UK and India are both rising stars in the promotion of Solar Energy viz. direct generation of electricity from the Sun called photovoltaics (PV). In the UK, PV is seen as a key technology to reduce the carbon footprint of electricity generation. It is also a necessity if future building standards are to be met, which will require on-site generation. PV is the only way to meet this to date. DECC has announced recently 'The Solar Strategy' which promotes the deployment of solar technologies on the existing buildings. In India PV has the added benefit that it is a highly scalable technology that can be deployed to support the grid infrastructure and indeed can be built possibly faster than conventional power plants through terrestrial solar farms and BIPV sectors. The current APEX program stems from the strategic move by the governments of the UK and India who jointly identified Solar Energy as an area of significance in providing solutions to the problem of meeting future energy needs. This partnership was aimed at linking the strengths of both countries to enhance the research capabilities of both nations. APEX had been focusing on the development of new functional materials, device structures, materials processing and engineering of photovoltaic modules utilising excitonic solar cells (ESCs). These are a class of nano-structured solar cells based on organic nano-composites and dye-sensitised nanocrystalline TiO2 materials. The current state-of-the-art power conversion efficiency (PCE) figures ~11.4% and ~9.2% has been achieved in liquid junction dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and organic solar cells (OSC), respectively. In the pursuit of achieving high efficiency solid state DSSC, a new breakthrough has been established recently through our Oxford group (Prof. Henry Snaith) who achieved >17% efficient solid state devices using pervoskite solar cells. Thus, the APEX team enjoys the exceptional, world-class capability in Excitonic PV technology. The success of the program had been through its novelty, innovation and cutting edge R&D capability it possesses.

STEPforGGR is a research and training focused initiative consisting of world-leading institutions in the multidisciplinary and intersectoral subject areas of physics, chemistry, engineering and manufacturing. The overarching purpose is to promote a novel greenhouse gas removal technology: removal of non-CO2 greenhouse gases utilising large-scale atmospheric photocatalysis enabled by solar up-draft towers. The objective is to collaboratively evaluate the feasibility of this new but entirely untested negative emission technology and build up a foundation for climate policy debate and practical application tackling climate change at the global scale. Through comprehensive and complementary expertise and the robust network among theoreticians, experimentalists and manufacturers, STEPforGGR will identify bottle necks (rate limiting steps, work package 1 (WP1)) and provide solutions for optimization of the complex process through modelling and experiments (WPs2&3), as well as estimate the scalability (WP4) and sustainability (WP5) of the truly pioneering greenhouse gas removal technology at the climatically relevant scale. STEPforGGR will produce multiple avenues for career development, cross-sectorial experience, and academic training in a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary and intersectoral environment formed by a consortium of six world-leading research organizations and one industrial partner.

It has been shown that large office buildings waste 20-40% of their energy on air-conditioning to cool down the building as a result of the sun. This is highly inefficient and has an impact on the environment. One way that has been proposed to tackle this problem is the use of Smart Windows. These windows are comprised of chromic materials that change to a dark colour upon the application an external stimulus. The change in colour results in high energy UV light that heats up the building being filtered out, thus reducing the need for air-conditioning. It is predicted that these technologies will save 20% on their energy bills, as the buildings will not heat up as much from the sunlight. However, so far this transparent-to-dark colour has been difficult to achieve. Suitable materials for Smart Glass that can change colour can be metal-based, organic-based or a hybrid of the two. Metal-based chromics are already used in displays and diagnostic tests. However, precious metals (Au and Ag) used in these high-end technologies is a rapidly running out resource, and are often difficult and dangerous to mine, and their use relies on countries cooperating well with each other. The processing of metals such as Cd, Lb, U and Cs has huge environmental consequences and the disposal of them leads to toxic and nuclear waste which has devastating effects on the workers, neighbouring villages and wildlife. Any metals that can be replaced with organic alternatives have a huge benefit to health, the economy and the environment. Organic materials are generally easier to process and can be synthesised on a larger scale. We have found a molecule based on a functionalised naphthalene diimide that when self-assembled in water shows great promise to be used in such applications. From proof of principle data we have collected, the assembled material can undergo a reversible transparent to black transition by applying a small voltage to the sample. This transition is quick and can be cycled at least 100 times without loss of colour intensity or response time. However, this system needs optimising to be able to fulfil industry standards, for example stability over 1000 cycles, reducing the speed of response of both transitions and the uniformity of colour across the device. We aim to do this with this proposal to make the organic alternative to metal systems competitive to use in the Smart Window technology.

