Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg

The Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI ERN) for Renewable Energy Production, founded in 2013, is the first institute to be set up by the Helmholtz Association in northern Bavaria.

The Institute’s mission is to expand research on renewable energy to support energy reform, focusing on solar energy. Printable photovoltaics and chemical energy storage using hydrogen technologies are the main focuses of research at HI ERN.

The Institute is a branch of Forschungszentrum Jülich, run in collaboration with FAU and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. It is based at FAU Campus Erlangen (South) and a second location is at the former AEG site in Nuremberg. At the Institute, FAU contributes its internationally recognised expertise in materials and process research from its Cluster of Excellence ‘Engineering of Advanced Materials’ which will benefit research on and development in renewable energy systems, while Forschungszentrum Jülich and Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin will provide their knowledge in materials research for solar technologies and hydrogen production using renewable energies.