Our thematic funds

Problem: The Netherlands wants to generate between 38 and 72 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2050. But our electricity grid can only handle 20 gigawatts. Project: Systems that convert excess energy into hydrogen so that it can be stored and later converted back into electricity. Or in other fuels.

Problem: Conventional batteries lose capacity with every charge cycle, pollute our environment and are unsuitable for large-scale storage. Project: Making batteries more efficient, wear-resistant and more widely applicable. Research areas include electrochemical technologies, electrolysers and redox flow batteries.

Problem: houses built between 1945 and 1990 have little, no or very decayed insulation. It is extremely difficult to calculate the most efficient way to properly insulate them. Project: The computing core. Supercomputer software that calculates the best sustainable renovation process. The light prototype has already yielded groundbreaking results.

Problem: Hydrogen is made with electrolyzers, devices that have barely evolved in decades. Incomprehension about how they work frustrates finding points for improvement. Project: making them more efficient by designing new materials for electrodes and membranes. The biggest riddle to solve: the bubbles created during production drive the process but also sabotage it.

Problem: Finding the right materials to improve electrolyzers and batteries makes all the difference. But it's a complicated quest. Project: research into ceramic materials and ceramic materials based on mixed polymers. The resulting materials reduce or even eliminate the limitations of previously used materials. SCARY

Problem: underground spaces can contain excess supplies of, for example, hydrogen. Each space has its specific properties that can cause reactions with the stored material. And of course nothing should leak or escape. Project: numerical models and experimental methods that help to understand how different gases and liquids behave in porous spaces.