newsletter issue no. 37 march 2011 - institute of physics

NEWSLETTER

Issue no. 37

March 2011

http://eg.iop.org

Energy Group Newsletter March 2011

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Contents

Wind Energy: Challenges for Materials, Mechanics and Surface Science .. 3Energy Storage: the Frontiers of Materials and Physics .............................. 7Novel ICT solutions for Smart Grids ........................................................... 13Perspectives on Technologies and Materials for Photovoltaics ................. 14Chair’s Notes .............................................................................................. 15Book Reviews ............................................................................................. 16Forthcoming Events .................................................................................... 22Energy Group Contacts .............................................................................. 28

In this issue we have reports from four well attended events. The windenergy event was organised by the Applied Physics and TechnologyDivision to draw together the interests of several IOP Groups. One report ison our own event held in November. The format of fewer, longer talks withplenty of discussion time was clearly welcomed and it gave enough time forthe audience to engage with each other, moving beyond the usual questionand answer session with each speaker. We have a short report from theannual IOP ‘Perspectives on Technologies and Materials for Photovoltaics’.The last report is about a knowledge exchange event on smart grids – adifferent kind of event, but one with very interesting ideas and importantimplications for future electricity networks. Add to that several reviews ofnew books and I hope this issue was worth the wait. Lastly, I hope you mayhave time to find an event near you in European Sustainable Energy Week– I’ll be at an electricity etworks conference in Germany, and I hope to get tosome of the demonstrations and visits for the public too.

Colin Axon

This newsletter is available on the web in colour, and in larger print sizes.

The Energy Group website is http://eg.iop.orgThe contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views orpolicies of the Institute of Physics, except where explicitly stated.

The Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, W1B 1NT, UK.Tel: 020 7470 4800 Fax: 020 7470 4848


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Wind Energy: Challenges for Materials,Mechanics and Surface Science

Roger Welch reports on this Institute of Physics meeting held on the 28th

October 2010 at IOP Headquarters, London.

This one-day conference was organised by the IOP Division of AppliedPhysics and Technology and drew together many of the topics covered bythe Groups within the Division. The aim was to identify the key challenges totarget areas for future research and development investment.

Peter Jensen (Risøe DTU, Laboratory for Sustainable Energy,Wind energy Division, Denmark) opened the programme of presentationswith a review of the rapid pace of technology development in the windindustry. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s there was a ‘battle of theconcepts’ where the three blade up-wind turbine became the dominantmarket solution. However, within this concept there is a wide range oftechnologies with drive trains and generators. The market is extremelyactive and production capacity doubles every three years. The trend is todevelop larger turbines to reduce the cost of electricity. This trend is drivinginnovation and Risøe DTU manages the European Framework Sixprogramme on developing very large turbines, driving down cost, anddeveloping offshore technologies. The programme has investigated wherethe technology challenges lie in scaling up turbines and has consideredmany aspects of their design including the rotor, drive train, generator, andsupport structure. Although there appears to be no fundamental limits to thescaling up of turbines, the industry does face challenges in reducing thecost of electricity. Historically this has occurred as the industry has learntfrom experience and this cost reduction is likely to continue as thetechnology challenges are addressed.

Torben Jacobsen introduced LM Windpower as a leadingmultinational blade designer and manufacturer that had grown from its originas a furniture and boat builder. The majority of the blade market is for 1.5-3MW onshore turbines but the company is seeing significant growth indemand for blades for offshore turbines greater than 3.3MW. Jacobsencontinually emphasised that the key driver in the industry is cost ofelectricity, and all innovation has to reduce cost. LM Windpower aredesigning offshore blades of 60-100m. The technology is not approachingany fundamental limits on size. Turbine blades are designed with a 20 yearlifetime and once installed access is difficult and expensive to service so arobust design is required to minimise maintenance costs. The mainchallenge faced by blade manufacture is leading edge erosion from dirt,


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rain, hail, saline, humidity, cavitation, icing, and UV degradation. LMWindpower investigates composite materials to reduce the erosion issuesand tighten up supply issues to ensure consistency of product.

