• Energy Research
• OA Publications Mandate: Yes close
• 2019 close

Wind energy plants are increasingly becoming critical parts of electrical infrastructure around the world. Despite major technological advancements over the past decade, an estimated 5.500 wind turbine blades fail each year, resulting in long periods of unexpected downtime and repair costs. At eologix sensor technologies gmbh, we are developing an advanced system called eolACC that uses wireless accelerometers to detect damage to blades before they fail. The patented sensor technology is thin and flexible, allowing it to be easily applied to virtually any location, even on aerodynamic surfaces of blades. Together with a base station and our software, diagnostics will alert operators of poor blade conditions and thus enhance their ability to plan critical maintenance activities. Additionally, the insight from blade sensors will help operators manage assets more effectively, and make objective decisions about useful lifetimes and operating ranges. eolACC builds off of an ice detection system previously made by eologix by utilizing the same sensor profile, wireless data transmission, and ambient light power system. Initially eolACC will be sold to owners and operators of wind plants, and in the future we will pursue collaboration with large wind turbine manufacturers. The eolACC system will ultimately help wind power plants to operate more efficiently by reducing unexpected downtime. Owners and operators will be able to more effectively plan budgets and maximize the lifetime of their assets.

To achieve a thorough investigation for defect presence on a wind turbine blade, close inspection is required. This implies either trained staff tied with ropes on the blade or dismantling and transferring the blade in a workshop environment. While blade dismantling is scarcely used because it requires very long downtime, human inspection also involve a relatively high delay. A solution to this problem is to utilize specially designed platforms that can reach the blade and implement faster inspections on site. However, current systems are not very agile or cannot reach close enough to the blade in order to use a high quality nondestructive technique. Hence, they are mostly used to carry out mere visual inspections. To deal with the aforementioned challenge, our team will commercialize WInspector. WInspector consists of an agile robotic platform able to climb up the wind turbine tower and deploy an advanced Digital Shearography kit that carries out the inspection of a blade at a depth of up to 50mm. Users of WInspector benefit through early detecting emerging defects unseen in a visual inspection performed by competing solutions, with a significantly lower downtime for the WTB, and free of dangerous human labor. We have tested and validated the capabilities of WInspector in relevant environment and based on feedback received by wind farm operators, including project participant Gamesa and Iberdola (who has supported us in writing for this application), we are now ready to take the next steps and complete product development allowing us to bring WInspector into the market. Our vision is to grow our businesses by €19.88 million in gross sales by 2023 and keep growing at 58.8% annually from 2023 onwards. Through our business growth, we will create 181 new jobs. It is our strong belief that the Fast Track to Innovation Pilot is the ideal financial instrument for us to accelerate the procedures required for commercialization.

In ELICAN, a strong team of complementary European companies with worldwide leading presence in the Wind Energy industry join forces to provide the market with a disruptive high-capacity and cost-reducing integrated substructure system for deep offshore wind energy. The technology is exceptionally fitted to meet the technical and logistical challenges of the sector as it moves into deeper locations with larger turbines, while allowing for drastic cost reduction. This project will design, build, certify and fully demonstrate in operative environment a deep water substructure prototype supporting Adwen’s 5MW offshore wind turbine, the be installed in the Southeast coast of Las Palmas (Canary Islands). It will become the first bottom-fixed offshore wind turbine in all of Southern Europe and the first one worldwide to be installed with no need of heavy-lift vessels. The revolutionary substructure consists in an integrated self-installing precast concrete telescopic tower and foundation that will allow for crane-free offshore installation of the complete substructure and wind turbine, thus overcoming the constraints imposed by the dependence on heavy-lift vessels. It will allow for a full inshore preassembly of the complete system, which is key to generate a highly industrialized low-cost manufacturing process with fast production rates and optimized risk control. The main benefits to be provided by this ground-breaking technology are: • Significant cost reduction (>35%) compared with current solutions. • Direct scalability in terms of turbine size, water depth, infrastructure and installation means. • Complete independence of heavy-lift vessels • Excellently suited for fast industrialized construction. • Robust and durable concrete substructure for reduced OPEX costs and improved asset integrity. • Suitable for most soil conditions, including rocky seabeds. • Enhanced environmental friendliness regarding both impact on sea life and carbon footprint.

