• Energy Research
• 2016 close

Understanding and controlling the growth of mesocrystalline for novel photoactive materials. This project aims to design new functional materials by directing the assembly of light harvesting quantum dots and n-type oxide materials to produce novel photoactive materials. Surface spectroscopic techniques will be used to investigate the interaction of bifunctional ligands with oxide and sulphide/selenide materials. Molecules which are found to bind strongly between these two types of materials will then be used as linkers to build up materials composed of regular arrays of nanocrystal materials. It is envisaged that the correct choice of ligands will allow self assembled arrays to be grown with efficient charge transfer between the quantum dot and oxide nanoparticles, producing materials with potential applications in solar energy and photocatalysis. ________________________________

Small onshore wind turbines have become increasingly accepted as an alternative to powering many homes, farms and businesses offering on-site electricity generation and increased security of energy supply. However, a number of barriers are preventing wide spread uptake: high cost; performance predictability issues; small wind currently fails to compete with low usage high retail electricity pricing without subsidisation from feed-in tariffs (FiT) or without a very high retail price of electricity. Governments are under immense political pressure to significantly reduce/cut subsidies for renewable technologies, creating a market for small wind which is increasingly unsustainable. To address the need for innovations that overcome principal barriers to small wind, this project seeks to advance Gaia- Wind’s innovative small wind turbine from a prototype demonstrated in a relevant environment (TRL6) to complete and qualified commercial prototype (TRL8). Gaia-Wind’s ‘FortyForty’ is the first low cost, highly efficient small wind turbine that can compete with the retail price of electricity globally and deliver an excellent ROI for customers, independent of financial subsidy. End-users include farms, rural land owners, investors, communities and rural businesses. Gaia-Wind has an existing and extensive customer base in these markets to ensure rapid roll out. Also targeted towards: residential, commercial and industrial, fish farms, hybrid systems, remote villages, pumping, water desalination and purification, remote monitoring, research and education, telecom base stations hospitals, College/Universities. Study Objectives: Technology and manufacturing process optimisation, market analysis, economic and business assessment, operational capacity analysis. Activities will be delivered within a 6 month period and result in a comprehensive feasibility report detailing the next steps towards development and commercialisation, forming the basis of the SMEI Phase 2 Business Plan.

Conventional wind turbines are dangerous for birds, animals and humans in their vicinity and produce harmful low frequency noise; they are made of composites with a considerable carbon footprint. In the project we will provide the first true ecological wind turbine in the world! The realization of the project will place on the market new paradigms in the world of small wind turbines in several ways and will fulfill the following objectives: New material: ECO-TURBINE turbine aerodynamic parts will be made with the revolutionary advanced technology of flax based bio composites and natural based adhesives with 70% less carbon foot print than conventional composites. New technical concept: ECO-TURBINE turbines will have completely new type of movement than conventional HAWT and VAWT wind turbines. Instead of rotational movement of propellers on round surface our solution has a lamella type rectangular »wall« of series of blades. New business/marketing model: ECO-TURBINE turbine will use technical concept of special under angle painted wind turbine as revolving advertising billboard, therefore our solution will be sold primarily as a very effective advertising billboard with additional function of eco and effective electricity generation. New possibility of placement: ECO-TURBINE turbines will be possible to place on areas where conventional turbines could not be placed due to danger (impact and low frequency pollution) to birds and humans or for aesthetic reasons. New revolutionary mechanical principle represent also a huge technological and business opportunity for use in the in hydro power generation for small hydro power plants in rivers and streams with low hydro flow. Patented ECO-TURBINE turbine solution represents a completely new concept that means third basic concept of wind turbines apart from HAWT and VAWT turbines and present attractive business opportunity. With feasibility study will be examined key areas needed for realization of the project.

Small scale horizontal axis wind turbines and vertical axis wind turbines are unable to handle high winds or turbulent conditions. At very high speeds wind turbines shut down. Existing designs focus on external mechanical and electrical systems to reduce the output rather than exploit the attributes of low and high wind conditions. Turbines with static blades cannot effectively capture the direct wind energy for all the blades. Existing designs rely on a small proportion of the total blade area and typically feature a symmetrical profile (equal profile each side). Existing vertical axis machines have an inherent inefficiency because while one blade is working well, other blades are effectively pulling in the wrong direction- causing them to behave as a brake. Vertogen has identified a gap in the market for a variable pitch VAWT.

