Geothermally Sourced Combined Power and Freshwater Generation for Eastern Africa (Combi-Gen)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Engineering
Abstract
Lack of safe and clean water is a long-standing challenges in much of Africa, and especially in Ethiopia and Kenya. Around 50 million people in Ethiopia lack access to safe water, and the country is currently suffering from its worst drought for 50 years, leaving some 18 million people in need of urgent aid. Similarly, only 41% out of the Kenyan population of ~ 47 million have access to safe water.
Despite substantial undeveloped renewable resources, both Ethiopia and Kenya are energy poor. Ethiopia has around 2 GW of electricity generation capacity, meeting only 10% of national electricity demand, and reaching only 12% of the population. Kenya, with an installed electricity capacity around only 2.2 GW, has better grid connectivity, reaching about 55% of its households, but is still plagued by frequent, lengthy outages. In both countries, geothermal energy is vastly under-utilised and represents an exciting opportunity of addressing energy challenges, alleviating poverty, and promoting economic development.
The Combi-Gen project aims to develop a novel geothermally sourced-combined power and freshwater generation technology, which promises to initiate a genuinely innovative shift in the engineering response to the twin challenges of energy shortage and water-scarcity in Ethiopia and Kenya. The research will provide a novel technology that can significantly improve the utilisation of the precious geothermal resources in Ethiopia and Kenya, and can produce both power and freshwater simultaneous to address the long-standing twin challenge of water and energy shortage in both countries and others of this kind. Once the developed Combi-Gen system is widely installed, it will contribute to sustainable development through reliable renewable energy and freshwater generation, and a reduction in poverty through promoting economic development and employment growth.
Combi-Gen tackles a number of key priorities for development identified by the GRCF that relate to challenges of health, clean energy, safe water, sustainable agriculture, and foundations for inclusive growth. The core of the project is to tackle challenges associated with 'Sustainable infrastructure development'. The geothermal focus is strategically aligned with the government energy policy priorities on developing renewable and sustainable energy to meet power demand in both countries.
Despite substantial undeveloped renewable resources, both Ethiopia and Kenya are energy poor. Ethiopia has around 2 GW of electricity generation capacity, meeting only 10% of national electricity demand, and reaching only 12% of the population. Kenya, with an installed electricity capacity around only 2.2 GW, has better grid connectivity, reaching about 55% of its households, but is still plagued by frequent, lengthy outages. In both countries, geothermal energy is vastly under-utilised and represents an exciting opportunity of addressing energy challenges, alleviating poverty, and promoting economic development.
The Combi-Gen project aims to develop a novel geothermally sourced-combined power and freshwater generation technology, which promises to initiate a genuinely innovative shift in the engineering response to the twin challenges of energy shortage and water-scarcity in Ethiopia and Kenya. The research will provide a novel technology that can significantly improve the utilisation of the precious geothermal resources in Ethiopia and Kenya, and can produce both power and freshwater simultaneous to address the long-standing twin challenge of water and energy shortage in both countries and others of this kind. Once the developed Combi-Gen system is widely installed, it will contribute to sustainable development through reliable renewable energy and freshwater generation, and a reduction in poverty through promoting economic development and employment growth.
Combi-Gen tackles a number of key priorities for development identified by the GRCF that relate to challenges of health, clean energy, safe water, sustainable agriculture, and foundations for inclusive growth. The core of the project is to tackle challenges associated with 'Sustainable infrastructure development'. The geothermal focus is strategically aligned with the government energy policy priorities on developing renewable and sustainable energy to meet power demand in both countries.
Planned Impact
There will be a wide range of potential direct and indirect beneficiaries of the developed Combi-Gen technology.
1. The immediate beneficiaries of the developed technology will be local communities resident in the vicinity of geothermal resources - in the first instance in the Rift Valley. Once Combi-Gen systems are widely installed, they will provide both electricity and freshwater. While electricity can also be distributed via the grid, water can only be deployed economically to benefit local communities. The access to electricity will allow them to use mobile phone, televisions, and radios, and other appliances, improving people's life quality in these regions. This can also provide them with more opportunities of education and access to knowledge. The production of freshwater will not only provide safe and clean drinking water to local communities, but also boost local agriculture / horticulture, principally to enhance food security (and marketable crops).
