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CenSES annual report 2014
29
International cooperation
Research exchange to TU Berlin
With support from CenSES, I was able to have a research
exchange stay at TU Berlin from early September to early
December 2014. More precisely, I was located at the Centre
for Entrepreneurship under Professor Jan Kratzer. This is an
international environment with high activity levels within
research, education and practice-oriented programs. Their
focus is of course within the entrepreneurship domain,
but they have also ongoing activities targeted towards
cleantech and renewable energy both within research and
programs. For instance, they are German hosts of
Climate-KIC, which is a large EU educational project, for
students and PhDs, that aim to develop innovative products
that counteract the adverse e ects of climate change and
supports student innovators and entrepreneurs within the
eld of cleantech.
During my visit, I mainly focused on developing and writing
my own research papers in peaceful surroundings. I also
enjoyed fruitful discussions with fellow PhDs and other
Freiburg is a city situated in the south-west corner of
Germany, close to the border of France and Switzerland.
To the east, the mountains of Swartzwald (the black forest)
ascends with skiing possibilities in winter, and hiking and
mountain biking in summer. Freiburg lies in the heart of
a wine district with many local wineries. In this part of the
Rhine valley, the Gutedel grape – brought here by the Ro-
mans – is the local pride.
Freiburg is the sunniest city in Germany, so maybe it was no
coincidence that the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy
Systems (ISE) was founded here in 1981, which is recognized
as one of the best research institutes on solar energy world-
wide. The main focus in the beginning was solar thermal
energy (ST), but advanced quickly to photo voltaics (PV)
and further to multi-junction concentrated PV (CPV), the
latter holding the world record of 46 % e ciency. Today,
ISE has about 1300 employees, and has a wide specter of
technology development of PV and ST modules, storage
technologies, energy e cient solar buildings, and smart
control of energy use of both buildings and electric vehi-
cles, together with on-site PV generation.
The widely spread PV technology and the subsequent
concept of Zero Energy Buildings is well known in Germany.
Because of the experience on prosumers and smart grid
technologies, this has been a focus area for research longer
than in most other countries. The smart grid department
at ISE covers a wide aspect of technologies and solutions
for smart homes and smart communication technologies,
which was very inspiring in my work on Zero Emission
Buildings. Working together with this team challenged my
own views and ideas, and I gained signi cant knowledge,
which resulted in a very productive year with several
common papers.
PhD candidate Karen Byskov Lindberg
academic sta with a di erent perspective than myself.
Another bonus is that through attending academic
presentations and events in German, my limited German
language skills were challenged and further developed.
Overall, TU Berlin provides good facilities and opportunities
for research, and a fun social environment. And of course,
Berlin is a wonderful city!
I would like to thank CenSES for supporting my exchange,
and especially Roger Sørheim and Øystein Widding for
support and encouragement before and during my stay.
PhD candidate
Øyvind Bjørgum
Photo: Karen Byskov Lindberg
Research exchange to Freiburg