For a sustainable energy supply in Europe: Cooperation with France in research and development

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the French National Research Agency (ANR) are continuing their long-standing successful cooperation in science and research. The goal of the latest call for proposals is to strengthen French-German cooperation in energy research and to initiate innovation processes in Germany and France.

The funding measure will provide highly innovative solutions for an efficient, affordable, and environmentally friendly energy supply based on renewable energy, by supporting joint research projects by scientists in France and Germany. These research projects should use a comprehensive approach to ensure that the French, German and European energy, transport, industry and household sectors are taken into account. The call is aimed at universities, extramural research institutions, and private-sector businesses, as well as other organizations that contribute to research. Involving partners along the entire innovation chain, from research to the market to the end users, should result in solutions with practical relevance being developed.

Funding is given to collaborative projects conducted by consortia with German and French partners in application-oriented basic research. The projects should aim to find highly innovative cross-sector solutions for energy storage and distribution in France, Germany, and Europe that are economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable and secure. The French–German cooperation must result in added value in this respect.

The project recommendations are expected to come from the following fields:

Conversion and storage of energy from renewable sources

• Electrical and electrochemical storage materials and technologies, especially new batteries
• Storage systems for use within smart grids (e.g. grid services, virtual power plants)
• Power-to-X technologies including electrolysis, generation of synthetic fuels, photo-electrochemistry and solar fuels
• Hydrogen and fuel cell technology, hydrogen storage and distribution

Smart grids at transmission and distribution grid level

• Materials and technologies for smart grids in general and for high-voltage direct-current transmission systems
• Grid flexibilization and management (including grid architectures, digitization, storage integration, other flexibilization technologies)
• Cross-border aspects at technical and regulatory level (e.g. compatibility, regulations, European energy market)