Green Energy

Students meet partners behind future energy island

Master's students from DTU are testing and developing the green energy systems of the future on Bornholm. The stay provides experience with practical projects - and may even attract labour to the island in the long run.

Studerende på Rønne Elværk — The raw brick walls of the discontinued power plant Rønne Elværk provided the backdrop for the students’ introduction to Energy Island Bornholm. Photo: Kristoffer Linus.

Monday 26 August 2024

Casper Heise Garvey

58 DTU students from the Master's courses ‘Innovation in Engineering’ and ‘Facilitating Innovation in Multidisciplinary Teams’ have visited Bornholm, where they met local businesses and stakeholders, all of whom have a stake in—or an opinion on—the transformation of Bornholm into an energy island base.

Behind the energy island is the Baltic Energy Island foundation, whose purpose is to transform Bornholm into a green energy collection point.

Parts of the courses take place on Bornholm, because DTU wants students to be able to participate in courses and projects organized together with the local business community. This is part of DTU’s strategy to be on site at selected locations throughout Denmark, where the unique infrastructure projects open up many opportunities for researchers and students. The value of DTU’s presence for the local community must attract businesses, knowledge, and labour, and not least be a recruitment channel for highly educated labour to the locations.

“I very much would like to attract a lot of courses, semester projects, and interns to Bornholm to open the students’ eyes to the island. The ultimate goal is for the students to think: This is exciting, I’d like to work here and move to Bornholm. But above all, we need to create a study environment where the students are here for shorter or longer periods,” says Project Coordinator João Møller, who is affiliated with DTU’s residential college on Bornholm, and has facilitated the trip in close collaboration with DTU Entrepreneurship and DTU Management.

Facts

Residential colleges

DTU establishes residential colleges in Skive, Rødby, and on Bornholm.

A residential college must give students and researchers the opportunity to spend a shorter or longer period of their study programme or research outside the major cities with close links to local private and public companies.

Rønne Elværk serves as a communications space for the Baltic Energy Island foundation. Here students are introduced to the visions behind the project. Photo: Kristoffer Linus.

During lunch, the ‘Sunshine Island’ of Bornholm lived up to its name. Photo: Kristoffer Linus.

Based on conversations with partners, the students work on finding challenges and opportunities in connection with the establishment of the energy island. Photo: Kristoffer Linus.

Meeting to form breeding ground for ideas

During the three-day visit, the students gained an understanding of Bornholm, the island’s community, and the visions for its future role in the green transition.

The stay included the students talking to the utility Bornholm Energi & Forsyning, Baltic Energy Island, and the Regional Municipality of Bornholm, among others. They discussed how to make Bornholm Energy Island a catalyst for new flexible energy systems that integrate existing infrastructure and create local growth.

The students themselves helped define the challenges and opportunities in the extensive infrastructure project. Over the next few weeks, they will continue to work on the issues and at the end of August, they will present the results to the partners.

In addition to the academic programme, there was also time for the many students to get acquainted with what social student life can look like on the island. This included activities such as bonfire fun, picnic at Opal Lake, and enjoying the sunset from Hammershus.

“If we get good feedback and suggestions for new ideas, the trip can be used as a kind of starting point for the course to offer industrial cases at DTU’s other locations, for example in Rødbyhavn and Skive,” says João Møller.

Facts

Energy Island Bornholm

By 2030, offshore wind turbines 15-20 km from Bornholm will produce more than 3 gigawatts of green electricity, which will be collected on the island and transported to Zealand and Germany.

The huge project goes by the name Energy Island Bornholm, and has a number of stakeholders, from companies to public institutions.

The partners present were: Bornholm Energi & Forsyning, Baltic Energy Island, Port of Rønne, Business Center Bornholm, Bornholms Borgerforeningers Samvirke (civic association) and the Regional Municipality of Bornholm.

Contact

João Møller Project Officer NCfGE Department of Wind and Energy Systems Mobile: +45 93510158 joamo@dtu.dk