EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - A vision for renewable energy research infrastructures 1 June 2005 Didier Mayer EUREC Agency / EREC

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Methodology The R&D Research priorities for the Renewable Energy sector, as presented in EURECs booklet, are considered as a pre requisite to our reflection EUREC presents some preliminary thoughts, technology by technology, regarding Research Infrastructures which could be eligible These are the results of inputs from EUREC members and from discussion with the Industry Associations. These reflections will be refined during our College of Members, which will be held on June in Freiburg.

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Low temperature solar thermal The research infrastuctures in the field of solar Heating and Cooling is highly fragmented. Up to now, there is no existing official network in Europe. The need is to create an enduring partnership of the major research institutes in EU-25 to exchange knowledge, personnel and infrastructures. Major research infrastructure is needed in the following fields : –Material research –Advanced heat storages (40 M ) –Medium temperature collector developments - working temperatures up to 250°C –Solar cooling and air conditioning

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Marine technology Creation of a distributed european infrastructure on marine technologies to develop new devices from models to full scale prototypes. This would speed up the development and implementation of marine energy generation. EMEC (European Marine Energy centre) : ocean testing NAREC (New and Renewable Energy Centre): limited tidal testing with pumps. Universities Robert Gordon in Aberdeen and of Edinburgh: small scale testing. Scaling methodology and softwares. upgrades for more precise waves, reverse tidal flow smaller scale combined wave and tidal tank facility : 44 M already / Upgrades to cost 17 M

EUREC Agency & EREC -European Renewable Energy Research and Industry – Needs for energy infrastructures in the field of SHP Focus: Environmental engineering Mechanical and electro-mechanical engineering Civil engineering Political & marketing aspects (RES-E Directive, WFD) Training & capacity building Actors: research community (unversities, laboratories), SHP turbine and equipment manufacturers, political decision makers, environmentalists, energy agencies, financing experts Scope: refurbishment and upgrading of existing plants, construction of new plants (e.g. use of drinking water, waste water, irrigation waters), environmental integration

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Wind 12 types of existing facility proposed / 5 categories of research Inventory made of where existing examples of these facilities are located, and in some cases, where new facilities could be located. Some proposals for new infrastructures include testing facilities for rotational dynamics of drive trains, air flow around rotor blades, complete systems New testing facilities important for building confidence: hybrid-system and small wind turbine testing rigs

New facilities needed to meet future challenges Upscaling of wind turbines Upscaling wind farms Extreme external conditions Grid intergration Small wind turbines European test station(s) for certification of small wts Real size offshore wind farm Test site for comparative testing of atmospheric parameters Test rig for nacelles in climate chamber Offshore test foundations Large WE wind tunnel Large Aero field facility for differential measurements

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Geothermal ENGINE Co-ordination Action was supposed to coordinate the existing facilities. It is only confined to EGS (Enhanced geothermal Systems) Expand beyond Enhanced Geothermal Systems e.g. at Soultz sous Forêts and namely for training purposes On the low temperature level, such as geothermal heat pump field of application, shared infrastructure with the low temperature solar thermal can be envisaged

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - Biofuels ETEK plant in Sweden is a key biofuel infrastructure for bioethanol production from lignocellulose. This plant could be used for new process configurations for other R&D infrastructures and R&D projects can be adapted to work as a biorefinery Biomass to liquid technology University of technology in Vienna has built a 8 MW fluidized bed gasifier demo plant, basis of R&D activities on fuel synthesis. The extension of this infrastructure could be supported.

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry - PV PV community proposes a dispersed group of R&D centres, concentrating on specific aspects of technology development and transfer. Stengthen the existing and define and address the missing parts Complemented by specialist facilities for testing and centres addressing system and implementation issues. extend the material development to similar facilities in thin crystalline silcon to organic/polymer devices Manufacturing related facilities. ECN – Uni-Konstanz ECN – Uni-Konstanz propose a single-sited facility near to Aachen (D), Eindhoven (NL) and Leuven (B) for Si materials research from quartz up to silicon wafers. 1 M + 25 M investment cost / 2 M annual running cost Unique independant research facility in EU for Si materials research

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry – Electricity at CESI 1/2 Energy storage New power grid design and management concept (i.e. active distribution networks, microgrids, virtual power plants) New power grid operation criteria and procedures with full integration of ICT (plant monitoring, plant remote operation, advanced automation)

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry – Electricity at CESI 2/2 Embedded intelligence into power grid, Development of new system components for generation and distribution based on advanced materials, Active control of electric demand

EUREC Agency & EREC - European Renewable Energy Research and Industry – Resources According to all the Renewable Energy players there is a strong need for reliable easy to handle data on resources whatever technology in question (solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, …) This can be achieved by developping virtual infrastructures as the one under development at Sophia on solar irradiation.

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