SUPERSOLAR Solar Energy Hub
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Wolfson Sch of Mech, Elec & Manufac Eng
Abstract
The market for photovoltaic (PV) solar modules is experiencing astonishing growth due to increasing energy demand, security of supply issues, increasing cost of fossil fuels and concerns over global warming. The world market for photovoltaics grew by 139% to 21GW in 2010. Although this extraordinary pace of growth is unlikely to be maintained in the short term it will advance rapidly again at the point where grid parity is achieved. It is important that the UK retains a strong research presence in this important technology. It is proposed that the SUPERSOLAR Hub of Universities be set up to co-ordinate research activities, establish a network of academic and industrial researchers, conduct cross-technology research and provide a focus for international co-operation.
SUPERSOLAR is led by CREST at Loughborough University and supported by the Universities of Bath, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield and Southampton. This group is active in all of the PV technologies including new materials, thin film chalcopyrite, c-Si, thin film a-Si, dye sensitised solar cells, organic PV, concentrator PV, PV systems performance and testing. SUPERSOLAR will set up a solar cell efficiency measurement facility for the benefit of the PV community in the UK. The consortium contains a deliberate balance of expertise, with no bias towards any one technology.
SUPERSOLAR is led by CREST at Loughborough University and supported by the Universities of Bath, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield and Southampton. This group is active in all of the PV technologies including new materials, thin film chalcopyrite, c-Si, thin film a-Si, dye sensitised solar cells, organic PV, concentrator PV, PV systems performance and testing. SUPERSOLAR will set up a solar cell efficiency measurement facility for the benefit of the PV community in the UK. The consortium contains a deliberate balance of expertise, with no bias towards any one technology.
Planned Impact
The SUPERSOLAR consortium consists of the Universities of Loughborough, Bath, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield and Southampton. All these Universities have well funded research groups in device development across the various PV technologies. The Hub is also strong in PV systems and module assessment. Each of these Universities has offered to provide additional resource to strengthen the consortium further, in some cases, even to include the creation of new academic posts.
SUPERSOLAR will establish an accredited cell efficiency performance facility for use by all UK academic and industrial groups. This facility is badly needed in the UK. The SUPERSOLAR research project will also focus on making step-change improvements to the transmitting conducting oxide (TCO) across all types of PV cell. This will also benefit all research groups since the performance of the TCO is crucial to the efficiency of thin film PV, dye sensitised Solar Cells and Organic PV.
An important impact for SUPERSOLAR will be the development of an active and connected academic and industrial PV community. We have agreed that the Energy Generation and Supply (EG&S) KTN will help deliver this. SUPERSOLAR will use the _connect portal to establish a dedicated group web site. This will deliver webinars and other web based information dissemination. The KTN will organize 10 events over its 5 year lifetime; 8 engagement events, 1 UK conference and 1 International Conference. The KTN will assist in the recruitment of new academic and industrial associates. Outreach to the wider community will use existing contacts with private sector event organizers such as SOLAR UK taking advantage of their massive subscription base (120,000 world-wide). An important goal for the Hub is to create a PV community in the UK that is inclusive and outward looking.
The world market for photovoltaics is experiencing extraordinary growth and it is important that UK industry seizes opportunities to grow its business in this sector. Maximising the number and spread of industrial (and financial) associates to the SUPERSOLAR network will be a high priority. The KTN will actively assist in building consortia of academic/industry or just industrial partnerships for collaborative research projects. It will encourage applied research through TSB collaborative projects. Best practice will be spread by training and two way academic-industrial secondments. Research results with technology potential will be protected and ways actively explored for commercial exploitation. SUPERSOLAR will aim to catalyse academic-business co-operation to maximize the exploitation of publicly funded research and grow PV related industry and employment.
SUPERSOLAR will have a high academic impact across the range of PV technologies. The drive towards device fabrication is key to this. All the groups in the SUPERSOLAR consortium already have well-funded platforms and an excellent record of publishing in leading journals. The proposed research on TCO's cuts across all of the technologies and will lead to cross-institutional collaborations which will add leverage to the expertise and facilities that exist already. SUPERSOLAR will be represented at all the major world conferences such as the EU PVSEC, e-MRS, MRS, SPIE and IEEE specialist photovoltaics meetings.
SUPERSOLAR will establish an accredited cell efficiency performance facility for use by all UK academic and industrial groups. This facility is badly needed in the UK. The SUPERSOLAR research project will also focus on making step-change improvements to the transmitting conducting oxide (TCO) across all types of PV cell. This will also benefit all research groups since the performance of the TCO is crucial to the efficiency of thin film PV, dye sensitised Solar Cells and Organic PV.