We have developed a resource-efficient and affordable bladeless Vortex wind generator. VORTEX Bladeless´ innovative wind turbine represent a true breakthrough in the wind energy market. The Vortex wind generator device represents a new paradigm of harnessing wind, with a new disruptive concept of a wind power generator without blades. VORTEX is able to capture the wind kinetic energy by 'vortex shedding', transforming it into electricity. The technology seeks to improve issues such as maintenance, amortization, noise, environmental impact, logistics and visual aspect, performing a secure, clean and efficient energy product, that is half cheaper than current small wind turbines (SWT). VORTEX make renewable energies, (replacement of PV, wind energy, combination of both) more financially accessible for our end-users: ESCOS, installation companies, businesses, home-owners, vessels, isolated housed, telecom station, etc. Clients will benefit from this new technology, especially in areas where solar energy does not perform well. Vortex has yielded excellent results and lots of industry and commercial interest. We have a 6-meter Vortex Bladeless wind turbine pilot in Spain, which generates up to 40% of energy solely from wind. The technology has been tested for scalability.. Our goal for Phase 2 is to scale-up and test a 2,75–meter version of the Vortex Wind Generator (providing 100W for future commercialization and massive market uptake. We want to achieve the goals of becoming the designer, manufacturer and seller of the first-ever bladeless wind generator for the Small Wind Market (SWM). Combing our patented and market-backed technology with improved properties, we want to reinvigorate the SWM - addressing EU 2020 energy targets - with our Vortex Bladeless wind generators, positioning us as leader of the sector. Our end-users will also see their pay-back returned within 5 years, thanks to its market-changing commercialization price

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.

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.

STARCELL proposes the substitution of CRM’s in thin film PV by the development and demonstration of a cost effective solution based on kesterite CZTS (Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4) materials. Kesterites are only formed by elements abundant in the earth crust with low toxicity offering a secure supply chain and minimizing recycling costs and risks, and are compatible with massive sustainable deployment of electricity production at TeraWatt levels. Optimisation of the kesterite bulk properties together with redesign and optimization of the device interfaces and the cell architecture will be developed for the achievement of a challenging increase in the device efficiency up to 18% at cell level and targeting 16% efficiency at mini-module level, in line with the efficiency targets established at the SET Plan for 2020. These efficiencies will allow initiating the transfer of kesterite based processes to pre-industrial stages. These innovations will give to STARCELL the opportunity to demonstrate CRM free thin film PV devices with manufacturing costs ≤ 0.30 €/Wp, making first detailed studies on the stability and durability of the kesterite devices under accelerated test analysis conditions and developing suitable recycling processes for efficient re-use of material waste. The project will join for the first time the 3 leading research teams that have achieved the highest efficiencies for kesterite in Europe (EMPA, IMRA and IREC) together with the group of the world record holder David Mitzi (Duke University) and NREL (a reference research centre in renewable energies worldwide) in USA, and AIST (the most renewed Japanese research centre in Energy and Environment) in Japan. These groups have during the last years specialised in different aspects of the solar cell optimisation and build the forefront of kesterite research. The synergies of their joined efforts will allow raising the efficiency of kesterite solar cells and mini-modules to values never attained for this technology.

