The cornerstone was laid by Maryam Blumenthal, Senator for Science, Research, and Equality, Oliver Panz, Head of the Department of Urban and Landscape Planning at the Bergedorf District Office, Prof. Dr. Ute Lohrentz, President of HAW Hamburg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Schäfers, Director of the CC4E, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Wenske, Deputy Director of Fraunhofer IWES, and Martin Sowinski, Managing Director of Sprinkenhof GmbH.

A three-story building with a gross floor area of approximately 2,500 square meters is being constructed on a 2,800-square-meter lot. Plans include six research laboratories, office space for about 50 employees, conference rooms, and a showroom where research will be vividly presented through exhibits, models, and digital applications.

The facility is scheduled to open in 2028. The project costs total approximately 21.5 million euros. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is providing an investment grant for this purpose; in addition, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union is supporting the project with approximately six million euros. The project will be implemented under a tenant-landlord model (Mieter-Vermieter-Modell).

Maryam Blumenthal, Senator for Science, Research, and Equality: “The research that will take place at the Demonstration Center for Sector Coupling in the future fills an important gap: It integrates electricity, heat, and mobility into a system that works in everyday life. This building will bring energy research to where it belongs: into dialogue with citizens. After all, the energy transition will only succeed if people can understand and experience how it works. Hamburg is demonstrating here that research does not remain confined to the laboratory but actively shapes our future.”

Prof. Dr. Ute Lohrentz, President of HAW Hamburg: “We see every day in the news just how much we need the scientifically sound contributions of our energy transition experts. The new research building is therefore coming at the right time: It offers optimal conditions for researching solutions for the energy transition and putting them into practice together with our partners. Direct engagement with citizens is particularly important in this context. After all, the energy transition requires not only technological innovations but also knowledge transfer, transparency, and public participation. With its laboratories and publicly accessible showroom, the building will bring all of this together in one place and further strengthen the CC4E’s role as a unique science and innovation center for climate-neutral energy systems.”

Oliver Panz, Head of the Urban and Landscape Planning Department at the Bergedorf District Office: “Step by step, a sustainable and innovative cluster of projects and developments in the fields of research, business, and the energy transition is taking shape in Bergedorf. Here, at the intersection of the urban development projects along the Schleusengraben axis with the Energy Campus, the new residential neighborhoods, and the Bergedorf Innovation Park, a well-connected, forward-looking hub of expertise, knowledge transfer, and collaboration is emerging. The collaboration between HAW and Fraunhofer exemplifies the potential that is already unfolding here. Bergedorf offers spaces where forward-looking technologies can be developed and tested close to the city center, and together with our partners, we are actively shaping the framework for this.”

Martin Sowinski, Managing Director of Sprinkenhof GmbH: “We are very pleased to be able to support this forward-looking project as the overarching project management team. The Energy Campus is an outstanding location for innovations related to the energy transition. The fact that we were able to successfully build a research facility on the same site with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES as early as 2019 gives us a strong foundation and valuable experience for this new project. Together, we look forward to building on this success with all stakeholders and creating optimal conditions for excellent research.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Schäfers, Director of CC4E: “With this new building, we are sending a strong signal in Bergedorf: We are creating more space for the energy transition, for collaborations with our partners from industry and academia, and for dialogue with the broader public. The environment of the Energy Campus and the new Bergedorf Innovation Park offers us ideal conditions for expanding our existing infrastructure there and testing new key technologies for their practical applicability. I am particularly pleased that we are doing this together with our colleagues at Fraunhofer IWES and that we can continue and deepen our outstanding collaboration at the Demonstration Center.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Wenske, Deputy Director and Chief Technology Officer at Fraunhofer IWES: “The Demonstration Center for Sector Coupling represents another important building block of the Energy Campus in Bergedorf. The close collaboration between CC4E and Fraunhofer IWES has already proven its value many times over in recent years. The new building now creates additional opportunities to pool our expertise and, together with partners from science and industry, develop and test solutions for a climate-neutral energy system.”

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Background

Energy systems integration refers to the integration of the electricity generation sector with the consumption sectors of heating, mobility, and industry. Research in the new building will focus on related technologies as well as the digitalization of the energy transition. Among other things, researchers are investigating how CO₂ from industrial processes or from the ambient air can be captured and converted into synthetic energy carriers using green hydrogen (Power-to-X). The intelligent control of energy storage and conversion technologies is also a key focus.

The Energy Campus and the Bergedorf Innovation Park: The new building also serves as a driver of innovation for the “Bergedorf Innovation Park” urban development project, one of four planned innovation parks in the city of Hamburg. HAW Hamburg and the CC4E are helping to shape the development of the area surrounding the Energy Campus as a future hub of innovation. Since 2015, CC4E has operated a research building on Schleusengraben, complemented by the Hamburg-Curslack research wind farm, which was constructed in 2018. The partners will continue their close collaboration with Fraunhofer IWES – for example, in the use of a large-scale test rig for wind turbines – in the new building.

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Contacts

Authority for Science, Research and Equality

Press Office
Email: pressestelle@bwfg.hamburg.de
Website: https://www.hamburg.de/bwfg/
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Sprinkenhof GmbH

Press Office
Stefanie Henniges
Phone: 0049 176 14181453
Email: presse@sprinkenhof.de
Website: https://www.sprinkenhof.de

HAW Hamburg | CC4E

CC4E Public Relations
Inga Mohwinkel
Phone: 004940 21904-3495
Email: CC4E-Presse@haw-hamburg.de

Fraunhofer Institute für Wind Energy Systems IWES

Yvonne Peters
Manager Science Communications  
Phone: +49 471 14290-189
Email: yvonne.peters@iwes.fraunhofer.de