An important impact for SUPERSOLAR will be the development of an active and connected academic and industrial PV community. We have agreed that the Energy Generation and Supply (EG&S) KTN will help deliver this. SUPERSOLAR will use the _connect portal to establish a dedicated group web site. This will deliver webinars and other web based information dissemination. The KTN will organize 10 events over its 5 year lifetime; 8 engagement events, 1 UK conference and 1 International Conference. The KTN will assist in the recruitment of new academic and industrial associates. Outreach to the wider community will use existing contacts with private sector event organizers such as SOLAR UK taking advantage of their massive subscription base (120,000 world-wide). An important goal for the Hub is to create a PV community in the UK that is inclusive and outward looking.
The world market for photovoltaics is experiencing extraordinary growth and it is important that UK industry seizes opportunities to grow its business in this sector. Maximising the number and spread of industrial (and financial) associates to the SUPERSOLAR network will be a high priority. The KTN will actively assist in building consortia of academic/industry or just industrial partnerships for collaborative research projects. It will encourage applied research through TSB collaborative projects. Best practice will be spread by training and two way academic-industrial secondments. Research results with technology potential will be protected and ways actively explored for commercial exploitation. SUPERSOLAR will aim to catalyse academic-business co-operation to maximize the exploitation of publicly funded research and grow PV related industry and employment.
SUPERSOLAR will have a high academic impact across the range of PV technologies. The drive towards device fabrication is key to this. All the groups in the SUPERSOLAR consortium already have well-funded platforms and an excellent record of publishing in leading journals. The proposed research on TCO's cuts across all of the technologies and will lead to cross-institutional collaborations which will add leverage to the expertise and facilities that exist already. SUPERSOLAR will be represented at all the major world conferences such as the EU PVSEC, e-MRS, MRS, SPIE and IEEE specialist photovoltaics meetings.
Publications
Abbas A
(2013)
The Effect of Cadmium Chloride Treatment on Close-Spaced Sublimated Cadmium Telluride Thin-Film Solar Cells
in IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Abbas A
(2015)
Cadmium Chloride Assisted Re-Crystallisation of CdTe: The Effect on the CdS Window Layer
in MRS Proceedings
Abbas A
(2018)
Structural and chemical evolution of the CdS:O window layer during individual CdTe solar cell processing steps
in Solar Energy
Arnou P
(2016)
Hydrazine-Free Solution-Deposited CuIn(S,Se)2 Solar Cells by Spray Deposition of Metal Chalcogenides.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Arnou P
(2017)
Solution processing of CuIn(S,Se) 2 and Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 thin film solar cells using metal chalcogenide precursors
in Thin Solid Films
| Description | OXFORD UNIVERSITY The outstanding achievement of this programme has been the dramatic improvements in cell efficiency to ~22% achieved with solid state perovskite-based solar cells at the University of Oxford by Prof Henry Snaith and his team. This has been achieved remarkably quickly and there is scope for further rapid improvement. Perovskite-based PV has exciting commercial potential and Oxford have developed important IP which is licensed to Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd (OPV). OPV is well positioned to exploit the technology. It is focusing its R&D effort on the development of c-Si/Perovskite tandem cells. The company is partnering a Tier 1 Chinese silicon solar cell manufacturer. A pilot line has been set up in Germany. OPV's business model is to prove the technology and then license the processes to volume manufacturers (especially glass companies). UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL A cheap salt used in tofu making has been used to replace a toxic expensive chemical used for decades in thin film solar cell manufacture. The chemical it replaces is water/skin soluble, toxic and carcinogenic. Magnesium chloride is edible and is used in bath salts. It is about 50 times cheaper than the cadmium chloride that it replaces. The paper was published in 'Nature' and the press story went global. In the UK it was featured in the BBC TV News, BBC R4 'Inside Science' and the front page/editorial of The Independent. There were > 100 media reports worldwide. UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD The use of spray-coating techniques to fabricate perovskite photovoltaics. The team is working with Big Solar Ltd to commercialise the research. UNIVERSITY OF BATH The state-of-the-art in materials simulation has been used to provide atomistic insights into the operation mechanism of hybrid perovskites solar cells and the role of microstructure in thin-film CdTe solar cells. The work led by Prof Aron Walsh has involved collaborations across the solar energy hub, leading to high impact publications and scientific talks, and a follow-on EPSRC responsive mode grant. LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY The development of broadband anti-reflection (AR) coatings for solar modules including perovskites. The development of new transparent conductors for use in perovskite solar cells and crystalline silicon/perovskite tandem devices. |
