• Energy Research
• 2015 close

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 aim of this technical feasibility project is research the feasibility of applying proven technology, performance management and efficiency principles from the aerospace sector to the solar energy sector through prototyping of advanced predictive analytics leveraging the technical and market innovations provided by the Internet of Things (IoT). The study will have a stakeholder group of solar companies.

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.

Recent reports indicate that a significant impact of accumulation of dust and other debris on the surface of photovoltaic modules causes a decrease in the incoming solar irradiance, with typical power losses of 10-15%, or even up to 50% in some cases reported. Durable highly repellent coatings based on advanced, nanostructured, low energy materials can provide a permanent solution to prevent the accumulation of dirt on the transparent top layer of a PV system. The primary objective of the SOLplus project is to determine the technological, commercial, and economic viability of such a low surface energy coating for use in the solar PV market. The main technology and commercial objectives for this product will be to deliver a durable coating that prevents the accumulation of dirt/dust on glass and plastic solar substrates, is cost-effective in its application method, and demonstrates real and tangible benefits to the end user (maintenance-free and avoidance of expensive cleaning procedures). Technology validation for the solar PV market and a refinement of our assessment of the market opportunity during the project will allow for a better focus on the market needs

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.