CREATE Principal Investigators Series: Prof Thomas Hamacher on German P2X-Kopernikus Project

06.03.2020

 

In order to meet the requirement of the Paris Agreement to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, all energy industries and services would need a complete restructure and move toward renewable energy. The transformation from a fossil fuel to a renewable based energy system requires the development of new energy carriers. While the role of electricity as final energy carrier is rising, many processes will still require chemically bound energy carriers.

 

Prof Thomas Hamacher spoke at the CREATE PI Seminar on the development of new energy carriers with the German P2X-Kopernikus project.  

 

 

Introducing the German P2X-Kopernikus project, Prof Hamacher pointed out that the central task of the project is to develop new energy carriers in the context of the whole value chain. The process is complete by an intense road-mapping process to deliver advice for future political process. He discussed the major research questions and approaches, and presented the concept of energy parks to the audience.

 

Focusing on Singapore, Prof Hamacher talked about bridging a collaboration between Singapore and Germany on the research, further establishing the close relationship between the two countries. He then concluded with an emphasis that the development of new green fuel is a global effort and would need international collaborations in order to keep cost low, and start defining standards at an early stage of the development.

 

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About Prof Thomas Hamacher

After studying physics in Bonn, Aachen and Columbia University (New York), Prof Thomas Hamacher received a doctorate from the University of Hamburg for his work on baryonic beta decay. Prof Hamacher has been with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics since 1996, most recently as head of the Energy and System Studies Group. From 2010 to 2013, he served as acting head of the Chair of Energy Management and Application Technology. In 2013, he was appointed Full Professor for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems.

 

Furthermore, he is Director of the Munich School of Engineering. Prof Hamacher is a member of the Environmental Science Centre (WZU) of the University of Augsburg. His research is focused on energy and systems analysis. Major topics are urban energy systems, the integration of renewable energy into the power grid and modern microgrids. A special focus is on so called sector-coupling. Other focuses of his work are the methods and fundamentals of energy models and new optimization methods.