Press Releases

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg have developed and patented an advanced cell and stack design for electrolyzers. This novel half-cell composite reduces the material and manufacturing costs for PEM electrolyzers and thus enables large-scale mass production. Fraunhofer ISE will present this half-cell composite along with other innovations for the hydrogen economy from April 17 to 21, 2023 at the Hannover Messe in Hall 13, Booth D35.

The higher the receiver temperature, the more efficiently a solar thermal power plant will operate. Convective thermal losses also have an important effect on yield. The HelioGLOW collaborative project by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and industrial partners is working to address these challenges: The project team investigated a novel ceramic heat-transfer medium including power plant design and air wall for the thermal insulation of the receiver. The trend towards continuously improving production processes is reflected in the development of the Stellio heliostat. The results of the project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action are presented in the recently published final report.

Heat pumps are a key technology for the heat transition, yet their implementation in existing multi-family buildings is a challenge. These buildings place special demands on the transfer systems for space heating and domestic hot water as well as on environmental heat utilization. In the joint project "LowEx in the Building Stock," solutions for heat pump, heat transfer and ventilation systems in retrofitted multifamily homes were analyzed, developed and demonstrated. In the final project report, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Institute for Sustainable Systems Engineering INATECH of the University of Freiburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT present the resulting solutions and some exemplary demonstration objects.

With the aim of being able to ensure comprehensive preclinical care in even the most remote areas of Africa, researchers from the Fraunhofer institutes for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST and for Solar Energy Systems ISE, in collaboration with Stellenbosch University and South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in South Africa, have developed a mobile care platform which, on 3rd March 2023, was handed over to the NGO Rhiza Babuyile during a ceremonial event. The non-profit organization has a number of locations in South Africa and will conduct the one-year test phase of the supply unit in the Mpumalanga region.

The solar pioneer and founder of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Sys-tems ISE, Prof. Adolf Goetzberger, passed away on February 24, 2023 at the age of 94. In 1981 as the then director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, Goetzberger pushed through to spin off a working group and form an independent institute devoted to solar energy systems. Thus, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE was founded. In the same year, the physicist developed, among other things, the idea of agrivoltaics, the dual harvesting of crops and energy, which is now experiencing its break-through in Germany. He contributed his visionary work to numerous expert committees, boards of trustees, commissions and working groups and was honored with many renowned prizes and awards.

The harmful effects of air traffic on the climate will have to be greatly reduced in the future – this applies both to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from jet fuel and to the so-called non-CO2 effects, such as the climate impact of the condensation trails caused by an aircraft. A consortium of research institutes and industrial partners, under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, is therefore re-searching the development of an innovative process: A sustainable synthetic liquid fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel, SAF) is to completely replace fossil jet fuel in the future. Innovations in the synthesis process should lead to an increase of the energy efficiency of this SAF production route. Partners along the entire value chain have joined forces with Fraunhofer ISE for the SAFari project: “Sustainable Aviation Fuels based on Ad-vanced Reaction and Process Intensification”.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have developed a new technology, CatVap®, for reducing emissions from internal combustion engines by fuel preparation. The technology is fuel-flexible and can be used not only with normal diesel fuel but also with sustainable fuels such as e-fuels and biofuels. It is currently being intensively tested on the road for use in commercial vehicles. From 28 February to 1 March 2023, the technology will be on display at the Albonair GmbH booth at the 10th International Engine Congress in Baden-Baden. Together with ambitious truck manufacturers, Fraunhofer ISE and Albonair GmbH now want to develop the technology for series-production and market it.

In the SolCoolDry project, funded by the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE), the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, together with the company Innotech Ingenieursgesellschaft mbH and Kenyan partners, has developed a system that uses solar thermal and photovoltaic energy to generate drying heat and produce ice. The lack of electricity in rural areas makes it difficult for fishermen and farmers in Africa to preserve or re-frigerate their products. This reduces their income and threatens food security. As a result, up to 30 percent of food spoils on its way to the market. The plant has now been handed over to the local partners in Mwazaro in southern Kenya.

Many industrial processes produce waste heat that is often released unused into the environment. With rising energy prices, waste heat recovery and storage are becoming increasingly attractive for companies as a substitute for fossil fuels. In the Fenopthes project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection BMWK, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE worked with industrial partners to develop and optimize low-cost fillers for thermal storage systems. Fillers as additives in storage media in thermal storage systems can replace expensive high-temperature storage media. The new technology was tested in a storage unit for waste heat utilization in an industrial company.

The building sector offers great potential for reducing primary energy demand, which the German government aims to reduce by 80 percent until 2050 (compared with 2008). To achieve this, buildings and neighborhoods must be able to respond to fluctuating power generation in the future. As controllable loads or decentralized generators, they will themselves become part of the energy system. In the project "FlexGeber - Demonstration of flexibility options in the building sector and their interaction with the German energy system", the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE conducted three case studies at three different companies. The results are now available in a final report.