Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue
A guide to successful and innovative projects in the area of renewable energy
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EUREC
EUREC Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue 3
INTRODUCTION
EUREC IS THE
LEADING EUROPEAN
ASSOCIATION OF
RESEARCH CENTRES
AND UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENTS ACTIVE
IN THE AREA OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY.
The purpose of the association is to promote and
support the development of innovative technologies
and human resources to enable a prompt transition
to a sustainable energy system.
The Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue- A guide
to innovative and successful projects in the area of
renewable energy presents a list of projects, led by EU-
REC members, which have contributed to increase the
presence of renewable energies in the energy mix, by re-
ducing their costs, increasing their reliability or facilitating
their integration in the energy system.
The Catalogue is divided in four main chapters dedicated to:
• RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY (e.g. PV, wind, biomass, solar thermal,
ocean, hybrid systems)
• RENEWABLE HEATING AND COOLING (e.g. heat pumps,
solar thermal)
• SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT (fuel cells and biofuels)
• HORIZONTAL TOPICS (e.g. grid integration and energy storage,
studies to support transition to sustainable energy, education and
training activities)
Each chapter presents examples of successful and innovative projects in its
respective area.
The Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue highlights the richness of renew-
able energy research, which covers different renewable energy sources with
different research needs, all along the resource value chain (e.g. from pro-
duction of the source- whenever needed- to the production of the generation
and transformation device to its integration into the existing energy system).
The Catalogue also presents examples of horizontal topics, such as grid in-
tegration, building integration, energy efficiency, energy storage, education
and training activities, whose importance has grown in recent years.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROJECTS
RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06 > 39
RENEWABLE HEATING AND COOLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 > 47
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 > 55
HORIZONTAL TOPICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 > 79
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 > 81
EUREC MEMBERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
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Projects
1. Production of Solid Sustainable Energy Carriers from Biomass by Means of Torrefaction (SECTOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2. Technology transfer for the implementation of renewable energies as part of the power supply in Tenerife and Senegal and installation of the first PV plant connected to the grid in Senegal (MACSEN-PV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Solar Facilities for the European Research Area (SFERA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4. Definition of competitiveness for photovoltaics and development of measures to accompany PV to grid parity and beyond (PV PARITY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5. Solar Up-scale Gas Turbine System (SOLUGAS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. New innovative solutions, components and tools for the integration of wind energy in urban and peri-urban areas (SWIP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7. PV research Infrastructure (SOPHIA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
8. Wind Resource Assessment, Audit and Standardisation (WAUDIT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
9. Easy-mounting containerised Renewable Energy Power Shelter with High Temperature Batteries (OASIS ONE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
10. Development of a novel rare-earth magnet based wave power conversion system (SNAPPER) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
11. Flexible solar building elements (SMART-FLeX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
12. Europe and Japan join in R&D on Concentrator Photovoltaics (NGCPV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
13. Cradle-to-cradle Sustainable PV Modules (CU-PV PROJECT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
14. New concepts for high efficiency and low cost in-line manufactured flexible CIGS solar cells (hipoCIGS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
15. Photovoltaic Laboratory (PV-Lab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
16. Spar-buoy Oscillating Water Column (OWC) with biradial turbine for ocean wave energy conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
RENEWABLEELECTRICITY1 .
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1. Product ion of Sol id Susta inable Energy Carr iers f rom Biomass by Means of Torrefact ion (SECTOR)
CHALLENGESThe torrefaction of biomass materials is considered to be a
very promising technology for the promotion of the large-
scale implementation of bioenergy. Torrefaction involves
heating biomass in an oxygen depleted atmosphere to
temperatures of 250-320 C. By combining torrefaction with
pelletisation or briquetting, biomass materials can be con-
verted into solid bioenergy carrier with a high energy den-
sity. These solid bioenergy carriers display improved be-
haviour in (long-distance) transport, handling and storage,
and also with superior properties in many major end-use
applications, such as (co-)firing in coal fired power plants
as well as gasification for the production of biofuels and
-chemicals. Torrefaction can help to reduce CO2 emissions
and to valorise the large potential of residue streams. The
technology is close to market implementation. The main
challenges to be solved are the process control for differ-
ent feedstocks to achieve a constant homogeneity during
commercial production, the standardisation of torrefied
fuel properties together with development of new anal-
ysis methods, and the strategic establishment of value
chains for market implementation.
Main features of the projectThe European project SECTOR started in January 2012
with 21 partners from 9 European countries and will last
until July 2015. The project has a budget of approximately
10 million euro and receives funding from the European
Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological
development and demonstration. It is coordinated by DBFZ
in Germany. Other project parners include: VTT (Finland),
ECN (The Netherlands), CENER (Spain).
RESULTSThe biomass potential has been evaluated for forest en-
ergy, agricultural residues and energy crops, both on a
European and global level. The research regarding the tor-
refaction process focussed on the comparison between
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), batch- and pilot scale
tests for different feedstocks and process conditions.
These led to an improved understanding of torrefaction,
better prediction of behaviour during torrefaction and to an
optimised control of process conditions. In the demonstra-
tion plant, a constant quality according to end use require-
ments has been achieved during commercial production
runs. End use tests in a pulverised coal power plant are still
ongoing to further improve handling, storage, milling and
(co-) firing/gasification. In parallel, a new ISO standard for
torrefied fuels was initiated (ISO 17225-8: Solid biofuels -
Fuel specifications and classes - Graded thermally treated
densified biomass). Existing analysis methods were suc-
cessfully validated for torrefied materials in a Round Robin
test with 43 participants, while additional new methods
are under development in the project. Finally, the market
implementation is supported by the close examination
of value chains and their socio-economic impact. The
interaction with relevant stakeholders was established
through more than 90 dissemination activities, such as
workshops, papers and presentations, as well as participa-
tion in a range of commissions and boards. In conclusion,
the SECTOR project spans all aspects, from biomass to
market implementation, which are needed to support the
establishment of torrefaction for the production of sustain-
able solid bioenergy carriers.
FIGURE 3: Torrefied straw pellets.
FIGURE 1: Structure of SECTOR.
FIGURE 2: Straw Torrefaction at CENER.
CONTACT DETAILS
Kay Schaubach, [email protected]
DBFZ, Leipzig, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.sector-project.eu
© DBFZ and CENER
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Senegalese and Spanish Public Authorities
during the PV Plant Opening Ceremony
MACSEN-PV Technical Workshop for Teachers.
Dakar, November 10th, 2012
Dakar University students visiting
the PV Installation in CERER’s facilities
CONTACT DETAILS
Ms. Mónica Alonso, [email protected]
ITER, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://macsen-pv.iter.es
CHALLENGESThis project, financed by the European Programme MAC
2007-2013, was conceived as a platform for technical
cooperation between the Canary Islands and Senegal
in the field of the integration of renewable energies in
the power supply. The project started in October 2010
and was finalized in June 2013. Its main objective was
to improve the capacity of public authorities and local
technicians to support the implementation of renewable
energies as part of the power supply in these regions.
Its milestone was the installation of the first PV system
connected to the grid in Senegal. The project was led by
the Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER)
and had the following partners, the Agencia Insular de
Energía de Tenerife (AIET), the Agence Sénégalaise d’Élec-
trification Rurale (ASER) and the Centre d’Etudes et de
Recherches sur les Energies Renouvelables (CERER).
Main features of the projectDuring the first stage of the project, a series of sectori-
al evaluations were carried out concluding in 12 energy
system analysis reports. This work allowed to identify
the availability of resources, the forecasts of the energy
demand, the existing legislation, the main needs and the
training lacks existing in the RES field in Tenerife and in
Senegal. As a result of the findings of these previous re-
ports, various capacity building actions were carried out,
such as the elaboration of materials and tools aimed at
public-sector managers and technicians and also at teach-
ers. In particular, the materials developed were: the hand-
book “Guide for Energy Planners about RES integration
into the grid”, a collection of 16 “Teaching Supporting
Materials for Secondary and University teachers”, and
a Teaching Supporting Video for teachers “Training Itiner-
aries of ITER’s RES installations”. These materials were
specifically distributed among the beneficiaries during the
Technical Workshops organized in Tenerife and Senegal
for public-sector managers/ technicians and for teachers.
In addition, one online Advisory Office, containing the
collection of elaborated materials, together with other doc-
uments, links and tools of interest, was developed in the
Web page of the project: http://macsen-pv.iter.es.
RESULTSThe main outcome of the project is the 3 kWp PV mixed
plant installed in CERER´s headquarters in Dakar. This in-
stallation, inaugurated by Senegalese and Tenerife Island
government officials on December 2012, was connected
to the conventional Senegalese electricity grid on April
2013, being a milestone in the development of RES in
Senegal, being the first renewable facility to be con-
nected. Beside this, the project promoted the creation of
a “National Scientific Committee for Renewable Energy
Systems integration into the Senegalese Grid”, headed
by the Senegalese Ministry of Energy. This Committee
defined the required procedures needed to connect this PV
installation to the grid, but it’s intended to be a permanent
one. The Committee will be decisive for the development
of effective regulatory and legislative frameworks for
renewable sources in Senegal, and it will have ITER´s
support and advice.
The PV installation is nowadays being used as a demon-
stration platform and internship for local technicians man-
aged by CERER. For this reason, its design was adapted
specifically taking into account the peculiarities of the Sen-
egalese grid, and in order to maximize its demonstrative
and educational use.
The enormous visibility and recognition reached by the
project must be highlighted, appearing in more than 200
media releases and presented in more than 45 internation-
al events. Furthermore, the project´s results have been
published in 3 international scientific publications.
2. Technology t ransfer for the implementat ion of renewable energies as par t of the power supply in Tener i fe and Senegal and insta l la t ion of the f i rs t PV p lant connected to the gr id in Senegal (MACSEN-PV)
© ITER
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PROMES-CNRS Laboratory and Dish-Stirling solar facility
View of the Plataforma Solar de Almeria facilities
CONTACT DETAILS
Gabriel Olalde, [email protected]
CNRS- PROMES, Odeillo, France
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://sfera.sollab.eu/
CHALLENGESSeveral Concentrated Solar Power projects have recently
been put into operation. Some 2.400 MW are under con-
struction and several GW are in advanced stages of plan-
ning, particularly in Spain, but also in other Southern Euro-
pean countries, like France, Greece and Portugal. In view
of this challenge for research, development and application
of concentrating solar systems involving a growing num-
ber of European industries and utilities in global business
opportunities, the purpose of this project is to integrate,
coordinate and further focus scientific collaboration
among the leading European research institutions in
solar concentrating systems, and to offer European re-
search and industry access to the best-qualified research
and test infrastructures.
Main features of the projectThe main goals of the SFERA project are:
• To increase the scientific and technological knowledge
base in the field of concentrating solar systems
• To develop and improve the research tools best-suited
to the scientific and technological community in this field
• To strengthen the European industry
through stimulating technology
transfer by fostering the use
of World-class R&D facili-
ties
• To increase general
knowledge of the scien-
tific community in the
possible applications of
concentrated solar ener-
gy, including creation of
new synergies with other
scientific disciplines (e.g., ma-
terials treatment)
RESULTSThe program of joint research activities included in the
SFERA project has increased the basic scientific knowl-
edge and available techniques for improved performance
of concentrating solar systems. Based on the gathered
experience, a process was established to harmonize and
improve the basic services of the research facilities. The
specific focus was related to:
• The development of common performance testing guide-
lines,
• The evaluation of improvements to reach ultra-high flux
distributions and to allow accelerated aging testing,
• The establishment of guidelines to set up new test facil-
ities for thermal energy storage materials and systems.
By guaranteeing a broad information exchange with the
scientific and industrial communities, as a sound base
for further commercial deployment and by developing
different technological aspects, SFERA had significant
socio-economic impacts in Europe. It has helped the So-
lar Thermal Electricity European industry to develop and
export new technologies thereby improving its competi-
tiveness worldwide.
Solar Facilities for the European Research Area
3 . Solar Fac i l i t ies for the European Research Area (SFERA)
© CNRS-PROMES
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Figure 1 - Parameters influencing PV competitiveness
Figure 2 – Achievement of
PV competitiveness in the
residential sector in 2013
Figure 3 – Achievement of
PV competitiveness in the
residential sector in 2020
CONTACT DETAILS
Ingrid Weiss, [email protected]
Silvia Caneva, [email protected]
WIP – Renewable Energies, Munich, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.pvparity.eu/
CHALLENGESThe European PV Parity project (started in June 2011
and ended in November 2013) aimed to contribute to
the achievement of further PV penetration in the EU
electricity market and the attainment of PV compet-
itiveness with the lowest possible impact and at the
lowest possible price for the community. The PV Parity
project defined also the relevance of PV electricity im-
ports from MENA countries in the European wholesale
electricity market.
