeer painting. His visualization platform does not only help biologists to understand how the immune system works, it also helps them to get to the roots of diseases and come up with specialized treatment. And it can also be used to identify and chart invaluable paintings and could have many more applications.

The energy transition under high tension: the High Voltage Technologies Group

A while ago we thought it was no longer needed within TU Delft: a group entirely dedicated to maintaining and developing the use of high voltage. After all, the expectation was that the grid would become decentralised in the Netherlands, and that households would start generating their own electricity. This has partly become true, however, a vast amount of the renewable energy comes in large ‘chunks’, for example through offshore wind farms and large solar fields. "The fact is that we need high-voltage more than ever," Prof Peter Vaessen emphasizes. "This is also the reason we have a new, revived high-voltage group at TU Delft: the High Voltage Technologies Group."

Arno Smets

Educating our way to an energy transition

Milos Cvetkovic (assistant professor in the Intelligent Electrical Power Grids group at TU Delft) said that both standard consumers and electricity ‘prosumers’ are connected by one thing: the grid. “Most of our energy infrastructure was developed right after World War Two. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, people thought there wasn’t much left to improve, but then we started to learn about climate change. When my scientific career started in 2009, people understood we would need new sustainable energy resources and new ideas on how to integrate them. Now, thirteen years later, we need both more than ever if we want to reduce our carbon footprint.”

Aihui Fu

Aleksandar Boričić

Egbert Bol

Yifeng Zhao

Aleksandra Lekić

The coming age of ‘solar everywhere’

From image recognition to medical diagnostics, Machine Learning has a huge impact. Yet Elvin Isufi adds an extra dimension, enabling its analyzing power to complex networks such as recommender systems, and more down-to-earth: water management.

City of the future communicates using solar panels

If it is up to Patrizio Manganiello, the city of the future will not only run on solar energy, but we will also use the solar infrastructure for lightning-fast communication. The new field of research called Photovoltatronics is bringing this future closer.

The urban puzzle of where to put a million solar panels

A million solar panels on the rooftops of Amsterdam? How do you get that done? Researcher Maarten Verkou figured it out.

Protecting the electricity grid of the future

Marjan Popov is looking for ways to make the electricity grid more robust in the future.

Modelling a flexible electricity system

Using numerical analysis, Marieke Kootte is developing a model to link high-voltage and low-voltage distribution networks.

Solar cells available at bargain prices, but still the revolution stagnates

The energy transition is an extremely complex challenge for our society.

Developing a digital twin for the electricity grid

New Electrical Sustainable Powerlab smooths the way for energy transition
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