Press releases

The year 2024 is characterised 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 Technol-ogies and Climate Protection« is warning of a massive decline in German in-dustry's ability to innovate in technologies for the energy transition. Nine institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are organised in the group, which play a key role in driving forward application-oriented energy research.

A new book co-edited and co-authored by Dr. Jan Frederik Braun, Head of Hydrogen Cooperation for the MENA region at Fraunhofer CINES, provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of the emerging global hydrogen economy from the vantage point of one of the world’s biggest energy pro-viders: Saudi Arabia. "The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia: Domestic Developments and International Opportunities" is a timely, unique and an indispensable resource for practitioners and students of energy, geopolitics, and climate policy working on hydrogen in academia, applied research, national government bodies, and international organizations.

As part of the workshop on on-site systems organised by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence CINES, experts came together in Berlin to discuss on-site systems as a building block for a fairer energy transition.

Digitalisation is a highly relevant key process for the transformation of the energy system - details of this were researched by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence CINES in 2022 and summarised in 14 theses. The 2023 progress report, which examines the further development of the digitalisation of the energy system, was published today.

According to an analysis by the Ariadne energy transition project, it is both more environmentally friendly and more cost-effective in the long term to invest in heat pumps and district heating to replace or substitute a heating system rather than gas heating. This decision is often only made based on the initial installation costs, while the costs over the entire life cycle of the system are often neglected as they are much more difficult to determine. The researchers have calculated the total costs for various heating technologies in residential buildings over a period of 20 years, taking into account future energy source prices and CO2 price developments. The result of the analysis is that investing in heat pumps and district heating not only protects the environment, but is also more cost-effective than heating with gas in the long term.

The European Green Deal aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% compared to the reference year 1990. The decision on the EU's 2030 climate target for the path to climate neutrality in 2050 is more than just a political declaration of intent. The experts from the Ariadne energy transition research project have analysed the EU Commission's key scenarios. They pointed out that the implementation of the new targets could be jeopardised if an uncoordinated mix of instruments is used. The EU Commission has put three policy paths up for debate. The researchers analysed these scenarios in terms of their short- and long-term feasibility and their target achievement.

Dr. Jan Frederik Braun, Head of Hydrogen Cooperation (MENA Region) at Fraunhofer CINES, gave a presentation on »From oil to hydrogen: How can the new energy partnership with the Gulf region succeed?« at the Green Fuels Import Conference organised by en2x Wirtschaftsverband Fuels und Energie e. V. in Berlin on 7 November. The presentation provides an insight into the often differing expectations and approaches between Europe and the Gulf region in the development of a common hydrogen economy and how these views can be interlinked.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has set itself the goal of becoming one of the leading global producers of low-carbon hydrogen by 2031. With this aim, the UAE government commissioned the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Integrated Energy Systems (CINES) and the consulting firm GHD Advisory to develop a National Hydrogen Strategy. The strategy, released yesterday at the second Emirates Energy Forum by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI), is a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and obstacles for the future hydrogen economy in the UAE.

The Fraunhofer Symposium on the Digitisation of the Energy System took place on October 11 at Fraunhofer ENIQ in Berlin. Experts from the energy industry, politics and academia attended the event to discuss the current status of the digitisation of the energy system, opportunities and challenges. Regulatory innovations from Berlin and Brussels as well as technical innovations and systemic application examples of digitisation in the energy system were presented. The symposium, which took place for the second time, was organized by Fraunhofer CINES and offered an excellent opportunity to stay up-to-date in the field of digitization of the energy system.

From October 4-6, the Loyola Autumn Research School (LARS) took place in Florence. It was organized by Fraunhofer CINES in collaboration with the Florence School of Regulation and Turin Polytechnic University. The LARS is the successor of the successful »Summer School on Energy Systems for Young Researchers«. A total of 29 PhD students and researchers from all over the world participated in the LARS.