(Stuttgart, Germany) – The University of Stuttgart has inaugurated its new research campus, "Wave-H2." Researchers there will investigate how hydrogen can be produced, processed, transported, and used in a decentralized manner. The campus is located in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. At the Freudenstadt site, expected to begin operations in summer 2026, the solutions developed there can then be tested on an industrial scale.
Wave-H2 project manager Alexander Sauer (left) and Kai Peter Birke, Chair of Electrical Energy Storage Systems at the Institute for Photovoltaics, are working together in an interdisciplinary manner on new hydrogen technologies. © University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
“With our platform, we are making a significant contribution to innovative and flexible hydrogen solutions and the decarbonization of industry at the regional, state, and national levels,” says project manager Alexander Sauer, Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production (EEP). The scientists at the Vaihingen campus are conducting research along the entire hydrogen value chain and on power-to-X technologies. Among other things, they are investigating how hydrogen can be produced via electrolysis and further processed into gases such as methanol or ammonia as energy carriers. Particular attention is being paid to both the production of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen and the recovery of hydrogen from ammonia.
Research on aviation fuel and chemicals
Furthermore, a fuel cell test bench enables research into the conversion of hydrogen's chemical energy into electrical energy and heat. Other research projects at the Wave-H2 campus focus on the production of aviation fuel from biogas and the production of basic chemicals. With this new "top-class infrastructure," the university is making "an important contribution to future-oriented hydrogen research," says University Chancellor Anna Steiger.
The Wave-H2 platform is receiving approximately €36 million in funding from the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). It is intended to be built and operated long-term at the two locations of Stuttgart-Vaihingen and Freudenstadt by the EEP and the Chair of Electrical Energy Storage Systems at the Institute for Photovoltaics (IPV) of the University of Stuttgart.
Photo above
At the new "Wave-H2" campus, researchers are working on the "Ammonia2H2" project, focusing on the production of ammonia. © University of Stuttgart / Max Kovalenko