The UK faces a challenge of providing an energy system that is secure, sustainable and affordable. The cost of upgrading the power infrastructure is estimated to be £200bn using a centralised energy generation model. We believe that the Buildings as Power Stations concept can create a whole new manufacturing and business opportunity and dramatically reduce the investment required to create a secure future for the next generation. Even reducing the power infrastructure investment by 10% represents a £20bn UK opportunity which is mirrored across the developed world. So far on our journey we have had substantial impact and SPECIFIC is a key component to ensure commercialisation of these disruptive technologies principally though leadership of demonstration of new technology in the built environment. Research leadership and excellence is backed up by the publishing of 149 papers, international invited conference presentations and an expanding portfolio of 29 patents. A network of over 52 early adopter industrial partners, spanning both large corporates through to a selection of fast moving and innovative SMEs has also been grown. Where no company or market yet exists we have elected to spin two companies out. Alongside this, world class facilities have been created for large scale research and demonstration of product manufacture, including three pilot lines co-located with world class scientific research instrumentation. The opening of the Solcer Demonstration house in July this year is a key milestone; with colleagues at the Welsh School of Architecture (Cardiff) and the construction supply chain, this 'Active House' uses EXISTING technology harnessed in a unique way to generate up to twice as much energy as it uses. Combining solar electric and thermal generation and storage systems the house is globally unique and with a construction cost of under £150k it is affordable. The journey into the next decade brings both challenge and opportunity. We intend to build on the success of the first four years and to deliver critical new technologies to market, including printed photovoltaics at half the current commercial Si cost, safer building scale aqueous batteries delivering the opportunity to time shift renewable generation to demand, and solar thermal integrated storage solutions which create Active Buildings that do not require gas heating. Each of these sectors alone represent a billion pound opportunity and together they create a compelling case for a paradigm shift in our energy matrix from centralised generation and grid distribution to a model of distributed energy generation. This is disruptive technology so accurate market assessment is challenging. However, considering domestic new build in isolation, with 145,000 new UK homes built in 2014 and assuming an average £125k construction cost (proved through the Solcer House project) this translates to a >£1.8bn annual domestic new build opportunity if only 10% of new homes use the Buildings as Powerstations concept. Given it is affordable, environmentally friendly and offers building owners an additional income stream this projection is conservative. The opportunity in retrofit is even larger as is that in commercial and industrial buildings. The associated manufacturing opportunity will create 5000 jobs in the construction supply chain and give the UK, centred in Wales, a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' to lead the world using technology invented, developed, proven and manufactured here. Wales and the UK can be a beacon of leadership for developed and developing nations alike in a new industrial revolution.

Envision a full envelope concept that harvests solar energy from the 120 billion square meters of building surface available within the EU28. Envision using the currently unused 60 billion square meters of façade surface. That is why ‘ENVISION’ will demonstrate a full renovation concept that, for the first time, harvests energy from ALL building surfaces (transparent and opaque). The hybrid harvesting solutions will harvest energy both thermal and electric from the whole envelope, using standard PV solutions for roof and developing new solutions for the façade. As façade solutions have the lowest TRL, ‘ENVISION’ will develop energy harvesting invisible aesthetic façade solutions. The solutions will harvest maximum amount of solar energy and simultaneously retain the aesthetic and functional properties of the façade. To maximise efficient usage of the harvested energy, the solutions are coupled to novel heat systems and district heat networks. ENVISION’ focusses on energy harvesting of the façade, and works by absorbing the invisible part of the solar radiation (the near-infrared (NIR) part, roughly 50% of the solar energy spectrum) allowing visible aspects to be retained. The ‘ENVISION’ harvesting of solar energy is achieved via: 1. heat collecting non-transparent aesthetically pleasing façade elements by harvesting the NIR solar radiation, 2. heat harvesting ventilated glass by harvesting the NIR solar radiation, 3. electricity harvesting photovoltaic glazing solutions