| Exploitation Route | OXFORD UNIVERSITY The technology will lead to higher efficiency solar modules. Tandem perovskite/crystalline silicon cells could provide more efficient modules for large scale in utility scale deployments. UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL The process promises cost reductions in PV manufacturing, not only from reduced materials costs, but from reduced plant and infrastructure required for health and safety. CdTe is the biggest thin film technology worldwide and this is a very significant breakthrough. UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD This is an enabling technology that would allow such devices to be fabricated over large areas. Device efficiency achieved currently using this scalable technique is 11.1% This is similar to that achieved using non-scaleable 'small-scale' lab fabrication processes UNIVERSITY OF BATH The research demonstrates the predictive nature of materials modelling where: (i) a ferroelectric effect was predicted for the hybrid halide perovskites, and subsequently observed experimentally; (ii) the role of stacking faults in electron-hole recombination in CdTe was confirmed, which matched high-resolution microscopy. The work has direct impact on developments in computational science, applications in a range of photovoltaic technologies, and will be extended to screen new low-cost high-efficiency combinations of materials LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY Broadband AR coatings have been designed and tested for thin film (CdTe, CIGS, CZTS, a-Si, and Perovskite) as well as for organic PV, DSSC and c-Si cover glass. These AR coatings increase the photocurrent and efficiency for all devices by ~4%. Beneficiaries: All PV manufacturers. First Solar Inc is currently evaluating the coatings. Glass manufacturers: Additional revenue from 'added value' of the high performance AR coating. Significant markets other than PV (displays, touch screen panels, i-pad's etc. Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd are evaluating transparent conductors for the crystalline silicon/perovskite tandem device application. |
| Sectors | Energy |
| Description | The outstanding discovery during the tenure of the SuperSolar Hub relates to the development of metal halide perovskites as new semiconductor materials suitable for use in photovoltaic devices. Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd was set up to exploit this discovery and has establshed a pilot line for the manufacture of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The company is partnering with a Tier 1 silicon module manufacturer in China. The product is close to commercialisation. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Electronics,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Member of the Ion and Plasma Surface Interactions committee of the Institute of Physics |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | Promotion of thin films and plasmas to improve industrial manufacturing processes |
| Description | A National Thin-Film Cluster Facility for Advanced Functional Materials |
| Amount | £460,998 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/M022900/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2015 |
| End | 08/2020 |
| Description | EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable PV' |
| Amount | £5,260,808 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/L01551X/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2014 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | Photovoltaic Technology based on earth abundant materials-PVTEAM |
| Amount | £2,012,697 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/L017792/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2014 |
| End | 02/2018 |
| Description | national centre for high resolution cathodoluminescence of photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices |
| Amount | £2,660,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/X030245/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 01/2026 |
| Description | organic-inorganic perovskite hybrid tandem solar cells |
| Amount | £696,405 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/M024881/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2015 |
| End | 04/2018 |
| Title | Copper zinc oxide: Investigation into a P-type mixed metal oxide system (data files) |
| Description | Transmission, X-ray diffraction, band gap, composition and resistivity data for the copper-zinc oxide alloy system. Experimental techniques are described in the published journal article, which can be found at dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2016.09.026.