Main features of the projectSeveral aspects of the PV Parity project were character-
ized by a high scientific innovation and relevance. One of
those aspects was related to the approach used for the
definition of the PV competitiveness, which was until now
usually referred only to a static comparison between the
evolution of PV generation cost and electricity prices for
the residential market segment. The definition of PV com-
petitiveness in the PV Parity project was a dynamic defi-
nition developed for each market segments (residential,
commercial and utility), which took into account all relevant
aspects related to the PV electricity generation including
the costs and benefits of PV integration into the electrical
grid and the environmental costs and benefits related to
the PV electricity generation (Figure 1). Per each type of
consumer, roadmaps towards the PV competitiveness
have been developed for 11 target countries: Austria,
Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ita-
ly, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom
(Figure 2 and 3).
RESULTSPV is already competitive, or will be competitive in a
few years, at residential and commercial level. This pic-
ture changes at utility scale, where the competitiveness of
PV is still far from being achieved due to the “merit-order
or cannibalism” effect of the PV generation in the whole-
sale market. Competitiveness of PV imports from MENA
would be achieved between 2020 and 2026. However,
with the additional cost of transporting electricity to Europe
and the need to build new lines, it will not be until 2030
that such an option could be envisaged. Until then, solar
energy should be developed in the MENA region to help
meet the growing local and regional demand.
The integration cost of PV into the electrical grid is rela-
tively modest (up to 26 €/MWh by 2030 to integrate up
to 485 GWp into the electrical grid) and confirms the in-
creasing of the PV attractiveness for European economy.
Self-consumptions of PV generation shall be maximized.
Demand response or storage solutions can be effective
to reduce grid integration of PV. Further reduction of PV
grid integration will be achieved through external cost cal-
culations. It is also important to look at positive benefits
that photovoltaics are generating for the whole community
which are not integrated into the price of electricity. The
environmental impact of 1 kWh of photovoltaic electricity
was calculated through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and
compared to that of electricity generated from coal and
natural gas. The LCA showed that PV generated electrici-
ty’s environmental and health impact is only about 5% that
of conventional electricity, meaning a potential reduction
of 95% of the pollution, toxicity, water and land effects
by using PV.
In the past decade, the deployment of PV in Europe
has been mainly facilitated by feed-in tariffs or similar
schemes. Many countries were surprised by the dynam-
ics of PV installations and they failed in some cases to
adapt the level of financial support in due time. The ex-
isting support schemes have to be readjusted in order
to integrate new alternative incentives such as
self-consumption or net-metering in order to be
in line with the latest developments of the PV
sector. Some countries have done this already
especially for small users; this can be a valuable
solution. It is important to constitute the right
to self-consume.
The PV Parity project has clearly highlighted
how renewable energies, with solar PV play-
ing a major role, are stepping up to meet Eu-
rope’s energy demand in a sustainable way. PV
is an increasingly competitive choice in many
regions, and the number of installations contin-
ues to grow. With PV providing an ever greater
share of electricity, policies are needed to ad-
dress challenges with upgrading grid infrastruc-
tures and revamping energy markets. With the
right framework, renewables will continue to
increase their presence in the European elec-
tricity mix, while maintaining the stability and re-
liability of the power system, at a minimal cost.
4. Def in i t ion of compet i t iveness for photovol ta ics and development of measures to accompany PV to gr id par i ty and beyond (PV Par i ty )
© WIP
© TUW-EEG
© TUW-EEG
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CONTACT DETAILS
Ralf Uhlig, [email protected]
DLR (German Aerospace Centre), Köln, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.solugas.eu
CHALLENGESThe main objective of the Solugas project was to demon-
strate the performance and cost reduction potential of
a solar-hybrid driven gas turbine system on a commer-
cial megawatt scale. The technical viability and reliability
of the system with a high temperature solar receiver and
a solarized gas turbine unit adapted to the special needs
of solar-hybrid operation should be shown.
Besides long-time operation, cost reduction especially re-
garding tower and heliostat design and O&M effort were
main goals of the project.
Main features of the projectIn SOLUGAS, financed by the EU’s 7th Framework Pro-
gram, a pilot tower plant at the Solúcar Platform in Seville,
Spain, has been designed, built and operated. The project
partners were ABENGOA, the German Aerospace Center
(DLR), Turbomach, GEA Technika Cieplna and New Energy
Algeria (NEAL).
Within the four years of project duration the plant accu-
mulated more than 700 hours of solar operation and about
1000 hours of turbine operation. The receiver reached the
designed performance at an outlet temperature of 800°C.
Stable system operation at different load situations was
successfully achieved. The design tools used for the re-
ceiver development could be validated.
RESULTSThe results of the Solugas project showed the potential
of this technology and will be the base for further market
assessments. Fig. 1: SOLUGAS site Seville, Spain
This project has received funding from the European Union’s
Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological de-
velopment and demonstration under grant agreement no 219110
5. Solar Up-scale Gas Turbine System (SOLUGAS)
© DLR
Fig. 2: SOLUGAS solar receiver
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CONTACT DETAILS
Leonardo Subías, [email protected]
CIRCE, Zaragoza, Spain
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://fcirce.es
CHALLENGESThe SWIP project aims to deal with and overcome the
main barriers that slow down the massive deployment
of small and medium size wind turbines (SWT):
• Cost of technology: In Europe, the installed cost of a
SWT ranges from 2.100 to 7.400 e / kW and the elec-
tricity production costs between 0,15 to 0,30 e / kWh.
• Wind resource assessment: Accurate prediction of the
wind speed is essential to calculate the electricity output,
representing the basis for economic performance.
• Regulation: Currently, fully competitive wind markets
are rather found in developing countries, where off-grid
and micro-grid applications prevail. The sector is at the
mercy of regulation, as it is completely dependent of it.
• Social acceptance and safety: These two topics should
be at the core of future developments, as are the issues
that may jeopardize the public awareness, and therefore
the success of the technology.
• Aesthetic, noise and vibration: Tonality is a feature that
may increase the adverse impact of a given noise source,
as well as vibrations, due to the impact on the location
where the device is installed. Aesthetic issues are key
enablers for the social acceptance of these systems.
• Wind market / user friendliness: Proximity of society to
information and communication technologies needs to
be exploited and taken as an advantage for the integra-
tion of new systems into society and their day-to-day life.
Main features of the projectThe new and innovative solutions developed by the pro-
ject will allow to: reduce the costs of the electric gener-
ator of wind turbines, providing two new concepts for
energy generation; increase the power coefficient ratio
of the blades (and therefore the number of hours that the
SWT is working), highly softening or even eliminating the
mechanical and acoustic noise they currently produce; re-
duce the maintenance costs of the SWTs by including two
innovative elements (SCADA for preventive maintenance
and magnetic gearbox) in the SWTs and improving the
integration of the wind turbines in buildings and districts
with more aesthetic solutions.
The project will develop three different prototypes to be
integrated in three different scenarios (new energy effi-
cient building, shore-line and industrial area) with a view
to validating the targeted solutions and goals, providing
scalable solutions for different applications.
RESULTSA technology and policy analysis has been performed with
a view to establishing the basis for the development of the
wind turbines and their features to allow massive deploy-
ment within the existing energy grid. A benchmarking of
SWT has been developed in order to set the starting point
from where the project can provide improvements beyond
state of the art. Energy plans in EU cities have been stud-
ied in order to define where the SWT can best fit.
The measurement campaign has started in the pilot areas
with a view to defining wind characteristics at the demon-
stration sites.
Developments in the design of the new blades have been
done, taking into account aesthetic aspects for integration
in urban environments, as well as performance and noise
characteristics.
Integration of small wind energy in urban and peri-urban areas
6. New innovat ive solut ions, components and tools for the integrat ion of wind energy in urban and per i -urban areas (SWIP)
© CIRCE
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Figure 1: Comparison of Norm STC Pmax measurements
CONTACT DETAILS
Philippe Malbranche, [email protected]
CEA-INES, Chambéry, France
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.sophia-ri.eu
CHALLENGESMany photovoltaic research infrastructures exist all over
Europe: some are unique, others are similar. The challenge
is to promote on a large-scale an increased coordina-
tion between PV research institutes in order to avoid
unintended duplication, avoid unnecessary investment and
get more value out of the same budgets. The idea is to join
forces to offer common referential and better services to
PV researchers from academia and industry.
Main features of the projectThis European Commission-funded project (FP7) gathers
20 European partners and addresses specifically eight top-
ics seen as important for the PV sector: Silicon material,
Thin films and Transparent Conductive Oxides, Organic
PV, Modelling, Concentrated PV, Building Integrated PV,
PV Module lifetime, and PV module performance.
RESULTSThe main project results are:
1. Transnational Access Activities: Free-of-charge trans-
national access for researchers was granted to 35 re-
search proposals, selected out of 52 applications. These
accesses supported a better understanding of some
materials and the development and innovation process
of several devices.
2. Joint Research Activities: these activities aim at im-
proving the services offered by the existing PV research
infrastructures. Several examples can be given:
• 2 Round Robins with 12 partners to improve PV mod-
ules peak power measurement and energy output pre-
diction helped increasing the scientific knowledge of
the behavior of different PV technologies. The full list
of SOPHIA Joint Research Activities is available on the
project website.
• For lifetime prediction, a comprehensive test plan with
15 accelerated ageing procedures allowed the develop-
ment of a more representative ageing test procedure.
• New characterization procedures were developed for
silicon material, Transparent Conductive Oxides, Thin
Films, Organic PV, Concentrated PV and Building In-
tegrated PV.
• On Modelling activities, the interfaces between models
were improved.
3. Networking Activites: for an increased coordination
of the Research Infrastructures
• 18 networking seminars and workshops organised
• 10 common databases set up
• 21 webinars organized (600 participants in total), still a
dozen planned in 2014
• 26 personal exchanges (students & experts) took place
• A vision paper for the future development of research
infrastructures
The momentum created by the project is taken over by
the CHEETAH project (FP7), with its 35 European partners.
7. PV research Inf rast ructure (SOPHIA)
© CEA-INES
Pmax
Module Number
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CONTACT DETAILS
Simon Watson
CREST- Loughborough University, UK
Email: [email protected]
Project Coordinator: Javier Sanz Rodrigo
CENER - National Centre of Renewable Energies of Spain
Email: [email protected]
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.waudit-itn.eu/
CHALLENGESWAUDIT was an Initial Training Network (ITN), a Marie-Cu-
rie action funded under the FP7-People program and coor-
dinated by the National Centre of Renewable Energies of
Spain (CENER). The objective of WAUDIT was the gener-
ation of a pool of researchers, in the field of wind re-
source assessment. The development of state-of-the-art
measurement and numerical and physical modelling tech-
niques provided a wide range of methodologies whose
potential was to be assessed by the network.
CREST at Loughborough University was a main partner
in the project whose role was to assess best practice in
the assessment of wind resource in forested terrain using
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models.
Main features of the projectWAUDIT aimed at providing the best working environment
for early stage researchers drawing on the leading players
in wind energy research: universities, research centres and
industrial partners. A total of 30 organisations from 8 differ-
ent EU member states contributed to the development of
a number of PhD projects. Training activities were carried
out by the European Wind Energy Academy (EAWE).
The partners in the project worked together to develop
and benchmark a number of tools for wind resource as-
sessment including the use of field measurements, wind
tunnel measurements, statistical and numerical models.
RESULTSAt CREST, Cian Desmond worked under the supervision
of Prof Simon Watson to develop best practice in the use
of the Ansys CFX CFD model to predict the wind condi-
tions in and around forest canopies. This research project
was in close collaboration with other WAUDIT partners
including the University of Orléans and EdF in France.
CFD simulations were compared to wind tunnel and field
measurements to determine the best way to predict the
effect of forest canopies and to assess the accuracy of
numerical modelling in forested areas. The results have
been used to provide guidelines for wind farm developers
in challenging onshore environments.
Left: Model tree used in
a wind tunnel for forest
canopy experiments,
Right: CFD simulation of the wind speed (top) and turbulence (bottom)
in and around a canopy.
8. Wind Resource Assessment , Audi t and Standardisat ion (WAUDIT)
© Loughborough University
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CONTACT DETAILS
Francesco Sergi, [email protected]
CNR-ITAE, Messina, Italy
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.itae.cnr.it
CHALLENGESThe aim of the OASIS ONE project was to develop a
containerized off-grid energy station for small villages
where the power network is not present. The motivation
comes from the necessity to assure basic services like
supplying energy for:
• Preservation of pharmaceutical products
• Food preservation
• Small field hospitals
• TV
• Lightning
• Water pumping
to population living in poor or remote areas.
