IPP in Greifswald as “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”

Prize presentation in October / Wendelstein 7-X: fusion research for the power plant of tomorrow

June 10, 2016

The project, “Wendelstein 7-X: for the Power Plant of Tomorrow”, has earned Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald the distinction of being one of the 100 prizewinners in the 2016 competition “Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”.


As one of about a thousand candidates the fusion research device was elected by a high-grade jury: Under the slogan “CommUnityInnvovation – a model for success” the research device ranks as one of the projects able to provide a convincing answer to the question how joint action can afford innovative solutions for tomorrow's challenges: An international team had worked for ten years constructing Wendelstein 7-X, which went into operation at the end of last year.

The competition is intended by “Germany – Land of Ideas” and Deutsche Bank to promote outlooking ideas that use the potentials of community in the form of joint action, cooperation and networking and thus enhance joint efforts to meet present and future challenges.

Wendelstein 7-X is the world´s most modern and largest fusion research device of the stellarator type. National and international teams are working on the device to develop the fundamentals for a power plant that will derive energy on the same principle as the sun. The fuel, a hydrogen plasma, whose behaviour scientists want to investigate, has a temperature of 100 million degrees. To prevent the plasma from cooling on contact with the cold vessel walls, it is levitated by magnetic fields with almost no contact in the interior of a vacuum vessel. With almost unlimited resources available everywhere on earth it should be possible for fusion power plants – which are climate neutral, favourable to the environment and suitable for base load  – in conjunction with renewable energies to contribute to a sustainable energy supply in the future.

The prize presentation, with a certificate signed by Federal President Joachim Gauck, will take place on 26 October 2016 at IPP in Greifswald. “Germany – Land of Ideas” is a joint site initiative of the Federal Government and German industry, represented by the Federal Association of German Industry. Since 2006 Deutsche Bank has been a partner and national promoter of the “Landmarks in the Land of Ideas” competition. The objective is to make visible at home and abroad innovations from Germany and reinforce their present performance and future potential.

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