Paul Weaver (Bristol), Professor of Lightweight Structures, hastaken inspiration from aerospace technology to improve the performance ofrotor blades by investigating the feasibility of morphing flaps. The flapsenable the blades to cope with varying wind conditions and increase theaerodynamic efficiency of the blades. The group successfully demonstrateda bi-stable flap manufactured from several layers of a lightweight compositeand actuated by a solenoid. The results showed rapid actuation (0.18s).Further work is being carried out to index the morphing so more than twopositions are achievable.

Jim Platts (Cambridge) gave a fascinating talk on the possibility ofusing wood laminates as a structural material for wind turbine blades.Comparing wood to materials more often associated with the wind industry,such as glass and carbon fibre, showed that wood is an order of magnitudecheaper for the equivalent strength and stiffness. The use of wood alsoreduces the amount of wastage in the production process and eliminatesthe curing times associated with thick sections of glass fibre. The speakerpresented bamboo as a material that can be manufactured into anaerodynamically efficient blade and presented results on a 40m test bladefabricated in China. Water content is detrimental to the structural propertiesof wood, but drying treatments and encapsulating in epoxy address this andwater ingress concerns. Bamboo is in plentiful supply across Asia. Plattsfinished by highlighting bamboo’s potential as a material for turbine towers.

Before lunch, the audience were treated to a series of four shortposter presentations covering the following topics:

The investigation of bearing failures by Michael Evans(Southampton), the research sponsored by Vestas.

The development of radar-absorbing materials for turbine blades toreduce the radar cross section (Chris Perry, QinetiQ).

A system to address the intermittency by designing a large turbinewith moveable masses in the blades to compress air which isstored, potentially in underwater ‘balloons’, which can be used todrive a generator on demand (Simon Woodhead, Nottingham).

The use of LIDAR to perform wind surveys on potential wind farmsites to characterise the behaviour of the wind with greater detailthan given by anemometers. The results of the surveys significantlyreduce the project risk by determining the extreme and averageload conditions enabling the project consultants to adequatelyspecify the farm (Peter Clive, Sgurr Energy Limited).


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The afternoon session was opened by Don van Delft (Knowledge CentreWMC, Netherlands) who explained the challenges of the representativetesting of wind turbine blades. The difficulties arise since it is expensive totest blades given their cost and the heavy machinery and time needed toperform the tests. Hence the tests are done on only one or two blades ofany particular design. The tests are done to meet the IEC-TC88 testspecification and consist of applying the maximum static load, performingdynamic fatigue loadings, and then a final static load test to ensure that theblade has not significantly deteriorated during the fatigue testing. If a bladefails under load conditions then the sudden release of energy creates a loudbang and has the potential to damage the test equipment leading toadditional costs and delays. Van Delft explained a variable amplitude testmethodology which appears to be more representative of real lifeexperiences than the standard constant amplitude tests.

Professor Zi-Qiang Zhu (Sheffield) gave an interesting overview ofdrive train and generator technologies for wind turbines. The most commonare induction and squirrel cage generators. These have the advantage ofbeing a mature and cost effective technology. However, large andexpensive gear boxes are required to couple to torque generated by theblades. Direct drive solutions with the stator coils electrically excited togenerate a magnetic flux field are again a mature technology (used forhydro-power generation). Although this solution negates the requirement fora gearbox the generators become large and there are increased losses dueto the power required to excite the stator coils. A development on this is touse permanent magnets instead of excited coils. The efficiency is greater,however, many tonnes of expensive rare earth magnets are required andthere is the risk of permanent demagnetisation in the event of a failure. Zhuoutlined his group’s work on magnetic gears which have the potential toreduce the size of the generators.

Geoff Dutton (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) described the workhis group has completed on the modelling of wind turbine blades as part ofthe Supergen wind programme. The model considers the physical andstructural properties of the blade construction by incorporating the strengthsof the resin/fibre layers. The model incorporates the aerodynamic andmechanical forces on the blades. Although the model currently onlyconsiders static loading, a dynamic model is being developed. The model,validated against data from full scale blades, allowed the team to investigatethe behaviour and potential use of other construction materials.

