News 2024
Stadtquartier Oststadt KarlsruheJanuary 2024: Blueprint for the Urban Energy Transition

The Smart East real-world laboratory with KIT participation draws a successful balance and will be continued in the new EU project WeForming.

Learn more
News 2023
Robert StieglitzIn Memoriam

We mourn the loss of Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Stieglitz, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 58. Robert Stieglitz was appointed Head of the Institute of Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology in 2009.

Further information
Energy transition in municipalitiesDecember 2023: Energy transition in municipalities

As the smallest administrative units, local authorities can make a significant contribution to implementing the energy transition. For example, by helping citizens to make better use of heat from wastewater. In the ZuSkE project, technology assessment experts from KIT have been looking for ways to design and implement the coupling of electricity, heating and transport infrastructures. As a guide, the project team has compiled a catalog with a total of 100 measures that have already been implemented and developed further tools to support local authorities.

 

Press release 104/2023
Cover LookKIT magazineOctober 2023: Climate Change

What Will the Future of German Forests Be Like? Climate change is associated with increasingly frequent droughts. This increases the risk of forest fires. On a walk through the forest, forest scientist Dr. Somidh Saha from KIT advocates more research and courage to experiment.

KIT Highlight Topic
EinfamilienhausNovember 2023: Energy Turnaround - Energy Self-sufficiency in Single-Family Homes

KIT researchers have found that more than half of European single-family homes could be completely self-sufficient in their energy supply.

Press release 088/2023
Benjamin SchäferSeptember 2023: Scientist of the month - Benjamin Schäfer (KIT)

Benjamin Schäfer has headed the junior research group DRACOS (Data-driven analysis of complex systems) at KIT since 2022, where he also teaches as a tenure track professor. We talked to Benjamin Schäfer about his work.

Helmholtz Interview
eGrid 2023October 2023: 8th IEEE eGrid 2023 Workshop takes place at KIT

The IEEE eGrid 2023 Workshop will be held at KIT on 16th-18th October 2023. The eGrid2023 Workshop is a single-track industrial workshop where experts from industry and international labs will hold plenary speeches, tutorials, and panels on the last insights on theory, modelling, analysis, design and development, testing, and integration of power electronics-based power systems.

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MobiLabJune 2023: Eucor MobiLab Roadshow 2023 Starts in Freiburg

KIT's rolling participation lab on a three-country tour: Dialogue of science and society on a sustainable future in the upper rhine region.

Press release 046/2023
Deutscher BundestagJune 2023: Technology Assessment - KIT advises the Bundestag for another five years

The Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis of the KIT will operate the Office for Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag for another five years.

Press release 045/2023
Heidi HeinrichsMay 2023: Scientist of the month - Heidi U. Heinrichs (FZJ)

Heidi U. Heinrichs received the ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council for the project "Material Realizable Energy Transformation - Navigating the Material Bottlenecks of a Carbon-Neutral Energy System" (MATERIALIZE).

Helmholtz Interview
Power pylon in evening skyMay 2023: Exploring the Braess Paradox

A sustainable energy supply requires the expansion of electricity grids. However, new lines can also lead to grids becoming more unstable rather than more stable as expected. The phenomenon is called the Braess paradox. An international team, including experts from KIT and FZJ, has now simulated this in detail for electricity grids for the first time, demonstrated it on a larger scale and developed a prediction tool.

Helmholtz Article (in German)
H2 AtlasMarch 2023: Green hydrogen for energy transition

In the energy system of the future, Germany will have to import green hydrogen from other countries. The Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) has investigated the potential of sub-Saharan Africa and created a hydrogen atlas for Africa.

Helmholtz Article (in German)
Cover lookKIT magazineMarch 2023: lookKIT - Energy Efficient & Autonomous

The new issue of lookKIT is dedicated to the highlights from technology development that KIT will show at Hannover Messe 2023. Read, among other things, how a team of the KIT's Institute of Technical Physics (ITEP) simulates future energy supply at the Energy Lab 2.0.

lookKIT 2023/1
Energy LabMarch 2023: KIT at Energy Solutions @ Hannover Messe 2023

From April 17 to 21, 2023, KIT will present selected highlights from the technological development  at Energy Solutions (Hall 13, Booth C70): KIT's Energy Lab 2.0 will be the key issue: Europe's largest research infrastructure for renewable energies will focus on real-time systems for energy technologies, power-to-X, geothermal energy, and heat utilization, among others.

