Dutch greenhouse gas emissions rose again last year, our energy supply needs to become more resilient, and in Overijssel there are already warnings of potential power outages. Just a few of the headlines from recent weeks. But no need to panic! During the Best Climate Action & Energy Paper Award ceremony on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, nine young researchers from TU Delft will present their findings. Nine fresh - and sometimes groundbreaking - insights that not only tackle today’s problems but also make the Europe of tomorrow cleaner, safer and more resilient.
Nine insights that, according to Herman Russchenberg, Professor of Atmospheric Research and Pro Vice Rector Magnificus for Climate Action, are both welcome and inspiring. -The world has changed rapidly and profoundly in recent years. Consider the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the increasingly sharp rivalry between the United States, China, and the West, as well as the many natural disasters hitting harder than ever. Southern Europe struggled under intense heatwaves, parts of Canada were engulfed in wildfires for months, and there are many other such examples. These are risks and threats we must guard against if we want our planet to remain safe and livable for everyone.-
-At the same time, there is every reason for optimism,- Russchenberg continues. -Especially among young researchers, we see enormous energy, creativity and a determination to make a difference. They bring new ideas, smart technologies and unexpected perspectives that show change is possible. That is what makes this award so special: it is precisely these talented climate and energy researchers who are shaping the world of tomorrow.-
Peter Palensky , expert in intelligent power grids and chair of the Delft Energy Initiative , agrees. -Modern, local, renewable, smart energy is a game changer in many ways. Beside their obvious environmental and economic advantages, they are also a powerful step towards a more resilient society. Developments that are also highlighted in the Wennink and Draghi reports, as well as in the latest coalition agreement.
That is why the ideas of these young researchers are so important. They dare to think differently, create new connections between technology, policy and society, and develop solutions we may not yet have thought possible. Anyone who hears their pitches will notice one thing above all: this new generation of scientists understands the challenges of our time and is determined to solve them.-
On Tuesday, March 24, 2026, nine finalists will compete for two main prizes: the Best Climate Action Paper Award and the Best Energy Paper Award. The ceremony will begin at 15:00 at the Co-Creation Centre at The Green Village. The event will be opened by Professors Herman Russchenberg and Peter Palensky, after which the nine young researchers will present their papers. We will conclude with the announcement of the winners and a networking reception around 17:00. You can register here.
If you are a journalist and would like to interview (one of) the finalists, feel free to contact Dave Boomkens, press officer for Climate & Energy at TU Delft, at +31 6 34081461 or d.j.boomkens@tudelft.nl.
Below are the nine finalists - consisting of PhD candidates and postdocs.
A quick fix for residential solar and heat pump adoption
Installing solar panels and heat pumps is good for both the planet and your wallet. But when many households do it, the low-voltage neighbourhood grid can become an energy transition bottleneck. Fixing this at the grid level takes a long time and requires manpower that simply isn’t available, so Joel Alpízar-Castillo looked for alternatives. Teaming up with Stedin, he ran detailed grid and power simulations for an existing neighbourhood of over 100 houses. He explored different adoption rates and mixes of renewable technologies, including solar panels, heat pumps, home batteries and home thermal energy storage. He found that a centralised neighbourhood battery definitely isn’t the way forward. But adding both home batteries and thermal storage allows up to 80% of households to adopt solar panels and heat pumps - without any need to strengthen the grid. Consumers would however need financial compensation for supporting the grid operator with their storage system. There are plenty more insights in these simulations, so good thing he made all’his software available as open-source.
Joel Alpízar-Castillo, PhD (EEMCS)
Aggregated residential multi-carrier energy storage as voltage control provider in low-voltage distribution networks
Making every drop count with personal weather stations
Modern weather prediction relies on radar, satellites, ground measurements, and advanced modelling. Nevertheless, accurately forecasting rainfall remains challenging, which can hinder national weather services from issuing timely, locally precise flood warnings. Providing near real-time data and good areal coverage, low-cost personal weather stations operated by private citizens could help address this challenge. Nathalie Rombeek investigated whether such stations could have helped better localize the extreme rainfall that triggered the deadly 2024 Valencia floods. She accounted for uncertainties arising from poor setup, maintenance, and measurement errors, and found they can indeed complement the data taken by official rain gauge networks. Combining all rainfall data helps improve runoff models, thereby making flood warnings more reliable. Over time, this will not only reduce the societal and economic impacts of extreme rainfall but also boost public trust and readiness to act. A good thing, as climate change makes extreme weather events ever more frequent and severe.
