SERG Wind Energy & Storage Projects
TIDES -- Tidal Energy Demonstration Scheme. EU FP7 (in negotiation), 2013-2017.
A knowledge based approach to calculating availability from large sets of wind farm data. Irish Research Council funded PhD fellowship, 2013-2016.
Wind variability and energy storage in Ireland. Edward McGarrigle. IRCSET funded MEngSc/PhD fellowship, 2010-2013.
stoRE: Facilitating Energy Storage to Allow High Penetration of Intermittent Renewable Energy. European Commission Intelligent Energy Europe programme, 2011-2014.
Atmospheric stability and coastal effects on near-shore and offshore wind energy. Kevin Coffey, HEA Graduate Education Programme in Engineering (GREP-Eng) funded postgraduate fellowship.
Intelligent Energy from Autoproduction. Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership with Wind Energy Direct Ltd., 2010-2012.
Transforming no-hydropower dams and reservoir hydropower schemes into pumping hydropower schemes in Europe. European Commission Joint Research Centre - Institute for Energy, Research Service contract, 2010-2011.
Intelligent Energy from Autoproduction
An autoproducer is an entity which produces its own electricity, primarily for its own use at the site of generation. Electricity autoproduction is an attractive option for manufacturers with large energy demands, as it allows greater control over energy costs. Any generation surplus to on-site demand can be exported to the grid. Combined heat and power systems are probably the most widely-installed autoproduction technology, however wind energy is increasingly being considered.
In an autoproduction site, the local source is effectively competing against the fluctuating wholesale single electricity market price. Therefore, the greatest return on investment in generation equipment for autoproducers is obtained when on-site usage of locally generated electricity is maximised. Wind energy presents some particular challenges as an autoproduction source, as it is variable in nature, which can lead to difficulty in matching loads to supply. Process control and optimisation can be used to address this problem. Energy storage, in the form of thermal energy or embodied energy in inventory, can also be used to increase local utilisation of the electricity produced. This project aims to enable industries to control their own energy costs by combining on-site wind generation with intelligent load management.
Mr Brian Hanrahan BEng MEngSc is Research Engineer for this project.
stoRE
stoRE: Facilitating Energy Storage to Allow High Penetration of Intermittent Renewable Energy
The stoRE project has been funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme (see full list of projects funded in the 2010 call here) to examine non-technical barriers to developing energy storage across Europe. The project is led by Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur Planungs
of Germany and UCC-SERG will lead the workpackage examining
environmental barriers to energy storage. Malachy Walsh and Partners,
the well-established Irish engineering consultancy will be major
contributors to this workpackage. stoRE commenced in May 2011 and will
run until 2014. A major energy storage stakeholder workshop will be held
in Ireland as part of the project, which will also lead to the
development of best practice guidance for developers of energy storage
projects across Europe.