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Dear
Subscriber, |
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As
the price of oil continues to rise and the cost of
building new nuclear power stations looks likely to
increase, the need for the energy systems of the future
to be clean, secure and above all affordable, is more
crucial than ever.
Since
its formation in 2008 the ETI has invested over £66
million in projects covering offshore wind, marine
energy, distributed energy, buildings, energy storage
and distribution, carbon capture and storage and road
transport. Another £120 million will be invested in new
projects launching in these areas and in bio energy in
the year ahead.
The
ETI’s in-house UK energy system model highlights the
technologies, supply-chains and cost implications of
implementing engineering solutions to get the UK to the
2050 climate change targets.
Our
strategic modeling points to the top five issues for the
UK power sector as carbon capture and storage, bio
energy, offshore renewables, energy efficiency and
nuclear.
A
national challenge is to make sure the implementation
strategy – the government policies – give us economic
benefits that outweigh the investment costs and continue
to create an assured position for industry and
investors. |
Dr
David Clarke
CEO
ETI | | |
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The
ETI launched its first three projects in its bio energy
programme this month. The largest of the three projects is the
three-year long £3.28 million Ecosystem Land-Use Modeling
trial to study the impact of bio energy crop land-use changes
on soil carbon stocks and GHG emissions.
Project
two is the nine-month long £835,000 Biomass Systems Value
Chain Modeling project. This will develop a spatial model
linking bio energy crop growth with technology options for
logistics, pre-processing and final use as heat, power or
transport fuel.
Project
three is a six-month long £455,000 Biomass to Power with CCS
project. This will provide clarity on what further
developments are required to better understand the biomass to
power with CCS sector and what opportunities it could generate
for the UK.
Domestic
biomass, sustainably grown in the UK, could provide up to 10%
of the UK’s energy needs by 2050 and significantly contribute
to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Energy
and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “Bio energy has
the potential to play a key role in low carbon energy
generation in the future, which is why we need groundbreaking
innovation today. These projects being run by the ETI will
greatly deepen our understanding of this kind of energy,
helping the sector to grow and thrive and ensure the best
ideas and research are given every chance to succeed.”
For
further details on these projects please click
here |
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A
project to develop very long high-performance blades for the
next generation of large offshore wind turbines has been
commissioned. Developers will be asked to design, build and
test blades in excess of 90 metres long – each blade will be
nearly the same height as Big Ben – which would be used on the
next generation of large offshore wind turbines with a
capacity of 8 – 10MW.
Energy
and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said: “Groundbreaking
innovation is needed today to help create a low carbon future.
This is why I’m pleased the ETI is asking inventors to come up
with the wind turbines of tomorrow. Improving turbine
performance will increase output and drive down costs, making
it more economical to generate green energy. I am confident
that business, industry and our best research brains take up
the challenge.“
The
ETI expects to invest around £10m in the project. The deadline
for the notification of intention to submit a proposal is 17th
June and the closing date is 27th July.
A
Request for Proposals (RfP) is available here |
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The
ETI was among the record number of visitors to All-Energy 2011
in Aberdeen earlier this month, one of the largest renewable
exhibitions and conferences in Europe. Provisional attendance
figures show that the two-day event attracted over 8,000
people from more than 50 countries.
The
ETI took part in three speaking sessions updating delegates on
its activities in offshore
wind, energy
storage and bio
energy. These presentations can be viewed by clicking on
the links above.
Hundreds
of people also visited the ETI’s stand in the exhibition area
to find out more about the organisation, its programme areas
and individual projects. |
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Three
Requests for Proposals have been issued for new projects since
the last issue of Kinetic
As
well as the bigger blades project mentioned above, the ETI is
also seeking participants for projects in its CCS and Energy
Storage and Distribution programmes.
A
project to carry out a comprehensive review of the costs and
performance of four key types of energy infrastructure across
the whole of the UK was launched in May. It will produce data
for electricity, gas, hydrogen and heat, and will look at
transmission, distribution, storage, conversions and
connections between now and 2050.
It
will also examine the cost differences within 12 different
onshore regions as well as nine offshore regions for
transmission and two regions for offshore storage. The
deadline for the notification of intention to submit a
proposal is 14th June and all proposals must be received by
12th July.
The
ETI also started the search in April for organisations to take
part in a multi million pound project to develop and
demonstrate cheaper Carbon Capture technologies specifically
for gas fired power stations.
The
ETI expects to invest in the initial development of two
promising ‘next generation’ technologies before selecting the
best one for large scale testing at a Combined Cycle Gas
Turbine (CCGT) plant. The deadline for the notification of
intention to submit a proposal was 27th May and all proposals
must be received by 27th June.
Details
of all future RfPs are available on the ETI website, by
signing up to the RSS
feed, subscribing to receive the ETI’s newsletters by
emailing in...@eti.co.uk or following
the ETI on Twitter at twitter.com/the_eti |
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The
ETI’s Helm Wind project has shown that offshore wind turbines
of the future should have much larger blades resulting in
lower costs and cheaper electricity. The project was set up to
deliver step-change improvements in the economics of the
offshore wind power station of the future.
The
project found that costs could be around 30% less than current
state of the art offshore wind turbines with the potential for
additional savings as the technology is developed further.
Dr
Joerg Kruhl from E.ON said: “Offshore renewables are an
important part of the future energy mix here in the UK
offering huge potential for the generation of clean renewable
electricity. Capturing this potential however presents a
number of challenges which is why research projects such as
Helm Wind are so important.” |
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The
ETI’s Energy System Modeling Environment (ESME) is being
increasingly used to influence strategy and policy of a number
of organisations. Since its peer review in late 2010, the
emphasis has been firmly on leveraging the outputs and
insights.
ESME
is a key tool for exploring the impact of individual
technologies on the UK’s future energy system between 2020 and
2050, informing investment choices, identifying a mix of
energy technologies needed to meet climate change targets as
well as the cost implications of those decisions.
Earlier
this month ESME was selected by the Committee on Climate
Change (CCC) as the only energy systems modeling tool to
inform its Renewable Energy Review. The CCC review concludes
that a renewable energy share of around 30% by 2030 would be
appropriate, with scope for a higher share depending on the
extent to which renewable technology costs fall and possible
constraints on deployment of low-carbon
alternatives. |
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