Nathalie Rombeek, PhD (CEG)
Torrential rainfall in Valencia, Spain, recorded by personal weather stations preceding and during the 29 October 2024 floods
Winds of change: smart control for wind farms
In a modern wind farm, the optimal orientation of every turbine and its blades is calculated in advance for all wind directions and speeds. This approach works well under ideal conditions, but real-world conditions can differ: some turbines may be offline for maintenance, or wind conditions may vary across the farm. This is where smart adjustments based on real-time calculations come in. Marcus Becker developed and validated such a model for a ten-turbine wind farm. This presented a major computational challenge as every possible rotation of a turbine and its rotor blades creates a different wake (-wind shadow-), which can disrupt the energy output of downstream turbines. He therefore had to carefully balance the model’s accuracy and speed. Whereas previous research was typically limited to two turbines and a single wind direction, Becker managed to scale up to ten turbines and a realistic wind profile. This is a promising step toward modern wind farms with as many as a hundred turbines. At that scale, even a few percent energy gain would suffice to power tens of thousands of homes.
Marcus Becker, postdoc (ME)
Closed-Loop Model-Predictive Wind Farm Flow Control Under Time-Varying Inflow Using FLORIDyn
Sustainable Aviation Fuels versus kerosine: all climate impact considered
Replacing kerosine with Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) sounds like a no-brainer 100% sustainability gain, since it only releases CO2 that was first captured from the air by biomass or Direct Air Capture. But that’s not the whole story - far from it. Luc Boerboom performed a detailed and thorough life cycle analysis, spanning the entire fuel production and supply chain. Most importantly, and not yet systematically addressed until now, is that he included non-CO2 contributions to climate change. Think of nitrogen-oxides, soot and contrails formed due to the combustion of either kerosine or SAF. His analysis shows that these non-CO2 contributions are slightly lower for SAF, which further increases its climate benefits, particularly on long-range flights. But here’s the punchline: even replacing all kerosene with SAF will achieve at most a 50% reduction in overall climate impact. Boerboom hopes his study will help convince jet engine manufacturers to cut non-CO2 emissions, and regulatory bodies to adopt more realistic carbon accounting.
Luc Boerboom, MSc (AE)
A comprehensive well-to-wake climate impact assessment of sustainable aviation fuel
Power up for smart electric vehicle charging
Imagine leaving your electric vehicle (EV) at a charger in The Hague for a few hours, only to find it hasn-t charged. Or worse, that its charging helped overload the power grid. Unfortunately, this is a realistic scenario that may slow down EV adoption, particularly in net-congested areas like the Netherlands. Charging station operators could really use a smart algorithm for allocating energy - one that efficiently handles uncertainties in (green) energy generation, consumption, and when cars arrive or leave. Stavros Orfanoudakis did just that, using AI that understands network organisation combined with reinforcement learning, which learns by trial and error. In collaboration with industry, he then validated it simulations based on real-world EV charging data. Once trained, his model needs just milliseconds to make accurate charging and grid stability decisions. Better still, it can even help optimise profit for owners that have their EV feed energy back to the grid. Most importantly, it is a far more scalable solution than current rule-based algorithms, thereby helping accelerate EV adoption. So go ahead and buy that electric car you-ve been eyeing.
Stavros Orfanoudakis, PhD (EEMCS)
Scalable reinforcement learning for large-scale coordination of electric vehicles using graph neural networks
Ready, steady... (dis)charge!
