EWE sets up research and development institute

Oldenburg, June 19, 2006. The Oldenburg-based energy supplier EWE AG is extending its research and development activities significantly. The news was announced by the EWE Chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Werner Brinker, speaking today at an event held at Oldenburg Research and Development Institute for Information Tools and Systems (OFFIS). In pursuit of this objective Brinker said that EWE was setting up its own research department and would establish an institute at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. The institute is to bear the name "EWE Institute for Energy Technology”.

“The question of energy supply is one of the key problems of the future. It is only by pursuing extensive research that we can lay down the basis for a environmentally friendly and secure energy supply in the coming decades”, said Brinker. EWE intended to establish a research department in the company to pool and pursue the numerous research projects the company was running. The new institute would be run in close cooperation with EWE practice-related basic research into energy supply. EWE is currently committing its main research effort to the testing of fuel cells, the integration of wind power facilities into existing electricity networks and the development of a decentralized energy management system, or DEMS for short.

The “EWE Institute for Energy Technology” is scheduled to be set up in 2007. The institute is to be headed by a W3-grade professor. Three departments will conduct research into renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and energy savings. “The establishment of the institute sees us attracting additional energy research to the region and strengthening Oldenburg as a research hub”, said Brinker. In order to be successful on the market, it would be of great importance for EWE to maintain close contact with scientific circles and to pursue research. Brinker also stressed it was hoped that EWE would be able to attract the students passing out from the new An-Institute as employees.

An An-Institute is a research facility, attached to a university. It is set up as a private company, e.g. as a GmbH. Ownership of the An-Institute can involve various combinations of state, university, sponsoring association, professors and industry. An An-Institute is headed by one or more professors, who also hold a chair at the university and work part-time at the An-Institute and the university.