News 2023

We have all been there: The moment we enter a building, we lose our mobile network. The culprits are modern double or triple insulating glass panes with thermal or solar control coatings. A team at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems worked with industrial partners to develop insulating glass that is transparent to radio waves, significantly improving the indoor reception for cell phone services such as LTE, 5G and GPS navigation. The technology will be presented at the BAU trade fair in Munich (April 17–22).

The new Horizon Europe project FEDECOM (FEDErated "system of systems" approach for flexible and interoperable energy COMmunities) focuses on the implementation of integrated local energy systems through sector coupling and cross-energy vector integration. FEDECOM will provide a scalable and adaptable cloud-based platform consisting of analysis, modelling, and optimization services for the planning, monitoring and control of integrated local energy communities. This project, coordinated by Veolia, involves 17 partners from 7 European countries.

To achieve the climate protection targets, the installed inverter-based capacity in Germany will increase massively in the coming years. A significant share of this generation will come from photovoltaic systems, which will climb from 60 gigawatts today up to 650 gigawatts in 2045. For this reason, PV inverters will increasingly have to ensure grid stability in the future. In this context, a consortium of research and industry partners is developing a new type of grid-forming PV-inverter in the "StABIL" project. The aim is to ensure grid stability while at the same time achieving a long service life for the devices.

An increasing number of consumers and investors seek heating systems that are both sustainable and economical. Up to now, an international data and evaluation basis across all heating technologies has not been available, thus prohibiting a valid ecological and economic assessment of the available technologies. Such information is essential for manufacturers to carry out sustainable product development and also for selecting the optimal combination of different heating technologies. The international working group "Task 71- Life Cycle and Cost Assessment for Heating and Cooling Technologies" within the “Solar Heating and Cooling” program of the International Energy Agency now intends to close this gap by not only providing a methodology for comparison as well as uniform data formats but also by presenting reference heating systems and scenarios for different countries worldwide.

In the presence of the German Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, a delegation from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the Port of Rotterdam Authority jointly signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on site in Rotterdam to start a research collaboration on hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives. This new collaboration complements the Port of Rotterdam's cooperation with its partners in Australia. With this tri-national cooperation, all partners will work together to create the conditions for a hydrogen supply chain between Western Australia and Germany via the port of Rotterdam.

Vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV) is an elegant way to harvest solar power independent of the grid and to simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions, especially for electric vehicles. In the Lade-PV research project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE worked with industrial partners to develop a high-voltage photovoltaic (PV) system and integrate it into the roof of an electric truck. The Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI created a digital twin to carry out comprehensive energy forecasts of the PV-integrated truck. After 12 months in operation for the logistics company Alexander Bürkle GmbH, it is now clear that the 18-ton truck and its 3.2 kilowatt-peak photovoltaic system have passed the practical test.

Emmvee Group, a global manufacturer and supplier of PV modules based in India, has signed a contact with the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems ISE, the largest solar research institute in Europe. The contract appoints Fraunhofer ISE as Emmvee’s solar technology partner for its upcoming solar cell manufacturing facility near Bangalore. The collaboration aims to set up a 1.50 gigawatt monocrystalline PERC solar cell production facility with an upgrade to TOPCon solar cells down the line.

Dr. Yam Siwakoti from the University of Technology Sydney is currently staying at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE as award winner of the Fraunhofer-Bessel Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation. He will spend 6 months as a visiting researcher at the institute, working on power electronics together with Fraunhofer researchers.

The battery charging infrastructure for electric heavy-duty and passenger vehicles plays a decisive role in a successful transition towards climate-friendly transport. As the required charging powers increase, so do the battery and charging voltages. The joint project "HV-MELA-BAT", coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, aims to develop both the necessary power electronic converters and a contact system for high currents and voltages. A buffer storage is to ensure full charging power even at grid connection points with power limitations. The project partners are Motion Control & Power Electronics GmbH, STS Spezial-Transformatoren Stockach GmbH, Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI.