On 11/04/2018, the consortium had finally made it: it was time to launch the pebbles research project. We had waited a long time because the post-election process of forming a government was so slow this time, meaning that the project managing agency, the German Aerospace Center, also had to wait to secure and transfer our funds. Only then were we ready to launch. To celebrate, team members from Kempten University of Applied Sciences, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, AllgäuNetz GmbH and Siemens AG, as well as representatives from the German Aerospace Center, all gathered at premises belonging to the Allgäuer Überlandwerk, the lead partner in the consortium. Following on from this first full-team meeting, the project managing agency was introduced to the Wildpoldsried energy campus from the previous IREN2 project. We closed the evening with a cosy evening meal at Gasthof Hirsch in the village of Wildpoldsried.
The next day, we launched straight into the consortium’s first working meeting in Allgäuer Überlandwerk’s new, open “creative space”. The team drew up our initial concepts and made our first decisions, forming a solid basis to move forward with the project.

Photographer: Philip Herzhoff / www.isenhoff.de