The EU Agency for Safety & Health is currently amending wind turbine standards (such as EN 50308) to ensure safer O&M tasks and increase the Probability Of Detection (POD) for wind turbine defects. ISO have also identified such issues, and in fact initiated the development of QA standards specifically tailored for the Condition Monitoring (CM) of wind turbines. Current CM systems are intrusive, and hence revoke the initial OEM warranty of drive-train components. The combination of industrial and legislative factors is the key driver behind the production of CMDrive: a bespoke and non-intrusive acoustic-analysis CM system, having a POD for drive-train defects of 90-98% within the range of operating powers. The requested grant of €2.5m will be required to validate and enhance the system, and initiate the commercialisation process. Growth in the wind services sector, as related to O&M and CM, is also compelling, as studies by Deloitte have shown that the corresponding market is estimated to increase from €5.2b to €10.8b by 2020, with a CAGR of 10%. The first generation of CMDrive shall be produced for wind turbines of 2.5MW or less; a next generation product, to handle larger turbines, has already been envisioned. The commercialisation strategy involves the segmentation of the wind turbine market into 3 initial customer tiers, is targeting WFOs and Independent Service Providers of CM within such tiers, and will position the product through a number of Unique Selling Points, which will be elaborated further in this proposal. The locations of the 5 partners, in addition to the global outreach of TWI and INESCO, are critical factors for launching the product by 2019. It is expected that CMDrive’s associated revenue streams (sales, services, licensing) will yield an estimated ROI of 1100%, and corresponding cumulative profits of €26m, over the 5 year forecast (2019–2023). INESCO will take lead of the sales, with the other partners benefiting by means of profit shares.

FIThydro addresses the decision support in commissioning and operating hydropower plants (HPP) by use of existing and innovative technologies. It concentrates on mitigation measures and strategies to develop cost-efficient environmental solutions and on strategies to avoid individual fish damage and enhancing population developments. Therefore HPPS all over Europe are involved as test sites. The facilities for upstream and downstream migration are evaluated, different bypass systems including their use as habitats and the influence of sediment on habitat. In addition existing tools and devices will be enhanced during the project and will be used in the experimental set-ups in the laboratories and at the test sites for e.g. detection of fish or prediction of behavior. This includes sensor fish, different solutions for migration as e.g. trash rack variations, different fish tracking systems, but also numerical models as habitat and population model or virtual fish swimming path model. Therefore a three-level-based workplan was created with preparatory desk work at the beginning to analyze shortcomings and potential in environment-friendly hydropower. Following the experimental tests will be conducted at the different test sites to demonstrate and evaluate the effects of the different options not covered by the desk-work. Thirdly, these results are fed into a risk based Decision Support System (DSS) which is developed for planning, commissioning and operating of HPPs. It is meant to enable operators to fulfill the requirements of cost-effective production and at the same time meet the environmental obligations and targets under European legislation and achieve a self-sustained fish population.

Inorganic thin film photovoltaics (PV) are mainly based on CdTe, amorphous Si or CIGS. In the most recent times, hybrid organo-metal halide perovskites have emerged with the highest conversion efficiencies reported of 20.1 %. However, these materials present stability, reliability, scalability and toxicity problems. Of course, research in this area is focusing hard on these challenges, but success is not guaranteed. Alternative inorganic oxides could offer significant advantages. The ideal bandgap of an active photovoltaic layer for the solar spectrum is around 1.3 eV. However oxides with low bandgaps are scarce. One of the most studied oxides as an active photovoltaic layer to date is cuprous oxide, Cu2O. Its bandgap is around 2.1 eV and so it is not ideal for the solar spectrum. Its conversion efficiencies do not generally exceed 4%. In this project we propose to study an emerging type of solar cells that is based on ferroelectricity. In this type of solar cell, a p-n junction is not necessarily needed, as opposed to conventional cells. Interesting efficiencies start to be obtained with this type of solar cells (up to 8.1 %, in 2015), yet the mechanisms are still not well understood and there are several materials and engineering issues to be tackled. The objective of this project is to initiate a game-changing photovoltaic technology based on new multifunctional inorganic oxide materials with suitably low bandgaps. These oxides are stable, non-toxic, abundant and processable by a range of scalable methods. Radically enhanced performance is certainly possible through incorporating multifunctionality into them. There are five highly structured WPs in this project which when put together will ensure the greatest chance of success. We aim to synthetize ferroelectric materials that absorb a large part of the solar spectrum and have reduced bandgaps. We will explore four types of materials with promising properties: BiMnO3, doped BiFeO3, Bi2FeCrO6, and doped TbMnO3. For these materials, the project will consist in growing thin films and assess their structural, optical and electrical properties to better understand these materials. Then, the most promising materials will be integrated into all oxide solar cells and their potential for photovoltaics will be evaluated.