Mechanical wear in wind turbine drive trains is a key challenge forthe wind industry. Many of the failure mechanisms are not well understoodand Professor Robert Wood (Southampton) has embarked on several


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research projects to gain an insight into the failure mechanisms experiencedby the industry. With powers increasing with the square of turbine bladelength and torque by the cube of blade length the challenges are gettinggreater. The key challenges are associated with the gearbox bearings, theyaw drive, the pitch drive, and oil filtration. Bearing damage is due tobrinelling (the plastic deformation of bearing surfaces) and is a difficultproblem to understand due to the transient loading of the bearings undervariable wind turbine loading. There appears to be interesting new failuremechanisms which are difficult to reproduce reliably in the lab and henceunderstand the causes for failure. Additional parameters such as humidity,salt corrosion and pitting due to salt deposition complicate the problem. Asbearings get larger the homogeneity of the bearing becomes more importantand more difficult to control. The group is making progress in understandingthe problem and the industry is becoming better at controlling the supplychain by introducing more appropriate standards for the components andintegrating suppliers into the design process.

The last talk of the day by Larry Viterna (Cape Western Universityand formerly of NASA) gave an amusing overview of the developments inwind turbine technology in the USA over the past 20-30 years. Viternahighlighted the evolution of designs and the reasoning behind the trendtowards the current 3 blade upwind dominant technology. To date. designshave tended towards a rigid construction, but the presenter postulated thatthis may not be the dominant solution as turbines increase in size and aredeployed in deep offshore environments. Viterna concluded his talk by apresentation of a compliant offshore design which is tether anchored indeep water and swings with the wind.

The day highlighted the current challenges facing the wind turbineindustry. Historically, problems have been solved and the cost of energy hasdecreased. As turbines become larger and sites become more inhospitablethe industry will face further challenges. The excellent quality of thespeakers highlighted the range of expertise within European organisations.The day also showed that UK physics and engineering is well placed tomake a significant contribution to addressing the challenges faced by thewind turbine industry.

Dr Roger Welch is senior consultant at Isis Innovation, Oxford University’stechnology transfer office. He completed his PhD from the Physics Departmentof Warwick University in 1995. Roger spent three years as a cryogenicsystems design engineer working in the Oxford area. Later, he held severalsales and marketing positions dealing with new and innovative technologiesincluding cryogenics, optics, optoelectronics, and vacuum technology. Roger isa member of the IOP Energy Group committee.


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Energy Storage: the Frontiers of Materials andPhysics

Robin Morris reports on this Institute of Physics meeting held on the 15th

November 2010 at IOP Headquarters, London.

This meeting was organised by the Energy Group and co-sponsored by theMaterials and Characterisation Group. It attracted a wide cross-section ofpeople from the science and engineering community.

The event was timely. In 2009, storage and delivery of natural gascame under scrutiny in Great Britain. This year, the press have reported onmechanical and thermal energy storage; flywheels for hybrid electricvehicles and hot gravel stores. Energy storage is a key element in thecurrent urgent debate on the evolution of energy generation and distribution.Ofgem forecasts the need for massive investment in transmission anddistribution infrastructure. Supply from renewables does not align with peaksin demand. In Denmark, consumers are being offered money to keep theirlights on at night. What role can energy storage play (Figure 1) in shavingoff the peaks and creating new demand for off-peak electricity? How canmaterials research help us to make more of available heat (and ‘coolth’)?

More than 40 delegates reflected the diverse disciplines involved inthe development of energy storage technologies. The programme covered awide view of relevant materials and systems and provided for a veryinteresting day. Each topic was reviewed in some detail, with a chance forchallenging questions to be raised, within the 50 minutes allocated to eachof complementary topics. The meeting successfully enabled exchange ofinformation and ideas with lively debate continuing into the refreshmentbreaks. The formal event concluded with a lively open panel discussion.

