New appointment: Prof. Mario Ragwitz researches the coupling of sectors of the energy system.

"It is a great success of the energy transition to have brought large amounts of sustainable electricity to the market. But the next phase, which is now imminent, must not stop at electricity," explains Mario Ragwitz, head of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy IEG and head of the "Integrated Energy Infrastructures" department at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. "The technologies and the markets for electricity, gas and heat must work together to achieve the climate goals we have set."

At Fraunhofer IEG, Ragwitz analyzes holistically integrated energy infrastructures of the electricity, heat and gas sectors and energy-related IT infrastructures. With his team, he is developing pathways for the transformation of energy systems and, in particular, their infrastructure at the district and municipal as well as national and international levels. This ranges from system-analytical assessments and detailed models of future smart energy transmission and distribution grids to system-serving operating strategies for coupled plants. Ragwitz is also the spokesperson for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's hydrogen network and is investigating the use of green hydrogen in the energy sectors and in industry as a future sustainable energy carrier. In line with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's mission, Ragwitz's research is application-oriented and industry-focused - the Cottbus native and Lusatia returnee is thus a perfect fit for the technology-savvy energy region of Lusatia.

At the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Ragwitz is taking over the professorship at the Institute for Electrical and Thermal Energy Systems in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Energy Systems. He teaches in the degree program "Power Engineering", conducts basic research and heads the department "Integrated Energy Infrastructures". His research topics are quantitative modeling of the European power system and energy infrastructures, the regulatory framework of sector coupling between power, heat and gas sectors on a national scale, techno-economic assessment and analysis of value chains for energy technologies and energy infrastructures in a national and international context, and drivers and barriers for market diffusion of innovative energy technologies.

Curriculum Vitae

Professor Dr. Mario Ragwitz has been institute director of the Fraunhofer IEG since 2019. In 2020, he was also appointed spokesperson of the Fraunhofer Hydrogen Network, which coordinates the work of 35 institutes. Since 2019, he has also been the scientific director of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence "Integrated Energy Systems", coordinating the joint research of eight Fraunhofer institutes in the thematic field of energy system transformation. Until 2019, he served as deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe.

As a professor at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, he heads the department of "Integrated Energy Infrastructures" at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Energy Systems. Since 2014, he has been an honorary professor at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, and since 2017, he has been a part-time professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Ragwitz holds a PhD in physics from the University of Wuppertal, and his scientific activities include issues in energy systems analysis, energy infrastructure modeling, and policy analysis and transformation research in the energy and climate fields. Among other things, he contributed to deriving the EU renewable energy targets for 2020 and 2030 and evaluated the EU renewable energy directives and the Renewable Energy Sources Act in Germany. As project coordinator of numerous international and national projects, he developed scientific foundations of national and European energy policies and is author of more than 60 scientific articles. In 2007 and 2011, he was a visiting scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the USA.

In addition to the German federal government, he advises the European Commission, the German Bundestag, the EU Parliament, the World Bank, state governments, and companies and associations.