History
Atrium of the Fraunhofer ISE building. copyright: Guido Kirsch
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany was founded in 1981 by Prof. Adolf Goetzberger. It was the first solar research institute in Europe that operated independent of a university. 1993, Prof. Joachim Luther became the Director of the Institute which has developed into a leading international research institute in the field of solar energy. On July 1, 2006 Joachim Luther handed over the direction of the Institute to Prof. Eicke R. Weber.
2001 a new Institute Building
At present the Institute has a steadily increasing staff of over 500 employees,
for whom the workplaces were distributed throughout several rented buildings.
In 2001 Europe´s largest solar energy research institute has moved into
its own building. The energy concept of this new building has been constructed
with the research and development themes of the user in mind. The group
Solar Buildings at Fraunhofer ISE, which offers clients and planners innovative
engineering services for building with the sun, has worked closely with
the architects and building services consultants on this project.