Electricity Demand

Night Day

21:00 03:00 09:00 15:00 21:00 03:00 09:00 15:00

EnergyStorage

Energy Supply

Figure 1. Illustration of diurnal peak shaving and load-levelling


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The first speaker, David Hodgson (Vallontia) presented a very helpfulintroduction to energy storage technologies. He framed the importantquestions and set a context for the following presentations. He did a greatjob of capturing the major drivers, technologies and developments, and

gave key examples. Like smart grids, energystorage offered benefits of reduced greenhousegas emissions and deferred capital investment.Energy storage could enable the adoption ofrenewables. Hodgson explained that energystorage could be considered as a warehousingactivity, allowing disconnection betweengeneration and use. In this analogy, the size ofthe warehouse doors represents the power rating,the volume of warehouse representing storedenergy. Revenue depends on the number of‘turns’ though the facility. There needs to be anincremental margin in economic value between

energy when it is used for charging and when it is discharged. Storagemodes rely on a primary material vector (such as natural gas) or involve aconversion process. Conversion efficiencies of 50% or more are achieved inmany of today’s deployed energy storage systems. Bases for storageincluded electrical energy, thermal energy, kinetic energy and chemicalenergy. At the scale of the electricity transmission grid, energy storage iscurrently used for stabilisation and ‘ancillary’ services. Pumped hydro,compressed air and battery storage approaches (like NGK’s sodiumsulphur) are already sufficiently mature to be operated at this megawattscale. Ancillary services, including frequency regulation, use energy storeslike flywheels, supercapacitors and superconducting magnetic energystores, such as NASA’s. Batteries today are typically used for mediumperiods of power discharge, from 10 to 15 minutes. For example, a solarpower plant operator uses lithium-chemistry batteries to maintain powerquality, voltage and frequency. Remote, off-grid and smart grid energystorage more typically operated in the kilowatt domain. Furtherdevelopment, cost-reduction and improvement is needed for many of thenewer technologies.

Next, Saiful Islam (Bath) looked at some of the frenetic researchand sometimes controversial claims in the world of materials for portablebatteries. Islam examined some of computational techniques for modellingsolid-state energy storage materials at the atomic scale. In the context ofthe EPSRC-funded Supergen programme, this presentation focussed on thelithium-ion cell. Sales of batteries based on lithium chemistry exceed two


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billion cells per year. The fundamental sciencewas carried out by Goodenough in Oxford in the1980s. The Sony cell was commercialised in1991. LixCoO2 cathodes and graphite anodesmake a sandwich structure, with a lithium-conducting electrolyte filling. There had beendoubts whether lithium-ion batteries would meetpower density and cycling requirements. Buttoday’s cells offer gravimetric and volumetricenergy densities to meet the power needs ofubiquitous hand-held electronic devices and in theToyota Prius hybrid car. However, power densityis not as high as that achieved withsupercapacitors. The raw materials are costly and cobalt must kept fromlandfill. The next generation of lithium cells requires development of newelectrode materials. An atomic-scale model had to represent properly therelationships between structure and properties. It should take into accountthe crystal structure – as prepared and after cycling; the lithium iontransport; roles for intrinsic defects and dopants; interfaces andnanoparticles; and surfaces and morphology. There were three mainapproaches to modelling: atomistic (static lattice), molecular dynamics (MD)and density function theory (DFT). Phosphate and silicate structures weredescribed. Josh Thomas’ group at Uppsala University, Sweden is workingon Li2FeSiO4, the most topical material since 1997. Characterisationtechniques like photoelectron spectroscopy have shown that surfaceprocesses lie behind the excellent reversibility. Targeted also for electricvehicles, LiFePO4 olivine cathodes power Black & Decker power tools in theUSA. Supervalent dopants like zirconium andniobium had been claimed to increase, by afactor of 10

8, electrical conductivity. Other groups

have found it difficult to replicate these results.From atomic-scale modelling done by his group,Islam suggested that “the computer says no”.