The main challenge was to realize an easy to transport
and to install system, with very low maintenance and,
thanks to renewables and energy storage systems, totally
autonomous and automated.
Main features of the projectThe final system is a container equipped with 5kW of high
efficiency mono-crystalline photovoltaic roof plant, 5kW
horizontal axis wind turbine, 5kW genset for start-up pro-
cedure and, in case of system default, 50kWh of energy
storage thanks two ZEBRA (NaNiCl2) high temperature
batteries. ZEBRA stands for Zero Emission Batteries Re-
search Activity.
The wind turbine is operated through a telescopic pole
transported inside the container and extended during the
installation of OASIS ONE.
A load management system allows prioritising the unin-
terruptable loads with respect to the others, in case of
low energy from renewables or low energy available from
the batteries.
RESULTSOASIS ONE is now a product of FIAMM Energy Storage
Solutions. The system is addressed to the market of Sub
Saharan Africa, Centre America and Asia market.
CNR-ITAE developed the system from the concept idea to
the design and construction of the first prototype, together
with FIAMM and other industrial supplier partners.
OASIS ONE is a very low emission energy system that
contributes to the increasing of life quality of people from
developing countries.
9. Easy-mount ing conta iner ised Renewable Energy Power Shel ter wi th High Temperature Bat ter ies (OASIS ONE)
© CNR-ITAE
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CONTACT DETAILS
Paul McKeever, [email protected]
Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Blyth, UK
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.snapperfp7.eu/
CHALLENGESWaves around the coast of Europe are among the most en-
ergetic in the world, and are very predictable for the energy
available a day ahead. Consequently, wave energy has the
potential to provide significant amounts of renewable
energy with different availability criteria to wind and
solar. However, wave motion is very complex and there
is a need for low cost reliable power conversion systems
to generate electricity. One issue is that wave motion is
high amplitude, low frequency so that there is a need for a
power take off system to create a higher frequency motion
more suitable for electricity generation. Also, the energy in
waves, particularly during winter storms, can be damaging
to the conversion system, so the simpler the system with
fewer moving parts, the more likely it is to be reliable.
Narec, the National Renewable Energy Centre in the UK
led a project funded under the FP7 research for the benefit
of specific groups (in particular SME’s) for the development
of a novel rare-earth magnet based wave power conver-
sion system, with the project acronym SNAPPER. (Since
the project was completed Narec merged to become part
of the Offshore Renewable Energy ORE Catapult)
Main features of the projectThe Snapper device is designed to work like a typical lin-
ear generator in which a set of magnets of alternating
polarity are mounted on a translator. The translator is at-
tached to a floating buoy (see Fig 1) and is moved up and
down inside the multiple copper coils of an armature by a
passing wave. However there is a crucial difference with
Snapper; a second set of magnets with alternating polarity
are mounted within the armature coils. These armature
magnets prevent the translator assembly magnets from
moving up and down independently of the armature. In-
stead magnetic forces between the armature and trans-
lator repeatedly couple the two sub-assemblies together
and they move together until the external force acting on
the translator is able to overcome the magnetic coupling.
As the armature is spring mounted, see Fig 1, when the
magnetic coupling is overcome, it “snaps” and results in
a series of faster relative movements between armature
and translator. The device thus converts low frequency
wave motion to higher frequency motion more suitable
for electricity generation, without the need for a gearbox.
This is a particular advantage for wave energy conversion,
where minimising the number of moving parts at sea sig-
nificantly improves reliability and reduces cost.
10. Development of a novel rare-ear th magnet based wave power convers ion system (SNAPPER)
© Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
RESULTSIn the project simulation techniques were used
to optimise the design, and then a device was
built to this design. Initial testing was done
“dry” in the laboratory with a controllable prime
mover, focussing on the electrical and dynamic
performance of the system, followed by “wet”
testing in the Narec wave tank with the focus
on hydrodynamic and electrical performance.
The project has successfully designed, built
and validated a novel wave energy power
conversion system with significantly reduced
complexity and number of moving parts to po-
tentially form the basis of a series of commer-
cial devices. Several innovation awards have
been given to the project. Narec/ORE Catapult
is currently looking at updating the Business
Plan for Snapper and seeking public and private
investment to build a 2nd generation device in
order to move closer to commercialisation.
26 EUREC Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue
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CONTACT DETAILS
Francesco Frontini, [email protected]
SUPSI, Canobbio, Switzerland
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.smartflex-solarfacades.eu/home.html
CHALLENGESSmartFlex is a large-scale collaborative project within the
European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme. The
project focusses on the manufacture of individually de-
signed photovoltaic building elements on an industrial
scale.
Main features of the projectThe SmartFlex project aims to demonstrate the multi-
functional photovoltaic building element as a plug &
play device that can be safely and easily installed onto
any building. It wants to provide a platform for solar ele-
ments to be customised, allowing them to be seamlessly
integrated into buildings. Architects’ requests are met by
enhanced modularity in system design, various sizes, col-
ours, shapes and materials.
SmartFlex bridges the gap between photovoltaic manufac-
turers and architects. It aims to meet the technical require-
ments that architects, engineers and installers encounter
when designing, engineering and installing building-inte-
grated solar systems.
Photovoltaic cells and modules can be part of the build-
ing structure, which means they can replace convention-
al building materials rather than being installed at a later
stage. Equipped with solar elements, a building can pro-
duce renewable energy and pave the way towards moder-
nity and sustainability.
RESULTS
Planning software The objective is for architects to use the intuitive planning
software to design solar modules in shapes and colours
that fit perfectly into the building envelope. The software
will then send the data of the individually designed mod-
ules directly to the industrial production line. This eases the
process for architects and engineers in a groundbreaking
way.
Testing and monitoringSmartFlex is achieving this objective by testing different
technical options, checking the module performance and
energy yield produced by solar facades and developing a
prototype production line.
Several photovoltaic building elements are tested and
monitored on a test building.
11 . F lex ib le so lar bui ld ing e lements (SMART-FLeX)
© SUPSI
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Légende??
CONTACT DETAILS
Dr. Ana Belén Cristóbal López,
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid- Instituto de Energia Solar,
Madrid, Spain
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.ngcpv.org
CHALLENGESThe FP7-project NGCPV (A new generation of concen-
trator photovoltaic cells, modules and systems; EC Grant
number 283798) aims to support the progress of Con-
centrator Photovoltaics (CPV). The potential of CPV is
based on the use of very high efficient and, therefore more
costly solar cells, made from III-V semiconductor materi-
als, which are standard in space applications, but would
not be affordable in flat-plate approaches. Inexpensive
lenses or mirrors are used to strongly concentrate the
light and hence reduce the required solar cell area.
Approximately 150 MW of CPV systems had been installed
worldwide by the end of 2013 and the market is expected
to reach GW level in the next five years. However, al-
though considerable progress has already been made in
the development and manufacturing of CPV, there are still
huge possibilities to further increase their efficiency while
reducing their cost.
Main features of the projectNGCPV is sponsored within the first collaborative call in the
field of energy launched by the European Commission and
the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (NEDO) of Japan. Based on their common
visions concerning clean energy and climate protection,
the Directorate-General for Research of the European
Commission together with NEDO of Japan, devised a co-
operative R&D-strategy that was materialized by the issue
of the call FP7-ENERGY-2011-JAPAN: Ultra-high Efficiency
Concentration Photovoltaics (CPV) Cells, Modules and Sys-
tems /EU-Japan Coordinated Call in 2010.
The NGCPV consortium – consisting of 7 European and
9 Japanese partners - responded to this call and, with its
impact, is expected to contribute to the achievement of
both the EUs “20-20-20” and NEDOs “Cool Earth in 2050”
targets. The EUREC member Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy Systems ISE from Freiburg, Germany is member of
the consortium, which is coordinated by the Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid, Spain and the Toyota Technological
Institute, Japan. The project started in June 2011 and will
end in November 2014.
NGCPV research is focused on the development and
demonstration of new concepts for devices and process-
es for very high efficiency photovoltaics and on methods
and procedures suitable for standardized measurement
technology for CPV cells and modules. The project covers
Research and Development along the value chain including
novel materials, new III-V (multi-junction) solar cell struc-
tures, innovative CPV modules and efficient CPV systems.
RESULTS
The project is still running. However, several major findings
and breakthroughs have already been achieved, such as:
• In May 2012 Sharp achieved the world record efficiency
for a triple--junction solar cell of 43.5% under concen-
trated sunlight. Less than a year later a new record was
achieved: 44.4%. Four-junction solar cells are under de-
velopment.
• Fundamental material research has progressed signif-
icantly, for example on the incorporation of quantum
structures (like quantum wells or quantum dots) into
multi-junction solar cells and on advanced materials,
such as GaAsN. The research is successfully supported
by the application of novel characterization techniques.
• Concentrator primary and secondary optics are optimized
with a current focus on Dome-shaped Fresnel Köhler
concentrators.
• Tools for the characterization of industrial CPV modules
have been developed, which improve the repeatability,
availability and control of the operating conditions at re-
duced cost.
• A 50 kWp CPV plant has been built at the Spanish loca-
tion of Villa de Don Fadrique.
• A novel CPV array, named “INTREPID” that
combines the latest improvements reached
by the Consortium at different levels has been
installed at UPM facilities in May 2014.
These results as well as the experiences of
fruitful and intense collaboration between all
project partners, demonstrate that common
solutions to global challenges (climate, envi-
ronment, ICT, etc.) could be speeded up by
encouraging R&D schemes that combine the
expertise of top companies and research cen-
tres around the world.
Partners of the project and the novel INTREPID
system developed by the NGCPV. Consortium
12. Europe and Japan jo in in R&D on Concentrator Photovol ta ics (NGCPV)
© Fraunhofer ISE
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CONTACT DETAILS
Bart Geerligs, [email protected]
ECN (Energy Research Centre of The Netherlands),
Petten, The Netherlands
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.sustainablepv.eu/cu-pv/
CHALLENGESThe challenges that are tackled in this project are to re-
duce resource consumption by silicon solar cell and
module technology and to reduce pollution, in particular
the use of lead, CO2 emissions by solar cell and module
production, and the future waste burden of end-of-life pho-
tovoltaic modules. The problems to be solved are: the
silicon consumption, since the production of silicon for
solar energy is very energy-intensive; the silver consump-
tion, presently 1000-2000 ton/year for solar energy, and
growing fast; the lead consumption, especially in module
manufacturing; and enabling more effective recycling with
better recovery of individual materials.
Main features of the project3 SMEs, 1 large industry, and an industry association, par-
ticipate with 2 R&D institutes in the project, and expect
to prove their equipment and technologies in the project.
Silicon consumption is reduced by decreasing wafer thick-
ness and increasing module efficiency. Silver consumption
is reduced by a change to copper electroplating, with seed-
ing by inkjet technology using a minimal amount of silver,
or by physical vapour deposition, technologies which at
the same time allow thin wafers. The module technolo-
gy is adapted for the combined requirements of handling
thin cells, copper metallisation, no lead, and the possibility
for separation of the laminate during recycling. This in-
volves a combination of back contact module technology
and new interconnection materials and encapsulants. In
addition, solutions will be developed for other module as-
pects which presently cause high cost of recycling, such
as framing technology. The project has a quick-start phase
aimed at demonstrating part of the improvements in pres-
ent mainstream PV technology: in particular reduction of
silver, separation technology for current modules, and
modifications to enhance recycling of frame.
RESULTSThe project has so far demonstrated technology for high
efficiency back contact solar cells down to 120μm thick-
ness. The silver consumption was reduced to 30 mg per
wafer (about 6 tons per gigawatt-peak power), for silver
ink fire-through metallisation followed by copper electro-
plating, and to zero in case of metallisation by physical
vapour deposition. A best full-size solar cell efficiency of
21.7% was achieved.
The module technology with lead-free interconnection was
developed for recycling. Recycling technology for these
modules is under development, with promising results
for improved recovery of wafers, glass, and backsheet.
Additionally, improved techniques that can be applied to
recycling of present-day modules are under development.
This is being done in active discussion with companies
along the module life cycle to identify most promising
business cases. Results are communicated to the PV and
recycling community, including a workshop on recycling
of PV modules later this year.
13. Cradle- to-cradle Susta inable PV Modules (Cu-PV project )
© ECN
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Logos of the involved partners
(Würth Solar had been substituted after two years by Manz):
Fig. 3. IV curve and data of the best cell device with InSx buffer layer on glass substrate (with ARC).
Fig. 4: JV-curve and PV parameters (left) of a 4 x 4 cm2 mini-module (right) on polyimide film with a record conversion efficiency of 14.8 %, which was independently certified by Fraunhofer ISE.
