Since March 2009, Gerhard Stryi-Hipp has been working as a consultant for the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in the area of solar technology. In July 2009, he will officially take over his new position as Head of Energy Policy and also as Group Leader of Thermal Collectors and Applications. With this new staff appointment, the leading European solar research institute addresses the rising demand for national and international policy advising in this area.
Gerhard Stryi-Hipp was chairman of the German Solar Industry Association BSW-Solar and its precursors for 15 years. In close contact with policy makers and the ministries, he actively participated in shaping the market development and subsidies policy in the area of solar thermal energy and photovoltaics. From 2006 to 2009, his particular focus was international matters and technology at BSW-Solar.
As a long-term board member of the European Solar Thermal Industry Association ESTIF and an internationally active consultant, he has acquired a vast amount of experience abroad. “Energy scarcity and climate change require that a decisive restructuring of our energy supply towards renewable energy takes place in the coming years. I look forward to being able to contribute to this effort through scientifically-based national and international policy advising at the world-renowned Fraunhofer ISE”, says Stryi-Hipp in anticipation of his new position. He has worked once before at Fraunhofer ISE in 1993 when he carried out his physics diploma work.
As head of the German Solar Thermal Technology Platform DSTTP and chairman of the Heating & Cooling European Technology Platform RHC-ETP, he also promoted research strategies for solar thermal systems. Against this background, Gerhard Stryi-Hipp will takeover the leadership of the group Thermal Collectors and Applications at Fraunhofer ISE. The leader of this group up to now, Matthias Rommel, will leave Fraunhofer ISE to take up his new position as Professor and Director of the Institute for Solar Technologies SPF of the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR).
Today about 830 people are employed at Fraunhofer ISE. The institute has experienced dynamic growth in the past years and is excellently equipped to address technological questions in the field of renewable energy. “As an industrially oriented institute, it is our goal to develop concepts on energy policy that address the concerns of research, industry and also politics. With Gerhard Stryi-Hipp and his new position at Fraunhofer ISE, we have taken a further step in this direction”, explains Prof. Eicke Weber, Director of Fraunhofer ISE.
