News

Patricia Schulze and Christoph Messmer from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE received Best Student Awards at the 37th European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition. The Awards encourage high-quality work amongst young researchers and recognize their remarkable and outstanding research work in the field of photovoltaics. Both young scientists work on perovskite silicon tandem solar cells, a promising technology that can overcome the theoretical efficiency limit of silicon solar cells.

Agrivoltaics enables the dual use of land for harvesting agriculture and solar energy. It not only offers opportunities for food and energy production but also can make a valuable contribution to protect soil and plants. The first international conference on agrivoltaic systems AgriVoltaics2020 has been rescheduled due to the Corona pandemic and will now take place on October 14-16, 2020 as an online event. This year’s motto is "Launching Agrivoltaics World-Wide".

The European Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics was awarded for the twenty-eighth time in 2020 on the occasion of the 37th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference. After a public nomination phase, the Prize winner was selected by the Becquerel Prize Committee: Prof Henry Snaith, Professor of Physics and Group Leader Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics Device group at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

The study »Paths to a Climate- Neutral Energy System - The German Energy Transition in its Social Context « by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE examines development paths of the German energy system that lead to a reduction of energy-related CO₂ emissions between 95 and 100 percent by 2050. Achieving these climate protection goals in energy supply based on renewable energy sources is feasible from a technical and systemic point of view. However, social behavior is proving to be a decisive factor in the path the energy transition is taking and in the costs of system conversion.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) represent a multibillion-dollar industry. Many of the recent research efforts to improve lithium-ion batteries have focused on developing anode, cathode, or electrolyte materials that can hold more charge in a given volume and lead to higher energy densities. The International Battery Seminar & Exhibit conference from July 28-30 will focus on the development and commercialization of lithium-ion batteries, applications and safety issues.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE won three student awards at the 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (IEEE PVSC). Yet another award was given to a highly efficient solar cell. This year, the world's oldest photovoltaic conference will be held in virtual form from June 15 to August 21.

Prof. Christopher Hebling, Division Director of Hydrogen Technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, has been nominated as an expert to represent Germany on the Executive Committee of the Technology Collaboration Program for Research and Development on the Production and Utilization of Hydrogen of the International Energy Agency IEA, effective July 1, 2020. Dr. Erik Busche from Project Management Jülich has also been appointed as a delegate to the committee.

With the European Green Deal, the European Union has set itself the goal to become climate-neutral by 2050. Upon assuming the Presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1, 2020, Germany will have the opportunity to help shape this new direction in European climate policy. In a joint statement, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities present a series of recommendations on the European energy transformation, including the introduction of a cross-sector CO₂ price and comprehensive changes to the infrastructure.

Durable converters that are insensitive to environmental influences are an indispensable technological component of the energy transformation with a high economic potential. In the research project "power4re" (reliable converters for the renewable energy supply), five Fraunhofer Institutes under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES are working together with industry representatives on solutions to increase the reliability and robustness of inverters in PV systems and frequency converters in wind turbines. The power4re project is being funded within the framework of the internal research program PREPARE of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with funds totaling 3.5 million euros.

The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL (Switzerland) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE (Germany) are organizing a free webinar as compensation the SOPHIA workshop on PV Module Reliability, which was to be held this year yet was postponed due to the Corona pandemic. The presentations on May 28th and 29th will highlight expert results and experiences on the topics of reliability and degradation as well as testing innovative PV applications. Additionally a comprehensive overview of the results from the EU MSCA project Solar-Train will be given.