Fig. 5: Modules on enamelled steel with a substrate size of a) 10 x 10 cm² (efficiency: 15.4%) and b) 23 x 30 cm² (efficiency: 12.9%).
CONTACT DETAILS
Friedrich Kessler, [email protected]
ZSW, Stuttgart, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.zsw-bw.de/
CHALLENGESThe main objective of the project was to develop inno-
vative flexible substrate materials and deposition pro-
cesses for the roll-to-roll deposition (R2R) of highly efficient
Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar modules with potential for low
production costs (< 0.6 €/Wp).
All substrates, methods, processes etc. should have the
potential to be transferred to a R2R production. R2R-pro-
duction itself, however, was not an issue of investigation.
Novel substrates such as low carbon steel, aluminum foil,
enameled aluminum, enameled low carbon steel and in-
novative polyimide films which were not yet commercially
available have been tested, evaluated and characterized.
A core activity and important goal was to develop a mul-
tifunctional enamel layer on low carbon steel with all de-
sired features such as perfect electrical insulation against
the steel substrate, resistance against high temperatures
(650°C), high barrier against iron diffusion and precursor
layer for the alkaline (Na, K) doping of the CIGS thin film
absorber. Other challenges were the evaporation of a novel
buffer layer and monolithic cell interconnection on sensi-
tive thin polymer foils.
In order to achieve highest efficiencies on the one hand
and lowest costs on the other hand substrate texturing,
reduction of absorber thickness and vacuum free depo-
sition of the transparent conductive window layer (TCO)
were an issue of investigation as well.
Main features of the projectA novel atmospheric pressure plasma enhanced chemical
vapor deposition (APPECVD) was developed and applied
for solar cells. The CIGS absorber was co-evaporated both
at low and high substrate temperatures (about 450°C and
650°C) by a multistage process in order to adjust and op-
timize the compositional grading and to achieve highest
efficiencies. Another approach was to reduce the absorber
thickness to one-third of the initial value by not more than
10% efficiency loss. All experiments were performed on
a very high efficiency level and accompanied by sophisti-
cated electronic measurements to detect defect states,
to reduce carrier recombination and to optimize the CIGS
doping. All developments were critically reviewed with
view on transferability to production, costs and yield. 50%
of the project partners came from industry.
RESULTS
Solar cell performance achieved at low substrate temper-
atures for the first time touched the efficiencies normally
achieved only on glass substrates at high temperatures.
A new record efficiency of 18.7% on 25μm thin polyimide
foil achieved at low temperature opened up a new era in
flexible thin film photovoltaics. Only 10% loss of efficiency
could be demonstrated by halving the absorber thickness
on polyimide. Remarkably good cell results could also be
achieved with the APPECVD deposited window layers
which were comparable to the standard reference samples
with sputtered layers. Up to 17.5% cell efficiency could be
demonstrated with inline evaporated InSx buffer layers.
Another remarkable finding was that the cell efficiencies
obtained on novel enamel coatings always was slightly
higher than the reference cells on glass. That was the
first and with view on future developments very important
hint that the high potassium content of the self-mixed
novel enamel could be the reason for that. Later on, i.e.
after the end of project, the project partner EMPA could
demonstrate a new CIGS record efficiency on polyimide
foil (20.4%) which was even slightly above the former
record on glass (20.3%). The significant and unexpected
rise of the efficiency from 18.7% to 20.4% was due to
potassium. After publication, other institutes applied the
potassium treatment to high-temperature-CIGS as well
resulting in a big leap up to 20.8% (ZSW) and even more
(21.0%, Solibro).
Fig. 1: J-V and P-V measure-ments of the 18.7 % efficien-cy record device (EMPA) on polyimide film together with the characteristic PV parameters. The measurement has been cer-tified by the Fraunhofer Institute ISE, Freiburg, Germany.
Fig. 2: JV-curve of record cells on enamelled steel substrate a)sample 6308-1 (from first project period) as confirmed by ISE and b) sample 6308-15 (from second project period) as measured at ZSW.
14. New concepts for h igh ef f ic iency and low cost in - l ine manufactured f lex ib le C IGS solar ce l ls (HIPOCIGS)
© ZSW
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CONTACT DETAILS
Prof. Urs Muntwyler, [email protected]
PV-LAB- Berne University of Applied Sciences, Burgdorf,
Switzerland
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.pvtest.ch/
CHALLENGESThe Photovoltaic Laboratory (PV LAB) at Bern University of
Applied Sciences BFH is based in Burgdorf (Switzerland)
and has 30 years of expertise in the field. The PV LAB sup-
ports the energy transition policy of the Swiss Government
(“Energiewende 2050”) with research and education. The
“Energiewende 2050” of the Swiss Government aims
at 20% PV-electricity in the grid in 2050.
Main features of the projectThe PV LAB co-authored a study published in 2012 on
PV-electricity cost, evidencing that the cost for PV-elec-
tricity is (i) very competitive today and (ii) much lower than
figures presented by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy
(SFOE). The authors of the 2012 study also believe that
the contribution from PV-electricity could be up to 30% in
2050 (i.e., higher than the 20% PV-electricity in the grid
as requested by the Swiss Government).
RESULTSA 30% contribution of electricity from PV would allow Swit-
zerland to replace all combustion cars by electric vehicles
and replace the fossil heating systems with heat pumps.
Bern University of Applied Sciences in Biel, hosting the
only automotive engineering department in Switzerland,
has developed solar racing cars and light-weight electric
vehicles since the 1980s. These efforts have resulted in
the well-known SMART car that is now commercialized by
Mercedes Daimler. Several spin-offs of BFH Biel are also
successfully active in the PV industry, e.g. Sputnik is today
among the worldwide leading PV inverter companies.
Currently, BFH in Biel develops and establishes a battery
research center in the city of Biel. In Burgdorf, the PV LAB
at BFH concentrates on the combination of PV electricity
production and electric vehicles (solar carports and smart
grid applications). This research is linked to long-term
measurements of photovoltaic electricity production from
a Swiss measurement network with installations from 3
kWp to 1,35 MWp.
Research activities also concentrate on the planning, de-
sign and realisation of “PV oriented buildings” (PVOB).
Two 60m high buildings in the city of Zürich were retro-
fitted with thin film PV modules on all four façades and
are today the biggest thin film PV façade installations in
the world. A new PV planning software, developed in the
frame of this project, supports the design of PV façades
and “PV skins” on buildings.
15. Photovol ta ic Laboratory (PV-Lab)
© Bern University of Applied Sciences
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Biradial air turbine: perspective view and model testing in laboratory.
CONTACT DETAILS
Luís Gato, [email protected]
Instituto Superior Tecnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.ist.utl.pt
CHALLENGESThe ocean waves are an important renewable energy re-
source that, if extensively exploited, may contribute sig-
nificantly to the electrical energy supply of countries with
coasts facing the ocean. A wide variety of technologies
has been proposed, studied, and in some cases tested at
full size in real ocean conditions. The mechanical process
of energy absorption from the waves requires a moving
interface, involving (i) a partly or totally submerged moving
body and/or (ii) a moving air-water interface subject to an
oscillating pressure. In the latter case, there is a fixed or
oscillating hollow structure, open to the sea below the
water surface that traps air above the inner free-surface;
wave action alternately compresses and decompresses
the trapped air which forces air to flow through a turbine
coupled to a generator. Such a device is named oscillat-
ing-water-column (OWC).
The main advantage of the OWC versus most other
wave energy converters is its simplicity: the only moving
part of the energy conversion mechanism is a turbine, lo-
cated above water level, rotating at a relatively high veloc-
ity and directly driving a conventional electrical generator.
The spar-buoy is a simple concept for a floating OWC. It is
an axisymmetric device (and so insensitive to wave direc-
tion) consisting basically of a (relatively long) submerged
vertical tail tube open at both ends, fixed to a floater that
moves essentially in heave. The length of the tube deter-
mines the resonance frequency of the inner water column.
A version of the spar-buoy is being developed at Instituto
Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon. A 1:16th-scale model was
tested in 2012 at the large wave flume of NAREC, UK.
More recently, in 2014, a 1:32th-scale model of a three-
buoy array was tested at the large wave tank of Plymouth
University, UK.
Main features of the projectThe spar-buoy OWC is to be equipped with a new type of
self-rectifying air turbine: the biradial impulse turbine, pat-
ented by IST. Model tests in laboratory indicated that it is
more efficient than any other competing turbine on which
experimental results are available. Its average efficiency
in random waves (about 72%) is close to, or higher than,
what can be achieved with the conventional high-pressure-
oil circuits with hydraulic motors that equip most wave
energy converters of oscillating body type (like Pelamis).
RESULTSPhase control is a way of bringing the device
close to resonance with the incoming waves
and can substantially increase the amount of
energy absorbed from the waves. In the case
of an OWC converter, this can be done by clos-
ing a valve: the water column is kept in a fixed
position during certain intervals of the oscilla-
tion cycle (latching control). There are specific
problems related to latching control of an OWC:
the difficulty to design and construct a valve
with a response time not exceeding a few tens
of a second. This may be overcome with the
novel biradial turbine, in which an axially sliding
cylindrical valve may be positioned close to the
rotor. This is why only recently latching control
of OWCs has been considered as feasible for
significantly increasing the amount of energy
absorbed from the waves by OWC devices.
The next step is the design, construction, de-
ployment into the sea and testing of a proto-
type, possibly at scale 1:2 to 1:4, to demon-
strate the technology in terms of structural and
power performance, and survivability under ex-
treme conditions.
The ambition of the project is the create an ef-
ficient, reliable and economically competitive
wave energy converter to be deployed in ar-
rays, capable of providing substantial contribu-
tion of clean energy to electrical grids of regions
facing the oceans and large seas.
16. Spar-buoy Osci l la t ing Water Column (OWC) wi th b i radia l turb ine for ocean wave energy convers ion
© IST-Lisbon
Spar-buoy OWC developed at IST
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Project
1. SolarBrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2. Advanced ground source heat pump systems for heating and cooling in Mediterranean climate (GroundMed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3. Next Generation Heat Pump for Retrofitting Buildings (GreenHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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CONTACT DETAILS
Christoph Brunner, [email protected]
AEE - Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien, Gleisdorf, Austria
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.aee-intec.at
CHALLENGESThe manufacture of malt and beer requires large amounts
of electrical and thermal energy which is nowadays mainly
based on fossil fuels. In State of the Art breweries 7.5 –
1.5 kWhel and 60–120 MJth per hl of beer are needed and
the annual output of medium to large sized breweries may
easily exceed one million hl. The entire process heat de-
mand of the thermally driven processes in breweries and
malting plants can be met with heat at a temperature of
between 25 and 105°C on process level. This enables the
integration of solar thermal energy supplied by convention-
al, non-concentrating solar thermal collector technologies
such as flat-plate or evacuated tube collectors.
Against this background, the demonstration of the tech-
nical and economic feasibility of the integration of a
large scale solar thermal system to the mashing pro-
cess of the Austrian brewery Goess was initiated and a
solar process heat application with a gross collector area
of 1,500m² connected to a 200m³ energy storage tank was
finally commissioned in June 2013.
Main features of the projectThe project “SolarBrew” is coordinated by the Austrian
research institute AEE INTEC and financed by Heineken
Supply Chain B.V. to which the brewery Goess belongs.
Funding is provided by the European Commission (FP7) as
well as by the Austrian Klima- und Energiefonds. In order
to meet the holistic approach, the Goess consortium was
complemented by a process engineering partner (GEA
Brewery Systems GmbH) as well as by the Danish solar
thermal collector manufacturer and turn-key supplier of
large-scale solar thermal systems Sunmark A/S.
Solar assisted mashing process for the brewery Goess:
The solar thermal system designed for the brewery Goess
implies several innovative approaches:
• Two steam supplied vessels (mash tuns) were retrofit-
ted by especially designed internal plate heat exchanger
templates which enable a supply system based on hot
water instead of steam.
• The new hot water supply is fed by waste heat from a
nearby biomass CHP plant as well as by a large scale
ground mounted solar thermal system (100 collectors
summing up to a total of 1,500 m² gross collector area)
which is hydraulically connected to a 200 m³ pressurized
solar energy storage tank.
While mashing, the temperature of the mash is contin-
uously increased from a starting temperature of around
58°C to a final temperature of around 78°. If there is so-
lar thermal energy at the right temperature available, the
energy is taken out from the solar energy storage tank
and pumped into the retrofitted plate heat exchangers.
The return flow from the process back to the storage is
stratified according to the temperature. If the temperature
in the solar energy storage is not high the process supply
temperature is heated up in-line via the waste heat from
the biomass CHP plant. Only in case when both systems
cannot supply either the temperature or the energy quan-
tity needed, the existing steam supply system acts as
backup in parallel.
