The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has chosen “Energy of the Future” as the theme for 2025. We at Helmholtz Energy are taking part in the Science Year and will be highlighting the topic of future energy in all its facets and providing exciting insights into the work of our researchers.

Energy plays a central role in our lives. Without energy, our cars wouldn't run, industry wouldn't be able to manufacture products and our homes would be freezing cold in winter. In future, energy should come from renewable, climate-friendly sources such as solar and wind instead of coal, gas or oil. 

The energy transition is a Herculean task that affects us all and that we can all influence. We need new ideas and solutions, especially new technologies, in order to create a climate-friendly and affordable energy system. Science plays a central role in shaping the energy system of the future. It researches innovative technologies to reduce climate-damaging emissions. At the same time, it aims to ensure that society and the economy benefit from the change. At Helmholtz Energy, we pursue an interdisciplinary approach in our research, i.e. various scientific disciplines such as engineering, natural sciences, social sciences and computer science work together to shape the energy system of the future.

As part of the Science Year 2025, we would like to take a closer look at our research and show what contribution we are making to the topic of future energies. In the first quarter, we will be presenting renewable energies and, in particular, the development of new technologies. We start with the topics of solar energy and wind energy.

These renewable energies were the most important sources of energy for the electricity supply in Germany in 2024. Wind power and photovoltaic systems together generated more than 200 TWh, which corresponds to 46.5% of total electricity generation in Germany (Bundesnetzagentur). Innovations in these areas continue to be important in order to drive forward the transformation of the energy system and achieve climate neutrality.

In the field of solar energy, researchers at Helmholtz Energy are working on the development and scaling of perovskite solar cells, which are considered to be the future of the photovoltaic industry. The aim of these research projects is to develop highly efficient and fully recyclable solar cells and modules in order to increase the sustainability of the energy system.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is the most important source of electricity in Germany and already supplies more than a quarter of our electricity. In 2023, the more than 28,677 wind turbines in Germany generated enough energy for 34 million households (data from Bundesverband erneuerbare Energie e.V.). Electricity generation from wind energy is set to roughly double by 2030. Research is still needed to further improve the efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness of wind turbines.

The Research Wind Farm WiValdi (Wind Validation) was opened in 2023. This unique large-scale research facility is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in collaboration with partners from the Wind Energy Research Alliance and is part of Helmholtz Energy. The technology and the composition of the research park are unique and enable full-scale science with an unprecedented level of detail under real environmental conditions. The aim of this research is to further increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of wind energy, reduce noise emissions and thus promote the acceptance of this technology.

Fusion

Nuclear fusion is a long-term option for meeting the growing global demand for energy.

In contrast to nuclear fission, fusion uses energy to cause light atomic nuclei (e.g. hydrogen) to fuse together to form heavier atomic nuclei (e.g. helium). A large amount of energy is released during the fusion process. For example, stars such as the sun obtain their energy from nuclear fusion.

The technologies for a fusion power plant are still a long way from being fully developed. There is still a long way to go before a functioning and economical fusion power plant can feed electricity into our sockets. With the “Fusion” program, Helmholtz wants to contribute to making nuclear fusion usable as an almost inexhaustible source of energy.

In the Fusion program, we are researching and developing the physical and technical foundations for the design and construction of fusion power plants as part of the European coordinated and funded fusion research. The central facilities for this are Wendelstein 7-X in Greifswald - the world's largest stellarator-type fusion facility - and the ITER tokamak experiment, which is currently being built in Cadarache, France.