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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.

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.

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 development and adoption of renewable and sustainable energy has become a top priority in Europe, and is Horizon 2020’s most prominent theme. Research into new energy methods required to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint is an urgent and critical need, and is reliant upon a flow of newly qualified persons in areas as diverse as renewable energy infrastructure management, new energy materials and methods, and smart buildings and transport. Bioenergy is a particularly important field in this respect as it is at the cross-roads of several important European policies, from the Strategic Energy Technology Plan Roadmap on Education and Training (SET-Plan) to the European Bioeconomy Strategy to European Food Safety and Nutrition Policy. European development in this prioritised field is stalled due to a lack of qualified personnel, a lack of cohesion and integration among stakeholders, and poor linkage between professional training and industry needs. To address these problems, BioEnergyTrain brings together fifteen partners from six EU countries to create new post-graduate level curricula in key bioenergy disciplines, and a network of tertiary education institutions, research centres, professional associations, and industry stakeholders encompassing the whole value chain of bioenergy from field/forest to integration into the sustainable energy systems of buildings, settlements and regions. The project will foster European cooperation to provide a highly skilled and innovative workforce across the whole bioenergy value chain, closely following the recommendations of the SET-Plan Education Roadmap.

There is a compelling need of encouraging energy efficiency in buildings, enhance green technologies and promote advance thermal energy storage solutions. TESSe2b will enable the optimal use of renewable energy and provide one of the most advantageous solutions for correcting the mismatch that often occurs between the supply and demand of energy in residential buildings. The target of TESSe2b is to design, develop, validate and demonstrate a modular and low cost thermal storage technology based on solar collectors and highly efficient heat pumps for heating, cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) production. The idea is to develop advanced compact integrated PCM TES tanks exploiting RES (solar and geothermal) in an efficient manner coupled with enhanced PCM borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) that will take advantage of the increased underground thermal storage and maximize the efficiency of the ground coupled heat pumps (GCHP). The two TES tanks developed within TESSe2b project will be integrated with different PCM materials; (i) enhanced paraffin PCM, (ii) salt-hydrates PCM, while in both of them a highly efficient heat exchanger will be included. Even if the concept of phase change thermal stores has been demonstrated, TESSe2b project discriminates itself through incorporating; (i) PCM materials innovation, (ii) advanced energy management through self-learning model-based control system, (iii) enhanced PCM BHEs (v) compact modular design of thermal storage tank. Since the lifetime of TESSe2b solution is among the most critical factors determining its acceptability, reliability and success the on the long run, special emphasis will be given in the life-expectancy of the involved components.

The focus of the project will be on floating wind turbines installed at water depths from 50m to about 200m. The consortium partners have chosen to focus on large wind turbines (in the region of 10MW), which are seen as the most effective way of reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). The objective of the proposed project is two-fold: 1. Optimize and qualify, to a TRL5 level, two (2) substructure concepts for 10MW turbines. The chosen concepts will be taken from an existing list of four (4) TRL>4 candidates currently supporting turbines in the region of 5MW. The selection of the two concepts will be made based on technical, economical, and industrial criteria. An existing reference 10MW wind turbine design will be used throughout the project. 2. More generally, develop a streamlined and KPI-based methodology for the design and qualification process, focusing on technical, economical, and industrial aspects. This methodology will be supported by existing numerical tools, and targeted development and experimental work. It is expected that resulting guidelines/recommended practices will facilitate innovation and competition in the industry, reduce risks, and indirectly this time, contribute to a lower LCOE. End users for the project deliverables will be developers, designers and manufacturers, but also decision makers who need to evaluate a concept based on given constraints. The proposed project is expected to have a broad impact since it is not led by single group of existing business partners, focusing on one concept only. On the contrary, it will involve a strong consortium reflecting the value chain for offshore wind turbines: researchers, designers, classification societies, manufacturers, utilities. This will ensure that the project's outcomes suit the concrete requirements imposed by end-users.