Press releases

Green hydrogen is considered a key technology for Europe’s climate-neutrality. However, the urgent ramp-up of technologies and markets faces major uncertainties regarding the future demand for hydrogen and the corresponding infrastructure - a dilemma that is hampering strategic decisions and concrete planning. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence »Integrated Energy Systems«« (CINES) have analyzed scenarios for the pan-European energy system in the years 2030 and 2050. They show that even with low hydrogen demand, a considerable build-up of hydrogen infrastructure is necessary.

Smart metering systems are key to a successful energy transition. In order to achieve the goals of the energy transition, the existing challenges must be tackled quickly and decisively. Close cooperation between politics, industry and science is essential.

With the boom in balcony solar systems, the expansion of heat pumps and the newly introduced communal building supply, so-called on-site systems are increasingly coming into focus. Such approaches to intelligently generate, store and consume renewable energy in close proximity are not only beneficial for the operators of the systems, but also for the energy transition as a whole. In a new thesis paper, researchers from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence “Integrated Energy Systems” (CINES) examine the technical, economic and social impact of on-site systems.

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.