Education

Stirrings in the Green Village

A new neighbour has joined the Prêt-à-Loger house after many months as the sole building on the site of the Green Village (TGV). The new car port fitted with a roof of 18 photovoltaic panels will be part of the Green Village site’s stand-alone renewable energy arsenal.

Its electricity will contribute to power the buildings or electric vehicles.

Powering electrolysis, it could produce hydrogen for the converted Hyundai fuel cell car, developed as part of the Car as Power Plant programme. The car emits no greenhouse gases producing electricity, heat and clean water out of hydrogen. Through a newly developed socket, the car will also be able feed its direct current electricity directly to the buildings or to the grid.

“This is just the quiet before the storm,” said Hubert Linssen, TGV Building and Realisation manager. After quiet months of preparation, putting a professional team in place, obtaining the necessary permits and securing European regional development funding, TGV will take its next steps. In May 2016 the Car as Power Plant research consortium will have a two-way charging station installed allowing the car to deliver electricity to the grid.

“The installation of water and sewage pipes and electricity cables and site development will follow soon after the same month,” said Serge Santoo, TGV Marketing, Communication & Co-creation manager. “We will have alternative experimental infrastructure systems and grids installed in parallel with standard ones for comparison. Then facilitating and hosting innovative research projects will be possible.”

“To carefully define this loose regulatory zone we had to involve all our partners from Innovation Quarter, DNVGL, Engie, Stedin, Alliander and legislators and government stakeholders at the municipal, regional and national levels,” said Santoo.

TGV will be a multidisciplinary Living Lab playground where students, researchers and companies can engage in co-creation to accelerate development of radical sustainable systems innovations. The construction of housing for 15-20 students on the site will also allow people to live and work with the new technology pilots to evaluate how they interact as a system.

There are plans for a completely glazed building with an all glass structure as a co-creation centre, a sort of town hall of the Green Village, which could also function as a research exhibition centre. Professor of structural design, Rob Nijsse, and associate professor of materials science, Fred Veer are developing the concept at the Faculty of Architecture. In October 2016, TGV plans to start construction. In 2017 TU Delft will celebrate its 175th anniversary and in May that year TGV would like to host the next Research Exhibition in it.

Editor Redactie

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