Euspen, the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, has announced its first Special Interest Group Workshop on Precision Engineering for Sustainable (renewable energy) Systems.

This will include technical and commercial sessions covering wind, solar and oceanic power generation and storage, and it is being held on 9 and 10 October at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.

Further details and registration can be found at the Web site (www.euspen.eu/events/sig-sustainable-systems-2019).

Euspen says that while there is no shortage of renewable-energy systems available at ever-decreasing costs, they are not evolving fast enough to economically transition to a low-carbon economy, adding that “the primary purpose of this workshop is to bring together people from academia, industry and government to share experiences using precision engineering principles to help develop new ideas and manufacturing systems to reduce production and ownership costs”.

Renewables produce more than 20% of the UK’s electricity, and EU targets means that this is likely to increase to 30% by 2020.

The UK is well placed to take advantage of wind power, with some of the best conditions in Europe and high average wind speeds.

The UK has invested significantly in offshore wind and has installed as much capacity as the rest of the world combined.

The subjects covered in presentations at the workshop will include actuators, gearing and controls, blades and materials, as well as towers.

Themes for solar energy include concentrating solar power (CSP) and photo-voltaics (PV), for which the current installed capacity exceeds 8.7GW and is increasing rapidly.

Marine technologies are also expected to make a significant contribution to renewable power generation after 2020.

The various types of hydro-electric power (an established technology in the UK, where the flow of water is used to turn turbines to generate electricity) will also be on the agenda, as will various types of energy storage.

More UK electricity is to come from zero-carbon sources than from fossil fuels this year, according to the National Grid, which says ‘green energy’ sources have more than doubled their contribution to Britain’s energy mix from 22.3% in 2009 to 47.9% in the first half of 2019.

Ms Dishi Phillips, Euspen’s business development manager, said: “With the cost of renewable energy sources coming down, and onshore wind and solar power frequently cheaper than fossil fuels, we feel it is the perfect time to host this focused workshop.”