Strategic lead project "Trends and perspectives in energy research"

EnFo-2030 – Development and application of methods for prioritizing topics and measures in energy research in the context of the energy transition

Partner	German Aerospace Center, Institute of Combustion Technology (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Aigner), German Aerospace Center, Institute of Transport Research (Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Barbara Lenz), ifo-Institute, ifo Center for Energy, Climate, and Resources (Prof. Dr.rer.pol. Karen Pittel)
Funding	Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi)
Duration	December 2016 - March 2018
Contact	Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Wagner Thomas Zipperle M.Sc. Dipl.-Ing. Patrick Wimmer
Final report	Strategic lead project Trends and perspectives in energy research

The 6th Energy Research Program was tailored to the German government's energy concept at the time in 2011 and set important guidelines for shaping the incipient energy transition. New strategic paths were taken in all fields of action, with a wide range of technologies eligible for funding. After five years of the energy transition, there have been significant changes in the technical, economic, social and political framework conditions that were not foreseeable in the 6th Energy Research Program and must be taken into account in a new edition.

The diagram shown in Figure 1 represents a starting point for the analysis and evaluation of the results. With the help of the status quo shown and the targets set by the Federal Government for individual sectors with regard to CO2 emissions, the need for action with regard to future energy research is to be identified and discussed.

Figure 1: Status quo and 2050 targets for greenhouse gas emissions

This BMWi lead project is intended to develop possible cornerstones for future energy research in a top-down analysis based on a sectoral view of the energy transition targets. It runs parallel to another sub-project, "Technologies for the energy transition", which uses a bottom-up approach to record the available technologies and possible technical or economic improvements.

The EnFo-2030 research project focuses on the following:

Analysis of changed technical, economic, political and social framework conditions since the start of the energy transition
Requirements for future energy research (technical and market innovations, system analysis, funding measures, etc.)

In this lead project, the objectives of the existing energy concept are reflected in the changed framework conditions and new requirements for future energy research are derived from this.