As part of the ASA program, the project combines technical research with international exchange—first in Germany, then in India.
The six-month “Indo-German Renewable Energy Initiative” project brings together students and researchers from TH OWL and the NIE in Mysuru, in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India. It is part of the ASA program, which promotes international cooperation, cultural exchange, and sustainable development.
The program offers students and young professionals the opportunity to complete three- to six-month practical projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or Southeast Europe. The main focus area is on topics such as sustainability and global justice. Participation includes seminars, a stipend, and collaboration in international teams. The project is funded by the German federal government.
The team is supervised by Professor Dr. Georg Heinrich Klepp at TH OWL and Professor Shamsundar Subbarao, Director of the Center for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technologies at NIE.
Participants include Ravikiran and Raghu Mandya from India, as well as Jesse Petau and Aditya Sharma from TH OWL. In two three-month phases, they are working on solutions for the generation, storage, and distribution of renewable energy. The first phase took place in Germany; the second will soon take the entire team to India.
Learning About Technology and Developing It Together
Following a preparatory online seminar in April, the Indian participants traveled to Germany. The International Office at TH OWL assisted them with organizational matters and helped them settle into daily university life. A multi-day ASA seminar near Berlin then provided an opportunity to exchange ideas with participants from other international projects and to specialize in teamwork.
However, the project work focused primarily on technical issues. At TH OWL, the group focused on solar-based microgrids, battery storage systems, electrolysers, and AI-supported energy management systems. A microgrid independently supplies energy to a limited area by connecting, for example, solar installations, storage systems, and local consumers.
During a visit to KraftwerkLand at the Dörentrup Innovation Center, the team learned about facilities for producing green hydrogen and for long-term energy storage under real-world conditions. Another excursion took them to an agriculturally operated biogas plant. There, the group learned how organic waste can be converted into energy and what technical, economic, and legal issues come into play in the process.
These practical insights were particularly valuable for the guests from India. They helped the guests define the requirements for a portable electrolyzer that could be used on-site under real-world conditions in the future. An electrolyzer uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. If the electricity comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen can store energy in a nearly climate-neutral way.
Three Areas of Focus for the Energy Transition
Three specific areas of focus have emerged from the laboratory work and field trips. The Indian project partners are preparing a grant application for the use of electrolysers in India. The goal is to store surplus energy from renewable sources as green hydrogen and make it available for use later.
At the same time, Jesse Petau is investigating the economic and legal conditions under which an existing biogas plant in Ostwestfalen-Lippe could be modernized or rebuilt. In doing so, he is comparing various options: on-site electricity generation, processing the biogas into methane, and feeding it into the gas grid. The conversion of carbon dioxide remaining in the biogas into additional methane using hydrogen is also being considered. The results are intended to serve later as a basis for comparable biogas and waste-to-energy projects in India.
Aditya Sharma is developing an AI-supported energy management system for an existing microgrid in a rural settlement in the Mysuru area. The system is designed to continuously analyze weather data, energy generation, and consumption. This allows it to detect early on when less solar power is available and to control the use of storage systems accordingly. The goal is to conserve battery life and significantly reduce the use of fossil-fuel-powered emergency generators.
From Lemgo to Mysuru
In the second phase of the project, the team will adapt the approaches developed at the NIE in Mysuru to conditions in India. The plan is to create a system that integrates solar and wind energy, battery storage, hydrogen, and, if necessary, biodiesel. An intelligent control system will distribute energy according to demand and ensure a reliable supply around the clock.
To this end, the researchers are preparing a joint application titled “AI-Driven Hybrid Renewable Microgrid with Hydrogen Energy Storage for Sustainable Electrification of Tribal Communities.” Pilot plants are to be built in the settlements of Lakshmanapura Hadi and Billenahosahalli Hadi. There, the technologies could be tested under real-world conditions and developed into a transferable model for other remote regions.
In addition to the technical work, personal exchanges also shaped the first phase of the project. Joint excursions to the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn, as well as to Bielefeld and Dortmund, and to the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, provided opportunities for discussions about culture, daily life, and different ways of working.
For the participants, the ASA project is therefore more than just a research stay: it combines technical innovation with intercultural learning and lays the foundation for long-term collaboration between TH OWL and the NIE.