RESULTSFrom simulations it can be expected that almost 30% of
the thermal process energy demand for mashing can be
supplied by the solar thermal system in future and that
the entire process energy demand will be covered with
renewable sources only (waste heat from biomass + solar
thermal). In sum round 1,570 MWh of natural gas per year
corresponding to round 38,000 tons of CO2 equivalents per
year can be saved in future by this hybrid system.
1,500m² flat plate collector field
with 200m³ solar energy storage
and brewery building complex.
Retrofit of two existing mash tuns
with heat exchanger templates.
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Mounting of 200m³ solar
energy storage.
1. SolarBrew
© AEE Intec
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CHALLENGESThe main challenge of the GROUND-MED project has
been to maximize the seasonal performance factor
(SPF) of ground-source heat pumps (GSHP) technology,
looking into the integrated GSHP system comprising the
heat pump, the ground heat exchanger, the heating/cooling
system and all associated components (pumps, fans, etc.).
SPF is the ratio of useful energy delivered (heating, cooling
and sanitary hot water) divided by the electricity consump-
tion throughout the year. SPF depends on the heat pump
technology and system design and operating conditions.
Main features of the projectThe GROUND-MED project has developed, demonstrated
and monitored prototype ground source heat pump (GSHP)
systems in eight buildings of South Europe.
The project has been implemented by 24 European organ-
isations coordinated by the Centre for Renewable Ener-
gy Sources and Saving (CRES). The consortium includes
the European heat pump manufacturers CIAT, HIREF and
OCHSNER WP. It started on 1 January 2009 and will end
on 31 December 2014. It has a budget of approximately
7.24 million euro, 4.3 million of which are the EU funding,
through the FP7.
The project developed eight super heat pump prototypes
incorporating advanced solutions for extraordinary energy
efficiency, advanced low temperature fan-coil unit proto-
types of extremely low (1/5) electricity consumption, an
air-handling unit prototype utilizing condensing heat, cold
storage units, advanced control algorithms, free cooling
operation, as well as local data acquisition systems and
centralized data management system for remote monitor-
ing. Monitoring results demonstrate measured SPF values
above 5 in both heating and cooling modes, well above the
default value of 3.5 accepted by the European Commission
as the EU average of GSHP systems in operation (2013).
RESULTSThe Ground-Med project effectively developed and
demonstrated a new generation of ground source heat
pump systems of superior energy efficiency, providing that
way the technology that will effectively aid the EU to reach
its targets for renewable energy, energy saving and CO2
emissions reduction for 2020 and beyond.
SPF2 (heat pump + external pump) measured in
Ground-Med demo systems.
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CONTACT DETAILS
Dimitrios Mendrinos, [email protected]
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES),
Pikermi, Greece
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.groundmed.eu/
2. Advanced ground source heat pump systems for heat ing and cool ing in Medi terranean c l imate (GroundMed)
View of Ground-Med heat pump and data logging equipment at the
La Fabrica del Sol demonstration site, in Barcelona.
© CRES
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CHALLENGESThe renovation and retrofitting of multi-family houses and
commercial buildings using renewable heating and cool-
ing (RHC) technologies is a key issue for achieving the
EU 20-20-20 targets. About 83% of all residential build-
ings in Europe were built before 1995 and will eventually
need retrofitting. A particular challenge in this context is
to implement renewable heating and cooling systems in
large cities as urban heating still relies heavily on fossil
energy at the present time. This requires the development
of advanced RHC technologies and system integration
concepts based on local resources. The GreenHP project
addresses this challenge by developing an advanced
heating system using air/water heat pump technology
for retrofitting multi-family and commercial buildings
in densely populated areas and cities.
Main features of the projectThe primary goal is to develop an urban heating solution
with minimum environmental impact. In order to achieve
this goal, the GreenHP project pursues a comprehensive
multi-level research approach ranging from new heat pump
component designs to advanced system integration con-
cepts. The main research goals can be summarized as
follows:
Component level: New heat exchanger concepts based on brazed aluminium micro-channel heat exchangers including bionic refrigerant distribution
New compressor concepts for propane as refrigerant
Optimized fan and air flow system and advanced anti-icing and defrosting methods
Unit level: Refrigerant charge reduction
Heat pump design enabling high efficiencies with propane as refrigerant
System level: Building integration concepts including PV and solar thermal collectors
Holistic control strategies for the system
Energy management concepts for smart grid integration
The GreenHP consortium includes the following partners:
Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) - Coordinator, Emer-
son Climate Technologies GmbH, AKG Group, Ziehl-Abegg
SE, Hesch Schröder GmbH, Gränges AB, Royal Institute
of Technology (KTH), Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy
Systems (Fraunhofer ISE), European Heat Pump Associ-
ation (EHPA).
INITIAL RESULTSGreenHP is an ongoing project. The first task was to de-
velop an application scenario for the GreenHP system and
to assess its potential in Europe. Locations in different
climate zones and different building types were considered
in order to identify a high impact scenario. The analysis
shows that the highest potential for the GreenHP system
is expected for multi-family houses built before 1995 and
located in the ErP (Energy Related Product Directive) av-
erage climate zone. In Germany alone, for example, there
are 2.78 million multi-family houses built before 1995. The
GreenHP system is hence designed for a retrofitted multi-
family house in the average climate zone with a living area
of about 600 m². It is based on a variable capacity air/water
heat pump and can provide up to 30 kW of heat for space
heating and domestic hot water.
CONTACT DETAILS
Michael Monsberger, [email protected]
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, Austria
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.greenhp.eu
3. Next Generat ion Heat Pump for Retrof i t t ing Bui ld ings (GreenHP)
Based on this analysis, a building integration
concept for the GreenHP heat pump unit is cur-
rently being developed for combined operation
with a photovoltaic and a solar thermal system.
Different control strategies, including a strategy
based on price signals from the electricity mar-
ket are considered in order to identify building
integration concepts with high seasonal perfor-
mance and optimized operating costs. The sim-
ulation results serve as a basis for the design
and development of a lab-scale air/water heat
pump pilot. In order to prove the potential of
the GreenHP concept, the lab-scale pilot will be
subjected to stand-alone performance testing
and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
The research leading to these results has re-
ceived funding from the European Union Sev-
enth Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013
under grant agreement no. 308816.
© AIT
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Project
1. New feedstock and innovative transformation process for a more sustainable development and production of lignocellulosic ethanol (BABETHANOL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2. Sodium borohydride fuel cell vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3. Bioethanol production from wood waste, by enzymatic hydrolysis Buildings (GreenHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
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CONTACT DETAILS
Mercedes Ballesteros Perdices, [email protected]
CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.ciemat.es
CHALLENGESBABETHANOL is a collaborative research project between
Europe and Latin America for the development of more
sustainable processes for 2nd generation biofuels from
lignocellulosic biomass and the definition of new local
feedstocks out of competition for the food industry.
Main features of the projectBABETHANOL develops solutions for a more sustainable
approach to 2nd generation renewable ethanol, based on
a “moderate, environmentally-friendly and integrated”
transformation process that should be applicable to an
expanded range of lignocellulosic feedstocks. The new
process, called CES, will be an alternative to the costly
state-of-the-art, processes notably the current pre-treat-
ments requiring much energy, water, chemical products,
detoxification and waste treatment. CES will be developed
and tested from laboratory to semi-industrial pilot-scale
with different feedstocks. A catalogue of lignocellulosic
feedstocks from crops and agro-industrial residues avail-
able in South America and Western Europe and suitable
for the new process will be developed during the project.
The project aims to develop a new pretreatment for the
production of 2nd generation ethanol that will provide a
substantial cost reduction in comparison with current pro-
cesses which use stat-of-the-art pretreatments, such as
acid hydrolysis. The new pretreatment will be especially
adapted to small size production plants that can be locat-
ed in rural or urban areas were crops or agro-industrial
residues can be available in amounts of at least 30.000
tons per year. Conditions in the Latin American countries
involved in this project are particularly suitable to this new
pretreatment.
RESULTS
Lignocellulosic biomass transformations that produce
2nd generation bioethanol are currently widely studied all
around the world. Four lignocellulosic materials, selected
for their expected potential for conversion to 2nd genera-
tion ethanol, have been fully characterized: Blue Agave Ba-
gasse (BAB): a fibrous residue resulting from the manufac-
turing of Tequila; Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OPEFB):
another fibrous residue resulting from the manufacturing
of palm oil; Sweet Corn (SC): a residue mixture resulting
from the harvest of corn and the production of sweet corn;
and Barley Straw (BS): a fibrous residue resulting from the
harvest of barley.
These materials have been used for the development of
the new pre-treatment process at laboratory scale. Oth-
er potential feedstocks from Latin America and Western
Europe have been searched. Priority has been given to
biomasses with specific chemical composition: cellulose
>34%, hemicelluloses <30%, lignin <22%, ash<10%, li-
pids<10%, proteins<10% and not competing with human
and animal feedings. Available amounts and geographical
concentrations of these materials have also been major
selection criteria with a view to supplying production plants
of minimum 30.000 tons per year processing capacity in
regional/local level.
The study of the CES process at laboratory scale is well
advanced: the optimum operating conditions are different
for each biomass but within a small range of variation.
1. New feedstock and innovat ive t ransformat ion process for a more susta inable development and product ion of l ignocel lu los ic e thanol (BABETHANOL)
EUREC Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue52 EUREC Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue 53
CONTACT DETAILS
Dr.Osman Okur, [email protected]
TUBITAK MRC Energy Institute, Gebze Kocaeli, Turkey
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.mam.gov.tr
2. Sodium borohydr ide fuel ce l l vehic le
CHALLENGESFuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have the potential to significantly
reduce our dependence on oil and lower harmful emis-
sions that contribute to climate change. Fuel Cell Vehicles
run on hydrogen gas rather than gasoline and emit no
harmful tailpipe emissions. The efficiency of a hydrogen
fuel cell vehicle is three times more than a petrol-fuelled
engine. However, hydrogen storage on board the vehi-
cle is the key factor to achieve market success for FCVs.
Sodium borohydride (NaBH4) has often been considered
the best choice for hydrogen production among the ex-
isting hydrides. NaBH4 is also a good hydrogen storage
material with a reported gravimetric H2 capacity up to 9.0
as percentage by weight using water and catalysts and up
to 21.3 as percentage by weight using water vapor. If the
inherent drawbacks of this material like limited solubility,
instability, expensive catalyst, recycling problem of byprod-
uct sodium metaborate (NaBO2) are eliminated, then the
usage of NaBH4 for hydrogen production is going to be
increased and its production cost will decrease from 50
to 5 US$/kg.
Main features of the projectIn the Sodium Borohydride Fuel Cell Vehicle Project, TUB-
ITAK MRC Energy Institute has designed, developed and
built a 5 kW hydrogen generation system (HGS) based
on hydrolysis of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) that is in-
tegrated with a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
(PEMFC) stack in a sport vehicle. Copper, Nikel-based sup-
ported catalysts on different materials were prepared by
conventional impregnation method. The maximum hydro-
gen generation capacity of the system was 70 Litres per
minute. The developed on board system was integrated
into a vehicle. The produced hydrogen is fed to fuel cell
system. 5 kW power is produced at a constant loading of
72 Volt and 70 Ampere, and the generated power drives
the electrical motor successfully. The road tests of the
vehicle are completed.
Bipolar plates, catalysts, membrane electrode assembly
have been manufactured and high power density fuel cell
system integration has been performed.
RESULTSThe three main outputs of the projects are:
• A 5 kW fuel cell system
• A 7 m3 capacity- 70 Liters/minute production speed
Hydrogen production system
• Fuel Cell Vehicle
A 5 kW fuel cell system has been manufactured for 95%
with national technological capability. The maximum speed
of the vehicle is 90 km and the range with full fuel tank
is 150 km.
The output of the project is a zero-emission vehicle in-
dependent from fossil fuels. The hydrogen source for
the fuel cell is obtained from boron reserves which Turkey
holds for the 70% of total world reserves.
The Sodium Borohydride Fuel Cell Vehicle (BORMOBÍL) is
the first in Turkey for 5+5 kW hybrid concept.
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CONTACT DETAILS
Prof.dr.ing. ALEXANDRU NAGHIU, [email protected]
University of Agricultural Sciences Cluj-Napoca, Romania
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.icia.ro
CHALLENGESThe project Bioethanol production from wood waste by
enzymatic hydrolysis aims to develop a technology for
transformingwood waste into bioethanol. In Romania,
wood waste represents a significant renewable resource
for bioethanol production.