Despite the encouraging scenario of Wide Solar Thermal Electricity market - it is a reality today with 4.9 GW in operation worldwide in 2015, forecasting 260 GW in 2030, 664GW in 2040 and finally to reach a 12% of total electricity generation by 2050 (982 GW) - CSP growth has been slower than expected because several issues have not been overcome yet. It is not as cost-efficient as other technologies making difficult its access to the generation mix. Another not-solved aspect is flexibility, since one of the main issues of the electrical market is the complexity to match the supply and demand curves due to the arbitrariness of the sun. Finally, CSP technology brings environmental issues related to the usage of oil sinthetic as HTF and a meaningful water consumption. In this framework, MSLOOP 2.0 aims to validate a business opportunity consisting of developing a cost effective solar field for CSP Parabolic Trough Power Plants using optimized ternary molten salts as HTF with an innovative hybridization system. The result of the project will be a new solution of CSP commercial plant with at least a 20 % LCOE reduction and flexibility improvement providing firm and dispatchable electricity based on a disruptive and environmentally friendly innovation. MSLOOP 2.0 will ensure the market-drivers acceptance from the beginning of the project in order to launch the solution in open tenders in less of 6 months after the project final, boosting significant contributions to industry, environment and society and that will make possible a deep penetration of CSP plants in the generation mix increasing the share of renewables. In order to achieve this challenge, the MSLOOP 2.0 consortium consists of a multidisciplinary team formed by 5 partners from 3 European Union member countries in strategic fields within solar thermal sector. This composition will boost an innovative development capable of achieving a strong positioning in the market.

The goal of this project is to help find the rules for a domain-wall engineering that optimizes photovoltaic efficiency of potential future-generation ferroelectric solar cells. The material to be studied is BiFeO3 as the most promising photovoltaic ferroelectric material known. Does the photovoltaic effect in BiFeO3 occur at the domain walls or in the bulk? What does it take a domain-wall to conduct electrons? The project aims at establishing the necessary conditions for electric fields and electrical conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls. Since experimental evidence is inconclusive, state-of-the-art ab initio methods will be applied. Electric fields have a long spatial range, so we will go beyond the standard supercell approach to obtain the spatial gradient of the band structure at the domain wall, needed to obtain charge-carrier distributions and electric fields. The Green's-function method for electronic quantum transport will be used for this purpose because it is suitable for extended, non-periodic systems. We will obtain the electrical conductivity as a function of the domain-wall type, structure, and purity. Conclusions for the role of the domain walls in BiFeO3 will be generalized as far as possible in order to apply them to other ferroelectric semiconductors as well. The applicant will receive training in state-of-the-art electronic-transport calculations by the host. In turn, the applicant will strengthen the host’s activities in the field of modelling optical properties of semiconductors. The project is positioned where fundamental condensed-matter physics meets applied solar-cell research. It is expected to advance the frontier of knowledge in basic research and to lay the ground for further research on ferroelectric photovoltaics. It is a contribution to the efforts of the European Union to develop innovative solutions for a sustainable energy supply that help achieve independence of fossil energy.

SET-Nav will support strategic decision making in Europe’s energy sector, enhancing innovation towards a clean, secure and efficient energy system. Our research will enable the EC, national governments and regulators to facilitate the development of optimal technology portfolios by market actors. We will comprehensively address critical uncertainties and derive appropriate policy and market responses. Our findings will support the further development of the SET-Plan and its implementation by continuous stakeholder involvement. These contributions of the SET-Nav project rest on three pillars: The wide range of objectives and analytical challenges set out by the call for proposals can only be met by developing a broad and technically-advanced modelling portfolio. Advancing this portfolio and enabling knowledge exchange via a modelling forum is our first pillar. The EU’s energy, innovation and climate challenges define the direction of a future EU energy system, but the specific technology pathways are policy sensitive and need careful comparative evaluation. This is our second pillar. Using our strengthened modelling capabilities in an integrated modelling hierarchy, we will analyse multiple dimensions of impact of future pathways: sustainability, reliability and supply security, global competitiveness and efficiency. This analysis will combine bottom-up ‘case studies’ linked to the full range of SET-Plan themes with holistic ‘transformation pathways’. Stakeholder dialogue and dissemination is the third pillar of SET-Nav. We have prepared for a lively stakeholder dialogue through a series of events on critical SET-Plan themes. The active involvement of stakeholders in a two-way feedback process will provide a reality check on our modelling assumptions and approaches, and ensure high policy relevance. Our aim is to ensure policy and market actors alike can navigate effectively through the diverse options available on energy innovation and system transformation.