Further information
Pflanzende PersonenMarch 2023: Participation campaign - "Sustainable living and working? Challenge accepted!"

Together with KIT researchers, citizens of Karlsruhe are looking for ideas and solutions for sustainable living and working.

Press release 012/2023 (in German)
Energy LabJanuary 2023: Energy Lab - Model Lab for Energy Transition

In Karlsruhe, Jülich and Stuttgart, scientists from three Helmholtz Centres are working together on technologies for the energy system of the future. To this end, they have built Europe's largest research infrastructure for renewable energies.

Helmholtz Article (in German)
Holger HanselkaJanuary 2023: Herculean task of transforming the energy system

A commentary by Holger Hanselka, President of KIT and Vice President of the Research Field Energy of the Helmholtz Association

Helmholtz Article (in German)
LookKIT HydrogenJanuary 2023: Hydrogen - Energy Carrier of Unlimited Potential?

Hydrogen Is the Most Abundant Element on Earth – and It Is Very Rich in Energy.

Highly developed industrialized countries such as Germany require a clean, safe, and affordable power supply – the energy crisis shows this very clearly. Hydrogen might contribute to the solution, being the most abundant chemical element in the universe and on Earth. It offers virtually unlimited potential as a carrier of energy.

KIT Topic Highlight
News 2022
In der Leitwarte des Smart Energy System Control Laboratory (SESCL) im Energy Lab 2.0 am KIT werden Daten aus Energiesystemsimulationen visualisiert.November 2022: New data infrastructure for energy system research

With the energy transition comes digitisation: in order to build and control the networked and climate-neutral energy system of the future with all its components, vast amounts of data are needed. The newly established National Research Data Infrastructure for Interdisciplinary Energy System Research (nfdi4energy) is intended to facilitate the exchange and accessibility of such data sets and thus accelerate research.

KIT News
ederal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (second from the left) started the simulation at KIT’s Energy Lab 2.0.October 2022: Future Energy System: Federal Research Minister Starts Large-scale Simulation at KIT

With the goal of climate neutrality in mind, KIT researchers of Energy Lab 2.0 have built a detailed “digital twin” of the German energy system. It integrates real technical plants, such as a solar park, grid storage systems, and power-to-X facilities, and can now be used to virtually test the future energy system with all its components. On October 28th, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger started the simulation during her visit of KIT.

Press release 096/2022
Power gridSeptember 2022: Power supply - understanding unstable grids

Increasing the capacity of existing lines or adding new lines may also reduce the overall system performance and even promote blackouts - prediction tool is published in nature communications. 

Press release 086/2022
Banner Workshop2nd International workshop on "Open Source Modelling and Simulation of Energy Systems"

From 27th to 29th March 2023, the second international workshop on "Open Source Modelling and Simulation of Energy Systems" takes place in Aachen. Deadlines for paper submission and registration can be found in the following link.

Announcement
Holger HanselkaSeptember 2022: "What matters is how the winter turns out"

If the winter is mild, Holger Hanselka, President of KIT and Helmholtz Vice President for the Research Field Energy, believes it is likely that there will be no bottlenecks. For a very cold winter, he says, scenarios have to be developed now. In the medium and long term, he sees great potential in geothermal energy.

Helmholtz interview
StromnetzSeptember 2022: Better prediction of fluctuating electricity demand and consumption

A data-driven load model developed by KIT researchers improves planning and operation of power grids.

KIT News
ZukunftsraumJuly 2022: How Real-World Labs Can Promote Societal Change Towards More Sustainability

In some situations, humans do not act logically: We are against industrial livestock farming, but we buy cheap meat. We are eager to care for the environment and for our health and still use the car instead of the bicycle, even for short distances. We have a wealth of knowledge, but often fail in putting theory into practice – real-world labs at KIT dedicate their research to this gap between knowledge and action and try to close it.

