Are we there yet? A Conversation With DTU Professor Lena Kitzing
We need a world run on renewables, but how far along are we? and what are gaps or opportunities where deep-tech ventures can help the energy system?
In her capacity as Head of Division for DTU Wind Energy Systems and as a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, Lena Kitzing is a leading expert offering crucial guidance to European policymakers on climate and energy decisions. Throughout this interview, Kitzing discusses her research focus on offshore wind energy, emphasizing the pivotal role market dynamics and financing will play in driving the energy transition. Additionally, she highlights the importance of climate awareness, backed by data, in shaping climate discussions and policies.
Let’s talk about your research. How did you come to focus on offshore wind?
LK: At DTU Wind & Energy Systems, we have around 400 people, including researchers, professors, and engineers. We also run three test centers for large wind turbines. In my division, we collected all the social scientists in one research section with about 20 people. There are sociologists, anthropologists, and different types of people who look at how you can improve the relationship between technology and people. Now I took over the division, where we have that group as well as other groups focused on system optimization and wind flow modeling.
My personal focus is understanding the markets, incentives, and investments related to offshore wind. I have an industry background, and early in my career, I worked in offshore wind. These are gigawatt investments - they are huge, very professionally financed, with a lot of kinds of financing vehicles. I'm particularly interested in financial modeling within the policy context, and in understanding the big picture of how we can get this energy transition rolling. I think the financing part is underrated - it’s key to get everything rolling.
What do you see as the gaps or opportunities where tech ventures can help integrate renewables into the energy system?
LK: People overestimate how far along we are in the energy transition. It’s true that if you look at our climate neutrality endeavor, the energy sector is quite a long way compared to agriculture, or even transport. But even in the energy sector, we are not even halfway. We still have so much work to do. In Denmark, if we build 9 gigawatts offshore as we’ve announced, then we are carbon-free on the electricity side. But until now we’ve only built 3 gigawatts offshore, and now we want to build 9 gigawatts in 6 or 7 years. It’s very ambitious.
We’re building these two offshore wind energy islands... one artificial energy island, one on Bornholm. There are technological challenges to be overcome, such as controlling electrical flows and ensuring interoperability between equipment. We don’t know how the different member states will interact, who pays what, and how they will operate the market. Denmark will be the first to build these, and it’s quite likely this will be an export business and we will see these energy islands somewhere else. Optimizing services and developing new solutions are important for increasing the potential of offshore wind energy islands. There are a lot of opportunities for innovation in this area.
The cheapest way to decarbonize is to reduce the CO2 at the source, and at the moment the energy system emits about 70% of all CO2. In Denmark, we need to get to zero in electricity supply by 2030 and in the full energy system by 2040. That's a huge endeavor and we cannot afford a linear trajectory. We need to be faster than that.
How do you see the rules and regulations for wind energy projects affecting how we deploy and expand wind energy infrastructure?
LK: Wind energy expansion is moving slowly. It’s very centralized in Denmark. Recently, there's been a trend toward using auctions to decide who gets to build wind farms. This started with developers bidding for financial help from the government, but now they're bidding on commission fees paid to the state. Now, there's a newer type of auction called multi-criteria auctions. These are interesting because they're not just about money. For example, in the Netherlands, around 60% of the decision might be based on price bids, while the other 40% considers other criteria, like how the project might affect the environment or seabed biodiversity. This area is still evolving, and there's a need for experts who understand how these scoring systems will work.
Wind energy is best in class in terms of sustainability, with the lowest lifecycle emissions of all technologies, but it’s still not zero. We still have work to do to make it even more sustainable. For example, we need to figure out how to make wind turbine blades recyclable. And during the construction of wind farms, we, for example, use diesel generators, which isn't great for the environment. So, there's room for improvement in how we set up these projects.
The European Union also did an industry support package for the manufacturing industry. The industry is struggling because of the supply chains. We don't have enough capacity to meet our build-out targets. So, any new businesses that can help diversify the supply chain for manufacturers will find political support.
It sounds like there are many opportunities for research-based innovations to make complex energy systems function smarter. How would you evaluate the climate impact potential for these types of indirect contributions?
LK: Impact assessment is one of the research areas that I'm developing in my division. Nobody knows how to exactly quantify impact on a broader and long-term scale. We are running quite blind, and there are so many different impacts you can look at. We have six different sustainability objectives in the EU, so it's very natural that we will move more and more into these multi-criteria evaluations, not only in the auctions but overall in how we understand impact. If you have better software to control the wind farm, will that actually reduce CO2 overall? Probably yes, but how much?
There is really positive development around sustainability reporting. But if you look behind the cover, we need more awareness of the true scope of potential contributions for different investments and technologies. My new role allows me to start to develop these new research areas for us. That’s one area where I see we can make progress.