VODÍK

CEETe. The New Polygon

of the Centre for Energy and

Environmental Technologies,

Which Will Make Fossil Fuels a Thing of the Past

The foundation stone of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies - Explorer

(CEETe) was placed on 18 February 2022. After a year and a half of intensive work, the centre

will officially open in October 2023. In an interview with the Director of the Centre for Energy

and Environmental Technologies (CEET) of VŠB - Technical University Ostrava, prof. Ing. Stanislav

Mišák, Ph.D., we talked about everything the newly established centre will be used for and how it

can help industrial partners, the region and the whole country to achieve carbon neutrality goals.

Mr. Director, could you please give a brief

introduction about CEET's new polygon for

innovation and technology transfer in the field of

sustainable energy? What is its main objective and

what functions will it perform?

CEETe is a project, developed under the umbrella of

the CEET University Institute, combining four core

research areas - materials for energy and environmental

technologies, the use of secondary raw materials

and alternative energy sources, energy storage,

transformation and management, and environmental

aspects and technologies.

CEETe, where the "e" stands for Explorer, is a research

polygon combining research in all of the above

mentioned areas and is a testament to the effective

collaboration of the four research centres working

together under the CEET umbrella.

The main objective of CEETe is to use the results of

science and research to show a way to decarbonise

the region, i.e. to move away from fossil fuels

towards carbon-free technologies, and use them

to create a modern, sustainable energy sector

with a high share of renewable resources with the

use of alternative fuels. Ultimately, this will help

not only the region, but also the whole country

to ensure energy self-sufficiency and raw material

independence. This is the goal not only of the grant

project as such, but also the mission of our entire

University Institute.

What specific steps will be taken to ensure that

the Centre is able to effectively integrate research,

development and marketability of the results?

The entire CEETe polygon is designed to create

a laboratory facility for Czech and International

Scientific Teams in collaboration with industrial

partners who deliver unique technologies based on

our design. With this scientific background, we have

created a unique innovative ecosystem. We expect to

26 ǀ POSITIV HYDROGEN

expand the innovation ecosystem in the near future

with additional industrial partners and research teams

to help us implement the developed technologies

into practice. We have a significant cooperation with

the Moravian-Silesian Hydrogen Cluster, of which

we are a part of and one of the founding members.

Because of that, we guarantee research activities in

the field of hydrogen in the cluster.

main goal in the case of hydrogen

“is The

its production in the Czech Republic,

not only with the use of renewable

resources, but also with the support

of thermochemical conversion from

alternative fuels or waste.

”

How will CEETe support (not only) the cross-sector

cooperation and what benefits will it bring to the

industrial actors affected by the energy transition in

our region?

The main objective of the grant, through which CEETe

was created, is to offer industrial partners a research

infrastructure for joint technology transfer into practice.

Thus, cross-sector cooperation is the main condition of

the grant and this is undoubtedly fulfilled in the case

of CEETe in the field of modern power engineering.

The timing of the creation of the polygon itself, is

unquestionable to the need at the time of the looming

energy crisis. The high concentration of cutting-edge

technologies that can decarbonise the Czech Republic

and on which a large team has collaborated not only

within the Czech Republic but also within Europe

come with great benefits.

We know that there will be a period of transition

before we make the full transition to hydrogen and

end the use of coal per se. What specific areas of

sustainable energy are you working on at CEETe