After lunch, Philip Eames(Loughborough) looked at systems for thermalenergy storage. Heat had not been given a highprofile until recently. Some 49% of the UK’s CO2

emissions derive from raising heat, primarily forspace heating (54%), hot water (17%) andindustrial processes (21%). Three quarters ofemissions associated with UK dwellings arise


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through space and water heating (closer to 38% across EU). Cooling takes70-75% of electricity in the Middle East. The IEA has been developing aplan for thermal energy and storage. Heat is recognised as an area of focusby the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). Storage of thermal energy ispossible over periods from hours to months. Building designs incorporatethermal mass to improve energy efficient control of comfort. Storage ofSensible Heat in solids and liquids makes use of large volumes of low-costmaterials such as water, rock salt, beds of gravel and concrete. Stratificationin liquids can help maintain high temperature zones. A recent pilot projectdemonstrated a 400kWh indirect sensible heat storage system based onconcrete, which has been cycled to 380

oC. 25 years ago, fire suppression

water was put to use as a cold store, resulting in a capital 30% saving onchiller plant capacity. The latent heat associated with phase-change canhelp to hold a building within a preferred temperature range. Phase changewall panels offer direct heat transfer. It is more difficult to extract heat frombulk stores as the material changes back to its solid phase. Reversiblechemical reactions promise a compact solution to long-term energy storage.Storage densities of 400-650kWh/m

3should be realised through cross-

disciplinary reactor design efforts. Cost-effective heat-exchanger design isat the centre of optimisation of round-trip efficiency. Solar thermal energycan make a substantial dent on energy used to heat water in UK houses.But the variation in heat gain necessitates inclusion of a sizeable heat-store.It was projected that a 200m

3sensible thermal store needed to serve a

single UK family dwelling today could be shrunk to a reversible reactionreactor occupying 2.5m

3– much more manageable. Concentrated solar

power combined with diurnal thermal storage can better match electricalpower generation to times of demand. The store round-trip efficiency canapproach 95% over a period of 7-10 hours.Delegates were left with the thought that it wasworthwhile to transport a thermal energy storeacross Münich, taking waste process heat 10kmor so to a hospital heat load.

Xiao Guo (UCL) then guided us throughthe materials and approaches behind hydrogenstorage. Hydrogen was introduced as a cleanenergy vector, with potential to provide energystorage across a wide range of sectors. A visionwas presented for well-to-wheels emissions ofunder 50gCO2/km from hydrogen-powered fuelcell electric vehicles in combination with carboncapture and storage electrical power generation.


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A 300 litre hydrogen energy storage system was said to offer over twice theenergy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries. Hydrogen was suggested asan energy vector for use with offshore wind. It would address the mismatchbetween demand and generation peaks and could supplant the cabling, withassociated installation and maintenance requirements. Liquefaction ofhydrogen uses about 30% of the embodied energy and an uncooled, opensystem loses significant fractions of the element within a matter of days.Despite limited compressibility, hydrogen storage had been demonstrated at1000 bar. Safety and cost considerations would likely limit pressures to 250-300 bar for transported hydrogen. A variety of storage materials werereviewed, with the primary storage target of 3-6% by weight, to be suppliedat typical proton exhange membrane fuel cell operating temperatures of 80-100

oC. Meso- and micro-porous sorbents offer excessively high surface

areas. Chemical and compressed metal hydrides provide alternative storagemechanisms. High storage densities had to be achieved with lowdisassociation energies. Reactive hydrogen storage showed somepromising performance in patented approaches, which would need requirefurther ‘chemgineering’ development to surfaces and interfaces. Thereremained the vexing question of reversibility over the many cycles thatwould be needed for practical applications.Mike Barnes (Manchester) drew together theparallel strands for the audience to helpunderstand better the applications and contextfor storage devices in the UK electricity andtransmission network. The challenge for thenational grid network is to meet safely consumerdemand on a second-by-second basis. Thewinter peak load typically exceeds summer lightload by a factor of three. The dynamic variationin demand is currently met through a mix ofbase-load generation and fast-responsegeneration. Combined-cycle gas turbinegeneration plant provides the primary response,quickly increasing from 90 to 100% of rated output. Secondary response isavailable from ‘spinning reserve’, which can start to generate over a periodof tens of seconds. Pumped storage helps to meet specific peaks indemand (such as half-time in the FA Cup Final), reaching several hundredMW of output within several seconds. The electricity industry has been veryconservative. A new approach to utility energy storage will be needed.There are more high-value consumers, such as banks and data-centres.There is an increase in high density city development. And revised


