Ongoing Research Project

Road freight transport accounts for 35% of national greenhouse gas emissions. The expansion of the charging infrastructure plays a decisive role in the electrification of the transport sector in order to ensure the acceptance and suitability of fully electric vehicles for everyday use. While the provision of charging capacities of 11 kW for a normal charging process and 120-400 kW for a fast charging process in the passenger car sector are sufficient, the fast and safe provision of electrical energy for commercial vehicles poses a particular challenge for the energy system and the connected charging infrastructure due to the required amount of energy and charging time. The requirements for such megawatt charging systems (MCS) are largely determined by the user's requirements profile and the resulting vehicle concept. | Duration: 01/2022 - 05/2025

Project in the Business Area: Energy Efficient Buildings; Topic: Heat Pumps; Duration: 01/2023 - 12/2025

The Baden-Württemberg state government has set itself the goal of firmly establishing agri-photovoltaics as a land-efficient form of land use and specifically promoting its potential, especially in the area of special crops such as fruit growing. In a feasibility study funded by the Ministries of Environment, Climate and Energy as well as Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection, the implementation of eleven pilot plants was examined with regard to agricultural and technical aspects within the project "Model Region Agri-PV BaWü". Now, in a first implementation phase, five of these plants are to be planned, built and researched with the aim of identifying potentials and difficulties of Agri-PV and to advance the development of the new technology state-wide. | Duration: 01/2022 - 11/2024

The LAENDLE project is developing a groundbreaking, solvent- and PFAS-free dry coating process for sodium-ion battery electrodes that addresses the challenges of conventional wet coating. IKA-Werke GmbH and Fraunhofer ISE are combining their expertise in mechanical engineering and battery research to promote local value creation in Baden-Württemberg. The added value for the industry lies in the reduction of production costs and resource consumption while improving environmental compatibility. | Duration: 07/2025 - 06/2027

Einleitung | Duration: 01/2024 - 11/2026

Municipal heat planning (MTP) is the cornerstone of a successful local heat transition, as the diversity of renewable heat sources and local building structures requires individual solutions adapted to each municipality. But how can the sum of individual solutions be compatible with achieving national climate targets in the various sectors in the long term? What interactions occur between local planning, transport infrastructure planning and energy market developments? How can municipal heating plans be evaluated automatically in order to answer these questions in the first place? Scientists from the Öko-Institut, EWI and Fraunhofer ISE as well as employees from Trianel and digikoo look into these questions in the joint project KOMpare. | Duration: 01/2025- 12/2027

The decarbonization of companies is an important element of the energy transition. Many small and medium-sized enterprises are located in industrial or commercial areas. The muncipal heat planning covering these areas do not always account for the decarbonization strategies and possibilites of these companies. Furthermore, their decarbonization strategies depend heavily on the requirements of individual production processes. Due to the diverse composition of commercial areas, there are currently no standards for developing holistic transformation paths. This is where the Ind-Supply research project comes in. The aim is to develop a planning tool for industrial areas that will support planners and municipalities in complex energy supply decisions, thereby enabling climate- and resource-optimized development. The project is a joint research project between Prognos AG, greenventory GmbH, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA), and Fraunhofer ISE. | Duration: 10/2024- 09/2027

The energy, transport and heating transition represents a considerable challenge for the electricity grids. According to current planning guidelines, the increased use of heat pumps and electric vehicles would require a massive expansion of the distribution grids. This would result in high costs and could slow down the transition to a CO2-neutral society. Grid operation platforms can use smart metering systems (iMSys) and control boxes to record grid conditions and reduce grid loads through targeted control interventions, incentivized by variable grid charges. If the grid load can be reduced through targeted incentives, this must be taken into account in grid planning in order to minimize grid expansion. | Duration: 01/2025 - 12/2028

Berlin has set itself the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050. The extensive use of solar energy is an important component of this. The Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Program 2030 stipulates the creation of a Solarcity Berlin master plan that will enable solar potential to be tapped as quickly as possible. The Berlin agency “Zebralog” and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) were commissioned by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises to work with a group of experts to develop a catalog of measures to accelerate the development of PV potential. | Duration: 10/2018 - 12/2019

This project aims to develop and demonstrate an advantageous and innovative alternative to CHP units: the combustion of gases in a micro gas turbine (mGT) and downstream utilization of the high exhaust gas temperatures in an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The efficiency can reach that of a CHP unit and offers decisive advantages of the mGT over conventional combustion. These are, above all, very low-pollutant combustion (especially NOx) and high fuel flexibility. A central component and at the same time a challenge in such a combination are high-temperature resistant ceramic heat exchangers and other components, which are being developed in the project. Two system variants are being built and tested in the project. The combination of mGT and ORC on a common drive shaft to form a micro-hybrid turbine (“MiHyT”) with a ceramic coaxial heat exchanger is new. | Duration: 12/2024 - 11/2027