As part of the development of the Estonian Liivi Offshore Wind Farm project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has conducted a site condition monitoring campaign in Liivi Bay, commissioned by Enefit. The Fraunhofer IWES Stage 3+ Wind Lidar Buoy, a Floating Lidar System, was installed together with co-deployed Oceanographic Sensors to collect a year of measurements, e.g., wind profiles, turbulence intensity (TI), wave and current parameters. It was the first commercial campaign to obtain advanced TI measurements from Fraunhofer IWES's high-frequency deterministic motion compensation method. The campaign also involved a land-based Lidar measurement and wind modelling.

Following its certification as Stage 3 in 2024, the Floating Lidar System (FLS) developed, manufactured and operated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, is the first FLS to achieve Stage 3+ under the third version of the OWA Roadmap (2025). This milestone demonstrates refined accuracy and the capacity to deliver viable Turbulence Intensity (TI) measurements.

The Central German Chemical Cluster (MDSV) is one of Germany’s most significant integrated chemical clusters, with closely interconnected material flows between its member sites. A central component of the cluster is the steam cracker in Böhlen, which has been operated by DOW to date. This facility supplies large quantities of basic petrochemical chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, and aromatics. The planned decommissioning of the steam cracker by the end of 2027 presents the MDSV with a profound structural shift.

A new EU-funded project will support Europe’s energy transition by creating more resilient, decarbonised energy systems by advancing hydrogen electrolysers.

Fraunhofer IWES and Fugro Germany Marine GmbH have successfully completed the Geophysical Site Characterization of the N-9.5 area in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the North Sea. The survey was conducted for the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie BSH) during April and May 2025. The campaign included recording both Sub-Bottom Profiler and Ultra-High-Resolution Multi-Channel Seismic data (UHR MCS) for a dense grid of 2,349 kilometers of survey lines. Thus, an area-wide overview of the geological setting is created.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has launched the “IWES Digital Hub”, a central platform for digital solutions from wind energy research. The web application has been online since mid-January and makes selected software tools from the institute available for industry and research. The aim is to visibly bundle the digital expertise of Fraunhofer IWES, facilitate access to the tools developed, validated, and tested at the institute, and thus make the planning, design, and operation of wind farms more efficient.

Europe's offshore wind energy sector faces complex challenges – from new tender designs and technical developments to site assessments and social acceptance. However, a comprehensive project evaluation system that takes all these points into account is still lacking. The EU project WindSCORE, which has been launched in December 2025, is developing a scientifically based 360° evaluation toolbox within the next three years, that incorporates economic, technical, sustainability-oriented, and social criteria, thereby supporting investors and stakeholders. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has joined forces with its partners Fondation Open-C, SINTEF, Statnett, TÜV SÜD, Bio-Littoral, and Equinor. The project is co-funded by PTJ/BMWE, Germany, RPL France and RCN Norway as part of the EU initiative Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP).