In June 2024, Villum Foundation donated DKK 25 million to support the ongoing research collaboration between DTU, Danish universities, and GreenLab. The application process for the fourth call has now been completed, and four projects have been selected to shape GreenLab’s research profile in the coming years.
All four projects focus on industrial symbiosis and aspects of the so-called Power-Carbon-Water Nexus, the interconnection between electricity, carbon, and water in the green transition.
Each challenge is focused on increasing sustainability in industry. GreenLab is a green industrial cluster powered directly by renewable energy, and their focus is specifically on industrial electrification and reducing energy waste.
DTU’s Senior Vice President Carsten Orth Gaarn-Larsen adds: ”We are proud of our collaboration with GreenLab and the research platform we have built together over the past three years. This partnership provides a unique opportunity to create a world-class research environment close to the everyday reality of industry. Here, researchers—and eventually also students—will have access to demonstrate new ways of building a more sustainable industry. Congratulations to all the research teams. We look forward to seeing the results in the coming year.”
The four missions and winning projects
The four challenges that formed the framework for the research projects are listed below, along with descriptions of each winning project. Three of the projects originate from DTU, while the fourth comes from Aarhus University.
Challenge A: Power-Carbon-Water-to-X Trade-Off Assessment
Winning project: Designing sustainable eco-industrial clusters considering optimal Power-Carbon-Water flows, environmental impacts and fair internal pricing (SUS-Optimal).
Description: This project assesses the trade-off between power, carbon, and water in eco-industrial clusters like GreenLab Skive, incorporating sector coupling and renewable fuel certification. The project also evaluates environmental impacts, such as emissions and resource use, to identify processes with the most favorable environmental and economic outcomes.
Contact: Nicolas Jean Bernard Campion.
Challenge B: Multi-stakeholder Collaborative Models for Eco-Industrial Clusters
Winning project: The governance of PCWtX production networks: Collaborative models with or without cluster characteristics
Description: Green energy projects hold tremendous potential but often fall short of expectations. A key challenge is effective collaboration among the involved organizations. In this project, Aarhus University will study the cluster-based collaboration model of GreenLab and compare it to alternative governance approaches, seeking to identify success factors that can shape future projects.
Contact: Chris Ellegaard: chrel@mgmt.au.dk
Challenge C: Rethinking Grid Capacity in Industrial Clusters
Winning project: Grid Capacity-Aware Investment Roadmap for Eco-Industrial Clusters (GRACE).
Description: GRACE aims to create an investment roadmap for circular industrial clusters by optimizing energy vectors and leveraging the electricity grid as the backbone for sector coupling and flexibility. Through techno-economic analysis and business models, we will deliver strategies to enhance energy synergies and promote scalable industrial energy solutions.
Contact: Mehdi Savaghebi.
Challenge X: Open Challenge for Industrial Sustainability
Winning project: CESI: Combined Energy Storage Infrastructure for eco-industrial multi-energy parks.
Description: Incorporating long- and short-term energy storage solutions across various energy forms into the infrastructure of eco-industrial parks (EIPs) enhances flexibility, resilience, and creates value. Building on relevant research and the open energy system model PyPSA, CESI will design combined energy storage infrastructure for GreenLab Skive, tailored to the local context, and provide guidance for other EIPs.
Contact: Shi You.
