• Energy Research
• 2015 close

At least 3% of wind production downtime due to breakdowns and maintenance problems that can reach up to 40%. This leads to production losses of over €2.9 billion worldwide annually. Our current SmartCast remotely connects SCADA and sensor data with a virtual database to monitor wind turbines. It involves algorithms based AI, cloud computing and data mining. The SmartGear product is a low cost Condition Monitoring System based on IoT technology which acquires raw data and connects with SmartCast Platform for further processing. The overall objective of the future Phase II Cloud Diagnosis project is to scale-up our SmartGear technology by introducing communication protocols that allow us to extract data from multiple devices allocated in the wind turbines and additional transducers. Additionally, SmartCast cloud diagnosis algorithms need to be improved. Our innovative solution will allow faster detection of wind turbine system failures through complex algorithms implementing intelligent sensor fusion, therefore, optimizing the performance of wind turbines. It does not require onsite visits but provides information online. In this way, our technology will be able to: Reduce wind turbine maintenance cost by 20%: €44 million annually in the Spanish market, €190 million per year in Europe and €440 million annually in the world market. Reduce wind turbine operation cost and component replacement of cost by 20%: A standard park of 50 MW (16 turbines) installation power working 2,100 hours per year faces production losses of at least €378,000 annually. Our system enables 20% savings of €75,600 (€4,725 per turbine). Currently, our SmartCast platform processes real-time data from SCADA and sensors by means of SVM (support vector machine) in 300 turbines. Our SmartGear Solution is present in two wind farms and is being rolled out in five more.

Our proposed technology uses bamboo for manufacturing a unique new bio-material which has the potential to replace most commonly used structural materials such as concrete, steel and timber. This novel process will not only ensure the sustainable supply of raw materials via environment friendly new solution in construction industry, but will also provide participating SME with the opportunity to derive an ongoing income. BAMBENG proposal outlines the opportunity to develop an innovative technological process which will produce a new constructional product, chemical free and environmental friendly (avoiding the use of toxic and polluting glues) with supreme technological, economic and environmental footprint performances. That would make BAMBENG advantageous competitor and feasible alternative as BAMBENG structural material, represents the best performing material for supporting structure for seismic building. BAMBENG is obtained by a simple chafing and pressure welding process, producing a semi-finished completely biological new component. The process in chemical free, energy saving and with a very low footprint, Compared with the most direct and similar competitive materials (wood, glulam and glubam) BAMBENG offers better technical performances and up to 45% of cost savings (based on Cost Structure Analysis). BAMBENG is worth to invest in because it is a combination of proven technology and novel application of demonstrable technology and methods which have both economic & environmental benefits: - Development of bigger structural components for buildings sector for easy substitution of current material like steel, aluminium, concrete, and even timber, - Development of building design to exceed seismic and hurricane requirements, - Transfer to other sectors such as interior and exterior architectural, packaging and design artefacts, - Improvement of local bamboo crops at EC level, and - Potential to license the technology to SMEs throughout the EU.

The UK has an ambitious and legally-binding target to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 (relative to a 1990 baseline) as part of its commitment to limit its contribution to climate change. Achieving this target will require significant changes in how the UK sources its energy; reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of a mix of renewable technologies such as wind, solar, tidal and hydropower. The UK currently generates about 1.5% of its electricity from hydroelectric schemes, and although further large-scale development potential is limited, there is scope for exploiting small-scale and micro-hydropower resources (DECC, 2013). However, the potential impacts of such development on the environment and its stakeholders must be evaluated and minimised where possible. This NERC Policy Placement at the Environment Agency will gain a detailed understanding of the different areas of potential concern associated with the development of low head hydropower schemes through consulting with a wide range of stakeholders initiated by a project launch workshop event. External stakeholders may include representatives from rivers user groups (e.g. the Angling Trust, Canal & River Trust, Inland Waterways Association, National Association of Boat Owners, the British Canoe Union and the Ramblers Association), environmental bodies (e.g. Rivers Trusts, Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, Natural England, English Heritage, Environment Agency, DEFRA), energy organisations (the National Grid, DECC), and the British Hydropower Association. The understanding gained through consultation with stakeholders will be used to inform a life-cycle analysis that compares the environmental impacts of low-head hydropower schemes against all other forms of electricity generation across a comprehensive list of factors (global warming potential, land footprint, water footprint, abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, aquatic ecotoxicity potential), including those factors identified through consultation with stakeholders. Systematic and transparent data and literature searches will be used, as recommended in Dr Bilotta's recent open-access publications co-authored by Defra's Chief Scientific Advisor (Bilotta et al., 2014a;b), to ensure that the findings of the life-cycle analysis are traceable and can be updated in light of improvements in the technologies which can occur rapidly. This comparative life-cycle analysis will enable stakeholders and policy-makers to make a better informed decision about the relative merits and drawbacks of different forms of electricity generation on their respective areas of concern. The project will also identify specific design and siting aspects of low head hydropower schemes that are associated with the most and the least environmental impacts, through collating and statistically-analysing existing monitoring data collected routinely in England and Wales as good practice (Environment Agency, 2014), before and after installation of hydropower facilities. This analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and used, where appropriate, to update the good practice guidelines on hydropower development (Environment Agency, 2014). Ultimately, these guidelines will be used to optimise the design of future hydropower schemes in England and Wales, to minimise their impact and maximise their environmental and social sustainability. References: Bilotta, G. S., Milner, A. M., & Boyd, I. (2014a). On the use of systematic reviews to inform environmental policies. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, 67-77. Bilotta, G. S., Milner, A. M., & Boyd, I. L. (2014b). Quality assessment tools for evidence from environmental science. Environmental Evidence, 3(1), 1-14. DECC (2013) https://www.gov.uk/harnessing-hydroelectric-power Environment Agency (2014) https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hydropower-schemes-guidelines-and-applying-for-permission

URBAN LEARNING gathers capitals and other large cities across Europe facing the common challenge of considerable population growth while being committed to significantly reduce fossil energy consumption and CO2 emissions. E.g. Stockholm grew by more than 12.000 people / a (1.5%); in the next 10 years Vienna has to build for 200.000 new people. Efficient and effective planning processes will be crucial for climbing this mountain. Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam/Zaanstad, Warsaw and Zagreb aim to enhance the capacity of their local authorities on integrative urban energy planning, as response to new challenges from EU EPBD and RES directives as well as to changes of technologies and market conditions and the pressure to provide sufficient, affordable homes. The focus is put on the governance processes related to the (re-)development of concrete sites. While some cities already started ambitious urban development projects, the institutionalisation of these experiences is missing - despite awareness and willingness, due to lack of knowledge, lack of time and the need for collaboration across departments, which is not a common practice in many administrations in Europe. External stimulus is needed to overcome these barriers, and to address these issues collectively with external key stakeholders, such as DNOs and energy suppliers, and across cities. Focus will be on multi-disciplinary learning – concentrating on innovative technological solutions, instruments and tools as well as on innovative governance elements - and to capitalise this learning to institutionalise integrative urban energy planning. Improving the governance processes is expected to have significant energy impacts on homes and workplaces to be built and refurbished for over 3 million more people in the participating cities in the next 20 years: more than 1.700 GWh/a of energy savings and over 2.000 GWh/a renewable energy produced. Special emphasis is put on knowledge transfer to 150 more cities.