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infrastructure will need to manage intermittent wind generation and possibleconnection of electric vehicles to the grid. The base case for utility-scaleenergy storage is that the unit will have to be cheap (around £100/kW). Itmust be cheap to run – in ‘hot standby’ mode – and must synchronise withinseveral 50Hz cycles. DC power rings can be used to supply critical loads.DC storage offers nearly-instantaneous response and is combined withcapacitors, offering 95-98% one-way efficiency through the inverters. Thecost is mainly dictated by power electronics and is three to four times that ofa generator. Power electronics are now cheap and highly efficient. Perhapsmore attention is needed on the physics of storage systems. AC storagerequires twice as many inverters. Typically a flywheel might be linkedbetween an AC motor and an AC generator. There may not be sufficientspace to add a new substation to supply new loads – like skyscrapers inManchester or Birmingham. Instead, storage could be included within thebasement of the building. RAL/STFC looked at the role of storage in windgeneration and the ability to enhance steady-state response. For offshorewind, main value of storage comes from the avoidance of curtailment.Using electric vehicles as storage for the grid when on charge might beundesirable since the additional cycling shortens the life of these expensivebatteries: deprecation represents around 80% of the cost of fuelling anelectric vehicle, with electricity only taking 20% of the total. Demand-sideparticipation, including optimisation of local charging would be morebeneficial. Trickle-charging of parked storage makes more sense, to allowfast-charging of electric vehicles. This approach to an electric vehicleinfrastructure would increase the requirement for storage. The value ofenergy storage in transmission and distribution was tested in California in2004. It found that there were very limited applications unless storage costswere below $700/kW. The UK network is due for an upgrade – its 50 yearasset life was reached 10 years ago. Technology-capability mapping forutility power stores places emphasis on portability – allowing relocation in 5years’ time, reliability/availability and local environmental impact. As anillustration, ABB offer solution with 5-60 minutes’ and 5-50MW capacity,based on lithium-ion batteries. Such a system must be able to absorbpower, convert this to the correct set-points and synthesise a voltage output.

All the speakers took exceptional care to prepare their superb talksand engaged with demanding questions raised during the meeting.

Robin Morris is an independent consultant on sustainable technologies. Heis currently working with the senior management of SMEs. One of Robin’sparticular interests is low-energy lighting. He is a graduate of ImperialCollege, and is a member of the Energy Group Committee.


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Novel ICT solutions for Smart Grids

Aidan Rhodes reports on this joint meeting of the Digital Communicationsand Energy Generation and Supply Knowledge Transfer Networks held onthe 9

thDecember 2010 at Brunel University, London.

This was a fascinating meeting. It was organisedby Gary Taylor, Co-Director of the BrunelInstitute of Power Systems, and supported by usin the Energy KTN as well as the DigitalCommunications KTN. John Christie (DECC)outlined their smart grid vision and plan. DECC had assembled an industrygroup to investigate cybersecurity concerns with smart grids, an importantand essential step. Alex Carter (National Grid) talked about the 2020challenge the network faces, and the £4.7b of reinforcements that NationalGrid plan to make to the network in the next decade. Alan McMorran (OpenGrid Systems) highlighted the requirement for open, transparent standards.He made the very interesting point that, due to the UK’s liberalisedelectricity market, distribution operators may not have access to smartmeter data – the suppliers install and collect data from the meters, and theenergy retailer is often different to the network operator. We therefore havea greater need for open standards adopted by all meter manufacturers andsuppliers than many other countries, in which the vertical integrationbetween retailer and distribution network operator means that openstandards are less important.

