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  • No clean water, no functioning electricity grid, no primary healthcare - a scenario that is not uncommon in remote areas of the sub-Saharan region. The founding of “S Mile Solutions (Pty) Ltd”, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, is seeking to change this. The start-up, based in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa, provides smart, small-scale and off-grid infrastructure solutions that are mounted on commercially available pick-up trucks, thereby enabling companies and institutions to access rural and remote communities with their services and products.

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  • Press Release #07 / 2024

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Visits Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg

    February 27, 2024

    Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg today. At Europe's largest solar research institute, he informed himself about new technologies for energy-efficient buildings and climate-neutral housing. Scientists from Fraunhofer ISE explained the latest research findings on heat pumps, integrated photovoltaics for building façades and vehicles, and charging infrastructures for electric vehicles. The German Chancellor was accompanied by Baden-Württemberg's Minister for Regional Development and Housing Nicole Razavi and Freiburg's Lord Mayor Martin Horn.

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  • Today there exists a wide range of solar cells, connection technologies, encapsulation materials and processes from which solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturers can choose. At the same time, manufacturers are faced with the challenge of bringing the most highly efficient, durable and recyclable PV modules onto the market. Also customized modules for integrated applications are in demand. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE develops and tests new product ideas for manufacturers. Thus, companies can test new module concepts, without having to purchase the necessary equipment and materials themselves. Today, the institute opened its newly organized and expanded technology evaluation center Module-TEC with an area of 1,000 square meters. In this development and production environment, PV modules prototypes can be manufactured in small batches and tested on industrial systems.

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  • Photovoltaic (PV) modules based on perovskite silicon tandem solar cells have the potential to achieve significantly higher efficiencies than today's standard silicon PV modules. A research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has now produced a PV module using perovskite silicon tandem solar cells from Oxford PV. With an efficiency of 25 percent and an output of 421 watts on an area of 1.68 square meters, it is the world's most efficient silicon perovskite tandem solar module in industrial format. For the manufacturing process, the researchers used equipment at Fraunhofer ISE's Module-TEC that is already used in mass production and optimized the processes for the tandem technology.

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  • In 2023, renewables accounted for a record share of 59.7 percent of the net public net electricity generation in Germany. The share of renewables in the load (the electricity mix coming from the socket) was 57.1 percent. This is the result of an analysis presented this week by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. New records were also set for wind and solar power in 2023. In contrast, generation from lignite (minus 27 percent) and hard coal (minus 35 percent) fell sharply. Newly installed photovoltaic capacity was in the double digits for the first time, amounting to around 14 gigawatts for 2023. This significantly exceeded the German government's statutory climate protection target. All the data for these statistics can be found on the platform energy-charts.info.

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Sophia Bächle

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Sophia Bächle

Communications
Photovoltaics

Fraunhofer ISE
Heidenhofstr. 2
79110 Freiburg

Phone +49 761 4588-5215

Claudia Hanisch

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Claudia Hanisch

Communications
Energy Technology and Systems

Fraunhofer ISE
Heidenhofstr. 2
79110 Freiburg

Phone +49 761 4588-5448

Diana Bribach

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Diana Bribach

Communications Hydrogen​ Technologies

Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE
Heidenhofstr. 2
79110 Freiburg

Phone +49 761-4588-2804