2. The developed Combi-Gen technology, via its novel integration with a thermal chimney-driven, air-cooled condenser to condense the flashing vapour to produce fresh water, promises to significantly improve the economics of geothermal power production. Hence it can be anticipated that, once Combi-Gen technology is deployed, the exploitation of geothermal energy will be accelerated in Ethiopia, Kenya, and ultimately more widely in East Africa and beyond. The resultant increase of geothermal power generation will make a significant contribution to the national grid power supplies in both countries, offering low-carbon baseload electricity, benefitting populations within reach of the grid.
3. The manufacturers of power generation equipment in these countries and the UK will be the direct beneficiaries of the developed Combi-Gen technology. Intellectual property generated from this project will be patented nationally and internationally. We plan to form a wide network including stakeholders such as academia, industrialists, consultants, and investors to further develop and commercialise this novel technology in these countries and the UK. We anticipate hundreds to, ultimately, thousands of new jobs being generated for the manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of our products, significantly contributing to economic growth in these countries and the UK.
4. Policy makers in Ethiopia and Kenya will have early access to a potentially game-changing technology to tackle shortages of both energy and water supplies.
5. This project will make an important g contribution to build the geothermal energy exploitation related research capacity in Ethiopia and Kenya. Dr Elias Lewi Teklemariam who is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy (IGSSA) at Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia, is the Co-Investigator of our consortium. The project will aim to help develop geothermal related research programme in Ethiopia. The proposed work entails training for both AAU researchers and local community members for social science applications, data-gathering, and economic analyses.
6. We will train a number of high quality researchers through this project in both Ethiopia and the UK. Five PDRAs of diverse expertise will carry out the proposed research work. A large number of MEng and BEng project students will be trained along the implementation of this exciting project.
1. The immediate beneficiaries of the developed technology will be local communities resident in the vicinity of geothermal resources - in the first instance in the Rift Valley. Once Combi-Gen systems are widely installed, they will provide both electricity and freshwater. While electricity can also be distributed via the grid, water can only be deployed economically to benefit local communities. The access to electricity will allow them to use mobile phone, televisions, and radios, and other appliances, improving people's life quality in these regions. This can also provide them with more opportunities of education and access to knowledge. The production of freshwater will not only provide safe and clean drinking water to local communities, but also boost local agriculture / horticulture, principally to enhance food security (and marketable crops).
2. The developed Combi-Gen technology, via its novel integration with a thermal chimney-driven, air-cooled condenser to condense the flashing vapour to produce fresh water, promises to significantly improve the economics of geothermal power production. Hence it can be anticipated that, once Combi-Gen technology is deployed, the exploitation of geothermal energy will be accelerated in Ethiopia, Kenya, and ultimately more widely in East Africa and beyond. The resultant increase of geothermal power generation will make a significant contribution to the national grid power supplies in both countries, offering low-carbon baseload electricity, benefitting populations within reach of the grid.
3. The manufacturers of power generation equipment in these countries and the UK will be the direct beneficiaries of the developed Combi-Gen technology. Intellectual property generated from this project will be patented nationally and internationally. We plan to form a wide network including stakeholders such as academia, industrialists, consultants, and investors to further develop and commercialise this novel technology in these countries and the UK. We anticipate hundreds to, ultimately, thousands of new jobs being generated for the manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of our products, significantly contributing to economic growth in these countries and the UK.
4. Policy makers in Ethiopia and Kenya will have early access to a potentially game-changing technology to tackle shortages of both energy and water supplies.
5. This project will make an important g contribution to build the geothermal energy exploitation related research capacity in Ethiopia and Kenya. Dr Elias Lewi Teklemariam who is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy (IGSSA) at Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia, is the Co-Investigator of our consortium. The project will aim to help develop geothermal related research programme in Ethiopia. The proposed work entails training for both AAU researchers and local community members for social science applications, data-gathering, and economic analyses.