In the afternoon, Aidan Rhodes opened the session with apresentation which outlined the conclusions of his recent report ‘SmartGrids: Commercial Opportunities and Challenges for the UK’. It examinesthe strategic and policy drivers and the commercial challenges industry mayface. Next, Peter Hobson (Brunel) introduced the EPSRC-funded project,ADEPT (Advanced Dynamic Electricity Pricing and Tariffs). ADEPT looks atnovel tariffs for energy, based on smart meter functionality, and aims toidentify which ones were technically feasible and appropriate for consumers.Petter Støa (SINTEF, Norway) discussed the innovative smart grids workgoing on in Norway. David Wallom (Oxford) ended the day by explaininghow the National Grid Service cloud-computing service could be used byenergy researchers.

Dr Aidan Rhodes is Knowledge Exchange Associate at the UK Energy ResearchCentre. Aidan can be contacted at [email protected] He is author of‘Smart Grids: Commercial Opportunities and Challenges for the UK’ available athttp://tinyurl.com/6a2woxa


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Perspectives on Technologies and Materials forPhotovoltaics

Hari Reehal reports on this Institute of Physics meeting held on the 30th

June 2010 at IOP Headquarters, London.

The one day event was organised by the Materials and CharacterisationGroup of the IOP. It was attended by 76 delegates from industry andacademia in the UK, Switzerland and other parts of the world.

The key speakers included Jef Poortmans (IMEC, Belgium) whodelivered a most interesting and wide ranging lecture on emerging andnovel PV technologies including current state and future trends of thin filmphotovoltaics. Emerging technologies included quantum dot, nanowire andplasmonic devices as well as polymer and dye-sensitized cells. AndrewJohnson (IQE Solar) spoke on concentrator multi-junction cells based onIII-V technology which promise to be a significant part of IQE’s businessover the medium term. Mark Spratt (G24 Innovations) presented anexcellent overview of dye-sensitized cells which show considerable potentialfor indoor applications. Other talks included very informative presentationsby Hazel Assender (Oxford) on Organic PV solar cells, Professor StuartIrvine (Optic Technium) on CdTe and CIGS technology and the researchefforts in the UK including work being done by the PV21 SupergenConsortium, Darren Bagnall of the (Southampton) on light trappingstructures and plasmonics, and Sylvain Nicolay (EPFL, Switzerland) whogave an overview of research in PV and TCOs at EPFL. Finally, NickCowern (Newcastle) described the role technology modelling using TCADcan play in optimising performance in silicon PV.

The lectures were informative, inspirational and of a high standard,attracting full attention by the audience. There was a well attended postersession consisting of 16 excellent papers from a variety of academic andindustrial authors including a number of graduate and post-doctoralresearchers. The exhibition was attended by approximately 8 companies,promoting various products inducing deposition systems, diagnostics, andcharacterisation tools. In summary the conference was very topical andsuccessful.

Hari Reehal is Research Professor of photovoltaics and thin films in the Department ofEngineering and Design at London South Bank University,www.lsbu.ac.uk/esbe/research/photovoltaic


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Chair’s Notes

I’m very pleased to report that the hard work and preparation for our day-long event, ‘Energy Storage: the Frontiers of Materials and Physics’, paid offso well. We are very grateful for co-sponsorship from the Materials andCharacterization Group of the IOP. There was a very good attendance andthe talks were amongst the best I’ve had the pleasure to see. Schedulingplenty of time for discussion beyond the presentations was welcomed by thespeakers and audience alike. We aim to hold more events jointly withrelevant Groups.

This event was preceded our AGM. Earlier in the year we were sadthat Peter King had to resign as Honorary Secretary, due to pressure ofwork. Colin Axon had stepped forward in an acting capacity – incombination with Jenny Love, they have covered the tasks required. Colinwas formally elected as Honorary Secretary. I am delighted to welcome twonew members of the committee – Robin Morris and Roger Welch. BothRobin and Roger bring a wealth of commercial and industrial experiencefrom the energy sector. Robin has worked in both technical and sales rolesfor large and small companies, and is now an independent consultant.Roger Welch had technical and design roles before moving to IsisInnovation. Given that all committee members hold busy active jobs, I wishto thank them all for their contributions to the running the Energy Group.

A major task for the coming year for the committee is to ensure asmooth transition to a new set of officers – I will have served my maximumallowable term and thus be stepping down at the 2011 AGM. Our Treasurer,Dan Blood, will also have served three years. During the coming year, weare looking to hold events in addition to our annual one-day meeting – I willkeep you posted as the details are finalised.

