Since its founding in 2009, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES has grown to almost 600 employees. As part of their strategic development and alignment, both divisions of the institute have developed largely independent profiles. The Executive Board and Senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have therefore decided to continue the branches of the institute as independent institutes as of January 2018: as IEE and IWES. For customers and industry partners, the sharpening of the profile will facilitate a clear allocation of activities.
“With their in-depth knowledge in the fields of energy system technology and wind energy systems, our researchers at the Fraunhofer IWES are a compass, a barometer, and a sought-after adviser for the dynamically changing energy industry as well as for German politics,“ said Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. “The aim of having two independent institutes is to sharpen the orientation of the two divisions of the institute in terms of content and to communicate this more clearly in the interests of our partners.“
The Fraunhofer IWES in Kassel is becoming the new “Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE“. The Fraunhofer IWES Northwest, headquartered in Bremerhaven, will continue to operate under the abbreviation IWES and the slightly altered institute name “Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES“.
The Fraunhofer IWES Northwest has established itself as an industry institute for the validation of wind turbine technology, among other things. It has an accredited and certified test infrastructure, its own test field and well-founded methodological expertise concerning test methods. “After an intensive and successful start-up phase, the future Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems sees itself well prepared, as an institute focused on the wind industry, to make a substantial contribution to facing the enormous technical challenge that currently exists,“ says Prof. Andreas Reuter, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute IWES in Bremerhaven.
