Best practice for successful structural development

These questions were the focus of the visit of the Parliamentary State Secretary from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) Michael Kellner to the Energy Innovation Center (EIZ) on October 17, 2023. He learned about the work of the EIZ team at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg during a brief introduction and a tour of two labs before engaging in conversation with citizens in Frankfurt/Oder about the expansion of renewable energies at the "Time to Talk" citizens' dialog in the evening. He was welcomed by BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande, the EIZ project manager and head of the Control Systems and Network Control Technology chair at BTU, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Schiffer, and Dr. Jakob Pohlisch, EIZ operational project manager. After the introductory words and the general presentation of the EIZ in the rooms of Startblock B2, the guests went to the real place of action: the research labs, two of which presented their work.

In the EECON Lab, State Secretary Michael Kellner and BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande got an insight into VR-based acceptance research for renewable energies. Dr. Felix Müsgens, also project manager of the EIZ and head of the Energy Economics chair at BTU, and research group leader Dr. Christin Hoffmann, together with their team, gave an overview of the topic and other aspects of EECON research. Dr. Shiva Kumar Sampangi provided information on the work of the ESC Lab at the Hydrogen Research Center, which is part of Prof. Dr. Lars Röntzsch's Chair of Thermal Energy Technology. State Secretary Michael Kellner was enthusiastic and emphasized the importance of the project and the BTU for successful structural change in the region and beyond. So nothing stands in the way of the "welcome back" in one to two years.

About the Energy Innovation Center

The Energy Innovation Center focuses on targeted innovations, industry-oriented, product-oriented technology development and transfer, and training and continuing education programs for business and science. The focus is on technical as well as economic, political and social issues of the energy transition with special reference to structural development. The center is intended to serve as a platform for transferring the approaches and technologies developed to other regions and to the European level.

The EIZ consists of six networked institutions with their own thematic focuses, four of which will form a campus-wide large-scale energy technology laboratory. With 14 chairs of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and more than 40 partners from industry and science, the EIZ is optimally positioned for interdisciplinary research. The main partners are 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, Ingenieurgesellschaft für Energie- und Power Station Technology mbH (IEK) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy IEG.