Biomass is one of the key ways to ensure security of
supply and sustainable energy in Europe. Wood waste
represents a cheap carbohydrate source for bioethanol
production.
Wood waste contains an orderly arrangement of cells with
walls composed of varying amounts of cellulose, hemi-
cellulose and lignin. Bioethanol can be produced from
cellulose and hemicellulose.
Main features of the projectThe novelty of the project consists in the combination of
enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation in one step (simul-
taneous saccharification and fermentation process).
The technology for converting wood waste into ethanol
consists in the following steps:
• autohydrolysis pretreatment of wood waste to separate-
carbohydrates components and to make wood available
for hydrolysis;
• enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of cellulosic frac-
tion and
• distillation and purification of bioethanol.
RESULTSThe technology has many advantages compared with
other existing technologies in the field: ecological pre-
treatment method; hydrolysis and fermentation can be
performed in one step; the content of lignin is very small
(only traces) which implies a high yield of hydrolysis (since
lignin acts as inhibitory of hydrolysis) and high bioethanol
concentration (4 -10%).
Bioethanol obtained from wood has a great potential to
replace the existing fuels and to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. The bioethanol obtained from waste wood can
be blended with fossil fuel and used in cars.
3. B ioethanol product ion f rom wood waste , by enzymat ic hydrolys is
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Project
1. Towards a sustainable energy system- Integrating sources of renewable energy (I-Balance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2. Microgrids in Navarra: design, development and implementation (ATENEA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3. Critical Resources and Material Flows during the Transformation of the German Energy Supply System (KRESSE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4. Smart Nord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5. Efficient Energy for EU Cultural Heritage (3ENCULT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6. Power Supply and Storage Demand in 2050 (RESTORE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7. Sustainable SwissTech Convention Center (STCC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
8. Energy-saving in a supermarket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
9. Excellence in energy education at the University of Oldenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
10. Storage systems for renewable energy management (SmartGrids Navicelli) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
11. Facilitating energy storage to allow high penetration of intermittent renewable energy (stoRE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
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CONTACT DETAILS
Piet de Vey Mestdagh, [email protected]
EnTranCe (Energy Transition Centre), Groningen, The Netherlands
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.en-tran-ce.org
CHALLENGESThe increasing importance and role of renewable energy
sources is changing the energy system. Managing peaks
and troughs in electrical energy production and consump-
tion is an issue of crucial importance to the whole system.
Finding new ways of integrating renewable sources of
energy is integral to system balance. Together with the
philosophy of “People in Power”, local energy production
and balance are the focus of study at Hanze University of
Applied Sciences. Hanze UAS has several research pro-
jects with this focus that started with the Flexines project
in 2006 and is now rapidly expanding to deal with the is-
sues of balancing, demand/response, central/local storage,
bio-gas and energy transformation (P2G). The research
project I-Balance at the living lab facility EnTranCe (En-
ergy Tansition Centre) at Hanze UAS is implemented in
close cooperation with the local community of Hooghalen
(Drenthe).
EnTranCe is a hotspot of applied sciences for business
and innovation. Students and researchers work together
in a five and a half hectare field with semi permanent
buildings to carry out open innovation together with com-
panies, government and research institutes. Companies
concerned with the future of our energy system have the
opportunities, facilities, technology and the best possible
network to support them in the development of energy
products and services. At EnTranCe start-ups are able to
expand business models with the support of experts from
the academic and business sectors (e.g. lawyers, econo-
mists, marketing and financial experts, business adminis-
trators and behavioral scientists). This approach enables
good ideas to be immediately translated into successful
market orientated products. I-Balance is one of these de-
velopments.
Main features of the projectThe I-Balance project is characterized by horizontal inte-
gration whereby gas (now natural, in the future green gas)
and electricity are combined to form an integrated energy
supply through the inclusion of locally produced sustain-
able energies. The project works throughout the entire
energy chain using open innovation.
The I-Balance project is carried out through the collabo-
ration and interplay of research institutions, medium and
small businesses, large commercial interests and practice
orientated research.
RESULTS
Based upon the knowledge already available through
research and industrial application, the following will be
developed:
• New concepts for the decentralized generation of
sustainable energy. Peak-shaving by more efficient
use of natural gas to produce electricity, replaceable
in the future by green gas.
• ICT protocols for power electronics concerning net-
work quality and stability, the basic conditions for
inclusion of sustainable forms of energy within the
existing and future system
• A new integrated balancing mode.
• Tested concepts using real-time sustainable energy,
locally produced in a monitoring situation of 50 house-
holds in Hooghalen (Drenthe, NL)
1. Towards a susta inable energy system- Integrat ing sources of renewable energy ( I -Balance)
© Hanze University of Applied Sciences
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CONTACT DETAILS
Monica Aguado Alonso, [email protected]
CENER- Renewable Energy Integration Grid Department, Sarriguren, Spain
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.cener.com/en/renewable-energy-grid-integration/product-specifications.asp
CHALLENGESThe demonstration of the feasibility of the smartgrid con-
cept for electric power systems and and the definition of
solutions to improve RES penetration in the energy mix
were at the basis of the ATENEA project.
The aim of the project was to design microgrids with
control strategies to allow for the optimization of differ-
ent elements, adding new functionalities, assuring load
supply in isolate mode, attenuating disturbances in con-
nected mode and collaborating with the grid for stability
maintenance.
The Specific Objectives were:
• To manage the generated power at each moment in
order to assure load supply.
• To ensure that the power consumed comes from re-
newable sources to promote for the energy self-suf-
ficiency of the installation.
• To protect installations from grid or microgrid faults.
• To send the energy excess to the grid making the
microgrid an active part of the distribution network.
Main features of the projectThe Department of Innovation, Enterprise and Employ-
ment of Navarra Government and the European Union
through the regional funds FEDER financed the project
“Microgrids in Navarra: design, development and imple-
mentation”
The project created a microgrid aimed at industrial appli-
cation of Alternate Current architecture with a power of
100 kW. The generated electricity is supplied to part of
the Wind Turbine Test Laboratory – LEA- electric loads of
CENER and to the lightning of the Rocaforte industrial area.
The installation is also used as a test bench for new equip-
ment, generation systems, energy storage, control strate-
gies and protection schemes. It can operate in connected
or in isolated mode. It consists of the following modules:
GENERATION ENERGY STORAGE LOADS
PV system Vanadium redox flow battery
Programmable loads
Small wind turbine
VRLA batteries LEA load
Gas micro-turbine Li-ion battery Industrial area lighting
Diesel generator Supercapacitors Microgrid load
Electric vehicle
Electric forklift
RESULTSThe following tools have been successfully developed:
• Microgrid design and optimitation
• Virtual Platform. It is developed in Matlab-Simulink
and illustrates the whole microgrid configuration
and its models, namely: PV panels, flow battery,
wind turbine, etc. This platform serves to validate
the microgrid control, to develop different energy
management strategies and to analyze the system
response due to different events.
• Cener Management Optimization Software - CeMOS
2. Microgr ids in Navarra : des ign, development and implementat ion (ATENEA)
© CENER
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CONTACT DETAILS
Peter Viebhan, [email protected]
Wuppertal Institut for Climate, Environment, and Energy,
Wuppertal, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://wupperinst.org/en/projects/details/wi/p/s/pd/38/
CHALLENGESAccording to targets set by the German Federal Govern-
ment, renewable energies are to account for 18 per cent
of gross final energy consumption by 2020, rising to 60 per
cent by 2050. If only electricity generation is considered,
the proportion of gross electricity consumption contributed
by electricity from renewable energy sources is to increase
to 80 per cent by 2050. However, it is not only energy sup-
ply or climate protection criteria that play a crucial role in
realising the development of renewable energy sources – a
comprehensive sustainability assessment of the individual
technologies must be made taking into account a variety
of criteria. Such criteria include short- and long-term cost
considerations, energy security, the impact on land use
and the countryside, social acceptability, environmental
impacts and resource requirements.
When it comes to resource assessments, it is recognised
that the overall resource utilisation of an energy system
is generally considerably lower if it is based on renewa-
ble energies (albeit not primarily on biomass) rather than
on fossil fuels. However, this does not necessarily mean
that renewable energies must always be considered as
being unproblematic with regard to the use of resources.
In particular, limited research has been undertaken on the
consumption and long-term availability of minerals, usual-
ly required in the manufacture of energy converters and
infrastructure. In this connection, the availability of rare
earth elements, such as indium, gallium, lanthanum and
neodymium, and other raw materials that play a significant
role, such as nickel and vanadium, is of particular interest.
The study of the Wuppertal Institute, finalised in June
2014, attempts to close the previous assessment gap,
contributing to the holistic sustainability analysis of re-
newable energies. The aim of the study was to provide an
indication as to whether and how the transformation of the
energy supply system can be shaped more resource-ef-
ficiently with a high degree of expansion of renewable
energies. To achieve this, the study involved investigating
which “critical” minerals are relevant in Germany for the
production of technologies that generate electricity, heat
and fuels from renewable energies in a time perspective
up to 2050. Figure 1 and 2 show, for example, a possible
development of some mineral resources according to dif-
ferent scenarios for the deployment of wind power and
photovoltaics by 2050. In this connection, the assessment
of being “critical” comprises the long-term availability of
the raw materials identified, the supply situation, recy-
clability and the environmental conditions governing their
extraction.
MAIN FEATURES OF THE PROJECTThe study shows that the geological availabil-
ity of minerals does not generally represent a
limiting factor in the planned expansion of re-
newable energies in Germany. It may not be
possible, however, for each technology variant
to be used to an unlimited extent.
Of the technologies investigated, the following
have proven to be most probably non-critical
with regard to the supply of minerals:
• Use in the electricity sector: solar thermal
energy, hydropower, wind turbines without
rare earth magnets, silicon-based crystal-
line photovoltaics
• Use in the heating sector: geothermal en-
ergy, solar thermal energy
• Infrastructure: electricity grids, specific
types of electricity storage devices, alka-
line electrolysis and solid oxide fuel cells
The supply of minerals in the use of biomass
and biofuels in the electricity, heat and transport
sectors cannot be classified as being critical ei-
ther. However, the availability of biomass itself
and the associated problems, especially land
use and competitive usage, depending on the
type of biomass, would have to be taken into
account.
Specific elements or sub-technologies of wind
energy, photovoltaics and battery storage were
identified as being critical with regard to the
supply of minerals. However, there are non-criti-
cal alternatives to these technologies that could
increasingly be used in future or that already
dominate the market.
With regard to geothermal electricity genera-
tion, a relevant demand for various critical al-
loying elements cannot at least be ruled out
in the case of a major expansion. There are
several arguments in favour of assessing ge-
othermal electricity generation as “relevant”
with regard to its future demand for steel alloys.
However, the data base is as yet inadequate
for forecasting this demand reliably, meaning
that no conclusions can be drawn at present
for geothermal energy.
CONCLUSIONSWhilst the heating and transport sectors are
most probably not considered as being critical
in the event of the direct use of renewable ener-
gies, attention needs to be paid to the electricity
sector with reference to the research question
raised. Even if the availability of minerals for
the relevant technologies is not a problem, po-
tential supply risks owing to dependencies on a
few supplier countries and competitive usages
should be borne in mind. One central aspect of
the policy recommendations derived from the
study is the proposal to focus in the medium
term on efficiency and recycling strategies and
on strategies for prolonging the useful life and
life cycle of systems in the bid to secure Ger-
many’s raw material supply.
3. Cr i t ica l Resources and Mater ia l F lows dur ing the Transformat ion of the German Energy Supply System (KRESSE)
© Wuppertal Institute
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Source: [1] Lehnhoff, S. ; Klingenberg, T. ; Blank, M. ; Calabria, M. ;
Schumacher, W.Distributed coalitions for reliable and stable provision
of frequency response reserve, 2013 IEEE International Workshop on
Intelligent Energy Systems (IWIES)
CONTACT DETAILS
Sebastian Lehnhoff, [email protected]
OFFIS, Oldenburg, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://smartnord.de/
CHALLENGESThe increase in renewable power generation causes an
overall decrease in conventional power generation from
large-scale and highly predictable fossil power plants.
Aside from market-based provision of active power sched-
ules, these power plants are crucial for the provision of
short-term automatic ancillary services such as frequency
and voltage control. Substituting these plants for renew-
able generation units requires the latter to be capable of
providing these ancillary services in order to guarantee
a reliable and stable power supply.
Main features of the projectThe project presents an integrated approach for identifying
distributed coalitions of agents representing distributed
generation units capable of providing frequency response
reserve. A method was developed for calculating the indi-
vidual droop control parameters of each participating de-
vice taking into account opportunity costs, device-specific
reliabilities (e.g. for photovoltaic or wind installations) as
well as the small-signal stability of such a coalition for fre-
quency response reserve. In addition, secondary as well
as tertiary control was considered in a similar fashion.