6. We will train a number of high quality researchers through this project in both Ethiopia and the UK. Five PDRAs of diverse expertise will carry out the proposed research work. A large number of MEng and BEng project students will be trained along the implementation of this exciting project.
Organisations
- University of Glasgow (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- Tianjin University (Collaboration)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (Collaboration)
- HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Collaboration)
- FeTu (Collaboration)
- Seequent (Collaboration)
- Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Scottish Power Ltd (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Planet Earth Institute (Project Partner)
- Applied Research Associates (Project Partner)
- Cluff Geothermal Ltd (Project Partner)
Publications
Liang Y
(2018)
Investigation of a gas-fuelled water heater based on combined power and heat pump cycles
in Applied Energy
Montcoudiol N
(2019)
Surface and Groundwater Hydrochemistry of the Menengai Caldera Geothermal Field and Surrounding Nakuru County, Kenya
in Energies
Yu G
(2019)
Investigation of Geothermally Sourced Combined Power and Freshwater Generation Systems
in Energy Procedia
Burnside N
(2019)
Surface and groundwater hydrochemistry in the mid-Gregory Rift, Kenya: first impressions and potential implications for geothermal systems
in E3S Web of Conferences
Montcoudiol N
(2019)
Geothermal Energy and Water Resources in Ethiopia
Yu G
(2019)
Combined Power and Freshwater Generation Driven by Liquid-Dominated Geothermal Sources
in Energies
Liang Y
(2019)
A Waste Heat-Driven Cooling System Based on Combined Organic Rankine and Vapour Compression Refrigeration Cycles
in Applied Sciences
Description | 1) The efficiency of the power cycle using two phase turbine for power generation strongly depends on the turbine efficiency. 2) If the two-phase turbine efficiency can reach 50%, the over all cycle efficiency will be superior to other alternative technologies. 3) The advantage of such system is the production of fresh water. |
Exploitation Route | Findings can be used by companies working on geothermal power generation, water desalination, and energy storage. |
Sectors | Energy |
Description | This Project has established and maintained a collaboration with Addid Ababa University in Ethiopia. This research has led to my collaboration with water engineers such as Prof. Bill Sloan, which led to a programme research grant on decentralised water engineering (EP/V030515/1). Through this project, we are actively engage with communities such as Arran Island to develop decentralised water treatment technologies. The research work of this project has contributed to a recent award of an EPSRC project on a novel heat pump technology (EP/V042033/1). A patent has also been filed with an UK patent application (application no.: 2015531.3) in September 2020. It has been filed with a PCT (PCT/EP2021/076855) in September 2021. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Other |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | 5th Generation heating networks |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | 5th generation of heating networks |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | #176 |
Organisation | Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | An Adsorption-Compression Cold Thermal Energy Storage System (ACCESS) |
Amount | £1,022,621 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W027593/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 08/2025 |
Description | An engineering, social and economic evaluation of food processing in the rural areas of Malawi and Kenya |
Amount | £34,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Government of Scotland |
Department | Scottish Funding Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 03/2018 |
Description | China-UK workshop on low-carbon heating and cooling technologies |
Amount | £39,320 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 2018-RLWK10-10298 |
Organisation | British Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 12/2019 |
Description | Collaborative development of renewable/thermally driven and storage-integrated cooling technologies |
Amount | € 639,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | SEP-210670381 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 05/2021 |
End | 05/2025 |
Description | Decentralised water technologies |
Amount | £5,994,286 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V030515/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2021 |
End | 02/2026 |
Description | ENSIGN: ENergy System dIGital twiN |
Amount | £4,340,128 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/X025322/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2023 |
End | 08/2027 |
Description | Flexible Air Source Heat pump for domestic heating decarbonisation (FASHION) |
Amount | £1,149,351 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V042033/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2021 |
End | 08/2024 |
Description | Flexible Heat |
Amount | £137,858 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 10025661 |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2022 |
End | 04/2022 |
Description | Flexible Heat Pump Technology - from Concept to Applications |
Amount | £180,255 (GBP) |
Funding ID | IF\R1\231053 |
Organisation | The Royal Society |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2024 |
End | 12/2027 |
