idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The energy industry faces major challenges: security of supply, climate neutrality, and efficiency must all be achieved simultaneously. At E-world Energy and Water 2026, the industry's leading trade fair, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM demonstrates how digital technologies and mathematical models are accelerating this transformation. With Digital Twins, researchers are laying the foundation for precise analyses, reliable forecasts, and intelligent control systems – and thus for a flexible, sustainable, and secure energy supply.
Digital twins are virtual representations of real systems that enable complex processes to be simulated, monitored, and optimized. Fraunhofer ITWM uses this technology to make energy generation, transport, and consumption more efficient and robust. This allows our scientists to run through scenarios, minimize risks, and drive forward the integration of renewable energies.
Flexible Electricity Markets and Risk Management for the Energy Transition
The expansion of renewable energies is changing pricing on electricity markets and significantly influencing load profile forecasts. For a stable supply and a resilient energy market, it is crucial to take these mechanisms into account when evaluating plants and contracts and in risk management. In addition to the expansion of storage technologies, flexibility on the demand side plays a central role. Dynamic electricity tariffs and flexible contracts create economic incentives for consumers and contribute to the integration of renewable energies.
Fraunhofer ITWM is developing tools for this purpose that support utilities and municipal utilities in evaluating and hedging portfolios. »Our models take into account how the weather influences the production of renewable energies – and what risks this entails. Our load forecasts therefore incorporate factors such as solar radiation, temperature, in-house production from photovoltaics, heat pumps, batteries, and e-mobility. In this way, we lay the foundation for risk management that works and for an energy market that is designed to be sustainable«, explains Jörg Wenzel, who is in charge of the project at Fraunhofer ITWM.
Focus on District Heating: »AD Net Heat« for Smart Grids
One focus of our trade fair presentation is the »AD Net Heat« software solution, which dynamically simulates district heating networks and optimizes them in real time. »With a digital twin of the network, utility companies can check the temperature and flow conditions in the current heating network and future expansion stages and always control operations efficiently – even under complex conditions such as decentralized feed-in«, says Johanna Heidrich, software expert at Fraunhofer ITWM. The software combines thermo-hydraulic network simulation with mathematical optimization, enabling load peaks to be absorbed, feed-in temperatures to be optimally reduced, and network expansion scenarios, including renewable heat generators, to be planned.
Heating with AI: Increasing Efficiency in Heat Generation Systems
The researchers use AI-supported technologies and Digital Twins to optimize the operation of combined heat and power plants and local heating networks. The solutions of Fraunhofer ITWM enable predictive planning of energy requirements, intelligent control of systems, and reduction of primary energy consumption – especially gas. Working with energy suppliers such as »RheinEnergie«, the researchers have demonstrated how data-based control and automation can achieve significant energy savings and CO₂ reductions in a large number of heating systems.
»RAPIDZ«: Digital Twins for Production
With the modeling platform »RAPIDZ – Resource Analysis and Process Integration through Digital Twins«, Fraunhofer ITWM brings the advantages of digital twins directly to industrial production. »Our platform enables companies to record and analyze their energy consumption, emissions, and operating data in real time. This means that processes can be controlled in a targeted manner, resources are conserved, and production quality increases significantly«, says Christian Salzig from Fraunhofer ITWM. RAPIDZ is a central component of smart manufacturing, as it combines comprehensive digitalization with intelligent process optimization, thereby creating direct added value for industry.
Power Electronics and Grid Stability: Torque Monitoring for Synchronous Generators
Researchers at Fraunhofer ITWM record and analyze how power electronic equipment influences synchronous generators. Frequency excitations are increasingly occurring in electrical grids, which can cause low-frequency torsional vibrations in shaft trains. Such vibrations lead to increased mechanical loads in rotating machines, coupling effects between grid and plant dynamics, and pose the risk of stability problems in the overall system. With the growing proportion of power electronic components, the introduction of grid-forming controls, and the planned expansion of modern gas-fired power plants with rapidly controllable turbines and generators, these phenomena are expected to increase further in the future. Initial measurements with the Fraunhofer ITWM's torque monitoring systems in real grids already show clear signs of such interactions at various voltage levels.
Visit Us at E-world
Experience our technologies live at E-world Energy and Water, Hall 4, Booths 42 F and G. We will demonstrate how digital solutions are shaping the energy industry of tomorrow – efficient, sustainable, and future-proof.
Dr. Christian Salzig
christian.salzig@itwm.fraunhofer.de
Johanna Heidrich
johanna.heidrich@itwm.fraunhofer.de
Dr. habil. Jörg Wenzel
joerg.wenzel@itwm.fraunhofer.de
Dr. Andreas Wirsen
andreas.wirsen@itwm.fraunhofer.de
Dipl.-Inf. Markus Rauhut
markus.rauhut@itwm.fraunhofer.de
https://www.itwm.fraunhofer.de/pm-eworld-26-en
One application scenario for our torque monitoring systems is the monitoring of generators in power ...
Copyright: Fraunhofer ITWM
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten, Wirtschaftsvertreter
Energie, Informationstechnik, Maschinenbau, Mathematik
überregional
Forschungs- / Wissenstransfer
Englisch
One application scenario for our torque monitoring systems is the monitoring of generators in power ...
Copyright: Fraunhofer ITWM
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