Press Release

Which technologies are making aerospace safer and more competitive? And how can new propulsion systems, sustainable materials and satellite technologies be produced economically? Under the direction of Fraunhofer AVIATION & SPACE, researchers from the Fraunhofer‑Gesellschaft will be presenting answers to these questions at ILA, the leading international aerospace trade show, which will take place in Berlin from June 10 to 14, 2026.

Vehicles that generate their own solar power could make a significant contribution to the decarbonization of the transportation sector. Findings from the European research project SolarMoves suggest that so-called Vehicle Integrated Photovoltaics (VIPV)—solar modules integrated into vehicles—can significantly reduce electricity demand and the strain on the power grid. The study found that, in the best-case scenario, a passenger car in Central Europe can generate up to 55 percent of its annual energy needs on its own; in Southern Europe, this figure can reach up to 80 percent.

Excellent wind potential, strong government support, and other favorable factors could make Ireland a key player in the hydrogen economy. This is the conclusion of the HYreland project, which analyzed the technological, economic, and environmental potential for green hydrogen and its synthesis products on the island. For exports to Germany, the most favorable option is via pipeline transport to the ports of Rotterdam or Stade, provided it is available.

By applying a perovskite cell just 500 nanometers thick onto a conventional silicon solar cell, the theoretical efficiency limit increases from 29.4 to 43.3 percent. To pave the way for the industrial implementation of this tandem technology, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE opened a new laboratory today. The “Pero-Si-SCALE” offers an independent R&D infrastructure and is available to the German and European photovoltaic industry. In particular, solar cell and module manufacturers can use it to scale up new cell designs to large cell formats using industry-standard manufacturing processes, analyze them extensively, and integrate them into PV modules.

Road freight transport is one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions in the German transportation sector; heavy-duty transport accounts for about one-third of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. To enable the transition to battery-electric trucks, the necessary charging infrastructure must be available. In many cases, the power available at the grid connection is insufficient for this purpose. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE conducted a comprehensive feasibility study on behalf of Streck Transportgesellschaft to assess the potential for electrifying an electric truck fleet at the logistics center. According to the study, combining a photovoltaic system, battery storage, and energy management ensures a reliable power supply and represents the most cost-effective solution for logistics centers.

The German automotive industry’s transformation toward electric mobility is more advanced than is often assumed. This is shown by a strategy paper based on a survey of managers in the automotive industry. At the same time, the industry is split into pioneers (fast transformers) and laggards (slow transformers): In particular, those companies that have already invested heavily in electrification are opposed to any watering down in phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles and CO2 emission performance standards. Instead, they want to see reliable framework conditions to improve planning certainty and additional measures to boost the demand for electric vehicles.

As part of the development of the Estonian Liivi Offshore Wind Farm project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES has conducted a site condition monitoring campaign in Liivi Bay, commissioned by Enefit. The Fraunhofer IWES Stage 3+ Wind Lidar Buoy, a Floating Lidar System, was installed together with co-deployed Oceanographic Sensors to collect a year of measurements, e.g., wind profiles, turbulence intensity (TI), wave and current parameters. It was the first commercial campaign to obtain advanced TI measurements from Fraunhofer IWES's high-frequency deterministic motion compensation method. The campaign also involved a land-based Lidar measurement and wind modelling.

Cleaner water in the Aller river, in groundwater, and in agricultural areas – that is the goal of a joint project between Wolfsburg’s wastewater treatment facilities and the Fraunhofer Institutes UMSICHT and ISI. This is to be achieved with the help of a fourth treatment stage at the Wolfsburg-Stahlberg wastewater treatment plant. For the first time, the combination of membrane filtration with a regenerable adsorbent resin stage and activated carbon will be tested. This is expected to eliminate trace substances much more effectively and efficiently in the future. Concurrently, measures at Wolfsburg Hospital will reduce pollution from X-ray contrast agents.

Following its certification as Stage 3 in 2024, the Floating Lidar System (FLS) developed, manufactured and operated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, is the first FLS to achieve Stage 3+ under the third version of the OWA Roadmap (2025). This milestone demonstrates refined accuracy and the capacity to deliver viable Turbulence Intensity (TI) measurements.

Simply reducing emissions will not be enough to achieve Germany’s goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. It is also necessary to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere using so-called negative emission technologies (NETs). A new study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE analyzes the role of NETs in achieving climate goals. According to the study, key factors include a broad mix of different NET technologies, as well as an integrated strategy for the energy system, the ramp-up of NETs, and sustainable biomass use. By 2045, NETs will remove between 39 and 51 million tons of hard-to-avoid CO₂ emissions.