Energy Innovation Centre (EIZ) enters its second funding phase

The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) has issued funding decisions totalling around 50 million euros to support two strands of this work. The EIZ is further expanding its excellent basic research and establishing itself as an internationally recognised research centre for sector-coupled energy systems. At the same time, it is stepping up the transfer of market-ready products and technologies into practical application.

Electricity, heating and transport are becoming increasingly intertwined. Since its foundation in 2022, more than 100 researchers from over 20 countries have been working in five closely networked laboratories to investigate how these sectors can be intelligently integrated – for example, to use surplus wind and solar power for heating, to charge electric vehicles or to produce hydrogen, rather than curtailing it. The laboratory infrastructure was established during the first funding phase thanks to a grant from the State of Brandenburg via the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK). In the second phase, market implementation will be added to the research: together with 19 partner organisations from the regional and national Energy Economics sector, the EIZ is developing demonstrators and market-ready solutions for Lusatia.

Federal Minister for Research Dorothee Bär says: “For decades, Lusatia has made an important contribution to Germany’s energy supply. The task now is to open up new economic prospects for the region. Under the Structural Strengthening Act, we are therefore making targeted investments in research and innovation as drivers of structural change. The Energy Innovation Centre shows how this can be achieved: here, cutting-edge research is combined with the transfer of knowledge into market-ready technologies. In this way, we are creating the conditions for new businesses, skilledjobs and sustainable value creation in Lusatia.”

“For generations, Lusatia has generated energy for our country – now it is shaping the future of energy. With excellent science, innovation and new prospects for local people. The Energy Innovation Centre demonstrates how we are seizing this opportunity: here, research is being carried out into the energy solutions of tomorrow. In this way, research leads to progress, new insights lead to economic strength, and innovations lead to stable jobs for the people of Lusatia,” says Minister for Science Dr Manja Schüle.

“I am delighted that the second funding phase for the EIZ has been approved. It is a well-deserved recognition of what has been achieved at the BTU: an internationally renowned research centre that conducts excellent basic research into the energy systems of the future and develops concrete solutions for the energy transition. I am very grateful to the two project leaders, Prof. Dr Felix Müsgens and Prof. Dr-Ing Johannes Schiffer, for the EIZ’s outstanding development,” says Prof. Dr Gesine Grande, president of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. “With the Energy Innovation Centre, we at the BTU are putting important research findings into practice, thereby laying the foundations for new technologies, start-ups and jobs in Lusatia.”

From fundamental questions to practical applications, from technology to social acceptance

Among other things, the EIZ is conducting research in the second phase on: 

• Hydrogen: An electrolyser without expensive precious metals is being scaled up from 5 to 20 kilowatts and tested under maritime conditions for the first time – a step from laboratory scale to practical technology.
• Grid security: New control procedures are designed to ensure stable grid operation even with a high proportion of wind and solar power, and to enable rapid restoration in the event of an emergency.
• Market integration of renewable energies: As a growing share of solar and wind power is increasingly leading to negative electricity prices, the EIZ is investigating how market rules and grid tariffs would need to be adjusted to reduce such costs.
• Climate-friendly heating: Networked heat pumps and district heating networks are intended to demonstrate how heat supply can be both climate-friendly and reliable.
• Local acceptance: The EIZ is investigating the conditions under which people support new energy installations in their neighbourhood – a prerequisite for technologies to actually take root in the region.

New jobs and start-ups for the region

As a coal-mining region, Lusatia is particularly hard hit by structural change. This is precisely where the EIZ comes in: research is being specifically channelled into creating new, well-paid jobs in science and technology. Skilled workers are staying in the region or moving here for the first time. In the first four years alone, over 90 new full-time posts have already been created at the centre.

The EIZ SPARK transfer and start-up initiative plays a central role. It supports researchers and those interested in setting up businesses in turning research findings into marketable applications and business models, such as charging management solutions for electric vehicles or containerised plants for the production of green methanol.

A strong network linking science and industry

The EIZ is supported by the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU). In this new project phase, 19 partners from industry and research are on board – ranging from young start-ups and medium-sized firms to major names such as 50Hertz, LEAG and EWE Netz GmbH. They are contributing a total of around 4.7 million euros of their own funds to the project. The EIZ is also embedded within the emerging Lausitz Science Park, where it is responsible for the energy systems division in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geotechnologies (IEG).

Prof. Dr Felix Müsgens, EIZ project leader and holder of the Chair of Energy Economics at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, says: “The approval of the second funding phase is fantastic news for the EIZ, BTU and Lusatia. With more than 100 researchers now on board, we have established a high-performing energy research cluster in Cottbus. This funding enables us to further advance our cutting-edge research and ensure the sustainable transfer of results into the regional economy. Through our start-up centre, EIZ SPARK, we are creating the conditions for excellent research at the BTU to give rise to real and marketable new businesses in the field of Energy Economics and technology in the Lusatian mining region.”

Thomas Merker, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of LEAG: “The EIZ brings research and practice together. As an industry partner, we support the approach of jointly developing and testing new technologies and bringing them into use more quickly. This benefits the energy transition, the regional economy and Lusatia as a centre of innovation in equal measure.”

“It is crucial that excellent research leads to concrete solutions for Energy Economics in practice. The close integration of science, business and regional structural change makes the EIZ a key driver of innovation and new market models. Municipal utilities in particular stand to benefit from this, as they face a wide range of challenges in the transformation of the energy system and need practical solutions,” says Sven Becker, spokesperson for Trianel GmbH’s Managing Director and a member of the EIZ’s Industry and Science Advisory Board. 

About the EIZ

The Energy Innovation Centre (EIZ) at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg conducts research into how electricity, heating and transport will interact in a climate-friendly manner in the future. The aim is to make Lusatia a model region for the energy transition – with tangible results for science, business and the local community.

Consortium partners:

50Hertz Transmission GmbH, ASCORI GmbH & Co. KG, BTU EVU IT Centre GmbH, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), CEMEX Deutschland AG, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), dida Datenschmiede GmbH, EWE NETZ GmbH, F&S PROZESSAUTOMATION GmbH, FIFTY2 Technology GmbH, Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research e.V., GICON-Großmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH, ITPower Solutions GmbH, LEAG GmbH, LEPOSOL GmbH, LOGE Deutschland GmbH, SAILWINT GmbH, TAL Technische Akademie Lausitz GbR, uesa GmbH.