Renewable Energies

With energy demand growing worldwide and greenhouse gas emissions on the rise, a sustainable energy supply is increasingly gaining in importance. Energy production must become more climate-friendly and at the same time give us greater independence from fossil fuels, power and heating. Renewable energies are one of the most important electricity sources and their expansion represents a central cornerstone of the energy turnaround.

We are developing processes for more efficient energy generation from sun, wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy. Our laser-based solutions for organic photovoltaics, which have already successfully made the leap into industrial production, are a prime example. We also focus our research and development work on functional and high-performance coatings, such as wear-resistant coatings for hydropower plants or heating layers on wind turbine blades to protect against icing.

Solar Energy
 

• Large area laser patterning of solar cells (Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP))
• Laser patterning (scribing) of thin film and silicon solar cells 
• Selective laser cutting of stacked thin films for organic photovoltaics
• Laser acoustic testing of solar wafer surface quality (LAwave® technology)

• Coating of plain bearings with bearing metal by means of laser cladding
• Thermally sprayed heating layers on wind turbine blades: Protection against icing (anti-icing)

• Corrosion and wear protection coatings for offshore and hydraulic engineering (e.g. lock gates and components for pumped storage power plants)
• Repair of Pelton blades by laser buildup welding

Biomass:

• Gas purification (measure contamination)

Geothermal energy:

• Material approaches (pipes, boring mills)