2025

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.

The sustainable production of chemical base materials using CO2 as a carbon source is the goal of the "PKat4Chem" project. The project partners involved aim at further developing the process of low-temperature plasma catalysis so that gases produced from biomass can be converted into methanol or ethylene in a single-stage process. The Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS is contributing its expertise in analyzing the materials used. The approach promises high efficiency and flexibility.

A new study by Fraunhofer ISI recently published in Nature Energy explores how domestic battery production in Europe can be expanded and how the European continent can become more independent from other parts of the world. The study derives policy recommendations from modelled scenarios how to strengthen the European battery industry.

Laser-driven fusion power plants are considered a key technology on the road to climate neutrality. Highly reflective and thermally stable mirror systems are crucial for these fusion power plants in order to transport the laser light from the beam source to the tiny capsule of fusion fuel. In the new SHARP research project, new types of high-performance mirrors are being developed for this purpose. The project is being funded with 8.4 million euros by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).