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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space has funded WAVE-H2 with the aim of reducing the use of fossil fuels in industry and making processes more flexible, resilient and climate-neutral. The new University of Stuttgart technology transfer facility in Freudenstadt gives manufacturers of industrial equipment, components, and software a realistic environment for developing new energy and hydrogen technologies, integrating them into existing systems, and testing them on an industrial scale.
Bringing innovations from the lab to real-world applications
“With WAVE-H2, we have now achieved something that many have been working toward for so long: a test environment for hydrogen on an industrial scale,” says Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space, at the opening of the new WAVE-H2 site in Freudenstadt. “This allows innovations to be put into practice more quickly. Companies receive support as they transition to more sustainable production methods. We are strengthening the region and, at the same time, Germany as an industrial hub.”
“If we want to achieve our climate goals and ensure our prosperity, we need innovations that make their way from the laboratory into practice. Hydrogen is a key building block in this effort. With WAVE-H2, we have a research platform that provides exactly what we need: academia and industry working hand in hand to turn ideas from the laboratory into products that businesses can actually use. This brings good ideas from research to where they are needed,” says Cem Özdemir, Minister-President of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
“At the WAVE-H2 Campus in Freudenstadt, access to cutting-edge research, testing and development infrastructure, and partnerships are integrated from the outset. This shows how close links between research and industry enable rapid innovation cycles and close feedback loops between practical experience and application, and help ensure that Baden-Württemberg is well positioned for the future. By working together, we can find solutions to the challenges of decarbonization and the energy supply of the future,” says Petra Olschowski, Minister of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg.
Covering the entire hydrogen value chain
With the new industrial research platform on the Freudenstadt campus, the second WAVE-H2 site is now up and running. It complements the WAVE-H2 innovation modules, which were inaugurated in January 2026 and are located on the Stuttgart-Vaihingen campus at ARENA 2036. “We are proud of this new infrastructure, which connects research and technology transfer,” explains Prof. Peter Middendorf, Rector of the University of Stuttgart. “It provides the ideal conditions for researching and implementing sustainable energy solutions that will help us make industry more climate-neutral and drive the transformation of the economy.”
WAVE-H2 covers the entire hydrogen value chain from production and Power-to-X technologies to the development of chemical hydrogen storage and fuel cell technologies to concepts for decentralized hydrogen use. Researchers and companies have been using the innovation modules in Stuttgart for laboratory-scale experiments and can now use the industrial platform in Freudenstadt for industrial-scale experiments. The University of Stuttgart Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production (EEP) and Institute for Photovoltaics (ipv) established WAVE-H2 and operate the new research and technology transfer infrastructure.
Designing energy-efficient and flexible production systems
“Technologies that integrate green hydrogen provide industry with another pathway towards climate neutrality. Green hydrogen can make industry more sustainable, particularly in processes that require high temperatures and offer only limited scope for direct electrification,” say Prof. Alexander Sauer, Director of the EEP, and Prof. Peter Birke, Head of Electrical Energy Storage Systems at ipv. Hydrogen can replace fossil natural gas in industrial burners and furnaces (e.g., in melting, hardening, drying, and recycling processes) and substantially reduce CO₂ emissions. Excess electricity from renewable energy sources can also be converted into hydrogen using electrolyzers and stored for later use in fuel cells or combined heat and power plants to supply a production site with electricity and heat.
WAVE-H2 provides the infrastructure needed to research and test these applications and how they interact under realistic conditions on both laboratory and industrial scales. It goes far beyond developing and testing individual H₂ components such as electrolyzers and integrates them into digitalized, AI-supported production systems that are resilient, energy-efficient, and flexible.
Integrating different energy-consuming equipment
At the Stuttgart-Vaihingen campus, researchers are investigating how hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis and further processed into substances such as methanol or ammonia. A fuel cell test bench enables research into the conversion of chemical energy stored in hydrogen into electrical energy and heat. In Freudenstadt, individual components and equipment are tested, but the primary focus is on the dynamic generation, conversion, storage, and use of energy within integrated systems. The platform also allows different types of energy-consuming equipment to be integrated so that hydrogen can be used flexibly in the production process and the energy supply can be made more cost-effective and resilient.
About the project consortium
The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing approximately EUR 36 million in funding for the development of WAVE-H2 (“Adaptable, Energy-Flexible, and Networked H2 Industrial Research Platform”) from August 1, 2021, to March 31, 2027. The Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production (EEP) and the Institute for Photovoltaics (ipv) at the University of Stuttgart developed and built WAVE-H2 and operate the platform at two locations. The innovation modules for basic research are located at ARENA 2026 on the Stuttgart-Vaihingen campus an went into operation in January 2026. The industrial research platform for practical testing of new hydrogen technologies opened on the Freudenstadt campus in September 2026.
Verena Lampret, M.Sc., University of Stuttgart, Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production (EEP), email: verena.lampret@eep.uni-stuttgart.de
https://For more information about WAVE-H2, visit the project page: https://www.wave-h2.de/
From left to right:Prof. Peter Birke, Prof. Peter Middendorf, Cem Özdemir, Petra Olschowski, Prof.Al ...
Quelle: Max Kovalenko
Copyright: University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
Opening Symposium: Cem Özdemir (r.) (Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg) und Prof. Peter Midden ...
Quelle: Max Kovalenko
Copyright: University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten, Wirtschaftsvertreter, Wissenschaftler
Energie, Maschinenbau, Umwelt / Ökologie
überregional
Forschungs- / Wissenstransfer, Wissenschaftliche Tagungen
Englisch
From left to right:Prof. Peter Birke, Prof. Peter Middendorf, Cem Özdemir, Petra Olschowski, Prof.Al ...
Quelle: Max Kovalenko
Copyright: University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
Opening Symposium: Cem Özdemir (r.) (Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg) und Prof. Peter Midden ...
Quelle: Max Kovalenko
Copyright: University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
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