Screw (or helical) piles are foundations which are screwed into the ground. They are widely used onshore for supporting motorway signs and gantries as they possess good tensile and compressive resistance. This project aims to make screw piles a more attractive foundation (or anchoring) option offshore for wind farms, which are being deployed in deeper water and subject to increasing performance demands. The UK has challenging targets for expansion of energy from renewables with the potential for over 5000 offshore wind turbines by 2020. The necessary move to deeper water will increase cost and put greater demands on subsea structures and foundations. The current foundation solutions being considered for these applications are driven piles, large monopiles or concrete gravity based structures (GBS). Driving of piles in large numbers offshore causes concerns over plant availability and impact on marine mammals. There are also concerns over the limit of practical monopile development and the high material demands of GBS. Screw piles have the potential to overcome these issues and are scalable for future development from current onshore systems which have relatively low noise installation and are efficient in terms of both tensile and compressive capacity. To meet offshore demands, screw piles will require geometry enhancement but it is envisaged that these will initially be modest to allow de-risked transfer of onshore technology offshore. This will lead to the deployment of several smaller piles or pile groups rather than moving straight to very large single screw piles that may prove difficult to install and require significant investment. To allow screw piles to be considered as a foundation solution for offshore wind this project will develop piles with optimised geometries that minimise resistance to installation but are capable of carrying high lateral and moment loads. In order to install screw piles torque devices are used to effectively screw the anchors into the ground. With increased pile size requirements and potential changes in geometry this project will develop improved, less empirical techniques to predict the torque required in a variety of soil conditions. This will allow confidence in pile installation and investment in appropriately sized installation plant. As new pile geometries are being developed these will need to be tested (through model, numerical and field testing in this project) to verify that they can meet the performance demands of the offshore environment. The project will also develop bespoke analysis techniques to allow consulting geotechnical engineers the tools they require to design the foundations and contractors the tools to inform the installation processes. As piles can be deployed as large single units or smaller units in groups the efficiency of group deployment and multiple foundation geometries will be explored, as using several smaller geometry foundations could reduce the risks during offshore installation and actually be more economic due to lower fabrication costs and demands on installation plant. The areas of investigation above will be combined to produce a design and decision making toolkit for use by geotechnical designers to allow deployment of screw piles as offshore foundations in an efficient and cost effective manner. The research has the potential to make it easier to deploy screw pile foundations for offshore renewables. This project will develop foundations able to deal with current water depths and will provide understanding of the behaviour of piles as water depths and the demands on the foundations increase. By harnessing the installation and performance benefits of screw pile/anchor technology, the results of the project will contribute to an overall cost reduction in electricity generated by renewable means and increase the public's confidence in the future viability of this energy source.

Energy storage technologies have long been a subject of great interest to both academia and industry. The aim of this project is to develop a novel, cost effective and high performance Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System (LHTESS) for seasonal accumulation of solar energy in increased quantities. The major barrier for currently used Phase Change Materials (PCMs, organic and hydrated salts) is their very low heat conduction coefficient, low density, chemical instability and tendency to sub-cooling. Such inferior thermo-physical properties result in the LHTESS having large dimensions and not having a capacity to provide the necessary rate of heat re-charge and discharge, even with highly developed heat exchangers. The new approach to overcome the above issues is the deployment of low grade, eutectic low melting temperature metallic alloys (ELMTAs). The ELMTAs are currently produced for application in other areas and have not been actively considered for the thermal energy accumulation with the exception of very limited studies. Their heat conduction is two orders of magnitude greater than that of conventional PCMs, they are stable and provide the thermal storage capacity which is 2-3 times greater per unit of volume. The project consists of both theoretical and experimental investigations. A range of low grade ELMTAs for application in LHTESS will be selected and Differential Scanning Calorimetry will be used to measure their thermal properties. Thermal cycling tests of such alloys will be conducted. Numerical investigations of heat transfer and flow in the LHTESS with ELMTAs will be performed. Experimental studies of heat transfer and flow in a laboratory prototype of the LHTESS with ELMTAs will be conducted. As outcomes of investigations, dimensionless heat transfer correlations will be derived and design recommendations for a practical solar energy seasonal LHTESS with the low grade ELMTA will be produced for project industrial partner