Description | GREEN-ICEs: Generation of REfrigerated ENergy Integrated with Cold Energy storage |
Amount | £398,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 06/2023 |
Description | GREEN-ICEs: Generation of REfrigerated ENergy Integrated with Cold Energy storage |
Amount | £1,204,098 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/T022701/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2020 |
End | 08/2024 |
Description | Industrial Doctorate |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 217 |
Organisation | Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 09/2027 |
Description | Industurial doctorate |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 210 |
Organisation | Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 02/2027 |
Description | Modelling and Optimisation of Integrated Urban Energy Systems for both Heating and Power |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2018 |
End | 08/2021 |
Description | Modelling and Optimisation of Integrated Urban Energy Systems for both Heating and Power |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2018 |
End | 08/2021 |
Description | PhD studenship |
Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2023 |
End | 03/2027 |
Description | PhD studentship |
Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 09/2027 |
Description | Study of the impacts of electrification of heating on electric grid at district level |
Amount | £45,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 09/2022 |
Description | Transport Scotland Industry Engagement Fund |
Amount | £9,366 (GBP) |
Organisation | Scottish Enterprise |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2022 |
End | 03/2023 |
Description | Waste heat driven cooling technology - IAA Project (EPSRC via University of Glasgow) |
Amount | £40,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 03/2021 |
Title | A research rig for research on natural convection heat transfer |
Description | A rig has been designed and built to study the natural convectional heat transfer. It use high speed camera to visualise the flow patter around heated tubes. Smoke is used as the trace particles. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This can used by the team and other reeserch groups in the School. |
Title | Computer model for the analysis of two-phase flash boiling |
Description | Computer model for the analysis of two-phase flash boiling of geothermal water due to expansion from high pressure to low pressure by application of Thermal-Phase change definition and IAPWS-IF97 database for water properties. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Provide a new numerical tool to simulate the two phase flash boiling. |
Title | Computer model of a curved nozzle two-phase turbine |
Description | Computer model of a curved nozzle two-phase turbine for power generation from geothermal water using steady state, frozen rotor governing equations in a CFD solver. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Provide a new numerical tool for designing two phase turbine. |
Description | Collaboration with Dr Yongliang Li |
Organisation | University of Birmingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Established collaboration and secured two more research grants. |
Collaborator Contribution | Academic collaboration in grant applicaitons. |
Impact | n/a |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with FETU |
Organisation | FeTu |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Expertise in heat pumps, refrigeration, and power generation |
Collaborator Contribution | FETU compressor / expander technology |
Impact | We are working on a joint grant application to Innovate UK Smart Programme |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with Huazhong University of Science and Technology |
Organisation | Huazhong University of Science and Technology |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Established collaboration with Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China), led to a successful workshop/network grant by British Council and NSFC of China (Ref: 2018-RLWK10-10298) Contribution: expertise in heating and cooling technologies |
Collaborator Contribution | expertise in cooling technologies |
Impact | We will organise a joint China-UK worksho for heating and cooling technologies. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with Prof Xiangeng Fan and Dr Martin Sweatman at Edinburgh |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I led a joint grant application in collaboration with Prof Xiangeng Fan and Dr Martin Sweatman at Edinburgh. EP/W027593/1 - An Adsorption-Compression Cold Thermal Energy Storage System (ACCESS). It was awarded but yet to start. Total value is £1.01, and University of Glasgow receives £501k. |
Collaborator Contribution | Prof Xiangeng Fan and Dr Martin Sweatman at Edinburgh led two work packages of the joint project. EP/W027593/1 - An Adsorption-Compression Cold Thermal Energy Storage System (ACCESS) |
Impact | This project has not started yet. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with Prof. Hua Tian and Gequn Shu in Tianjin University, China |
Organisation | Tianjin University |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Established collaboration with Prof. Hua Tian and Gequn Shu in Tianjin University in the area of super-critical CO2 power generation technologies. Our contribution: expertise of PIV experimental testing by Dr Zhibin Yu and CFD design expertise by Prof. Li He |
