ISET

Contact

Fraunhofer Institut für Windenergie und Energiesystemtechnik - IWES
Institutsteil Kassel:
Königstor 59
34119 Kassel / Germany

phone: +49 (0) 561 7294-0
fax: +49 (0) 7294-100
e-mail: eawe@iset.uni-kassel.de
web: www.iset.de

The “Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik e.V.“ (ISET) was founded in 1988 as a non-profit making research institute, associated with Kassel University. In order to realize a strong link to industry needs in the strategic R&D programme, about 50% of the scientific advisory board are representatives from the industry. At the moment the institute employs some 150 people, corresponding to a capacity of 110 full-time positions, of which about 85 are regularly employed.

ISET‘s activities in the field of wind energy range from theoretical investigations via experimental research and the execution of field tests and measurement programmes to the development of control, inverter and information systems. The main focus is on the electrical and systems engineering aspects of wind power applications which arise both at component and grid integration level.


Research groups involved

The R&D programme area Information and Energy Economy deals with the technical an economic issues of and increased use of renewable energies and the changing power supply structures which are more and more characterised by competition and trade as well as by an increasing penetration with fluctuating energy sources. The major fields of occupation focus on the use of wind energy, power supply structures with a high share of renewable energies, information and communication technologies for an improved integration of renewable energies into power supply systems as well as carrying out education and training programmes.

The field of work of the R&D division for energy conversion and control engineering covers the optimal usage of renewable energies as well as the rational use of limited energy resources. Besides the technical and economic investigation of subsystems of different energy supply technologies, such as wind power, the division improves the design and layout of complete systems. In addition to technological and constructive progress, this requires in particular the application of a modern methods of control and systems engineering. In particular this division has been involved in the development of advanced control systems for megawatt wind energy converters and commercially available modern fault prediction or condition monitoring units.


Facilities & Advanced Research Tools

Wind energy remote measurement network data acquisition for on-line monitoring of wind energy converters, wind measuring network with 80 selected sites in Germany
Laboratories for software development specific dynamic simulation, controller design and plant rating, hardware-in-the-loop system, PLC development environment
Generator / inverter laboratory hardware and software simulation environment for wind turbine drive trains and control concepts
Power electronic and converter laboratories set up and measurment of electronic circuits and converters, circuit layout system
EMC laboratory accredited in accordance with IEC 17025, CE certifications, equipment for investigations of electromagnetic compatibility, EMC measurement chamber
Battery laboratories dynamic battery testing field up to 2000 A and 400 V, climatic cabinets, HO2 analyzers for hybrid applications
Fuel cell laboratory HO2 gas supply system, fuel cell measuring fields up to 10 kW, PEM experimental system with 2 x 1.5 kW electrical power
Water pump laboratory water pumps laboratory for specific supply tasks, e.g. powered by wind turbines

R&D Programme

ISET‘s short-to-medium-term wind power R&D programme covers the following subjects:

technical and economic studies and systems analysis for the further development of wind power technology and application
development of new models and tools for the dynamic simulation of wind energy converters and systems
development of new control concepts for reduced load impact and improved reliability
development of information and energy management systems for the improved integration of large scale wind power into electrical networks
development of short-term prediction systems for wind power forecasting
condition monitoring and fault prediction in wind turbines as a basic for wind farm supervision and maintenance / repair scheduling
development of new microprocessor technology in control and inverter systems
development of small wind turbines for application in hybrid systems
design and execution of measurement programmes, operation and further development of remote measurement networks
planning, supervision and execution of development and pilot projects
trainee courses and further education measures

Education and training activities

ISET offers training courses “Wind Energy Utilization – Potentials, Technology, Economics, Planning, Operation”, which are tailored to the special demands of industry, utilities and organisations for international capacity building. The Training activities vary from 1-day seminars to 4-month programmes in-house and abroad. In cooperation with the Kassel university groups “Electrical Energy Supply Systems”, “Efficient Energy Conversion” and ISET, a special topic of study concerning Renewable Energies and Efficient Energy Conversion was established at the University of Kassel:

  • Providing support for course work and diploma theses, as well as for trainees and graduate assistants
  • Qualification of staff through limited, multi-year work at ISET and through the opportunity to write a doctoral thesis

Furthermore the Renewable Energies Knowledge Transfer Network www.REnKnow. Net has been developed and is operated by ISET.