KIT topic highlight
GeoLaBJune 2022: GeoLaB - Future with Geothermal Energy

KIT and Research Partners Set up the World’s First Underground Reservoir Simulator for Research on Deep Geothermal Energy.

Press release 056/2022
Critical infrastructure in big citiesMay 2022: More Resilience for Critical Infrastructures

Researchers from KIT are developing concepts for planning and operating future-proof utility and supply systems and are rresent at Hannover Messe 2022 from May 30 to June 2.

Press release 050/2022
DigitalizationApril 2022: Five questions to...Benjamin Schäfer

The new research group "Data-driven analysis of complex systems for a sustainable future" headed by Benjamin Schäfer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is investigating how digitization, big data, and AI can contribute to the success of the energy transition. In an interview, the physicist explains how artificial intelligence will help make energy grids fit for the future and why he wants to turn the black box into a glass box.

 

Helmholtz article
March 2022: Energy supply - The crisis must not be an alibi for less climate protection

In an interview, we spoke with Holger Hanselka, Vice President for the Research Field Energy at the Helmholtz Association, about how great the dependence on Russian oil and gas is, what alternatives there are, and what he would like to see from policymakers.

Helmholtz article
Energy_digital_urbansFebruary 2022: Digitalization and AI - What will the energy supply of the future look like?

To achieve the energy transition, the energy system must be rethought. The key to this lies in digitalization. Scientists at the Helmholtz research centers are working together to unearth this digital treasure and make it usable for a clean future.

Helmholtz article
News Archive
SEKOOctober 2021: Energy Transition: New Technologies for Sector Coupling

Smart networking, control, and optimization of power, heat, and gas supplies are the keys to a climate-neutral energy system. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) possesses a unique research infrastructure for the transdisciplinary development and testing of new strategies and technologies for sector coupling on the prototype scale. On their way towards a new, holistic modeling system, researchers have now reached first milestones. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has agreed to increase funding for the SEKO (sector coupling) real-world lab by EUR 10 million to a total of 16.5 million euros. 

Press Release 093/2021
Energy Lab 2.0July 2021: See our new Video about the Energy Lab 2.0!

The overall mission of the large-scale research infrastructure Energy Lab 2.0 is to develop technological solutions for the energy system in 2050 in order to successfully integrate the renewable energies into the power grid. Especially by conducting technology-oriented research on a demonstrator scale and complementing it with comprehensive energy systems analysis. The "brain" of the Energy Lab is the Smart Energy System Simulation and Control Center (SEnSSiCC). From here, many of the Energy Lab systems can be controlled. All relevant data is collected here. The SEnSSiCC laboratory of the Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics (IAI) and the Institute of Technical Physics (ITeP) consists of five sub-labs, which are linked to each other by data and power technology and enable large-scale experiments in the range of 1.4 MW.

Video on YouTube
H200May 2021: 200 Jahre Helmholtz – Inspired by challenges

Anlässlich des 200. Geburtstags unseres Namensgebers Hermann von Helmholtz präsentieren wir im Laufe des Jahres Stück für Stück 200 große wissenschaftliche Herausforderungen unserer Zeit – die Challenges, an denen unsere Forscherinnen und Forscher tagtäglich arbeiten.

Helmholtz200
KITApril 2021: The Amazing Field of Science: Bioeconomy to End the Ecological Crisis

Population growth and the increasing standard of living make our society face big ecological challenges: Climate change, littering of the seas, dwindling agricultural areas, resource scarcity. Bioeconomy aims at replacing fossil by regenerative resources and at using advanced and sustainable technologies based on biological knowledge and principles. Visions and questions relating to bioeconomy, the subject of the current science year, were in the focus of the first digital annual celebration of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Press Release 36/2021
KARLAMarch 2021: Karlsruhe Real-world Lab for Sustainable Climate Protection

From the Federal Climate Protection Act to alternative drive systems and renewable energies to Fridays for Future and personal behaviors: Many people have long since become aware of the importance of climate protection. With the “Karlsruhe Real-world Laboratory for Sustainable Climate Protection (KARLA),” Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the city of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, and other partners will move this topic even more into the focus of the society’s daily life and study selected local climate protection measures. The project is funded with EUR 1.1 million by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research, and the Arts.

