Next generation very large press-pack IGBT

Power electronics is the extension of solid-state electronics away from handling communications and data and into the business of handling electric power up to gigawatts with reduced losses of energy; it is an enabling technology for the low-carbon economy. This project brings together a university, a manufacturer of high power semiconductors and an electric grid end-user, who are world-leading in their fields and all based in the UK, to develop the next generation of higher power rated electronic devices to enable this to happen. This is a major opportunity for the UK in securing our own grid and helping implement our commitment to renewable energy, particularly connecting offshore wind turbines to the grid and is also a major export opportunity, particularly to the developing economies that do not have this indigenous technology. It will secure and potentially increase employment in the UK, in what is a major opportunity and growing market and will increase skills in an area of business where there is a shortage of skills that is hampering business ability to grow to the benefit of the economy and society in general.