Fraunhofer and UBC partner on sustainable energy research

On 21 December 2012 Fraunhofer and the university signed a framework agreement giving the green light for a collaboration spanning several years.

‘The co-operation with the UBC will support us in one of our key topics,’ said Prof Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. ‘Sources of energy in the 21st century will change, and this brings up many questions we have to solve. With the UBC we have found an excellent international partner for energy research.’

It has been demonstrated that using the surplus electricity from wind or solar power plants to generate hydrogen is a possible option for energy storage.

According to Fraunhofer, the partners will examine the development of innovative electrodes, as well as electrolysis cells for PEM electrolysers in recognition of hydrogen’s increasing importance as a universal and renewable energy source for the storage of electricity. An additional sub-project will investigate the recycling of the used hydrogen in the production of solar cells.