Press Release 17/2021
Hannover MesseMarch 2021: Hannover Messe 2021: KIT Showcasing Selected Highlights of Technology Development at Two Virtual Booths from April 12 to 16

A plant-inspired anti-reflective film, a flexible production system for individualized products, a digital assembly assistant, the world's smallest transistor, and climate-neutral synthetic fuels. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will present these and other research and innovation topics at the Hannover Messe 2021. At the digital event from April 12 to 16, the KIT will showcase selected highlights at the virtual booths "Future Hub" and "Energy Solutions". An overview will be provided by the two live streams on April 13, 2021, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. on the "Future Hub" and on April 14, from 10:30 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. on "Energy Solutions".

Press Release 27/2021
GrunwaldFebruary 2021: Armin Grunwald appointed to German Ethics Council

In accordance with the proposal of the Federal Government, he was appointed to the German Ethics Council by the President of the German Bundestag, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, with effect from 14 February 2021.

Professor Grunwald is head of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) and holds the Chair of Philosophy and Ethics of Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He also heads the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag.

He will attend a Plenary Meeting of the German Ethics Council for the first time on 25 February 2021.

KIT News
Energy and Circular EconomyFebruary 2021: Kick-off Meeting Energy Transition and Circular Economy (Innovationspool)

Researchers from the two new Helmholtz programs ESD and MTET are pooling their expertise in the new Innvoationspool project "Energy Transition and Circular Economy" and will start the next two years with the kick-off meeting on March 4, 2021. The project aims to develop methods and models for the design and operation of energy-intensive recycling processes and their associated grid and (material) value chain integration. The aim is to close material and energy cycles as comprehensively as possible and to operate industrial production on the basis of renewable electricity in a way that is beneficial to the grid and economical. This is achieved through the cross-disciplinary, cross-center and cross-program collaboration of the partners involved.

Kick-off GruppenbildFebruary 2021: ESD Kick-off Meeting

At their first meeting on February 09th, 2021, over 160 researchers from eight Helmholtz centres, from the four Helmholtz energy programs and also other Helmholtz research fields came together to officially start into the new Helmholtz program “Energy System Design” (ESD). The participants of the webmeeting exchanged on the Topics and Cross-Topic Activities within ESD, discussed the details of cooperation with the Helmholtz program FUSION and the Helmholtz Energy Transition Roadmap (HETR) and jointed in seven selected workshops on various energy research interests.

lookKITlookKIT 2020/4: Technology. Impacts. Visions

Today's society is dependent on technology - and on the fact that it is constantly evolving. It is the task of science to explore technical visions and implement them, to assess the opportunities and risks of new technologies, and to investigate the impacts of innovations already used in everyday life. At KIT, scientists in numerous disciplines work on technologies and concepts that drive technical and social progress. This issue of lookKIT presents some of these projects and approaches: from peacemaking machines to climate engineering strategies to the concept of technology futures.

lookKIT 2020/4: Technology. Impacts. Visions
Energy Lab 2.0lookKIT 2020/2: Energy Lab 2.0

Superlatives should be used carefully. Still, I would like to share with you details about the unique character of the Energy Lab 2.0. Together with our partners, the German Aerospace Center and Forschungszentrum Jülich, KIT – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association has succeeded in establishing the only infrastructure of this kind in Germany. As part of projects funded by the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Federal Ministries of Education and Research and for Economic Affairs and Energy, the interaction of components for future energy systems is studied and new approaches to stabilizing energy grids are tested. The Energy Lab 2.0 combines electric, thermal, and chemical energy flows as well as new information and communication technologies.

LookKIT 2020/2 Energy Lab 2.0