RESULTS
Coalitions of small inverter based generators are capa-
ble of providing dependable ancillary services. This will
mitigate the amount of fossil power needed to stabilize
the system. There is however the need to expand the
classic frequency/Power-droop control regime in order to
avoid stability issues due to inverter-to-invert-interactions
when implementing large-scale autonomous frequency
control from small-scale devices. In addition this will be
a future business model for distributed and intermittent
generators.
4. SMART NORD
© OFFIS
Response of the coalition after a drop in frequency at the transformer.
Inje
cted
Pow
er [k
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CONTACT DETAILS
Alexandra Troi, [email protected]
EURAC research, Bozen, Italy
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.3encult.eu
CHALLENGES3ENCULT bridges the gap between conservation of his-
toric buildings and climate protection. Historic buildings
are the trademark of numerous European towns and will
only survive if maintained as a living space. Energy effi-
cient retrofit is important – both for improving the comfort
and reducing energy demand (in terms of money and in
terms of resources) and for structural protection in heritage
buildings.
3ENCULT demonstrates that it is feasible to reduce the
energy demand also in historic buildings to 1/4 or even
1/10, depending on the case and the heritage value.
Main features of the projectA core element in 3ENCULT was the multidisciplinary
team, who elaborated a comprehensive refurbishment
strategy for historic buildings: tools for the diagnosis, pas-
sive and active retrofit solutions as well as monitoring and
control devices.
The results are demonstrated in 8 case studies and trans-
ferred into building practice via diverse channels, including
advice to CEN, virtual library on www.buildup.eu and a
handbook with guideline for planners as well as targeted
information and training material for education and indus-
try, but also study tours, workshops and e-guidelines for
local governments and decision makers and last but not
least information for building owners and a wide audience
through web and TV.
RESULTS
There is no “one-fits-all”-solution – too unique is each
historic building. The project rather proposes a “pool” of
solutions and guidance how to find the right one for the
specific building:
• a highly energy-efficient conservation-compatible
window
• improved capillary active internal insulation
• a low impact ventilation based on active overflow
principle
• a LED wall washer for high quality and low impact
illumination (e.g. in museums)
• integrated PV solution and guideline on RES integra-
tion in Historic Buildings
• the web-based “roombook” integrating conserva-
tion and energy aspects supporting the multidiscipli-
nary diagnosis and design
• wireless sensor networks and a Building Manage-
ment System dedicated to Historic Buildings
• adaptation of PHPP (Passive House Planning Pack-
age) and integration of historic buildings in EnerPHIT
certification
As regards to the impact: 14% of EU building stock
dates before 1919, 26% before 1945 – and even if only
part of it is listed, most of it constitutes our built herit-
age and should be treated with care. Reducing its ener-
gy demand (~855 TWh) by 75% will result in more than
180 Mt CO2 saved (3.6% of EU-27 emissions in 1990).
Partnership: Coordinator – EURAC research, Italy. Austria: Bartenbach Lichtlabor, Univer-
sity of Innsbruck. Belgium: REHVA, youris.com. Czech Republic: ATREA. Denmark: Royal
Danish Academy of Fine Arts. France: Menuiserie André. Germany: ICLEI, IDK, Passivhaus
Institut, Remmers, Technical University of Dresden, University of Stuttgart. Italy: Artemis,
Municipality of Bologna, University of Bologna. Netherlands: TNO. Spain: CARTIF, Grupo
Unisolar. United Kingdom: ARUP.
5. E f f ic ient Energy for EU Cul tura l Her i tage (3ENCULT)
© EURAC
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Figure 1: RESTORE 2050 is primarily concerned with
the European power supply network of the future.
Amongst other aspects, it is investigated the impor-
tance of the extension of the transmission network,
storage and methods of load management for a reliable
power supply based on weather dependent renewable
energy sources.
Figure 3: Current sector-specific potential for DSM in Germany in terms of energy (upper panels) and capacities (lower
panels) for average summer week (left panels) and winter week (right panels). The sectors investigated are 1)electric
heating, 2)AC and water heating, 3)domestic cooling devices, 4)domestic white goods (except for cooling), 5)ventilation,
6/7)industrial cooling, 8)industrial processes eligible for DSM, and 9)industrial base load.
CONTACT DETAILS
Dr Thomas Vogt, [email protected]
NEXT ENERGY – EWE-Forschungszentrum für Energietechnologie e. V.,
Oldenburg, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.next-energy.de
CHALLENGESRecent studies show that in the year 2050 a power sup-
ply system for Europe that is based on almost 100 % on
renewable energies is possible. However, those studies
do not address adequately all important aspects and ques-
tions concerning the transition to a future power supply
system. Some of these aspects are: the systematic rela-
tion between the developing transmission network across
Europe; the intermittent availability wind and solar power
on different temporal and spatial scale; the adequate anal-
ysis of required storage capacities and interconnectors.
RESTORE 2050 addresses these and other strategic as-
pects by combining meta-analysis of available studies and
detailed system modeling. The focus is on quantifying the
requirement and effect of storage capacities and demand
side management considering the effect of pan-European
power balancing due to the availability of interconnectors
with varying capacities. The overall goal of the project is to
develop consistent political recommendations on how to
stimulate the transformation of the German power system
considering the European dimension of the future power
supply by renewables.
Main features of the projectThe project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) through the funding initia-
tive Energy Storage and runs for three years until October
2015. Project partners are the Carl von Ossietzky Univer-
sität Oldenburg, the Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt,
Energie GmbH, and NEXT ENERGY - EWE-Forschungszen-
trum für Energietechnologie e.V. The project benefits from
the key competences of the partners in energy meteorolo-
gy/technology, on system and grid analyses as well as on
the development of computerised models and scenarios.
The recommended actions derived from the research re-
sults contribute to develop a German political strategy up
to 2050 that takes Europe into account.
RESULTSThe primary objective of RESTORE 2050 is to give sus-
tainable recommendations for a target-orientated political
management to transform the German power system
in the European context. To this end, four issues are ad-
dressed on the basis of the future expected development
in power supply/demand within the ENTSO-E network up
to the year 2050 as well as on high spatial and temporal
resolved meteorological time series: (1) National devel-
opment strategy for renewable energies in the European
context, (2) expansion of the transmission grid as well as
alternatives (load management), (3) the meaning of power
exchange with third countries, (4) the role of storage at
transmission grid level. The recommended actions derived
from the research results contribute to the development of
a German political strategy up to 2050 that takes Europe
into account.
AcknowledgmentsFunding of the joint project RESTORE 2050 by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research through the funding initiative Energy
Storage is kindly acknowledged (funding code 03SF0439A).
Web link: http://forschung-energiespeicher.info/en/project-showcase/analysen/projekt-einzelansicht/54/Stromversorgung_und_Speicherbedarf_im_Jahr_2050/
6. Power Supply and Storage Demand in 2050 (RESTORE)
Figure 2: Simulated wind power output (normalised to
nominal output) with high spatial resolution (7 km x 7km).
© Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
© NEXT ENERGY
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Sustainable SwissTech Convention Center
General view of STCC
2 MW-p BiPV power plant
mounted on the building roofs of
the EPFL campus
CONTACT DETAILS
Philippe Vollichard, [email protected]
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://tstcc.ch/fr/index.php
CHALLENGESThe SwissTech Convention Center (STTC) on the EPFL
campus in Lausanne (Switzerland), open in April 2014, is
one of the World most modern and best-equipped con-
ference centers. Its large auditorium can be automatically
transformed from a 3,000-seat amphitheatre to a 1’800 m2
banquet hall. The STCC was designed according to sus-
tainable principles by combining several Renewable
Energy Technologies (BiPV, solar thermal, heat pumps,
geothermal pillars, daylighting, etc.) with a mixed use of
space (student rooms, shops, hotel and services) and an
eco-friendly mobility (metro line, electric vehicles)..
Main features of the projectSpace heating and cooling
The core energy concept of STCC is the use of heat re-
jection from the water circulating in the buildings of the
EPFL campus originally pumped from Lake Geneva. The
water mainly used for cooling the campus buildings due
to the large available free gains enables to provide heating
during wintertime (1.1 MW max power) and cooling during
summertime (1.6 MW max power) to STCC thanks to a
reversible heat pump. It is returned to the lake via a nearby
river without harming the environment.
Domestic hot water
The STCC domestic hot water is
100% renewable and produced by
solar thermal collectors located on
the rooftops of the nearby student
lodgings and shops, as well as by
heat pumps recovering the waste
heat from ventilation and/or fridges.
Daylighting
The STCC makes primarily use of
daylight in the entrance hall and
even in the large 3’000 seats plena-
ry room for sake of energy savings
and users comfort. A maximal use of daylighting is also
made in the basement.
World Premiere for Dye Solar Cells
A transparent and coloured glazing performs the double
function of sun shadings and solar electricity generation
for the STCC Western façade. It is the first large-scale
implementation of the Dye Solar Cells (DSC), invented
by EPFL Professor Michael Grätzel and manufactured by
a local “Start-up” company.
RESULTSThe DSC power plant produces annually 2,000 kWh of
solar electricity and prevents the STCC from overheating.
It will be completed by a 250 kW-p BiPV power plant involv-
ing thin film solar technology, which is part of a 2 MW-p
BiPV power plant completed last year and mounted on
the roofs of the EPFL campus buildings. The solar power
plant supported by a public utility (Romande Energie) and
EPFL generated 2 millions of kWh in 2013.
7. Susta inable SwissTech Convent ion Center (STCC)
© EPFL
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Doors on all cabinets is just one of the actions that have reduced the
energy consumption significantly for the ICA City supermarket in Borås
in Sweden.
CONTACT DETAILS
Ulla Lindberg, [email protected]
SP- Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.sp.se
CHALLENGESRetailers are used to negotiate, and are very good at it.
They are used to go for the lowest initial cost. Salesmen,
often from very small installing companies, have since
many years adapted the technical solutions to the buyer’s
wishes.
The main challenge is to introduce trust.
• Making the retailer believe that the higher initial cost
will result in a return on operating cost.
• Making the installers to abandon known solutions and
dare to use “new” technology.
Due to this behavior to buy “cheap”, there is a high po-
tential for better energy efficiency. Many retailers believe
glass doors for retail cabinets will lower the sales.
About 4% of the electrical energy in an industrialized coun-
try goes to the supermarkets and about half of that is used
for the refrigeration system.
Main features of the projectThe dairy section in an existing supermarket was given a
total remake.
All display cabinets for chilled food were equipped with
glass doors. The refrigeration units were changed and
designed for best possible part load and lowest possible
temperature lift at all times. The whole control system
was changed. Heat pumps were introduced to reuse the
heat flow from the refrigeration installation for heating of
the building and sanitary hot water.
RESULTSThe introduction of glass doors cut the cooling load in half.
The effect on the sales volumes has not yet been fully
evaluated but the retailers, who have very exact knowl-
edge through the computerized cash register system, have
not reported any negative effects.
The efficiency of the refrigeration system conservatively
calculated from the measured data before and after the
changes is more than doubled.
The 50% load reduction (due to glass doors on the cab-
inet) and the double efficiency (due to improvements of
the refrigeration units) give the result of 25 % remaining
electrical energy need on an annual basis.
The introduction of heat pumps using the heat from the
refrigeration system replaced most of the heating needs.
Only 10-15% of the original heating needs have to be ex-
ternally supplied. As there is still a large remaining potential
for energy savings and energy integration, the retailer has
started to discuss with stakeholders in neighboring build-
ings for the use of all available heat.
All installations are conventional commercial installations.
Thus, there is a huge potential to improve energy efficien-
cy in other supermarkets without delay as well simply by
copying the solutions demonstrated in the project!
AcknowledgmentThe project was performed at SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden
with financial support from the Swedish Energy agency and industry
through the research programme BeLivs.
8. Energy-saving in a supermarket
© SP
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CONTACT DETAILS
Evelyn Brudler
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany
Email: [email protected]
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/en/energycourses/
CHALLENGESThe main objective of such a project is to establish a high
level interdisciplinary and cross-faculty cooperation in
education in Renewable Energy (RE), - grounded in and
growing from the research groups in Renewable Energy
(ENERiO) at the University of Oldenburg.
Main features of the projectFour sub-projects cooperated to establish high level ed-
ucation in RE: an interdisciplinary PhD-programme on 5
scholarships attached to the ENERiO research groups; a
fellowship programme at the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg
(city of Delmenhorst); a coordinator acting as a commu-
nicator amongst the research groups and educational
programmes in RE at the university; the development
of an online teaching unit at the Institute of Education in
Economics.
