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The year 2024 is characterized by a substantial reduction in federal funding for project research. Energy research is particularly affected by this. A 30% reduction in available funding for new projects is looming, compared to the previous year. Against this backdrop, the Fraunhofer-Group »Energy Technologies and Climate Protection« is warning of a massive decline in German industry's ability to innovate in technologies for the energy transition. Nine institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are organized in the group, which play a key role in driving forward application-oriented energy research.

Together with its project partners RWE, ForWind (University of Oldenburg – Institute of Physics), and Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES is investigating in the “C²-Wakes – Controlled Cluster Wakes” research project how the total energy yield of offshore wind farms can be optimized. The aim of the project is to utilize an extensive offshore wind measurement campaign and modeling methods to determine if and how large-scale wake effects and the global blockage effect can be reduced in the future. The project is set to make significant contributions to climate change mitigation and ensure reliable and cost-efficient energy supply. To date, little research on this topic has been conducted anywhere in the world. The project is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) with a total of around €2.86 million.

Bremen/Gdynia, Poland, March 2024 – The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has conducted a boulder detection campaign in the Baltic Sea on behalf of Baltic Power for the foundations of the planned wind turbines. It also applied the surveying technology along the planned subsea cable routes for the very first time. The innovative Manta Ray G1 measuring system allows not only the detection of boulders located up to 100 meters below the seafloor but also the surveying of shallower objects along cable corridors. This technology developed by Fraunhofer IWES makes it possible to minimize risks posed by boulders during the installation of wind turbines, offshore substations (OSS), and cables.

Oldenburg – Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES is joining forces with ENERTRAG SE to assist in planning an expansive onshore wind farm as part of Hyphen’s green hydrogen project in Namibia.

Research at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft would be inconceivable without its employees, including those with migration backgrounds - they are the foundation of our scientific system. Internationality, diversity, and respect are integral components of the Fraunhofer mission statement and the Fraunhofer Code of Conduct.

South Africa could play an important role in the coming years as a reliable producer of green hydrogen — including as a supplier for Germany. However, the storage and distribution of this resource currently poses challenges. This is where the recently launched Fraunhofer joint research project HySecunda comes in, which is a cooperation between nine Fraunhofer institutes and the Fraunhofer Academy. The project aims to find optimized solutions for producing, storing and certifying green hydrogen. In addition, the consortium is supporting efforts to build capacity in the region and in current projects on hydrogen-based fuels for the aviation industry.

Berlin/Leuna, November 20, 2023 – The world’s first pilot plant for the cost-efficient production of green methanol was inaugurated today in the Leuna Chemical Park as part of the Leuna100 project. Behind it is a research consortium made up of the climate-tech start-up C1 Green Chemicals AG and its partners, Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg, and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). The goal is to utilize a fundamentally new production process to enable the cost-efficient market ramp-up of green methanol and thus offer the container shipping industry a climate-neutral alternative fuel.

Bremerhaven, November 10, 2023 – Senator Kristina Vogt and Lord Mayor of Bremerhaven Melf Grantz are launching trial operation at the Hydrogen Lab Bremerhaven (HLB) together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES. The infrastructure is thus now ready for the research work in Bremerhaven focusing on the in-teraction between wind turbines and electrolytic hydrogen produc-tion to begin. The HLB received a total of €16 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the State of Bremen.

Dr.-Ing. Sylvia Schattauer, Acting Institute Director, is widely regarded in the professional world as an expert on hydrogen. Over the past year and a half, she has played an instrumental role in guiding the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES along the path of integration and through the development of a successful hydrogen strategy under the motto “Thinking of wind energy and hydrogen together”. She is now turning her attention to new challenges and has accepted the unanimous proposal of the Senate to become President of Clausthal University of Technology (TU Clausthal).

Leuna, September 20, 2023. The production of green hydrogen at sea researched in the H2Mare Flagship Project can now be experienced in the form of a browser game. In »Offshore - the H2Mare Game«, players can build their own offshore wind park, produce green hydrogen and test the future technologies researched in the project on screen. With this modern approach, H2Mare aims to inspire a new, younger target group for green offshore technologies in a playful way, and in doing so to familiarize them with their importance as a foundation for a successful energy transition. The project was coordinated and implemented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES in collaboration with the Berlin-based creative agency Sapera Studios. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) provided around 70,000 euros in funding for the project.