In 2002 work started on a new Fraunhofer Research Center for Resource-Friendly Energy Technologies (RESET) with the enthusiastic support of the Saxon State Ministry for Science and the Arts (SMWK) , the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor (SMWA), Stadt Dresden, and the Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The city is making a 1.6 hectare site available to the Fraunhofer FEP, IKTS, and IWS close to the Fraunhofer Institute Center in Dresden (IZD).

The Fraunhofer FEP intends to construct research laboratory and pilot plant facilities there having a total surface area of 5200 m² in several phases as part of the Solarfabrik 2020 initiative. All the buildings will be together in a technology center and will have flexible modular structures in a transparent energy-saving design.

This design will allow optimum logistical combination of the research equipment, a favorable-cost attractive building architecture, and the necessary engineering and technical facilities. In addition, the timing of the construction phases will allow experience from the previous phase to be evaluated and relevant information taken into account for the next phase. At the same time, each construction phase can be adapted to the available funds. The required funding according to current estimates is about 22 million euros for buildings including the building services, and about 10 million euros for experimental equipment. The research work will take into account the position of the new center within a residential area by using environmentally-friendly and resource-friendly energies, including the institute’s own technologies.