EnerQuant: Fundamental Modeling in Energy Economics With Quantum Algorithms

Quantum Computing for Energy Economics: New BMWi Project at Fraunhofer ITWM

Press Release / October 28, 2020

Complex optimization problems with many, in particular discrete variables are usually difficult to solve for classical computers. Only recently, certain types of quantum computers have achieved promising results in solving optimization problems. They showed the potential to handle discrete variables as well. In the joint project »EnerQuant: Fundamental modeling in energy economics with quantum algorithms«, the advantages of quantum computing are now to be used for an optimization problem in energy economics.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and is part of Fraunhofer’s strategy to make quantum computing usable for industrial applications. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics, these and other activities are bundled in the newly founded competence center »Quantum High Performance Computing«.

Interdisciplinary Consortium

The Fraunhofer ITWM with the departments Financial Mathematics and High Performance Computing takes over the project coordination of EnerQuant. Further partners are the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics at the University of Heidelberg (KIP), the start-up JoS QUANTUM GmbH from Frankfurt am Main and the University of Trento as associated partner. On the Fraunhofer side, the Institute for Optronics, Systems Technology and Image Analysis with its Institute for Applied Systems Technology IOSB-AST, is also included.

»Our interdisciplinary consortium combines the expertise of energy-economic models and stochastic modeling as well as High Performance Computing at the Fraunhofer ITWM and Fraunhofer IOSB-AST, their translation to the quantum mechanical problem of JoS QUANTUM and the development of specific quantum simulators at the Kirchhoff Institute«, explains Dr. Kerstin Dächert, member of the Department of Financial Mathematics at the Fraunhofer ITWM and project coordinator.

Optical System for Laser Cooling — © KIP Heidelberg
Optical system for laser cooling and control of ultracold sodium atoms in the laboratory at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics Heidelberg.

Universal Quantum Computers and Quantum Simulators

Quantum computers are divided into universal quantum computers and architectures based on specialized hardware, such as quantum simulators. Universal quantum computers are currently limited to smaller system sizes, but promise to be able to solve a wide variety of problems flexibly in the future. Quantum simulators are specialized and therefore already well suited to solve individual problems, e.g. in the field of optimization. Both technologies are to be regarded as complementary and are addressed with specially adapted algorithms. »These open up the exciting prospect of solving certain optimization problems that classical algorithms cannot handle or can only handle to a limited extent«, explains Prof. Philipp Hauke of the University of Trento.

New Ways to Solve the Fundamental Model of Energy Economics

»In summary, in the EnerQuant project we are developing algorithms for quantum computers and quantum simulators to solve an energy-economic fundamental model with stochastic variables«, explains Kerstin Dächert. As a basis, the researchers define a simple fundamental model which can be translated into a quantum mechanical problem and realized on a quantum simulator. »This will be implemented in a prototype made of cold atoms and tested for its performance«, says junior professor Fred Jendrzejewski from KIP.

»Our intention is to successively further develop the fundamental model and the quantum simulator with the long-term goal of modeling the German electricity market with sufficient accuracy«, adds Niklas Hegemann of JoS QUANTUM. A comparison of the results on classical high-performance computing systems serves as a benchmark.

From Research to Application

The results of EnerQuant will be incorporated into the JoS QUANTUM software platform and will be available for industry after the end of the project. The developed algorithms will be integrated into the cloud software, which will allow the use of different hardware resources. »We offer customers from the capital and energy markets the opportunity to get to know quantum technologies and develop concrete use cases with us. With our software, potential use cases can be efficiently solved with connection to the appropriate hardware«, explains Niklas Hegemann.

EnerQuant will run for three years and is funded by the BMWi with around two million euros. The project was launched in September 2020.

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