10 Years of Research for the Energy Transition – RLI celebrates Anniversary

08.02. | The RLI was founded ten years ago today. We would like to thank all of the people who have made the institute a unique place in its ten years. Thank you to our founders at the Reiner Lemoine Foundation, to all supporters, sponsors, clients and administrative personnel who have made our research possible. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to our research and to everyone who carried the insights of our research into the world and to everyone who implemented them.

In the last ten years the Reiner Lemoine Institute (RLI) has become a respected actor and partner in energy system analysis and modeling, mobility with renewable energy as well as electrification strategies in the global south. The institute is one of the forerunners in the field of open science and has grown from six to over 70 employees since it was founded.

“For ten years we have conducted research for a transition towards renewable energy in Germany and internationally,” says Kathrin Goldammer, managing director of the Reiner Lemoine Institute, summarizing the institute’s research. “Since then, open source models developed here institute have firmly established themselves in energy system modeling. Our mobility and electrification concepts have been implemented by private companies as well as the public sector worldwide.”

The Reiner Lemoine Foundation (RLS) founded the institute 10 years ago. Reiner Lemoine was a pioneer in the field of renewable energy and founder of the engineering collective Wuseltronik as well as the companies SOLON and Q-Cells. At the founding of the institute on February 8, 2010 its goal was set as “promoting science and research in the field of renewable energy for the benefit of all”.

“We are particularly pleased that in addition to our research we were able to create a positive work environment at the Reiner Lemoine Institute”, added Kathrin Goldammer. “Men and women work together as equals on all hierarchical levels and many decisions are made collectively. This is unique in energy research. We work for the energy transition with scientific methods – but also out of personal conviction.”

Research on Energy Systems, Mobility with Renewables and Off-Grid Electrification

The research unit Transformation of Energy Systems develops, investigates, and optimizes future scenarios for a sustainable energy supply. For this, self-developed open source tools are mostly used. Among others these include dialog and visualization tools for the energy transition. These can help to engage different stakeholders in complex discussions about planning and infrastructure, calculate “what if” scenarios on-site, as well as prepare and visualize the relationships and effects of decisions in an understandable way.

The research unit Mobility with Renewable Energy researches at the interface between sustainable drive systems and renewable power generation. Current projects include the scientific monitoring of Germany’s hydrogen regions in in the HyStarter project as well as a large-scale practical trial with 63 StreetScooters at a Deutsche Post DHL distribution center near Berlin, where the control of charging processes is being tested for the first time from the network operator’s perspective. The aim here is to develop procedures for intelligent network integration of the electrified transport sector.

The Off-Grid Systems research unit develops electrification strategies based on renewable energy for developing regions and optimizes hybrid mini-grids with the help of simulation models and geographic information software. Current findings on the advantages of off-grid systems for climate protection and electricity access can be found in the research work “Off-Grid Renewable Energy for Climate Action” published in January.

More on the Institute

“The institute was founded in 2010 by the Reiner Lemoine Foundation to scientifically support the long-term transition of the energy supply to 100 percent renewables. We are pleased that the institute has developed so successfully in these ten years”, said Annegret Jatzkewitz, chair of the Reiner Lemoine Foundation.

The Reiner Lemoine Institute was founded in February 2010 by the Reiner Lemoine Foundation as a wholly-owned subsidiary and started its work in April 2010. The founding managing directors of the institute were Jochen Twele and Peter Kayser, two professors at the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (HTW Berlin). The institute was built in close proximity to the HTW at its Oberschöneweide location. In 2017 the RLI moved to the Berlin Adlershof Science and Technology Park.

The institute, which initially consisted of two managing directors and four employees, has grown steadily with an increasing number of research projects and today employs more than 70 people in over 30 research projects. The institute has been headed by Kathrin Goldammer since February 2016.

The institute is financed by around 10 percent from funds from the Reiner Lemoine Foundation and around 90 percent from additional funds raised for research. These consist mainly of public funding at state, federal and European level, as well as research contracts and consulting services for the public sector, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

Media conctact: Matthias Laugwitz, presse@rl-institut.de, Tel.: +49 (0)30 1208 434 15