1982 opening: The University of Oldenburg's Energy Laboratory
The Energy Laboratory, which opened in March 1982, generated its own energy for electricity, heat and hot water from on-site photovoltaic modules, solar collectors, biogas and a 25-metre-high wind turbine. Its workrooms and seminar rooms could be operated independently from the public grid all year round.
Image: 1/5, Credit:
University of Oldenburg / Daniel Schmidt
May 1981: "UNI-INFO" announces construction of the "Energielabor"
In May 1981, University of Oldenburg's "UNI-INFO" announced the construction of the Energy Laboratory on the natural sciences campus in Wechloy district. With its autonomous energy supply system – independent of power and gas grids – it was considered a "novelty in the Federal Republic" at that time.
Image: 2/5, Credit:
University of Oldenburg
Expert exchange
From 2017 onwards, the DLR pooled its existing resources from the German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD) and the University of Oldenburg in a new research group on energy meteorology at the Institute for Networked Energy Systems. Through event formats such as the DLR workshop "Application areas and economic benefits of short-term forecasts" in June 2022, researchers are deepening their expert exchange with, for example, energy traders, plant and grid operators, and forecast providers.
In March 1982, the “Energielabor” ("Energy Laboratory") was opened at the University of Oldenburg. Unique for its time, the building's year-round energy self-sufficient layout was to be ensured solely by photovoltaic modules, solar collectors, biogas, and a 25-metre-high wind turbine. The working group "Physics of Renewable Energy Sources" led by Prof. Joachim Luther had previously calculated in simulations that this type of energy supply would work. And indeed, the calculations proved correct, allowing the team to focus on more fundamental research questions: Can larger-scale energy supply systems based on renewable energy sources be reliable and secure? For example, for an entire country?
Initially, the focus of Oldenburg's energy research was on measuring and modelling selected components, such as energy converters and storage systems. It soon became clear that for truly efficient use of renewable energies, high-resolution data on wind and solar energy would be needed in the future, which conventional weather forecasting could not provide. Additionally, there was a growing need for methods and information to describe potential influences on fluctuating energy sources.
The new research field of energy meteorology was established to develop solutions. It came to life in the Energy Laboratory in 1983. An initial focus of work was model-based filling of data gaps to provide large-scale, time-resolved data on wind and solar energy influences over many years. Dr Detlev Heinemann, who established the field of energy meteorology at the University of Oldenburg and led the Energy Meteorology research group at the Institute for Networked Energy Systems from August 2017 until his retirement in October 2021, was involved since 1984.
Mapping the world: determining the potential for renewable energies
In parallel to Oldenburg's energy meteorology, DLR also developed cooperations in the late 1990s with the goal of preparing data for more efficient use of solar and wind energy. Based on METEOSAT satellite images and geographic information systems, high-resolution maps of solar irradiance were created for the Mediterranean region. In combination with the STEPS evaluation system, developed by the DLR System Analysis in Stuttgart, it was possible to make a qualitative selection of suitable sites for solar thermal power plants in North Africa and build the SOLEMI radiation database.
This work provided an important impulse for the SWERA (Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment) project within the United Nations Environment Programme, which aimed to provide information on renewable energy resources for countries and regions worldwide. The SWERA data was intended to serve as a basis for numerous atlases to determine potentials for renewable energies beyond the project's end in 2011.
The first concrete cooperation between the DLR's Earth Observation Center (EOC) and Oldenburg's Energy Meteorology working group focused on future data usage of new MSG weather satellites (Meteosat Second Generation). These activities culminated in 2002 with the approval of the first joint EU research project, Heliosat-3. The opportunity for continued co-operation arose through a programme by the Helmholtz Association to promote collaboration between research institutes and universities. This led to the establishment of the "virtual Institute for Energy Meteorology" (vIEM) project, in which the University of Oldenburg collaborated with DLR – particularly with EOC, the Systems Analysis department of the Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics – from 2004 to 2007.
At the interface between energy system research and meteorology, the vIEM aimed to evaluate, predict, and control the availability of fluctuating energy sources at various temporal and spatial scales. The combination of satellite data and ground-based measurements provided a comprehensive picture of the statistical properties of solar radiation. This remains the basis for simulation models and planning and operation of solar energy systems to this day.
Even though vIEM activities officially ended in 2008, there was continued constructive exchange between institutions in subsequent years. Exemplary is the Heliosat-3 project, which was continuously pursued at DLR until 2015. This cooperation resulted in significant contributions to the atmospheric services of the European Copernicus service and the current Global Atlas of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
In 2009, former vIEM members organised the first Symposium on Energy Meteorology. From this event format, the Expert Committee on Energy Meteorology was later established within the German Meteorological Society. Dr Detlev Heinemann served as its first chairman, followed by Dr Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt in 2022, who currently leads the Energy Meteorology group at the Institute of Networked Energy Systems.
In 2017, media reports made public that the Oldenburg EWE Research Centre for Energy Technology "NEXT ENERGY" will become part of a new DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems. Around the same time, the University of Oldenburg began dissolving its solar energy meteorology research focus. Against this backdrop, a pioneering idea emerged from the old vIEM network: bundling existing resources from the DFD and the University of Oldenburg into an Energy Meteorology research group at the new institute. The proposal was well received.
As the integration of system analysis from the Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics into the new institute was also being prepared, a majority of vIEM participants would soon be working together under one roof for the first time. In this working environment, close networking of research questions in system analysis and energy meteorology is taking place today at the Stuttgart and Oldenburg locations of the Institute of Networked Energy Systems.
The Roots of the Institute of Networked Energy Systems: A Three-Part Investigation