The project was established to aggregate existing activities
in RE education, to facilitate closer communication be-
tween the active groups and to increase the visibility of all
of it to the university members and potential international
students and to offer high level education from Bachelor
/ Master to PhD students. The PhD scholars formed an
interdisciplinary group on system integration of RE power
to power grids. The fellowship programme attracted world-
wide researchers while having them to also teach module
units in RE Master- and PhD-courses. Furthermore, inter-
disciplinary events for Master and PhD students took place
at the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg. An online teaching unit
in Energy Economics was developed.
RESULTSThe project led, on the one side, to a higher visibility of
the existing education in Renewable Energy at the Uni-
versity of Oldenburg to an international community as
well as within the university itself. One feature was the
establishment of the Platform for the Study of Renewa-
ble Energy and interdisciplinary (partly international) joint
Master/PhD events. A new teaching unit “economics in
RE” was established and successfully tested in RE Master
education. The overall communication amongst the study
programmes led to increased exchange of students in the
single teaching units, even cross faculty wise.
On the other side, high level interdisciplinary research
opportunities attracted young researchers and increased
further the interdisciplinary cooperation amongst the RE
research groups.
Finally the overall communication between the teaching
and research units increased.
9. Excel lence in energy educat ion at the Univers i ty of Oldenburg
© University of Oldenburg
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1 MW electric storage system
CONTACT DETAILS
Stefano Barsali, [email protected]
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle
Costruzioni (DESTEC), Università di Pisa, Italy
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.dsea.unipi.it
CHALLENGESIn the framework of an increasing share of renewable
sources supplying power to the electric system, the fa-
cilitated regime which enabled renewable plants not to
provide the grid with regulation and control services will
be soon replaced with standard rules which will require all
plants to be dispatchable as well as provider of regulation
services. Without any storage device, power curtailment
or use of conventional generation are the only chances to
comply with the forthcoming grid requirements.
Even when grid requirements are not so tight, the in-
tegrated management of the sources available in the
framework of a Virtual Power Plant, jointly with some
storage devices, enables improving the effectiveness
of the exploitation of renewable sources.
Main features of the projectNavicelli is located near the town of Pisa and hosts several
shipyards, commercial and office buildings.
The project (funded by the Tuscany region authority) was
mainly organised in two demonstrators: the first one re-
lates to the MV network and mainly involves a large (1MW)
electric storage system (see photo) to ease the integration
of the large (3.7MW) PV plant; the second one regards the
Navicelli headquarter building where a 19kW cogeneration
plant, a 6kW wind turbine and a 15kW electric storage
system, as well as a thermal storage, were added to the
existing PV generator to demonstrate the operation of
innovative methods and tools for energy management
optimisation.
RESULTSThe 1MW storage system (although with a limited amount
of energy) demonstrates how the output of a PV plant can
be controlled while some grid services are made available.
The prototype demonstrates how renewable energy-based
systems can be made a competitive option, even in a not
subsidized regime, without being hindered by their random
nature.
The Virtual Power Plant system showed how an overall
optimization algorithm can be adopted with different opti-
mization criterion (maximum profit, maximum energy from
renewables, etc.) when different sources are available.
Examples of frequency response
10. Storage systems for renewable energy management (SmartGr ids Navice l l i )
© University of Pisa
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Example of rejected energy recovery by a 2 GW pumped storage system in Greece.
PHES and controllable plants load variation in Greece for 80% RES share scenario.
CONTACT DETAILS
Ioannis Anagnostopoulos, [email protected]
NTUA (National Technical University of Athens), Athens, Greece
Project Coordinator: Michael Papapetrou, [email protected]
WIP- Renewable Energies, Munich, Germany
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.store-project.eu
CHALLENGESThe stoRE project facilitates the realization of the ambi-
tious objectives for renewable energy by unlocking the
potential for energy storage infrastructure. Energy
storage, as part of an integrated approach including grid
reinforcement and demand management, helps to accom-
modate higher percentages of variable renewable energy
by balancing the supply and demand and improving the
power quality.
Even if we assume the existence of a supergrid there is a
certain need for new energy storage capacity in Europe.
This need for storage has to be recognized at EU/national
policy level in order to facilitate project development.
The framework conditions such as the power system char-
acteristics, the market operation and the regulations vary
significantly from one Member State to another creating
an environment for energy storage that does not reflect
the relevant needs.
There is a lack of wide acceptance of the need for storage,
limited understanding of the challenges, and no common
vision of the future of energy storage among the relevant
stakeholders.
Main features of the projectstoRE dealt with the non-technological barriers to en-
ergy storage, creating the right regulatory and market
conditions that give incentives for the development of
energy storage infrastructure to the extent necessary for
the accommodation of the planned renewable energy in-
stallations to the electricity grid.
All key actors on the European level were involved in a
process designed to build consensus about the necessary
adaptation of the European Energy framework and poli-
cies, developing concrete recommendations and plan their
implementation. Similar work was done in the six target
countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland and
Spain), leading to improvements of the policies, legislation
and market mechanisms.
The possible positive and negative impacts of the different
energy storage options on the environment were also as-
sessed and the considerations of the relevant actors were
taken into account. Consultation processes, policy debates
and communication activities ensured that the project is
open to all key actors and target groups, with results rep-
resenting the whole energy sector and the society.
RESULTS
1. The environmental performance of energy storage in-
stallations was assessed. Together with all key actors
the stoRE project formulated recommendations for im-
proving the framework conditions.
2. The European regulatory and market framework con-
ditions were assessed with inputs from stakeholders
representing all interested parties, resulting in concrete
recommendations for improvements.
3. The regulatory and market framework conditions in the
target countries of Germany, Spain, Denmark, Greece,
Ireland and Austria were reviewed and action lists were
formulated, based on feedback received from local ac-
tors.
4. The recommendations were promoted among targeted
decision makers, through a meeting with the European
Commission, events in the European Parliament and
over 20 meetings with decision makers in the target
countries.
5. The general understanding on the role energy storage
can play in a sustainable energy future was improved
through our communication campaign that reached over
30,000 interested individuals..
Contract No:
IEE/10/222/SI2.591026
National Technical University of Athens School
of Mechanical Engineering
Co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe
Programme of the European Union
11. Fac i l i ta t ing energy s torage to a l low high penetrat ion of in termit tent renewable energy (s toRE)
Rej
ecte
d R
ES
pro
duct
ion
(MW
)Lo
ad (G
W)
Hours of the year
Time (hours)
© National Technical University of Athens
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THE TOP TEN RESEARCH PRIORITIES FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
At the end of 2013, the European Commis-
sion launched a process involving relevant
stakeholders in the area of energy in order
to come up with the Strategic Energy Tech-
nology Plan (SET-Plan) Integrated Roadmap
(IR). Such a document would focus on the development
of innovative solutions to address the needs of the Eu-
ropean energy system for the forthcoming years. This
strategic document intends not only to provide guidance
to the second Energy Work Programme of Horizon2020,
but it also serves as a basis for national action plans to be
developed between the European Commission and EU
Member States.
Representing leading research centres in renewable ener-
gy, EUREC has been involved in the SET-Plan Integrated
Roadmap process, and, within this context, has drafted a
list of main research priorities to foster the development
of renewable energies in the coming years.
The list of top 10 research priorities for renewable ener-
gies aligns with EUREC’s mission to promote and support
the development of innovative technologies and human
resources to enable a prompt transition to a sustainable
energy system. The list below is not in any particular order.
These ten topics are considered priorities with respect to
all other possible areas of energy research.
• System integration of renewable energy and demon-
stration of innovative control systems at domestic
and district level. Improving network planning with a
multi-network approach, including electricity, and heating
and cooling. An integrated network both at transmission
and distribution levels is essential to account for new
generation technologies based on renewables, innova-
tive power technologies including electricity and thermal
storage and network monitoring/control techniques.
• Improved cost and performance of PV cells, mod-
ules, systems as well as new products for Build-
ing-Integrated PV (BIPV) applications. Advanced PV
technologies and applications need to be developed to
maintain technology competitiveness. Emerging technol-
ogies need to demonstrate their added value in terms
of cost, performance or unique application options and
their viability in terms of manufacturability and stability.
• Cost reduction and improved performance of Con-
centrated Solar Power (CSP) systems. Heliostat field
costs represent about 50% of the total CSP plant cost.
Therefore, a significant cost reduction in the heliostat
field will represent LCOE (Levelised cost of electricity)
cost reduction of 15-20% from CSP systems. Increasing
not only the efficiency in the thermo-dynamical cycle
but also the cost effectiveness of the thermal storage
is a priority
• Testing and validation of low cost wind turbines
and components. Cheaper wind turbines with longer
lifetime will contribute to the increase of the market
penetration of wind energy. LCOE reduction from new
concepts is expected to be at least 10%
• Improved energy storage systems. In all areas: chem-
ical, electrochemical, mechanical or thermal.
• Improved wind and solar modelling and forecasting.
Enhancing wind models and assessing uncertainties of
wind conditions in the atmospheric boundary as well as
in complex terrains, and in extreme atmospheric con-
ditions are essential elements to increase reliability of
wind-based electricity. Also, increasing module electricity
production is a key player to bring down the cost of PV
electricity.
• Testing, validation and cost reduction of innovative
ocean energy devices and components. Ocean energy
is not very far down the cost curve. Testing and validation
in controlled conditions (e.g. wave tanks) allows ocean
energy projects to progress and increases investor con-
fidence when the device eventually goes to sea
• Increase efficiency, reduce emissions and improve
feedstock flexibility of micro, small and large scale
biomass based CHP, as well as enhance sustaina-
ble, innovative and cost-efficient advanced biomass
feedstock supply. Bioenergy use in industrial power
plants and DHC is expected to roughly double by 2020.
It is therefore crucial to secure biomass fuel supply to
the end consumer, to increase efficiency, sustainability,
while reducing dust emissions and costs
• Development of hybrid electric/heating/cooling grid
and storage solutions in order to enable system in-
tegration of increasing amounts of local and remote
renewable sources. Integrated solutions including con-
sumer demand, distributed generation, storage and mar-
ket players to support a secure, stable and responsive
system.
• Development of advanced thermal conversion solu-
tions and 2nd/3rd generation biofuels. Comprehen-
sive actions are needed to foster the development of
advanced biofuels and alternative fuels in this key sector,
to ensure sustainability and to commercialise biofuels
based on lignocellulose and other non-food feedstocks.
THESE TEN TOPICS
ARE CONSIDERED
PRIORITIES WITH
RESPECT TO ALL
OTHER POSSIBLE
AREAS OF ENERGY
RESEARCH
EUREC Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue82
EUREC MEMBERS
• Aalto University - Department of Applied Physics, Finland
• AEE Institute for Sustainable Energy, Austria
• Austrian Institute of Technology - Energy Department, Austria
• ARMINES/MinesParisTech, France
• Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg - Department of energy and Semiconductor Physics, Germany
• Centro Nacional de Energias Renovables (CENER), Spain
• CIEMAT - Renewable Energies Department, Spain
• CNR - Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies, Italy
• CNRS ICUBE, France
• CNRS Laboratoire PROMES, France
• Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES), Greece
• German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Germany
• Energy Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), The Netherlands
• Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) - Laboratoire d´Energie Solaire et de Physique du Batiment, Switzerland
• ERIC - Hanzehogeschool Groningen, The Netherlands
• EURAC - European Academy, Italy
• Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), Germany
• Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer-ISE), Germany
• Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy Systems Technology (Fraunhofer-IWES), Germany
• Fundacion CIRCE - University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Institut National d´Energie Solaire (CEA-INES), France
• Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa, Portugal
• Instituto Tecnológico Energias Renovables (ITER), Spain
• Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), Belgium
• Loughborough University - Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, UK
• National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece
• NEXT ENERGY, Germany
• OFFIS e.V.- Institute for Information Technology, Germany
• Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, UK
• PV-Lab Berne University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
• Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation (ICIA), Romania
• SFFE- Norwegian Centre for Renewable Energy, Norway
• SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Sweden
• STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
• SUPSI - Istituto Sostenibilità Applicata all’Ambiente Costituito, Switzerland
• Tubitak MAM - Energy Institute, Turkey
• University of Northumbria - Newcastle Photovoltaics Application Centre (NPAC), UK
• Université de Perpignan - UFR des Sciences Exactes et Expérimentales, France
• Università di Pisa - Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni (DESTEC), Italy
• VTT Energy, Finland
• WIP - Renewable Energies Division, Germany
• Wuppertal Institut for Climate, Environment, Energy, Germany
• ZWS - Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Germany
Renewable Energy Projects Catalogue
A guide to successful and innovative projects in the area of renewable energy
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