Three £5 million energy research hubs and a new £1 million solar-energy network that will build collaborations between universities, academic bodies and industry have been announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The three Supergen Energy hubs will be focused on Offshore Renewable Energy, Bioenergy and Energy Networks; they will
involve academics from 19 universities and 70 stakeholder partners, including 22 from industry.
The SuperSolar Network, which will act as a knowledge-exchange mechanism, will maintain the co-ordinated network for the photo voltaics (PV) research community in the UK, thereby creating greater opportunities for building consortia, reacting to the fast pace of progress in this field and bringing a broad set of disciplines together.
It will involve academics from 10 universities and six partners — four from industry.
ESPRC (
www.epsrc.ukri.org) chairman Philip Nelson said: “As we move towards a low-carbon future, we need to explore the fundamental science that can spark new technologies and systems, as well as linking researchers to industry.
As the threats from climate change become ever-more apparent, there is a pressing need for the UK — and the world — to act collaboratively to address the challenges of clean energy production, distribution and storage.”
The three Supergen hubs are: Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub, led by Professor Deborah Greaves at Plymouth University (this aims to bring together the related research areas of wave, tidal and offshore wind); Supergen Bioenergy Hub, led by Professor Patricia Thornley at Aston University (this aims to address the technical and engineering barriers to sustainable bioenergy systems); and the Supergen Energy Networks Hub, led by Professor Phil Taylor at Newcastle University (this aims to establish a “vibrant, well-connected, diverse, open and communicative energy networks community with a deeper understanding of whole-system approaches to energy networks”).
Meanwhile, the SuperSolar Network, led by Professor John Walls at Loughborough University, will act as a knowledge-exchange mechanism, maintaining and improving the co-ordinated network for the PV research community in the UK.