UKERC EDC: Landscapes

Author		David Gahan Gahantech Consulting Ltd
Last Updated		09 January 2013
Status		Peer reviewed document
Download Landscape		PDF 368 KB

Section :

Table 4.1: Research Funding | Table 4.2: Key Research Providers

EPSRC again provides the best data for projects in the “Applied” category. It is likely that all of these originate from the classic “Response Mode” funding route; however, EPSRC is now moving to a more thematic basis and has recently put out a call for projects on “Power Electronics”. No separate budget has been ring-fenced but the topic will have its own prioritisation / merit ranking vs the standard response mode input.

Ten EPSRC funded projects were identified from the database over the period of study (2005 present), many already completed but included here to ensure that relevant university research groups with particular focus on Energy Conversion are included in the analysis. Average annual award was £200k and thus representative annual spend around £700-800K.

Projects included in the analysis are associated with the following subject areas (see Section 1).

Conventional generation:

Balance of Plant: 2 projects
Boiler R&D, not covered elsewhere: 3 projects
Atmospheric Pollution: 1 project

Generator and transformer research:

High efficiency power converters: 2 project
Superconductivity: 1 project

Others: 1 project “Enhancement of Electrochemical Energy Efficiency via Process Intensification”

The Technology StrategyBoard is the most important funding body for commercially directed applied research in the UK. It is the “inheritor” body for the R&D portfolio previously managed by the Department for Trade and Industry and, in the transformation of one body to another, its funding strategy has gone through consdiderable evolution. One large scale project originally funded by DTI is included in the Research Atlas for the period 2005-present. This was “Innovative High-Power DirectDrive Superconducting Generator for offshore wind” which ran from December 2005 to November 2008. The project lead was Alstom: other partners included the University of Cambridge Engineering Department which has received funding for other superconducting related projects (included in the analysis of Basic Research programmes above - energy loss study for AC excited superconducting tape coils). Hence the project included in this analysis is clearly an example of an energy conversion project including (or led by) industry with Applied research as intent. The total award size was £3.5M over 35 months hence about £1.2M per year. While little inference can be drawn from a single programme the overall size of the award indicates a larger effort appropriate for experiments involving more sophisticated test beds and multiple organisations.

The funding policy of TSB in its first few years of operation has been more, but not exclusively, towards smaller projects with “commercialisation” in 3-5 years and somewhat away from large consortia in Energy (perhaps leaving this field to EPSRC and the Energy Technology Institute). TSB funding implicitly requires private venture part funding and hence a business case which militates against long payback projects. A full list of over 2000 TSB funded projects has been analysed in over 30 topics related to energy conversion, nominally covering 150 projects. While many ofthese fit well into other landscapes none at all appear to fit into the “early stage” or “large plant” nature of this present landscape. More recent directed calls (eg for Power Electronics) may produce projects better related to electric power conversion.

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Table 4.1: Research Funding

Programme	Funding Agency	Description	Committed Funds	Period	Representative Annual Spend
Responsive Mode http://www.epsrc.ac.uk	EPSRC	EPSRC “Research Base Funding” researchers can apply any time, in any area of EPSRC s remit and for any amount and length of funding	Variable	Ongoing	Average (annual) programme award is £140K for analysed projects giving a representative spend of £600k for around four active projects at any one time
Encouraging Physical Sciences Research to meet Energy Needs See also: RCUK Energy Programme	EPSRC	Specific 2012 call for speculative research ideas to be submitted as a standard research grant applications in areas that offer promise to tackle some of the issues identified by the RCUK Energy Programme. Technologies highlighted for invitation include Materials for Energy Applications , Catalysis , Chemical reaction dynamics and mechanisms , Computational and theoretical chemistry , Electrochemical sciences , Photonic materials and metamaterials , Superconductivity , Synthetic coordination chemistry and Synthetic supramolecular chemistry .	None specified	2013 onwards	N/A
SUPERGEN2 Conventional Power Plant Lifetime Extension Consortium	EPSRC	SUPERGEN2 is EPSRC’s follow on to SUPERGEN, the flagship initiative in Sustainable Power Generation and Supply. SUPERGEN2, is managed and led by EPSRC in partnership with BBSRC, EPSRC, NERC and the Carbon Trust. The initiative aims to help the UK meet its environmental emissions targets through a radical improvement in the sustainability of power generation and supply. The programme is supporting the development of new and improved products for efficient and sustainable power generation and supply. Of the focus areas the ones relevant to this Landscape are: advanced steam systems advanced cycles (including biomass co-firing, oxy-firing)	£4.2m	2008 to Dec 2012	All major areas are well covered by other landscapes not possible to identify specific spending on Energy Conversion aspects
http://www.innovateuk.org/ see also: http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition-announcements/power-electronics-enabling-a-resilient-energy-syst.ashx	TSB	The Technology Strategy Board funding for Research, Development and Demonstration projects ranges from small proof -of-concept grants and feasibility studies through to large multi-partner collaborative R&D and demonstration projects. The projects must be business led from early stage micro businesses, to large multi-nationals. There are different models depending on the specific needs of companies, sectors and technologies. Apart from the smaller awards, funding is usually associated with themed competitions. One recently announced competition of some relevance to Energy Conversion is for Power Electronics.	Variable	Ongoing	Only a single applied research programme was identified during the period of £1.2m per annum over 3 years.

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Table 4.2: Key Research Providers

Name	Description	Sub-topics covered	No of Staff	Sector
University of Edinburgh Institute for Energy Studies http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/research/IES/ http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/research/IES/research/machines.html	The Institute for Energy Systems (IES) is one of five multi-disciplinary research institutes within the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh	Novel Generator Designs for Renewable Power Generation Thermal and Mechanical Analysis for Electrical Machines Power Conversion and Control for Renewable Energy Converters	IES total 14 faculty, 26 researchers, 50 PhD The current research grant portfolio is around £10 million	R&D science and engineering
Cranfield School of Applied Sceince www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas	School of Applied Sciences includes Energy and Resource Technology	Automotive and motorsport Design Energy and offshore Manufacturing and materials	21 Faculty in Energy and Resource group	Transport Electricity and gas Manufacturing
University of Warwick School of Engineering http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/research/power/pcsr/	The Power and Control Systems Research Laboratory is led by Professor Jihong Wang and the research areas cover: energy efficiency, power system modelling, simulation, control and monitoring, nonlinear control system theory and its industrial applications	supercritical coal fired power plant dynamic Responses thermal power plant modelling and simulation	IES total 6 faculty, 5 researchers	R&D science and engineering
University of Southampton School of Engineering Science http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/research/groups/energy_technology.page	The Energy Technology Research (ETR) Group is the focal point for energy research in Engineering and the Environment. We are engaged in cutting-edge fundamental and applied research underpinning sustainable energy technologies	thermal energy electrochemical engineering solar energy maritime energy electromechanical energy materials for energy energy management and control	25 faculty, 8 researchers, 7 PhD	R&D science and engineering
University of Newcastle School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mech/research/mfts/	The Multiphase Flow and Thermal Systems group is engaged in a wide range of research work. This covers analytical, computational and experimental investigations of both fundamental and industrial problems of heat, mass and momentum transport.	Free-piston engine technologies Thermodynamic cycle analysis of power and process plants	10 faculty, 1 researchers, 10 PhD	R&D science and engineering

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