Collaborator Contribution | Their expertise of supercritical CO2 power plants |
Impact | Established collaboration with Tianjin University and submitted a China-UK Low Carbon Manufacture grant application in 2018. It received very high review scores but narrowly missed due to the very limited funds available of this Call. We will continue to collaborate in this area. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with SSE |
Organisation | Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Develop a new concept for cold energy storage to mitigate the impacts of the cooling sector. |
Collaborator Contribution | Industrial expertise of the grid operation and the constraints. |
Impact | SSE support me on a successful EPSRC grant application - ACCESS project. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with Scottish Power Energy Networks |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Department | Scottish Power Energy Networks |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We developed models and tools to understand the hourly heat demand of the UK and provided the knowledge of the impacts of the heat electrification on the electric grid. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided funding and research data. |
Impact | Led to further business and academia collaboration: 1) Host Dr James Yu as Industrial Fellowship, Royal Academy of Engineering/Scottish Power, Value: £84,138. 20/09/2021-19/09/2022. Role: PI. 2) Jointly secured two Ofgem projects: Flexible Heat and Heat Balance. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with Scottish power |
Organisation | Scottish Power Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Contribute to the project "Modelling and Optimisation of Integrated Urban Energy Systems for both Heating and Power" in the area of heating networks, including modelling and optimisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Contribute to the project "Modelling and Optimisation of Integrated Urban Energy Systems for both Heating and Power" in the area of smart grid, including modelling and optimisation. |
Impact | We submitted a joint application for a PhD studentship to Energy Technology Partnership in 2017 and was funded. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Collaboration with Xian Jiaotong University |
Organisation | Xi'an Jiaotong University |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Established collaboration with Dr Mingjia Li in Xi'an Jiaotong University and submitted a China-UK Low Carbon Manufacture grant application in 2018. my contribution: expertise of PIV measurement and thermodynamics |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in thermodynamics and heat transfer |
Impact | Submitted a China-UK Low Carbon Manufacture grant application in 2018. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Seequent |
Organisation | Seequent |
Country | New Zealand |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Testing of Leapfrog software for our geothermal conditions |
Collaborator Contribution | Free software licence for Leapfrog Staff time support |
Impact | Advancement of Leapfrog technology Geothermal simulations for sites of interest |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | collaboration with Dr Yasser Mahmoudi larimi |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Academic collaboration in the area of energy storage. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Yasser Mahmoudi larimi has invited to participate a consortium for a large research EPSRC grant application. |
Impact | just started the collaboration |
Start Year | 2023 |
Title | A HEAT PUMP SYSTEM |
Description | A heat pump system for controlling the internal temperature of a building. The system comprises a compressor, a first heat exchanger, an expansion device and a second heat exchanger which are fluidly coupled together by a flow of refrigerant to define a refrigerant circuit, and a thermal energy storage means which is thermally couplable to the refrigerant circuit to exchange thermal energy with the refrigerant. The heat pump system is configured to be operable in a normal heating mode and in a defrosting mode. In the normal heating mode, thermal energy is transferred from the second heat exchanger into the refrigerant and transferred from the refrigerant by the first heat exchanger to heat the building. In the defrosting mode thermal energy is transferred from the thermal energy storage means into the refrigerant and transferred from the refrigerant by the first heat exchanger to heat the building and by the second heat exchanger to defrost the second heat exchanger. The heat pump system comprises a switching assembly which is configured to switch between the normal heating and defrosting modes, and wherein the switching assembly is configured, when operating the heat pump system in the defrosting mode, to direct refrigerant exiting the first heat exchanger to flow through the second heat exchanger to cause residual heat in the refrigerant to defrost the second heat exchanger. |
IP Reference | WO2022069581 |
Protection | Patent / Patent application |
Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | A list of companies showed interests in the IP, and maintain dialogue with us. |