Large-scale energy storage, such as in electric vehicles and for grid stabilisation, is rapidly shifting to lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Using abundant, easy to mine materials, these are more environmentally friendly than their cobalt-based predecessors. But the models used for optimizing their performance and facilitating integration with renewable energy sources still date back to the 1990s. Relying heavily on trial-and-error adjustments, they are in urgent need of an update. Or better: a paradigm shift. Trained as a nuclear engineer, Pierfrancesco applied a bottom-up approach, modelling the electrode as a network of electrically connected nanoparticles. His approach allows the accurate prediction of battery behaviour given its charging and usage history. This is important because, for example, a battery may not be able to deliver the required power while still recovering from a previous peak demand. His model even explains why LFP batteries - and perhaps your electric car - struggle in cold weather. Running the model takes a mere 30 seconds, where similar simulations used to take hours. Fit for many other types of batteries as well, both current and future, his model advances next-generation energy storage for the energy transition.
Pierfrancesco Ombrini, MSc (AS)
Modeling single-crystal electrodes as a network of primary particles
Into the cold with hydrogen leak detection
Hydrogen is becoming important as a clean energy carrier, enabling storage and transport of renewable energy for hard-to-electrify sectors. Its high flammability, however, makes leak detection under all’operational conditions essential for safety. At room temperature, optical hydrogen sensors using metal hydrides have emerged as a cheap, reliable and fast solution. But what about the low temperatures encountered by planes at cruising altitude, or by vehicles and storage systems in Arctic conditions? Ziqing Yuan investigated the performance of four such hydrogen sensing materials down to −60 °C, including looking into structural changes at the nanometre scale. Even at these temperatures, the materials could not only detect hydrogen but also differentiate between very low and high concentrations. One of them could even signal a dangerous level in just six seconds - a record at this temperature. Her insights open the door to hydrogen sensors that work faster and under even more extreme conditions. She thereby brings the hydrogen-powered future ever closer, no matter the temperature.
Ziqing Yuan, PhD (AS)
Optical Hydrogen Sensing Materials for Applications at Sub-Zero Temperatures
What’s in a model? Our sustainable future depends on it
Modelling an electrode, windfarm or residential energy storage (see other nominated papers) is one thing. Modelling the path to a greener future - considering evolving technologies, environmental trade-offs, human behaviour, and countless other forces at play - is an entirely different challenge. And while we need such models to help us navigate the inevitable twists and turns, treating them as absolute truth can turn them into self-fulfilling prophecies. Franziska Bock looked beyond the model - at the modellers themselves and what they believe about the explanatory power of their work. Her exploratory survey gathered responses from 160 climate/energy experts across diverse regions and disciplines. It revealed that modellers are divided on questions of truth and objectivity in their work. This matters because their perspectives can affect the data they select, the scenarios they consider relevant, and how results are presented and then understood. Franziska emphasizes that models remain useful tools for guiding us through a changing climate. But she hopes her study will encourage the modelling community to reflect more deeply on their own assumptions about models. She also invites educators to teach more than just programming and techno-economic skills, and leaders to prioritize diversity in modelling teams.
Franziska Bock, PhD (TPM)
Rarely pure and never simple: Exploring perceptions of truth and objectivity in energy modelling and scenarios
The fall and rise of the Antarctic ice sheet
Melting of the Antarctic ice sheet is expected to become the dominant contributor to sea-level rise, potentially adding eight metres by the year 2300. But as the ice sheet thins, the ground beneath slowly rises, somewhat reducing ice loss and thereby sea-level rise. Caroline van Calcar studied this interplay in great detail, linking how the ice sheet melts with how the Earth’s crust and mantle deform and rise. She incorporated the newest climate projections and even considered how the Earth’s mantle -flowsmore easily as ice mass loss continues. Her study shows that in West Antarctica, where the mantle beneath is relatively soft, the ground can rise by 150 metres. Putting everything together, meters high sea-level rise can be reduced by 10% because of this rebound effect - or twice that if we manage to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. The whole scenario will take hundreds of years to play out, but projecting sea-level rise in detail is essential for planning future climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Caroline van Calcar, postdoc (CEG)
Bedrock uplift reduces Antarctic sea-level contribution over next centuries
