”We must address the elephant in the room – heating and cooling”

Saman Nimali Gunasekara is new assistant professor at KTH’s department of Energy Technology, working on new methods to store heat and cold for flexible sector coupling between thermal energy and electric power. As part of Dig-IT Lab she hopes to explore how digitalisation can accelerate this energy transition.

Saman Nimali Gunasekara is exploring how flexible sector coupling between thermal energy and electric power can be designed for different realities – so that heat can be stored when the sun is shining or wind is blowing, and released in the peak hours of the day or even in winter when the electricity is expensive and the demand is high.

“There is a lot of research on energy storage, but the link between different systems and how they can be optimised for different application environments is missing. Here I can contribute with my expertise on thermal energy storage concerning materials, components and systems,” says Saman.

Read the full interview by Ulrika Georgsson at KTH Energy Technology: Saman wants to save the climate – with flexible energy storage

Photo: Ulrika Georgsson.