Description | Chair/co-organise the workshop - Seasonal Thermal Storage for Scotland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Seasonal Thermal Storage (STS) projects and technologies are allowing regions to decarbonise their heating by allowing heat to be collected during the summer, stored, and then used in the winter when peak heat demand occurs. STS projects are successfully up and running in several countries but not yet in Scotland. This event aims to introduce the concept of STS, how it can add value to local and national energy systems, and the technologies involved. We will hear from experts who have been delivering STS projects in North West Europe, and who have been appraising the potential of STS to best be integrated into energy systems in Scotland. The event will be useful for anyone from both the public and private sector who are in an energy planning, financing, or research role and would like to learn more about energy storage options beyond electrical batteries, and how alternative storage forms can provide key services to local and national energy systems. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Conference paper / presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Conference presentation to c. 100 people Burnside, N. M. , Montcoudiol, N. and Boyce, A. J. (2019) Surface and Groundwater Hydrochemistry in the Mid-Gregory Rift, Kenya: First Impressions and Potential Implications for Geothermal Systems. In: 16th International Symposium on Water-Rock Interaction and 13th International Symposium on Applied Isotope Geochemistry (1st IAGC International Conference), Tomsk, Russia, 21-26 Jul 2019, 07004. (doi:10.1051/e3sconf/20199807004) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Conference paper / presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation to c. 100 people at the European Geothermal Congress Burnside, N. M. , Rane, S., Yu, G. , Ma, H., Montcoudiol, N., Li, W., Teklemariam, E. L., Boyce, A. , He, L. and Yu, Z. (2019) Geothermally Sourced Combined Power and Freshwater Generation for Eastern Africa. In: European Geothermal Congress 2019, The Hague, The Netherlands, 11-14 Jun 2019, |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Engagement with UK Committee on Climate Change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Round table meeting organised by ETP to engage with with Chris Stark, CEO of the UK Committee on Climate Change, 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Guest on the Science Show - Jambo Radio |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Guest at The Science Show of Jambo Radio. Talk about heating technologies, heat pumps, heat decarbonisation. Challenges and Opportunities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmkfDM-H9nU |
Description | Institution presentation to Addis Ababa University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | 60-70 staff and students from Addis Ababa University attended Burnside led work shop on wider Combi-Gen project. Encouraged lots of questions and discussion surrounding geothermal and water resources in Ethiopia. Commitment to further discussions to advance and build on project in new field areas with differing socio-environmental challenges. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Interview by Physics World of Institute of Physics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interviewed by the journalist to talk about may invention of flexible heat pump and more widely heat decarbonisation. Home, green home: scientific solutions for cutting carbon and (maybe) saving money 13 Oct 2022 Margaret Harris |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://physicsworld.com/a/home-green-home-scientific-solutions-for-cutting-carbon-and-maybe-saving-... |
Description | Interviewed by Knowable Magazine of Annual Reviews |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interviewed by a journalist to talk about my invention of flexible heat pumps, and heat decarbonisation more widely. How heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future Innovative thinking has done away with problems that long dogged the electric devices - and both scientists and environmentalists are excited about the possibilities By Chris Baraniuk 01.11.2023 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://knowablemagazine.org/article/technology/2023/heat-pumps-becoming-technology-future |
Description | Invited speaker at low carbon heating and cooling international workshop in Wuhan, China |
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 | Workshop presentation to c. 60 attendees 'Geothermal Resources: Low-carbon thermal energy opportunities' 2019 Researcher Links China-UK workshop of low-carbon heating and cooling technologies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited presentation at the University of Strathclyde Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 'Fingerprinting the Hydrosphere: The power of stable isotopic tracers' Presentation to c. 50 academics (mainly staff with some further students) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Meetings with the Ethiopian Ambassdor to the UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Hosted Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Dr. Hailemichael Afework Aberra and his team at the University of Glasgow during a short Prof John Struthers (Ethiopia's Honorary Consul for Scotland) led tour of Scottish orgnaisations with significant Ethiopian activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Organising a China - UK low carbon heating and cooling workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Around 100 delegate attended, of which there 20 participants from industrial companies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |