Fraunhofer IWES NW

The Fraunhofer Institute of Wind Energy and System Technology (IWES) Northwest focuses on the validation of wind turbine power plants and their components. The institute had an overall budget of 23.6 Mio. EUR in 2014. At present, 200 scientists, administrative staff and students work at the sites in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Hannover and Oldenburg. For establishing a unique measuring and testing infrastructure, a total volume of € 48 million has been invested over the past five years.

The institute offers companies like turbine manufacturers, suppliers, wind farm operators and power authorities industry relevant research services and target-oriented collaboration for the complete spectrum of technical wind energy utilization issues. Project developers and wind farm operators obtain reliable data and sound analysis for their wind farm planning and operation. Direct access to several smaller test turbines is available and further wind turbines are currently under construction.

The cooperation with the partners ForWind and DLR for wind energy research in the Research Alliance for Wind Energy (FVWE) has been promoted for many years now. It forms a cooperation network of 600 skilled scientists and opens up a pool of state of the art test rigs and laboratories for tests and technology development. Achieving better visibility by a strong presence of the German wind energy research in international networks, the alliance contributes to trend-setting technological developments and was commended with the North German Science Award in November 2014.

A standard compliant project implementation is assured through active cooperation in the IEC-rotor blade working group and the upcoming accreditation in the material testing field. Furthermore, Fraunhofer IWES Northwest fulfils the requirements of DIN EN ISO 9001:2008.