Research building on the campus of Dresden’s Technical University contains over 40 testing facilities for researching and studying energy technologies.
- 05 March 2013
Opened in 2011 after four years of construction work, Dresden’s new Centre for Energy Technology (ZET) has provided scientists and engineers with a state-of-the-art facility for researching the combustion of conventional and alternative fuels.
The EUR 16.1 million project has seen the building of the new research centre on the site of a former thermal power station, originally built over 100 years ago. A 40-metre high chimney from the original power station has been integrated into the new building as a reminder of the site’s history.
Wide field of research into energy technologies
The aim of the new centre, built entirely from reinforced concrete, is to research electricity, heating and cooling and the various ways in which these are generated. The technical cornerstone of the new centre is an experimental power station with a 600-kilowatt gas turbine.
Scientists and students from six university faculties and disciplines have been at work in the new centre since it opened in July 2011. In addition to researching the combustion of conventional and alternative fuels, such as biomass, the centre includes equipment for investigating solar, nuclear and photovoltaic energy. The centre also includes a test power plant with a steam-injected turbine. Other equipment allows research to be carried out into fuel and power plant technology and turbine machinery, low emission thermo-chemical energy conversion, bio energy, combined heat and power generation, storage technologies and decentralised energy technologies.
“The ZET offers us new opportunities to bring together theoretical foundations and practice during university training,” said head of the centre, Professor Dr Uwe Gampe. “To gain students, however, an enthusiasm for energy technology is needed and the ZET is helping to spark that enthusiasm.”
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the ZET in July 2011, Saxony’s Minister for Science, Prof. Dr Sabine von Schorlemer, said “Innovative procedures for the provision of electricity, heating and cooling are being researched, laying a foundation for research into the technologies of the future. It is important to us that we further reinforce the excellence of the Technical University of Dresden at this location also.”
Total and EU funding
The “Neubau Zentrum für Energietechnik (ZET)” (New construction for the Centre for Energy Technology) project had total costs of EUR 16 100 000, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributed EUR 12 100 000 for the 2007 to 2013 programming period. The national contribution was EUR 4 000 000. The project is funded through the priority “Strengthening innovation, science and research” of the Operational Programme for Saxony 2007-2013.