Insights into the energy research of tomorrow: Technical Lab Tour at EIZ Cottbus

On 23 April 2025, a delegation from the KEI (Competence Centre for Energy-Intensive Industries), the CDI (Cluster Decarbonisation of Industry) and the Chair of Decarbonisation and Transformation of Industry at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg visited five state-of-the-art laboratories at the Cottbus Energy Innovation Centre (EIZ) as part of a guided technical lab tour.
The tour began in the hydrogen laboratory of the Energy Storage and Conversion ESC Lab, where Dr Shiva Kumar Sampangi provided exciting insights into current research into the production of green hydrogen. This was followed by presentations in the engine lab (Dr Tim Franken) and the catalysis lab (Dr Fabian Rachow). The aim of the ESC Lab is to map the four levels of sector-coupled energy systems - heat, electricity, storage and mobility - in a CO2-neutral cycle approach based on green hydrogen.
In the High Power Grid Converter (HPGC) Lab (Kataryna Stolz & Levani Meskhiya), the participants learnt how battery storage can be used to bridge energy differences and thus contribute to the success of the energy transition.
In the VR lab (Dr Niklas Ziemann) of the Energy Economics (EECON) Lab, our visitors experienced first-hand how virtual technologies are used in energy and acceptance research.
The participants took the opportunity to exchange expertise, gain direct insights into ongoing projects and deepen future cooperation opportunities.

Special thanks go to all the speakers for their dedicated presentation and the organisation of this insightful tour through the heart of energy research at BTU!