Press Release

The German automotive industry’s transformation toward electric mobility is more advanced than is often assumed. This is shown by a strategy paper based on a survey of managers in the automotive industry. At the same time, the industry is split into pioneers (fast transformers) and laggards (slow transformers): In particular, those companies that have already invested heavily in electrification are opposed to any watering down in phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles and CO2 emission performance standards. Instead, they want to see reliable framework conditions to improve planning certainty and additional measures to boost the demand for electric vehicles.

Fraunhofer ISIT has initiated field testing activities for a modular medium-voltage multilevel converter (MMC) developed within the AC2DC-II project. On 17 February 2026, two research containers were transported and installed at the Faculty of Engineering of Kiel University (CAU), where they will serve as a medium-voltage test environment until July 2027. The container-based infrastructure enables validation of converter technologies under realistic grid conditions. The units were previously used in a medium-voltage grid analysis project by CAU and HAW Kiel and have now been repurposed for AC2DC-II testing.

Intelligent storage technologies are needed to ensure the success of the energy transition. Thermal storage systems can efficiently store heat from renewable energies. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is conducting research into the use of 3D printing technology to manufacture thermal energy storage systems from ultra-high-performance concrete. The institute is collaborating with partners from industry and research to achieve this goal.

Failures in modern energy systems generate extreme short-circuit currents. Conventional shutdown methods are often no longer able to adequately protect new types of systems with semiconductor inverters and high power density. The GreenGridGuard project has developed an innovative, semiconductor-based protection concept: In the event of failure, it forces a permanent short circuit in less than 1 millisecond, safely switches off the inverter, and prevents plasma leaks. This improves protection and grid connection. The Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS contributed its expertise in materials diagnostics and method development for new power electronics solutions.

Starting today, Dr. Klemens Ilse will head the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP together with Prof. Dr. Ralph Gottschalg and Dr. Frank Zobel. The 35-year-old physicist will continue to lead the "Materials for H2Technologies" group. With this addition to the management team, Fraunhofer CSP will have additional leadership capacity for strategic development.

On 29 September, the first public megawatt charging system (MCS) for battery-electric trucks in Germany was ceremoniously switched on at the Lipperland Süd service station in the presence of Christian Hirte, the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport. This is part of the HoLa project, “HoLa – High-performance charging for long-haul trucking”, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and the EU. This marked a decisive step toward emission-free long-haul trucking that was taken together with representatives from science, industry, and research.

In the "WindKI" research project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES and the AI company LATODA are developing a new method that detects performance losses in wind turbines at an early stage. The aim of the multi-year project is to implement an AI-supported diagnostic system that will enable objective and data-driven performance optimization of the turbines. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.

The expansion of renewable energies (RE) is progressing worldwide, but in many places there is a lack of reliable data and suitable modelling tools. This shortage also hinders the utilization of enormous RE potential in African countries. As part of the OASES research project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE and its partners have therefore established an open AU-EU ecosystem for energy system modelling. Alongside a tool for the automated detection of RE plants in satellite imagery, high-resolution RE time series were generated and can be seamlessly integrated into the enhanced and user-friendly IRENA FlexTool.

The Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS), an initiative to create a common European agricultural data space, was launched on April 1, 2025. The 36 project partners from 15 countries came together for a three-day kick-off event in Ghent (Belgium) at the beginning of May. The project, which is funded by the European Commission through the “Digital Europe” program, is coordinated by the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO). Over the next three years, the partners will work on enabling the secure, sovereign and trustworthy use of data across the entire agricultural and food value chain, including public administration. With the start of the project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE is also taking on a central role as a technology partner.

Chip design is a crucial step in the development of application-specific microelectronic components and must take functionality, reliability and security aspects into account. Novel reconfigurable field effect transistors (RFETs) enable significantly better protection against hardware attacks and are the focus of the "DI-ReDesign" project. The project partners, including the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS in Halle (Saale), want to provide open access design libraries using RFETs to support customers in developing powerful and secure electronic products.