Funding announcement
ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES INSTITUTE UNVEILS FIRST PROJECTS TO BENEFIT FROM £1.1 BILLION INITIATIVE
Funding for world-class consortia to help ensure UK meets Energy & Climate Change targets
FOUR innovative projects aimed at supporting the achievement of the UK’s challenging targets for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions were given the go ahead today (January 13) as part of a potential £1.1billion fund. The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a unique partnership between global industries and the UK Government, revealed funding for its first four projects, all with the ultimate aim of providing the public with more affordable, low carbon electricity.
Three of the projects will focus on designing cutting edge offshore wind turbine technology, while the fourth will demonstrate a new commercial scale tidal turbine. These, and future projects, have the potential to deliver cheaper renewable electricity from 2020 onwards. The initiative is also geared at making the UK more energy efficient, protecting energy supplies for present and future generations, and improving the country’s skills base.
The funding for the projects comes from the six current private sector partners –BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell. The ETI’s public funds are received from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) through the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with additional funding from the Department for Transport.
Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said: “There is great potential for the UK to harness wind and tidal power to produce renewable energy. These ETI projects will look to turn that potential into reality. The Government has put record investment into science, including our funding for the ETI. Their work is crucial to achieving a green revolution in Britain and we’ll be supporting those growth industries and next-generation technologies where we can have a clear global impact. This is also science and engineering at its most exciting. It’s precisely the kind of challenge we can use to encourage girls and boys to study the STEM subjects at school and then university”.
Dr David Clarke, the ETI’s Chief Executive Officer said: “The projects being announced today will demonstrate new technologies which can deliver significant cost savings compared to current renewable energy sources. Through the skills, capabilities and market access of our members, we have the potential to deploy new technologies on a mass scale. Rapid, widespread deployment is critical if we are to address effectively the challenges of climate change.”
Lord Hunt, Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation, said: “Today’s announcement is a key milestone for the Energy Technologies Institute. The UK has pledged to increase dramatically our use of renewable energy to further secure our energy supplies and help fight the damaging effects of climate change. In order to meet these challenges we need to turn the best innovative ideas in wind and marine power in to reality. The Energy Technologies Institute is an excellent example of Government working with the private sector to achieve a quantum leap forward in these vital low-carbon technologies.”
The UK’s target for 2050 is an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels covering all sectors of the economy, including shipping and aviation. To help deliver that, 15 per cent of energy should come from renewable sources by 2020.
The ETI says the employment benefits should not be confined to those involved in the initial deployment of new technologies. There should be a long-term impact from the development of a manufacturing, maintenance and support infrastructure around the individual schemes. ETI projects aim to attract people to centres of excellence in low carbon energy – in academia and industry. The projects bring together universities, SMEs, large corporates, leading consultancies and ETI members.
While Offshore Wind and Marine technologies are the focus of the first round of projects to be funded, the ETI is also addressing the areas of Transport, Distributed Energy, Carbon Capture and Storage and Energy Networks. The next set of Offshore Wind and Marine projects to be funded by the ETI will be announced soon.
Nick Winser, National Grid’s Executive Director for Transmission & Co-chair of the UK Energy Research Partnership, said: “Innovation and the rapid introduction of improved technologies and energy systems are critical if we are to meet the UK target for reducing CO2 emissions and deliver affordable energy to customers. The first ETI projects are a key part of the development of a new energy network for the UK. Our major investment programme in the UK electricity network, around £850m this year alone, is a key part of enabling these projects to be rapidly rolled out as commercial generators following their initial developments.”
About the Four Projects: The first four projects will receive ETI funding totalling approximately £20 million. They are:
Project Nova: A UK-based consortium led by Guildford energy specialists OTM Consulting and including representatives from three universities – Cranfield, Strathclyde and Sheffield – the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS) and SME Wind Power. Key sub-contractors include James Ingram Associates and QinetiQ. The project aims to assess the feasibility of a unique wind turbine with a pair of giant vertical wings, which has the benefit of ruggedness, stability and simpler maintenance access, compared to the horizontal axis concept of conventional turbines.
Project Helm Wind: A UK-based consortium led by E.ON Engineering and including representatives from Rolls-Royce, BP Alternative Energy and the University of Strathclyde. The project aims to deliver a concept design and feasibility study for a new offshore-specific wind farm and seeks to overcome the issues facing today’s systems including turbine reliability and accessing equipment for maintenance.
Project Deepwater Turbine: A consortium led by Blue H Technologies with representatives from UK groups including BAE Systems, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS), EDF Energy, Romax and SLP Energy. The project aims to design and determine the feasibility and potential of an integrated solution for a 5MW floating offshore wind turbine for deepwater deployments between 30 and 300 metres.
Project ReDAPT: A UK-based consortium led by Rolls-Royce and including Tidal Generation Limited, Garrad Hassan, the University of Edinburgh, EDF Energy, E.ON, Plymouth Marine Laboratories and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). The project aims to install and test a 1MW tidal turbine at the EMEC in Orkney, delivering detailed environmental and performance information never before achieved at this scale in real sea conditions.
The ETI is a Limited Liability Partnership, governed by a Board comprising representatives from its member organisations, with each private sector member entitled to one seat on the Board. The ETI’s six private members are BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell. The UK Government has committed to match support for five further Members. The ETI’s public funds are received from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) through the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with additional funding from the Department for Transport. These organisations, together with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are engaged directly in the ETI’s strategy and programme development.
About the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI): Plans for the ETI were first revealed in the 2006 Budget by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. It was to operate as a 50:50 public/private partnership. A consortium comprising Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham Universities, based at Loughborough University Science Park, was chosen as the host location for the ETI from a shortlist of five bidders.
In selecting projects for funding, the ETI is aiming to achieve a number of key objectives, including demonstrating energy technologies and systems, improving energy usage, efficiency, supply and generation and developing knowledge, and supply chains.
