Press

Leuna, September 20, 2023. The production of green hydrogen at sea researched in the H2Mare Flagship Project can now be experienced in the form of a browser game. In »Offshore - the H2Mare Game«, players can build their own offshore wind park, produce green hydrogen and test the future technologies researched in the project on screen. With this modern approach, H2Mare aims to inspire a new, younger target group for green offshore technologies in a playful way, and in doing so to familiarize them with their importance as a foundation for a successful energy transition. The project was coordinated and implemented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES in collaboration with the Berlin-based creative agency Sapera Studios. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) provided around 70,000 euros in funding for the project.

Bremerhaven - The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has once again been contracted by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (BSH) to carry out a preliminary meteorological investigation in the North Sea as part of the area development plan. This is the fourth time that IWES has undertaken the preliminary investigations and is helping to further accelerate offshore expansion in Germany.

09/14/2023, Berlin – Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES began researching the topic of automated rotor blade manufacturing ten years ago with the start of the »BladeMaker« project. The follow-up project »BladeFactory« is set to be completed this October. This marks an important occasion for the project team to look back at the results and identify future trends in rotor blade manufacturing together with project partners and guests from the wind energy industry and research sector. The BladeMaker project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) to the tune of around €8 million and the BladeFactory project with around €9 million. The final conference with around 40 guests was held on Tuesday at ENIQ on the EUREF-Campus in Berlin.

Berlin/Leuna, 15 August 2023 – The Berlin-based climate tech start-up C1, together with its partners the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, DBI-Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg and the Technical University of Berlin, announces the launch of the »Leuna100« project. The goal of the project is the scalable production of market-ready green methanol for marine and aviation applications. Methanol is seen as key to defossilizing these industries and to free them from their dependence on oil. To achieve this, the consortium of experts is relying on the new C1 catalysis process to produce green methanol. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) with a total of € 10.4 Mio. over the next three years. Shipping alone is currently responsible for emission of around 1.1 billion metric tons of CO₂ (around three percent of global CO2 emissions) as well as other air pollutants that are harmful to health, such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides or particulate matter. Replacing fossil oil with regenerative marine fuels can save more than a gigaton of CO2 every year. For container ships, green methanol is currently gaining traction as a climate-neutral fuel alternative.

06/30/2023, Bremerhaven – The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, the President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Andreas Bovenschulte, and the Senator for Science and Ports of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Claudia Schilling, met in Bremerhaven today to inaugurate the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES’ new 115m+ rotor blade test rig. The new rotor blade test rig, the first of its kind in the world, offers comprehensive testing possibilities for rotor blades measuring longer than 115 meters. The construction of the test rig was financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) to the tune of around €18 million, with additional funding of around €5 million coming from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the State of Bremen, and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Germany's Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, the Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH), has awarded Fugro a geophysical survey contract for two offshore wind farm sites in the German exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the North Sea. Working in collaboration with Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), Fugro’s Geo-data will be integrated with its ultra high resolution multichannel seismic data (UHR MCS) and used by BSH to develop geological models of the offshore sites and support subsequent geotechnical investigations.

The House of Transfer (HoT) project started yesterday in Leuna. The coming four years are set to see the development of a central hub for all stakeholders in the biobased economy, chemical, plastics, and hydrogen sectors in the Central German mining region. Led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, the project team, which comprises the project partners BioEconomy e. V., the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW, the Chemie+ cooperation network, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and POLYKUM e. V., has set itself the goal of providing support for the accelerated implementation of the structural change. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK) to the tune of €4.6 million.

Bremerhaven – Senator Dr. Claudia Schilling and Lord Mayor Melf Grantz performed the symbolic ground-breaking for the Hydrogen Lab Bremerhaven (HLB). The HLB is being funded with a total of €16 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the State of Bremen and should be completed in 2023.

Sassnitz, November 2022. The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has successfully completed a boulder detection campaign off the coast of the island of Rügen in the German Baltic Sea on behalf of 50Hertz. In order to allow efficient planning of the grid operator’s new offshore platform seismic measuring techniques have been employed to detect boulders below the seafloor in. This innovative process allows identification of large rocks up to 100 m below the seafloor. That enables planning of windfarms and platforms as reliable as possible and thus more cost-effective while simultaneously minimizing the risks associated with the installation. The technical procedure in this form is unique and is continuously being developed further.

Leuna, November 2, 2022 – Prof. Armin Willingmann, Minister of the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt, and Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, officially handed over the Hydrogen Lab Leuna (HLL) building to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES in the Central German mining region in the scope of the “Fokusreise Strukturwandel” (Structural Change Focus Journey). In addition, Prof. Willingmann also presented the funding notification for the Hydrogen Competence Hub structural change project – a central hub for education and training.