Page 151 - ISES SWC50

7.15 ISES Institute Members: ZAE Bayern

History of ZAE Bayern
In 1973, the Middle East crisis led to a steep rise in the price of oil. The Federal Government reacted by
establishing a “Non-nuclear Energy Research” unit within the BMFT. Prof. R. Sizmann was an advisory member
of a committee of the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT). This gave him the impetus to also
experiment with alternative energies. As one of the first concrete activities, a workshop with the professors
G. Lehner, W. Bloss, E. Hahne and N. Meier from Bamberg took place in Stuttgart in April. The lectures dealt
with the use of hydrogen and renewable energies.

In 1976, a first European test of thermal collectors was carried out at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University for
the public magazine “Schöner Wohnen”. Ultimately, it was this project that gave rise to the idea of founding
a Bavarian Solar Energy Research Institute. However, it was only after the Chernobyl accident, 10 years later,
that actual activities took place. Prof. R. Sizmann went to the Bavarian Ministry of Economics and presented
the idea of founding a Bavarian Institute for Renewable Energies. In the following years until 1991, various
concepts for the institute were discussed and comrades-in-arms from other universities were found. In the
end, a structure for the association was agreed upon. Industrial companies, municipal utilities and also private
individuals could be won as members of the association. Five university professors with relevant fields of work
formed the executive board. They were also scientific department heads. Five divisions were constituted:
• Division of Prof. Dr. Georg Alefeld „Energy Conversion and Energy Storage“
• Division of Prof. Dr. Jochen Fricke „Thermal Insulation and Heat Transfer “
• Division of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Hezel „Photovoltaics“
• Division of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Sizmann „Solar Thermal“
• Division of Prof. Dr. Helmut Schaefer „Efficient Use of Energy “.
So the Bavarian Centre for Applied Energy Research, ZAE Bayern, was founded in December 1991 as a
non-university, non-profit research institute and began working at three locations under the direction of Prof.
Jochen Fricke in January 1992.

Current structures of ZAE Bayern
From an initial staff of 24 in 1992, ZAE Bayern expanded its workforce to a total of 220 employees in 2017. The
employees were scientists, technicians and student assistants from the departments of physics, mechanical
engineering and energy technology. The five departments of the foundation were gradually merged to 3
departments. In the year 2018 another break occurred. The Erlangen department with almost all its staff was
transferred to the Helmholtz Association. The now two departments in Würzburg and Garching near Munich
currently have 120 employees.

ZAE Bayern is a member of the National Renewable Energy Research Association (FVEE) and the German
Industrial Research Foundation Konrad Zuse e. V. ZAE Bayern is also a founding member of Energy Campus
Nürnberg (EnCN). And ever since its founding ZAE Bayern was member of the International Solar Energy
Society ISES!

ISES SWC50 - The Century of Solar-Stories and Visions | 133