Solar Energy: The North East Centre for Energy Materials
One of the biggest questions facing society today is how do we meet an ever-increasing demand for energy?
Fossil fuels have dominated the energy sector for over a century, but these materials are finite and they have a lasting damage on the environment.
Various other methods have been researched and put into use in certain regions, including nuclear, wind and solar energy. However, while strides are being made, so far none of these have become efficient or cost effective enough to overtake fossil fuels as the dominant supply.
That's where the North East Centre for Energy Materials (NECEM) comes in.
The centre is a collaboration of Newcastle, Northumbria and Durham Universities, along with industrial partners, bringing some of the brightest minds in the UK. It is a three-and-a-half year project, which began in October 2017, focusing on addressing the global challenges of energy (both generation and storage), climate change and the problems associated with finding sustainable methods to meet our increasing energy demands (per ncl.ac.uk).
The government has supplied £2.2million of funding to the project in an effort to form energy materials expertise in the UK; their aim to make the process more coherent and help progress UK innovation and manufacturing.
The centre is one of six being funded around the UK aligned with Theresa May’s industrial strategy fund, an initiative the government launched in response to Brexit.
Of the six centres, each will have a slightly different focus on technology research, the NECEM will most likely be leading in inorganic solar technology. Co-operation is a key theme of the strategy, with the idea being that these centres interact with each other to share insights and help drive the program. Information about the other five centres can be found here.
I recently sat down with Dr Neil Beattie, an experimental physicist from Northumbria University, to discuss the project, its objectives and what it means for each institution.
“We did [already work together], but I think the great thing about this programme is that it’s a chance to formalise that collaboration and really do something coherent.
“We can use it as a launch pad to something else.”
Although Dr Beattie is excited about what this project might lead to, he understands that with this level of investment there are outcomes that he and his team are expected to meet.
“It’s always very tempting on a funded research project just to focus on science and it’s important that we don’t do that. I’d say it’s about 50% science [and] 50% is for advancing the centre and its objectives, which include helping UK innovation and industry.
“So getting them for networking events, getting together with the other centres, connecting people, doing mini projects etc. these kind of things are all part of our mission.”
In terms of logistics the centre is virtual, meaning shared intelligence and resources instead of a physical centre being built, with each institution concentrating on slightly different areas of research.
“Newcastle is the lead, [however] Northumbria are receiving a significant chunk of the funding to work on materials for energy that are sustainable and scalable. We have a strong tradition of solar cell manufacturing here.
“Durham are strong on solar materials but also advanced materials characterisation and materials physics, so how do your materials perform at the atomic scale. [Whereas] we work predominantly with Newcastle’s chemistry team.”
Dr Beattie also gave an example of the sort of work that is currently going on at Northumbria involving CIGS, a solar cell made up of copper, indium, gallium and selenide.
“There’s a market price for materials, so you’re going to have to compete with other applications for those materials. [CIGS] is very efficient, over 20% efficient, but it’s by no means the market leader.
“The problem is it relies on indium, so what we’re trying to do is, swap out elements like indium in compounds like CIGS to make solar cells that are scalable and sustainable. We can replace indium with zinc [to] make a reasonably good solar cell on a flexible substrate here.
“The idea is again, how can we develop these technologies to make, not just solar cells, but things like batteries more efficient and better. You can create a breakthrough in applications like electric vehicles for example.”
Listen to the video below to hear Dr Beattie’s thoughts on what the research conducted as part of NECEM has the potential to influence.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of industrial partners also collaborating on this project from global corporations to local companies developing technologies, there is a wide range of experience available to the centre.
Siemens UK are probably the most well-known partner and, along with sustainable energy, also have projects in intelligent infrastructure, the future of manufacturing and digitalization. The organisation has been around more than 170 years and maintain a presence in more than 200 countries/regions generating over £6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2017.
They, along with Big Solar, Horiba, Kromek and Solar Capture Technologies, will form an industrial advisory board which will meet a couple of times a year to review progress on the project, what their requirements are and how the NECEM is fulfilling these requirements.
The project held its inaugural seminar on the 21st of February in the Engineering Department at Durham University. It was entitled “Molecular Processes in Intercalation and Redox Flow Batteries" and will be delivered by the Director of the Centre, Professor Ulrich Stimming. An abstract of the seminar can be downloaded from the ncl.ac.uk website.
Also taken from the NECEM website.
“There will also be an official launch event for the centre on the Friday 16th of March, hosted by Newcastle University. The day, hosted by the management committee; Professor Ulrich Stimming, Dr. Elizabeth Gibson, Dr. Thomas Penfold, Dr. Chris Groves, and Dr. Neil Beattie, will commence at 10:30 with presentations followed by the official opening of the centre by Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central and Shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation. The afternoon will contain a poster session, informal dinner, and drinks reception, ending at around 19:00.”
If you would like to attend this event, there is an application form to fill out online, the link to which is provided below. For additional information, you may want to contact Project Secretary Jenny Gilroy, by telephone on 01661 830222, or email: jenny.gilroy@newcastle.ac.uk.