Highlights: 30 years of research

On the initiative of Prof. Dr. Werner Kleinkauf, the German state of Hesse in 1988 establishes ISET, the Institute of Solar Energy Supply Technology, as an autonomously operating research institute affiliated with the University of Kassel. The main focus of ISET’s research activities is on systems and technology for using renewable energies.

ISET’s forecasting system enables grid operators to reliably integrate wind energy into the grid and the market and contributes to reliable grid operation with its precise forecasts. This also saves costs for balancing energy and control power.

Starting in the 1990s, ISET substantially contributes to the development of converters to be used for photovoltaics. In addition, ISET sets major impulses for establishing industrial innovations and standards – such as patented voltage-impressing converters, which can be used to stabilize the wide-area synchronous grid of the future.

In 1990, the German federal government mandates ISET to launch and implement the scientific mesuring and evaluation program »250 MW Wind«. Over the course of 16 years, ISET systematically collects, evaluates and processed data from over 1,500 wind farms in one of the worlds largest data bases about the wind energy.

Using state-of-the-art methods and physical models, ISET is able to simulate the behavior of lead-acid batteries on the computer with high accuracy. Today the simulation software can be used for lithium-ion batteries as well and is used by car manufacturers and their suppliers all over the world.

Developing the control system and conducting simulations, ISET is substantially involved in the conceptualization, development, construction, and operation of the world’s first large scale tidal current power plant located off England’s West coast and further projects.

Recognizing the great potential and flexibility of biogas plants at an early stage, ISET develops methods for demand-driven gas production. Regarding power-to-gas and longterm energy storage, ISET develops plant and system concepts as well as operating models and methods for optimization.

In 2009, ISET becomes one of two sub-institutes of the newly established Fraunhofer IWES (Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology). Headed by Prof. Jürgen Schmid, the energy system technology branch is further extended, and the number of staff quickly increases from about 180 to over 350.

With the »Combined Power Plant« project, Fraunhofer IWES counteracts the widespread prejudice that power supply based one-hundred percent on renewables cannot be consistent. The Institute develops system services ensuring the stability of power grids as well as virtual power plants comprising multiple, distributed producers.

By extending power transmission and distribution grids, flexibility in terms of balancing fluctuations in power production and grid utilization can be increased, reducing the need for energy storage. Fraunhofer IWES develops grid extension scenarios, concepts of grid extension to be used for concrete regional demands, and methods for costefficient grid extension planning.

The coupling of power, heat, gas, and mobility allows more flexible production and consumption in a system characterized by highly volatile sub-sectors. Fraunhofer IWES develops methods, components, and business models for cross-sector energy supply structures and energy storage systems.

In 2018, each of the two subinstitutes of Fraunhofer IWES becomes an autonomous institute, leading to the formation of Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE. Energy economics was added to the Institute’s portfolio by Prof. Dr. Clemens Hoffmann, who assumed the position of Director in 2012.