Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

The international research and development project MinWaterCSP addresses the challenge of reducing the water consumption of CSP plants and improving thermal cycle efficiencies of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants. After three years of work, 13 partners from 6 different EU and non-EU countries have developed new technologies for reducing water consumed for cooling and mirror cleaning. During the 2nd International Conference on the “Reduction of Water consumption in CSP plants” in Stellenbosch, South Africa (7-8 November 2018), the consortium presents its final results.

Digitization, climate change, scarcity of resources and housing shortages - these trends call for society, business and research alike to change their ways. The construction industry also has to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to meet the constantly growing demands placed on buildings. It is becoming increasingly important to think in cross-industry terms and act via networks. The member institutes of the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance are working continuously on interdisciplinary solutions and systems to actively shape the "living spaces of the future". With its special show at BAU 2019, Hall C2, Booth 528, the Fraunhofer alliance will be presenting innovative products and system solutions from its construction research.

Over the past decades, the renewable generation of electricity by photovoltaic solar energy (PV) has come down in costs dramatically and is now economically competitive with conventional generation using fossil fuels or nuclear reactors in an increasing number of markets. Convinced that solar electricity will play a dominant role in the energy supply of 2050 and given the leading role held by European research institutes in the development of PV technology, awardees of the Becquerel Prize collectively drew up a resolution. At the largest European photovoltaic conference, the 35th EU PVSEC in Brussels, the award-winning European scientists collectively expressed their concern that the European photovoltaic industry is threatened to be lost due to the strong competition from Asia. In particular, this pertains to the cell and module production, which makes up a large part of the value chain. This loss presents a strategic risk to the future electricity supply of Europe.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, invite to the 2018 SOPHIA workshop »PV Module Reliability« from September 4 to 5 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The workshop will feature reliability aspects in connection with new challenges imposed by novel components of PV modules, presently observed failure modes and the further development of suitable test cycles towards service life testing. The workshop will be embedded in a EUROREG workshop which is intended to provide a forum of global trends and current challenges on photovoltaics and nanophotonics in the fields of research, industry and market.

The »Collaboration Cluster for Photovoltaic Silicon Material Characterization« is a partnerhship between Fraunhofer ISE, the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The Collaboration Cluster for Photovoltaic Silicon Material Characterization is aiming for a strong partnership of the Fraunhofer ISE with the Universities in Australia, the Australian National University (ANU) [...]

A newly developed solar thermal venetian blind uses the heat generated by solar radiation and feeds it via heat pipes to the hot water storage tank of the building. … When you think of solar thermal energy, you think of “black rectangles on the roof”. To date, this has been one barrier to the widespread [...]

It is not every day you meet the Federal Chancellor of Germany. However, for the current German Chancellor’s Fellows of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, this visit is on program every year. Recently, as the current German Chancellor Fellow and Guest Scientist at Fraunhofer ISE, I got an opportunity to meet Dr. Angela Merkel. Every [...]

Professor Christoph Reinhart came to Fraunhofer ISE as the winner of the Fraunhofer Bessel Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation for a research stay. He works as a building scientist and architectural educator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he focuses on sustainable building design and environmental modeling. For the series “An Espresso [...]