Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christof Wittwer

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christof Wittwer is the Director of the Business Area "System Integration" at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg. Additionally, he holds an honorary professorship at the Faculty of Environmental and Natural Resources at the University of Freiburg. Upon completing his studies at the University of Kaiserslautern, he received his diploma in electrical engineering. Following a research collaboration with Fraunhofer ISE, he subsequently worked for "Ritter Umwelt," focusing on control engineering for solar thermal energy systems. From 1996 to 1999 he served as a research assistant at the University of Karlsruhe, dedicating his efforts to his doctoral thesis on "ColSim - A modular simulation environment for the development of control algorithms for embedded systems in power supply plants". In 1999, he returned to Fraunhofer ISE as a "Post-Doc", coordinating projects related to networked control systems for decentralized power generation. In 2003, he established the "Operation Management and System Control" working group, assuming responsibilities for personnel and finances. The unit grew rapidly and evolved into a department focused on distributed energy systems and grid integration by 2010. In 2019 Prof. Wittwer assumed the role of Business Unit Manager for "Power Electronics, Grids and Intelligent Systems" and in 2023 he became the Director of Business Area “System Integration”, where he is responsible for the program management.

Since 2008, Christof Wittwer has been a lecturer at the University of Freiburg in the international REM "Renewable Energy Engineering and Management" course. In 2014, the University of Freiburg appointed him with the title of "Honorary Professor", entrusting him with the "Smart Grids" lecture module. He contributes to the master program "Sustainable System Engineering" as well as the online master "Solar Energy Engineering", showcasing his commitment to educating future professionals in the field.