Fraunhofer ISE opens Battery Research Center Freiburg: Solid State in Focus

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has now opened a new "Center for Electrical Energy Storage" in Freiburg. This provides state-of-the-art laboratories for international cutting-edge research, according to the organization. Batteries are a core component of a successful energy transition—whether for the electrification of transportation, stabilization of the power grid, or balancing fluctuating green power. The institute has been researching along the entire battery value chain for years. The current research focuses on improving the sustainability, safety, and performance of battery storage. In the new competence center in the Haid industrial area in Freiburg, the institute will research innovative battery materials and cells on over 3,700 square meters of laboratory space, develop optimized solutions for battery systems, advance their integration into various applications, and conduct comprehensive quality assurance testing on batteries.

Development and Testing from a Single Source

With the center, they aim to offer development and testing services from a single source for a wide range of customers from material and battery manufacturers to machine builders and integrators and operators for use in electromobility or as stationary storage. The institute also cooperates with industrial partners in recycling and questions regarding the further use of retired batteries (2nd Life). The center was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economy, Labor, and Tourism, each contributing nine million euros.

"We are grateful for this funding, with which we were able to build a research infrastructure with state-of-the-art characterization instruments, industry-related process equipment, and unique facilities. It allows us to develop new materials, technologies, production processes, and applications in practical collaboration with our industrial customers or in conjunction with the Fraunhofer Research Fab Battery Cell," explains Institute Director Prof. Hans-Martin Henning. 

The building itself also serves as a "living lab" for research: In the "Haid-Power" project, which was funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg with three million euros, the center received a modular hybrid battery storage system with a capacity of 836 kWh, which together with an 850-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the flat roof supports the building's energy supply. Under real operating conditions, battery-supported solutions for commercial and industrial use and new operating strategies, such as intelligent load management, can be tested.

Fast Charging Station with Buffer Storage

Within the framework of the BMBF-funded project "ecoLEPuS," a fast charging station with buffer storage is being installed to test second life batteries for use in high-performance applications. The focus of the research: sustainability, safety, performance. As part of the energy transition, between 300 and 800 gigawatt-hours of stationary battery storage will be installed in Germany by 2045, depending on the scenario. Therefore, the institute's research addresses the sustainability of batteries, ranging from alternative materials to lithium, the development of sustainable production processes, to second-life use and recycling at the end of life. In the current project "PRONTO," for example, researchers are working on a sodium-ion battery technology that avoids critical raw materials and can be manufactured in Baden-Württemberg.