Impact of this co-ordination action

The partners in this project are very research active players in their own states and, in most cases, also are heavily involved in diverse projects at European level.  There is currently no programme or project in place for co‑ordinating these research activities.  As a result, complementary research activities often do not fulfil their potential to yield synergistic results, and duplication of research is a common problem.  The need to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power is a common problem faced by all European nations.  There is clearly a need for a co-ordinating force to optimise the effectiveness of European research in the field of renewable micro-CHP if it is to realise its undoubted potential, which is why this co-ordination action is so vital.

The partners are already active in a large number of research projects, both at the national and European levels.  Many of the partners are already involved in some of the main CHP thematic networks and concerted actions currently running, such as Came-GT (ENK5-CT-2000-20062), ChapNet (ENK5-CT-2001-20554) and SOFCNet (ENG2-CT-2002-20652).  None of these projects specialise in renewable micro-CHP, which means that the members of this project will have a key role in helping to represent the interests of the renewable micro-CHP community in other TNs.

As a key distributed generation technology, this project also plans to make useful input to the work of the Integration RES + DG cluster project.  This cluster of seven projects has over one hundred partners, made up from industry, the utilities and research organisations, and has a total budget of ca. €34,000,000.  It is the principal driving force behind the study and promotion of distributed generation from renewable energy supplies in Europe.  Many of the partners are already involved with this cluster project, which places this co-ordination action in an ideal position to make a useful contribution to the cluster’s work, and to benefit from its results.

This co-ordination action will act as a focal point for dissemination of research results in the field throughout Europe.  The goal of the members is to disseminate relevant results and materials to the industry, and beyond, and contribute to the research efficiency and competitiveness of key European industries.  The technologies that will be shaped by this project will have a positive effect on remote and developing communities by providing an efficient, reliable, and cost effective source of heat and electricity.

Exploitation and dissemination plans

Dissemination is considered a central element of this project.  The goal is to improve co-ordination of research into micro-CHP powered by RES, and to make industry and consumers better aware of the benefits it offers.  An entire work package (WP6) has been devoted to dissemination, technology transfer and training of staff.  This part of the project is felt to be of such paramount importance that almost all of the partners in the project will be involved to some extent.  The primary mode of dissemination will be the project’s web site, which will be designed principally as a tool for communication between partners, but also to allow easy access to the project’s reports and documentation.  Development of the web site will involve its expansion to host bulletin boards, files for downloading, and user-friendly information pages to provide an introduction to the uses and benefits of renewable energy sources and micro-CHP for the layman and the interested scientist or businessman.  The web site will also provide educational materials, for both the general public and for undergraduate students.

It is intended that this web site will continue after the end of the project, either independently as a “virtual institute”, or through further competitively-won research funding, e.g. as a network of excellence.  The proposers do not believe further funding will be necessary to maintain the web site as an important dissemination tool.  It is hoped that it will become an invaluable means of continued networking amongst researchers and end users in Europe concerned with or interested in renewable micro-CHP.  WBI is prepared to continue to host the project web site and database, in exchange for the right to advertise its services through the interface.  Funding of the website after the last EC payment will probably be achieved through sponsorship or subscriptions. The information collected through this project is likely to be of considerable interest to European researchers.  Since the costs of the initial data collection will be subsidised by this network, further running costs for the database and web site should be minimal.  The proposers believe that European researchers will be prepared to pay a small amount (ca. €50 p.a.) for access to this data, and that the revenue thus generated will be sufficient to maintain the service indefinitely.

Main potential users of renewable micro-CHP will be identified by WP6.  Representatives from these potential clients will be identified during the first year of the project.  They will be invited to attend the technology transfer workshops in Months 18 and 30.  Although these workshops are primarily intended to benefit the project’s members, it is expected that they will be of considerable interest and assistance to these key potential users.  They will gain an improved understanding and appreciation of the benefits of renewable micro-CHP, and may well wish to invest in the new technology and exploit the latest research in the field.

The project’s workplan allows considerable scope for further dissemination of its results.  WP4 will allow the results from many projects in the field to be discussed.  The members of this project will then be able to spread the results of MicroCHeaP to their partners in other project consortia, and their usual collaborators.  In addition, they will be able to disseminate the results of those projects discussed during the co-ordination meetings.  This will provide a considerable improvement in the quality of dissemination throughout Europe.

Task 4.2 (of WP4) consists of small expert groups being formed to discuss ‘hot topics’ in the field.  These groups will meet three times throughout the project, and their deliberations will be published and made available to the research community.  This will raise the awareness of the state of the art, and allow cutting-edge research results to be better exploited and commercialised.

Staff secondments will also form an important part of the project’s exploitation and dissemination plans.  Whilst workshops and seminars have an important role to play, direct dissemination of knowledge will always best be achieved by ‘in the flesh’ demonstrations of technologies and techniques.  For this reason, a twelve-month staff exchange programme has been proposed by the partners.  This will involve regular exchanges of personnel between member organisations, to allow them to witness and experience their peers’ facilities and expertise.  This will allow for more rapid transfer of technology from research institutes to industry and should also make a contribution to standardisation by encouraging the adoption of best practice.

Perhaps the most important contribution that this project can make to European research is the report to be presented to funding bodies recommending the future direction research in the field should take.  This document will allow the funding bodies to shape their policies to maximise the undoubted potential offered by renewable micro-CHP.  Additionally, it will place the consortium in prime position to take full advantage of the new research direction to be pursued.

The project’s partners will also carry out direct dissemination activities throughout the project, through voluntary additional staff exchanges and by publicising the project on their individual web sites.  These activities will be stepped up in the last eighteen months of the project to publicise the results and conclusions of the project’s work packages.  These campaigns will mainly be targeted at the potential clients previously mentioned, although they will not be restricted to these people and organisations.  During the course of the project, partners will be attending or presenting at conferences, symposia and exhibitions as part of their normal activities.  If considered appropriate, demonstrations will be held of the technologies transferred during this project.  Most of the deliverable results and reports will also be made publicly available in the last year of the project.

European added value

Renewable micro-CHP technology has the potential to be used on a pan-European basis and will play a vital role in the future energy infrastructure of all countries.  Many of the expected potential clients of this technology are small companies and organisations who do not have the resources to investigate such a diverse range of technologies on such a large scale.  The expertise needed for a project for such an ambitious project is not readily available in any one EU member state.  Particular technologies and research attract varying attention at a national level, depending upon the energy needs and governmental polices of any one particular country.  Germany, for example, has particular expertise in photovoltaic technology; Denmark has considerable experience with CHP, and so on.  As this project has been carefully written to include only leading experts in a field, this only underlines the importance for carrying out the work at a European level.

An important aspect of the network will be to investigate and evaluate many different kinds of technology relevant to renewable micro-CHP (i.e. micro-CHP units linked to renewable energy systems). Research regarding renewable energy technologies tend to be focused within areas abundant in the natural resource used as fuel. For example, hot countries such as Spain are a focus for solar concentrator research. By conducting this network at a European level, it allows experts to be drawn from all the major fields of renewable energy technology, and hence significantly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the network aims. This will also allow the research specialist from each country to evaluate other unfamiliar technologies, and hence stimulate new research with their associated country.

Market conditions and trends also play an important role throughout the project.  Performing this project at a European level will greatly contribute to the evaluation and analysis of each, technology (or combinations thereof), and, hence, will greatly improve the market penetration of highlighted technologies.  By comparing different technologies within the market trends and conditions of target countries, it will be possible to predict, with some degree of accuracy, how different technologies will fare in future European markets. This will allow for technologies with great potential to be highlighted and disseminated to targeted clients and industries.  This will improve the efficiency and competitiveness of European industries and research centres, and the development of sustainable communities.

This project will be of considerable benefit to smaller SMEs, which do not have the resources to conduct this kind of project without external assistance.  As the project will bring together leading experts within each technological field relevant to renewable micro-CHP, and its results will be directly disseminated to targeted clients and industries, this will lead to the refinement of the research effort, and, hence, an improvement of research efficiency throughout Europe.  It would not be unreasonable to estimate that this network would lead to an average national research saving of €10,000,000 per member state per annum, if the results are fully exploited as described by this section of the proposal.  As the project’s partners are fully committed to this plan, this could lead to a total research saving of €150,000,000 per annum throughout the EU.