|
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Copper_zinc_oxide_Investigation_into_a_P-type_mixed_... |
| Title | Data for "Metastable cubic tin sulfide: a novel phonon-stable chiral semiconductor" |
| Description | Raw data to accompany the article "Metastable cubic tin sulfide: a novel phonon-stable chiral semiconductor". This dataset contains the optimised crystal structure of pi-cubic SnS, data from the lattice-dynamics calculations including the calculated force constants and phonon spectra, data from the electronic-structure calculations, and the simulated frequency-dependent dielectric function and derived properties. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Raw data supporting article: Solar H2 generation in water with a CuCrO2 photcathode modified with an organic dye and molecular Ni catalyst |
| Description | Raw data supporting arcticle: Solar H2 generation in water with a CuCrO2 photcathode modified with an organic dye and molecular Ni catalyst |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Description | Characterisation of solution processed transparent conductors |
| Organisation | TWI The Welding Institue |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Optical analysis and modeling. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sol gel anti-reflective coatings and hydrophobic coatings |
| Impact | Support of a research student, thesis due October 2016. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Development of inorganic thin film photovolaics |
| Organisation | U.S. Department of Energy |
| Department | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Joint research on solution based deposition of CIGS thin film Photovoltaics. Collaboration to understand the performance of single crystal CdTe PV devices. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Production of single crystal devices. TRPL and confocal PL analysis. |
| Impact | 3 Publications, 2 joint Conference papers in 2016. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | NSF Industry/University Co-operative Research Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics |
| Organisation | Colorado State University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The consortium is engaged in increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of thin film CdTe photovoltaics. We are producing thin films, complete devices and characterisation using HRTEM. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The other partners are Colorado State University, University of Texas at Austin, First Solar Inc, 5N Plus, Direct Solar LLC, Ion Edge Corporation, NREL and MBI corporation. ECh partner is engaged in developing materials or devices. |
| Impact | 8 Publications |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | National Renewable Energy Laboratory |
| Organisation | U.S. Department of Energy |
| Department | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): NREL is a world leading Research Institution for Renewable Energy. NREL has hosted Nayia Arnou, Sona Ulcina and Luis Infante-Ortego (research students) from CREST for 3 month secondments. The visit by Sona Ulcina led to the development a 17.2% efficient perovskite solar cell using an atmospheric spray process. Several joint publications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Tim Silverman, a senior scientist at NREL is currently on secondment to CREST for 1 year working on degradation mechanisms in silicon modules. |
| Impact | Publications |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Performance and microstructure of thin film CdTe photovoltaic devices |
| Organisation | Colorado School of Mines |
| Department | Chemical and Biological Engineering Department |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | HRTEM analysis of PV device structures |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of thin film PV devices |
| Impact | 3 Publications, 2 conference papers |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Plasmonics incorporated CZTS based solar cells |
| Organisation | Institute for Plasma Research |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Fabrication of thin film CZTS devices. Evaluation of performance of devices fabricated at IPR. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of CZTS PV devices |
| Impact | None |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Title | COVER SHEET FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC PANEL |
| Description | A cover sheet (7) for a photovoltaic panel (4), the cover sheet (7) comprising a transparent substrate (8) and a coating (9) on the substrate (8), the coating (9) being such that the cover sheet (8) is more reflective to light of a first range of wavelengths in the infrared spectrum than to a second range of wavelengths in the visible spectrum; in which the coating (9) comprises alternating layers of first (11, 13) and second (12, 14) materials, with the first material (11, 13) having a higher refractive index than the second material (12, 14) and being a transparent conducting oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO). Methods of manufacture including annealing the first material and/or depositing it at elevated temperatures are also discussed. |
| IP Reference | US2022077337 |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Discussions on licensing progressing |
| Title | IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DEPOSITION AND FORMATION OF COATINGS FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS |
| Description | The invention relates to the formation of a photovoltaic or solar cell device and in particular to a coating formed on a surface of the same. The device incorporates a substrate formed by a glass base on which there is provided a transparent conductive coating (TCO). Onto a surface of the substrate or this coating there is, in accordance with the invention in one embodiment, sputter deposited a layer of CdS followed by the sputter deposition of a layer including CdTe. A back contact layer can be applied as a final layer. The CdS layer acts as the n-type layer while the CdTe containing layer acts as the p-type layer of the device. The cross section of the photovoltaic cell, and the layers provided, can be altered to suit specific requirements. For example, a buffer layer of Sn02 or ZnO can be applied onto the TCO prior to the CdS coating to improve device performance. |
| IP Reference | WO2018083480 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2018 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | New method to deposit solar cells |
| Company Name | Applied Thermal Control Limited |
| Description | Applied Thermal Control specializes in designing and manufacturing recirculating chillers that provide precision temperature control with 0.1°C temperature stability, which are compact and quiet in operation, providing accurate temperature control to manufacturing and laboratories industries. |
| Year Established | 1995 |
| Impact | Company has the highest market share in the UK market for re-circulating chillers. |
| Website | http://www.app-therm.com |
| Description | Advances in Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One day workshop for the 'PV Concentrator' community held at Imperial College, 9th March 2015 (Organiser and Chairman) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Advances in Photovoltaics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting on 'Advances in Photovoltaics' held at the Institute of Physics. SuperSolar event with 70 attendees. International invited speakers. Organiser and Chairman |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Appearance on BBC Breakfast TV |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Appearance on breakfast TV from CREST at Loughborough University publicising latest research discoveries in Photovoltaics. Representative of Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd was also interviewed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Appearance on Radio 4 'You and Yours' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview on Radio 4's 'You and Yours' discussing the viability of semi-transparent power producing windows using thin photovoltaics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Appearance on Radio Wiltshire |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview describing the work and success of the EPSRC Supergen SuperSolar Hub |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Appearances on Radio Wales, Radio Humberside and Radio 4 News |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Reaction to the suggestion that solar panels should face East/West to avoid a power spike at midday. Re-assurance that facing south maximises the feed-in tariff. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Feature on Radio 4 Tonight programme. 13th February 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Radio 4 feature on latest developments in Solar |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Lasers drive the Green Economy towards Net Zero |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Organised by the Association of Industrial Laser Users. This webinar will highlight the challenges faced and explore the variety of applications of lasers in renewable energy, green transportation and the role the industry has to play in meeting net zero. Preliminary Programme 13:30 - 16:00 BST Matthew Wasley (Photonics Lead, KTN) - Introduction & Welcome Michael Walls (Loughborough Uni) - Technology and Market Trends in Solar Photovoltaics Grigorios Rigas (M-Solv) - Laser Processing of Perovskite PV Melanie Loveridge (Warwick Uni) - Laser Structuring helps battery performance TBA (Genesis Systems) - Laser welding of batteries for electric vehicles John Silva (Carrs Welding) - How Laser Welding of Li-ion Cells has Changed Over the Last Decade: Cells, Joints & Interlinks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Materials for the Energy Transition Road Map for New Materials in Photovoltaics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | the Henry Royce Institute (Royce) for advanced materials, in collaboration with the Institute of Physics (IOP), has convened the academic and industrial materials research communities to explore the increasingly critical role of novel materials and processes to deliver affordable, reliable and above all, green energy. The output is a series of detailed technology roadmaps that set out how UK materials science can contribute to the UK's low carbon energy transition in the following areas: Materials for Photovoltaic Systems Materials for Low-Carbon Production of Hydrogen and Related Energy Carriers and Chemical Feedstocks Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Materials Caloric Energy Conversion Materials Materials for Low Loss Electronics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.royce.ac.uk/materials-for-the-energy-transition/ |
| Description | Member of the Energy commitee of the Institute of Physics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Energy committee of the IOP organises events of interest to the scientific and engineering community concerned with Enery generation and use. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| Description | Member of the IEEE EDS Technical Committee on Photovoltaic devices. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The IEEE EDS Technical Committee on Photovoltaic devices.is an International body concerned with standards for photovoltaic (solar panel) modules. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Member of the Ion and Plasma Surface Interactions Group commitee of the Institute of Physics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The commitee organises events for academia and industry including the annual 'Advances in Photovoltaics' meeting at the IOP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Member of the Solar Commision |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Solar Commision has been formed to identify R&D prioriries for solar to stimulate further deployment |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Opportunities in BIPV |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting jointly organised by SESSIG and SuperSolar. 80 attendees discussing the opportunities for Building Integrated Photovoltaics. Attendees predominantly Industrial. 29th April 2015. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | SolaStor Imperial College, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Event to bring together communities in Solar Energy and Energy Storage (Organiser and Chairman) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Solar Energy UK/SuperSolar Hub Research Roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with the trade association Solar Energy UK. The aim of this event is to facilitate collaborative development of potential avenues of academic research, with guidance from the solar industry to help identify business critical gaps and opportunities where applied research is most needed. Format We will hold two virtual roundtables in early 2021, using Teams as the platform. The roundtables will each be two-hour sessions, consisting of two one-hour feature areas for discussion with a keynote speaker/presentation at the top of each hour to frame the discussion. This will be followed by structured discussion of research opportunities, looking at real world needs, and how to best facilitate collaboration between the industry and academia. Roundtable 1 - Materials Invited Speakers Pilkington, NSG Group - Neil McSporran Above Surveying - Will Hitchcock BEIS - Speaker TBC Research areas for discussion: Panel coatings Backsheet degradation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Solar UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Participation in SOLAR UK in November 2015. Annual event held for the Photovoltaics Industry at BRE. About 150 attendees. Made presentation of Annual Industry Awards |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | SuperSolar Technical Meeting V |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 65 attendees at SuperSolar Technical meeting at Cambridge University (Organiser and Chairman) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | SuperSolar Technical Meeting VI |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 65 attendees at the SuperSolar Technical meeting held at Bath University. July 2015 (Organiser and Chairman) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | SuperSolar Technical Meeting VII, Imperial College, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | SuperSolar Technical meeting with 65 attendees (Organiser and Chairman) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | The Big Idea-Investment Opportunities in Solar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One day meeting organised in London by SuperSolar and the SOLAR magazine, October 2015. 40 attendees with a Dragon's Den with 4 Venture Capitalists and 8 companies making pitches for funding. Attendees 90% from Industry. Organiser and Chairman. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Visiting Professor Colorado State University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Collaboration between Loughborough University and Colorado State University |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |