In today's highly competitive power sector, electricity companies and their suppliers are always looking for an edge over rivals, especially in technology. So it can only be good news that the European Union (EU) will from this year until 2013 be spending Euro 2.3 billion on energy studies through its 'seventh framework programme', its largest ever research spending scheme, commanding budgets worth Euro 53.2 billion in total.
Another Euro 2.7 billion will be spent under the EU's atomic energy arm Euratom on research on nuclear energy and Euro 1.8 billion on environmental research, including new technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Private companies and state-owned organisations can apply for money from these pots and given the amounts set aside for these topics, it is inevitable that innovative projects developing new power generating and transmission technology will land major grants. Power-sector players - like other applicants - have to raise 50% of the funding of their projects from other sources, and if they can demonstrate they will use the research to create jobs and wealth with the EU, they can enjoy control over the use of the findings, as far as commercial exploitation is concerned.
In the two years of debates involving EU institutions that forged the framework programme (FP7), MEPs and EU ministers laid down priority policy areas for energy research funding and many of these will be able to be exploited by ambitious electricity sector organisations seeking public money. They include:
*Hydrogen and fuel cells - supporting EU fuel cell and hydrogen industries, for stationary as well as portable applications;
*Renewable electricity generation - technologies to increase overall conversion efficiency, cost efficiency and reliability, driving down the cost of electricity production;
*CO2 capture and storage technologies for zero emission power generation - technologies reducing the environmental impact of fossil fuel use by capturing CO2;
*Clean Coal Technologies - substantially improving power plant efficiency, reliability and reducing costs through research, development and demonstration of cleaner coal and other solid fuel conversion technologies, producing also secondary energy carriers (including hydrogen) and liquid or gaseous fuels; and
*Smart energy networks - increasing the efficiency, safety, reliability and quality of European electricity systems and networks.
A Commission report on FP7 energy research explained the thinking behind these priorities: "Europe's energy economy, and that of the world, is currently on a path that is not sustainable and urgent action is needed. The focus of the research and demonstration actions in FP7 will be on accelerating the development of cost-effective technologies for a more sustainable energy economy for Europe (and the rest of the world) and ensuring that European industry can compete successfully on the global stage."
So, without doubt, there is money to be tapped. The question: how to get it?
For research teams in the power sector, there are four considerations: first to have a relevant idea to develop; second to be aware of when money is being released; third to have potential project partners; and fourth to get the application right.
To fulfill the demands of the first two demands, researchers should keep tabs on Œcalls for proposals‚ made by the European Commission, issued regularly over the next seven years; they include detailed instructions on how to apply for money. So watch the relevant Brussels websites -
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/research/tenders/index_en.html;
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm; and
http://cordis.europa.eu/news/calls_en.html.
The Commission has already made its first call for proposals under FP7, two weeks before the programme was formally launched on 1 January.
This was a large clump of requests, to be followed by a series of smaller calls, which will not follow any specific timetable. This initial tranche included one call worth Euro 128 million. Topics requested included:
*Developing secure, reliable and affordable feedstocks for photovoltaic electricity production, plus innovative manufacturing processes;
*Creating novel solid biofuels for power generation and equipment for high efficiency medium-to-large scale biomass electricity generation;
*Demonstration projects for large-scale wind farms and integrating wind power into the European power system;
*Building low cost, high efficiency solar power daily storage systems; and innovative concentrated solar power heat transfer concepts; and
*Investigating poly-generation concepts for coal-fired power plants.
Another call has Euro 109.3 million to spend, its requested topics included:
*Basic research for materials and processes regarding polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells;
*Developing dye-sensitised photovoltaic solar cells; binary thin-film photovoltaics; and crystalline silicon photovoltaics;
*Testing, standards and certification for wind energy systems; and
*A feasibility study and development of a large scale zero emission fossil fuel power plant. Both calls have a deadline for applications of May 3: see
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm for details on how to apply,
including required documentation.
As can be seen from the detail of these calls, it helps applicants to have some idea of the likely topics of proposals, and the Commission will set out its plans for these calls in annual work programmes, providing details about the topics, timings and implementation. Prior knowledge will allow power research groups to approach research teams from other EU countries to forge international alliances of research teams for applications, usually a key consideration for grant awards, which are deigned to promote work that is harder to undertake in one country only. Importantly, a series of advisory groups are being established to help the Commission draw up its plans - see
http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/advisory_en.html.
In reality, however, the power sector is in the right place, with the Commission saying in a report that the FP7 places "greater emphasis" than its predecessors "on research that is relevant to the needs of European industry, to help it compete internationally, and develop its role as a world leader in certain sectors."
Indeed, imaginative power researchers could seek to tap EU funds from other FP7 budgets, all with millions of Euros to spend. Biomass power and biofuel development projects could handily delve into the 'food, agriculture and biotechnology' section‚s calls for proposals, for instance. Projects using high tech IT to develop intelligent energy systems, especially those improving energy efficiency, could get money from the FP7 'information and communication technologies' budget. And there is a special budget for nanotechnology: "new materials to improve energy conversion efficiency and more energy-efficient industrial processes", could score grants here, said a Commission note.
Keith Nuthall
More information:
*http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/home_en.html
*http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/
*http://ec.europa.eu/research/consultations/list_en.html
*http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/home_en.html
*http://erc.europa.eu/pdf/erc-draftwp-2007_en.pdf
*http://ec.europa.eu/erc/index_en.cfm
* http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/understand_en.html
* http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/index.html
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