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Ampyx Power develops the PowerPlane, an Airborne Wind Energy System (AWES). AWES are second generation wind turbines that use the stronger and more constant wind at altitudes between 100 and 600 meters. Project AMPYXAP3 concerns the design, construction and testing of the first article of an initial commercial PowerPlane, version AP3. The global transition to a sustainable energy supply is burdened by the exorbitant societal costs associated with it. Renewable energy infrastructure projects have extremely high capital costs, and in most cases the cost per kWh of renewable electricity produced exceeds the cost of fossil-fuelled alternatives, thus requiring subsidies or other supportive instruments from governments. The economic effects of the energy transition are very significant, including the deterioration of international competitive position of countries or regions with high ambition levels regarding climate change, such as the EU – caused by rising electricity prices for industry. PowerPlane technology will have a disruptive effect on the electricity generation sector; due to the low levelised cost of energy (LCoE) that can be achieved with it, and due to its low capital costs. The need for a low cost, low capital investment renewable energy technology is evident. The AP3 PowerPlane, to be developed in the AMPYXAP3 project, fulfils the customer need of PowerPlane technology demonstration in long-term continuous safe operation at costs and LCoE as predicted. Ampyx Power aspires to manufacture and sell PowerPlane systems, as well as deliver operational and maintenance services to wind park owners. As a consequence, Ampyx Power projects revenues from PowerPlane system sales and installations, as well as from operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts. Hence, the AMPYXAP3 project is core business for Ampyx Power.

The offshore wind market is a young and rapidly growing market, whose current project pipeline for 2025/30 would equal nearly 80 nuclear plants, mostly in Europe. The next decade and beyond may average 1,000 offshore towers/year worldwide, with an overall investment volume around 15-20.000 M€/year. This growing sector faces technological challenges, as it is set to move into deeper waters further offshore while being able to reduce the costs in order to reach a competitive LCOE (levelised cost of energy). For water depths above 40m (70% of the future market) approximately 40-50% of investment corresponds to the substructure (foundation and tower). Therefore a significant cost reduction in foundation/tower would drastically improve the overall cost of offshore wind energy. This project intends to develop and demonstrate in operative environment a full scale prototype of a revolutionary substructure system for offshore wind turbines. The concept consists in a self-installing precast concrete telescopic tower which for the first time ever shall allow for crane-free offshore installation of foundations, towers and turbines, thus overcoming the constraints imposed by the dependence on offshore heavy-lift vessels. It will allow for a full in-shore preassembly of the complete system, which is key to generate a highly industrialized manufacturing process with high production rates and optimized risk control. The main benefits expected are: • 30-40% cost reduction (both CAPEX and OPEX). • Large water depth applicability range for deep offshore (>45m water depth). • Supports increased turbine size (5-8MW). • Allows for large scale fast industrial deployment of foundations. • Reduces dependence on costly and scarce installation vessels. • Improved asset integrity (durability) This solution will imply a radical step forward for cost-effective and industrially deployable deep offshore wind.

The project arises from a joint venture between Enair Energy SL and Lancor 2000 S Coop to develop a Cost efficient Small Wind Turbine (SWT) of 40 kW rated capacity (ECIWIND®).Within the wind energy sector, the small wind power is growing: According to World Wind Energy Association the small wind power market is expected to increase massively, from 768 M€ in 2013 to 2517 M€ by 2020, at a CAGR of 22%.The main challenge of the small wind energy industry is to decrease its costs to push a socialisation of this renewable technology. Thus, this electricity generation will be more competitive in the energy market and independent of the subsidies. The European Commision highliths the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as small energy producers and the need to empower them to take up this role. Several european SMEs such as farms (200-400 kWh/day) and small industry (200- 450 kWh/day). In the case that these end users are located in areas where annual average wind velocity is higher than 5 m/s, small wind turbines in the 10-50 kW capacity is the best option to cover their energy needs. The acquisition and commissioning costs of SWT in this capacity range rounds 4000 €/kWh and have annual maintenance average costs of 1500 €/year depending on the configuration, which makes unaffordable the investment without government subsidies. The price reduction on this capacity range can be approached through the elimination of costly parts of current technologies as the Gearbox, and the optimization of the cost/performance of the rest of components.Enair and Lancor have therefore identified a business opportunity for SWT technologies and have developed a first prototype of ECIWIND® at 10 kW scale (free-gearbox with pitch control and permanent magnet generator SWT) that requires 50% less maintenance and decrease the price to end user installed in 40%, which entails an investment payback period <6 years without any government subsidy.

The overall objective of the SOLARGE45 project is to accelerate the market introduction of a new Concentration PhotoVoltaic (CPV) technology, called the MF45 System, which yields the highest efficiency all year round, without giving up simplicity, and therefore enables the lowest manufacturing costs. The MF45 System will be capable to convert the equivalent of 45% of the direct sun light into clean electricity at costs equivalent to those of conventional sources (CO2 intensive). This represents conversion efficiency increases of 30% and 60% relative to other commercial CPV systems and FP systems, respectively. As result of the SOLARGE45 project, LPI aims to become a worldwide reference manufacturer and supplier of a novel CPV System able to generate profits in large-scale utility solar plants, and without the support of government policies backing up clean electricity. This will bring a positive impact in the challenge stressed in the 'Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy' Work Programme: low-cost, low carbon electricity supply. Through the Phase 1 of the SME Instrument LPI will be able to assess the industrial and commercial feasibility of the business innovation project proposed for introducing the MF45 System into the market. The specific objectives that must be achieved in the course of the Feasibility Study are the following: - To define the MF45 System specifications needed to assure long-term-performance under real operation conditions to guarantee product bankability and standard certification - To assess different product-development and industrial process pilot plant alternatives with optimal quality within cost and reliability balance - To identify the specific operational and financial resources and/or partners to cover the whole MF45 System manufacturing and commercialisation - To assess the feasibility of the preliminary Market Strategy and Commercialisation Plan, by an in-depth study of the MF45 System market size and barriers.

HoNESt (History of Nuclear Energy and Society) involves an interdisciplinary team with many experienced researchers and 24 high profile research institutions. HoNESt’s goal is to conduct a three-year interdisciplinary analysis of the experience of nuclear developments and its relationship to contemporary society with the aim of improving the understanding of the dynamics over the last 60 years. HoNESt’s results will assist the current debate on future energy sources and the transition to affordable, secure, and clean energy production. Civil society's interaction with nuclear developments changes over time, and it is locally, nationally and transnationally specific. HoNESt will embrace the complexity of political, technological and economic challenges; safety; risk perception and communication, public engagement, media framing, social movements, etc. Research on these interactions has thus far been mostly fragmented. We will develop a pioneering integrated interdisciplinary approach, which is conceptually informed by Large Technological Systems (LTS) and Integrated Socio-technical System (IST), based on a close and innovative collaboration of historians and social scientists in this field. HoNESt will first collect extensive historical data from over 20 countries. These data will be jointly analyzed by historians and social scientists, through the lens of an innovative integrated approach, in order to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying decision making and associated citizen engagement with nuclear power. Through an innovative application of backcasting techniques, HoNESt will bring novel content to the debate on nuclear sustainable engagement futures. Looking backwards to the present, HoNESt will strategize and plan how these suitable engagement futures could be achieved. HoNESt will engage key stakeholders from industry, policy makers and civil society in a structured dialogue to insert the results into the public debate on nuclear energy.

The main objective of Riblet4Wind is the transfer of a technology that has already demonstrated its capacity for increasing the energy efficiency in the aeronautics sector, to the wind energy industry. Application of functional coatings with riblet structure will improve the drag to lift ratio of rotor blades significantly. Wind tunnel experiments have proven the capability of this riblet-coating technology to increase the efficiency of wind turbines by up to 6%. This direct effect will allow gaining the same amount of electrical energy with smaller rotor blades. Indirect effects will increase the benefit to approximately more than 10%: • The improved drag to lift ratio will allow operation at lower wind speeds. The earlier cut-in of the WTG will improve the facility to balance in the electrical grid system. • The riblet structure improves the stall and turbulence behaviour of the rotor blades thus allowing also operation at higher wind speeds and/or operation in less optimum wind conditions, e.g. changing wind directions or gusts. • The improved drag to lift ratio will reveal design options due to changes of the design loads. • The riblet structure will also result in a substantial reduction of noise emissions. It is expected that the interaction of direct and indirect effects will contribute significantly to the targets of the European Wind Energy Technology Platform (TPWind) as declared in the new Strategic Research Agenda / Market Deployment Strategy (SRA / MDS) : a reduction of levelised costs of energy (LCoE) by 20% (onshore) respectively 50% (offshore) until 2028 (LCoE reference 2008). Beyond the focus of the topic H2020-LCE3-2014 the riblet-paint technology can also be applied on existing rotor blades, thus supporting retrofitting of existing wind turbines and maximising the benefit. In total Riblet4Wind aims at demonstrating the successful transfer of the riblet-coating technology and the semi-quantitative assessment of the direct and indirect effects.

Water and energy are highly interdependent and are both crucial to human well-being and sustainable socio-economic development. In 2014, the UN reports that 768 million people worldwide still do not have access to a safe source of drinking water, and more than 1.3 billion lack access to electricity. We have developed the Watly® unit with the goal of providing a solution for fast, simple and efficient wastewater treatment and energy supply in developing and/or remote regions. Watly combines cutting-edge technologies to offer i) complete sanitation for well, surface ground, sea or recycled rain water, ii) off-grid electricity from solar energy and iii) Wi-Fi internet connectivity, all in one portable autonomous unit. Watly embodies the ambition of a European company to address a global market. The wide range of customers worldwide that could benefit from this all-in-one solution include diverse market segments such as: Governments and public institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and foundations, mobile hospitals, military organizations, hotels/resorts/businesses in remote destinations, massive open-air events, oil platforms, gas/oil & construction sites, etc. Scale-up beyond our current prototypes and industrialization of the production process is the key to growth and expansion of our company taking advantage of a new market opportunity. In order to do so, we are applying for SME Instrument Phase 1 funds to: (i) elaborate an exhaustive technical feasibility study focused on scale-up beyond our current prototypes, design and industrialization of the final commercial unit of Watly-L; (ii) elaborate a detailed business plan for the commercialization of Watly-L at the conclusion of the envisaged Phase 2 project. If the results of the feasibility study, both from the technical and commercial point of view, are positive, we will proceed to apply for Phase 2 funds in order to carry out the abovementioned scale-up, product refinement and industrialization tasks.

Solar Energy for Food Industry Proposal for the elaboration of a feasibility study, including a CPVT market study, for the application of concentrated PV-T solar energy and Large Thermal Storage (LTS) as support to the development of sustainable Food Security, through the construction of 2 CPVT demonstration plants in food-processing facilities in southern and northern Europe. Demonstration plants are planned to be built in northern Europe, in the Netherlands, and in southern Europe in Spain. Phase one will submit technical and financial solutions which shall pave the way for phase 2 submission of a final construction project for both demonstration plants. The innovative concept proposed is a Solar Concentration Hybrid Photovoltaio Thermal Cogeneration system using state of the art triple solar cells and a solar tracking device to capture the maximum possible solar energy with a parabolic trough linear concentration. The novelty presented in the project focusses on the food processing industry which is the largest manufacturing sector in the EU with 1,048 bilion € turnover and 4.2 milion employees busy throughout the European Union. Food processing is a major energy consuming manufacturing sector, which accounts for about 20% of the total EU fossil fuel consuption and the project has the ambition to contribute to the reduction of this resource consumption. The project will work with 4 participants spread over 3 EU countries. All technologies were patended last year. The project will move the novelty from TRL8 to TRL9.

EcoSwing aims at world's first demonstration of a superconducting low-cost, lightweight drive train on a modern 3.6 MW wind turbine. EcoSwing is quantifiable: The generator weight is reduced by 40% compared to commercial permanent magnet direct-drive generators (PMDD). For the nacelle this means a very significant weight reduction of 25%. Assuming series production, cost reduction for the generator can be 40% compared to PMDD. Finally, reliance on rare earth metals is down by at least two orders of magnitude. This demonstration is enabled by the increasing maturity of industrial superconductivity. In an ambitious step beyond present activities, EcoSwing will advance the TRL from 4-5 to 6-7. We are shifting paradigms: Previously, HTS was considered for very big, highly efficient turbines for future markets only. By means of cost-optimization, EcoSwing targets a turbine of great relevance already to the present large-scale wind power market. The design principles of EcoSwing are applicable to markets with a wide range of turbine ratings from 2 MW to 10 MW and beyond. Despite technological successes in superconductivity, turbine manufacturers and generator suppliers are hesitant to apply HTS into the wind sector, because of real and perceived risks. The environment inside a wind turbine has unique requirements to generators (parasitic loads and moments, vibration, amount of independent hours of operation). Therefore, a demonstration is required. The consortium represents a full value chain from materials, over components, up to a turbine manufacturer as an end-user providing market pull. It features competent partners on the engineering, the cryogenic, and the power conversion side. Also ground-based testing before turbine deployment, pre-certification activities, and training are included. EcoSwing can become tangible: The EcoSwing demonstrator will commence operation in 2018 on an existing very modern 3.6 MW wind turbine in Thyborøn, Denmark.

The EUFORIE project studies energy efficiency at macro level (EU as a whole and comprison to China), national level (EU-28 Member States), sectoral/company level (selected energy-intensive sectors and companies) and household level, taking into account the perspectives of energy production and consumption. The project uses also participatory foresight workshops to provide new information for energy policy preparation in selected EU Member States. The project has nine Work Packages, the Research/Innovation WPs focus on (1) macro-level analysis on energy efficiency (EU as a Whole and EU-28 Member States; WP2), (2) regional and sectoral case studies on energy efficiency (WP3), and (3) energy efficiency metabolism in socio-economic systems (WP4) by using innovative analysis tools developed by the EUFORIE consortium beneficiaries in previous projects financed by the EuropeanCommisson. Moreover, the project analyses energy efficiency from the consumer perspective (WP5) and energy efficiency development in selected energy-intensive companies by using the previously developed analysis tools (WP6). Last but not least, the project implements a participatory foresight process for energy efficiency stakeholders in selected countries (WP7) and a comparison of energy efficiency in the EU and China (WP8).