KIC InnoEnergy master SELECT students TU/e win prize at Green Challenge DTU
At 27th of June, two KIC InnoEnergy master SELECT students studying at TU/e won a “Participants
Prize” at the Green Challenge of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). This Challenge offers
students the opportunity to present their project or research in sustainability, climate technology or
the environment to a diverse public consisting of students, lecturers, alumni and representatives
from institutes and companies. Selected projects of specific categories (bachelor/master
projects/research) were rewarded prizes.
The feature of inviting a limited number of students from partner universities to participate in the
Green Challenge was new this year. Two of the SELECT students seized their chance to present the
outcomes of the Project of the Year at which they’d been working for five months.
Students from partner universities participated in the regular competition, but also a special
category of awards (Participation Prize) was introduced to appreciate the best foreign contributions
to the Challenge, putting emphasis on the fact that they participated in a foreign competition
without knowing many details of the organization, local policies and the way in which projects were
assessed (other than the details at internet). Students needed to prepare a pitch of their project in
120 seconds. If selected, they were offered the opportunity to present their project again during the
second round to a different team of assessors. Teams consisted of representatives of
business/politics or other public figures, a DTU lecturer and a DTU student. The following
assessment criteria were applied: contribution to the environment/to the energy situation,
innovativeness/vision applied, structure of presentation and communication, likeliness of
realization/technological applicability.
The SELECT students managed to proceed to the second round. Both students found it very
worthwhile to present their project to this different audience (as compared to their final
presentation at TU/e). “We discussed the way we look at energy related problems with local
politicians and institutional organizations. This was difficult and challenging at the same time
because we only had 2 minutes to present our project which was organizationally complex and
highly technical. We needed to choose very carefully which parts of our project needed to be
emphasized. It was a great and useful experience”.
The Project
The two SELECT students presented the Business Plan of H2Wind which they made with two fellow
students. It consisted of a detailed study of the possibilities of energy ships moving at the speed of
wind across the ocean to harvest energy, through a mounted propeller attached to the hull
(connected to a generator) which on board can be converted(through electrolysis, fuel cells) to
hydrogen and (shortly) stored. During their research lot of challenges were faced as many aspects
needed to be analyzed, starting from the potential to produce a certain amount of energy, the
magnitude of the ships (including vessels, sails etc), the best locations (large wind speed, but also
possible market), the possible financial feasibility of such ships etc,.
The island of Grimsey appeared to be an interesting location to first apply this energetic solution,
since it is located in an area where large wind speed can be found, especially during the winter and
for its electricity generation this island is completely dependent on heavily subsidized diesel.
After research it turned out that Grimsey is interesting as relatively small ships can be used (reducing
the large amount of investments costs), a combination with tourism can be made (during summer)
and the inhabitants can benefit from having a sustainable and independently organized energy
supply.
Roberta Mancini and Hussain Kazmi, KIC InnoEnergy master SELECT students at TU/e
Successful participation of TU/e student at DTU
The SELECT students were not the only representatives of TU/e. Also a master student of the
Sustainable Energy Technology program participated and managed to reach the second round of the
Green Challenge. He praised the way DTU had organized this challenge and had made it very
accessible to participants of the partner universities. “I met interesting people during the Challenge
and students of TU/e should definitely participate again next year.” Students were, next to the
Challenge, offered a two-days visit to the city of Copenhagen and DTU. This made the international
experience even more enjoyable and useful.
The project
This project was aimed to fabricate and characterize efficient semitransparent organic solar cells.
The primary goal was to find a suitable and high performing top transparent electrode. This was
achieved by fabricating different top transparent contacts based on Silver Nanowires, conductive
polymers (PEDOT: PSS) and thin metal layers (silver). The second part focused on testing the
transparent electrode on different type of photo-generating materials, which lead to the fabrication
of colour tuneable devices, by changing the donor polymers and the weight ratio of the acceptor
molecules. The third goal was (is still to be done) to enhance the efficiency of the solar cell by
fabrication and characterization of semitransparent tandem structures.
This year three students at master level participated in the Challenge, while it is also open to
bachelor students. Next year the challenge for TU/e is to send at least five students (maximum
participation) from different levels who will be able to compete at this great event.
TU/e representative and member of assessor team: Ir. Patrick van Schijndel (left), SELECT students;
Roberta Mancini and Hussain Kazmi (right)and SET student: Cristian Boscheri