Simon [email protected]


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Book Reviews

Keeping the Lights Onby Walt Patterson

Published October 2009, 170 pages, ISBN-13 978-1-84-407798-4, £17.99(paperback), Earthscan, www.earthscan.co.uk

Patterson tries to change the way peoplethink about the nature of electricity, ofperceived energy demand and of what thecustomer pays for. The main argument ofKeeping the Lights On is that electricity is aphysical process, not a commodity or fuel.Usually electricity is treated as a commodityin that it is bought and sold in units inelectricity markets, and expected to beinstantaneously available on demand.Patterson argues that this treatment is notappropriate. Firstly, the term ‘unit price’ asapplied to electricity is quite arbitrary whenwhat we actually want to measure is theinvestment cost of the physical assetsinvolved in making and distributing it. For theenergy sources we want to move towards,such as wind power, there is no commodity and no consumption ofanything. The electricity is a function of infrastructure, not fuel. So what if wetalk about electricity in these terms? It means that some factors whichshould be included in the price of energy are not – such as the zero risk ofwind energy running out as opposed to the higher risk of gas supply beingcut-off. It also means that we measure end-use by the unit. Supplierstherefore have no responsibility for ensuring that end-use technologies areefficient; in fact, they would prefer us to use inefficient technologies andtherefore use more energy.

Patterson suggests that we instead consider the system as a whole,from generation to energy service. Instead of paying for electricity, weshould pay for energy services, and this is what companies should promiseto deliver e.g. a guaranteed interior temperature for a fixed monthly fee.Competition between companies would then rely on energy-efficient deliveryof this service. Patterson notes that a historical example of energy servicebusiness is Edison who sold electric lighting as a complete system –


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generators, cables, controls, and arc-lamps. Combined with this, Pattersonis a strong proponent of decentralised generation. If you generate your ownand aren’t just a passive recipient, you’ll pay more attention to the electricityyou use, how much, when, and why. Also, large-scale generation anddistribution does not allow for any variation in quality of electricity fordifferent applications whereas varying generation types could provide low-grade electricity for applications such as heating.

Patterson sees the liberalisation of energy supply as potentiallyfavourable to decentralisation, although there are still obstacles in the wayof reduced energy use, such as the premise that loads are autonomous butgeneration is not when it comes to policy. If you invest in a power plantwhose output you intend to sell, the government treats it for tax purposes asan investment; if you invest in an energy efficient freezer, you get no suchbenefit. This favours provision of more production equipment instead ofmore efficient end use.

The early chapters present these well supported and thought-through arguments. Unfortunately his arguments are repeated over andover again throughout the rest of the book. Dwelling on the problem of awrong paradigm for the electricity system stops the author from reallydigging into practical ways to implement solutions. For example: whatdecentralised generation might actually look like, or how to price and deliverenergy services as opposed to kilowatt-hours. Patterson justifies therepeating the material and supporting evidence as a way to get the pointacross.

A strength of the book is the presentation of a potted history of theliberalisation of energy supply. Many younger readers will not remember thishappening, and what changed. The strengths, weaknesses andconsequences of state-owned and privatised energy industry are discussedin a fairly unbiased way. The book is also a nice mix of engineering,economics and politics, which is called for in this multidisciplinary problem.In conclusion: the reader will come away thinking that we probably do thinkwrongly about what electricity is, but not entirely sure what to do about it.

Jenny Love,PhD Student,

UCL Energy Institute,University College, London.


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Renewable Energy: the Factsby Dieter Deifried and Walter Witzel

Published October 2010, 256 pages, ISBN-13 978-1-84-971160-9, £24.99(paperback), Earthscan, www.earthscan.co.uk

This is a new book for the UK, it was originallypublished in Germany in 2007, and translatedinto English in 2010. It is well presented andaccessible, the sections are short, and thediagrams are plentiful (although not as colourfulas the cover, the book is in black and white, sothe shaded legends of some of the charts are nota clear as they could be). The style of the booklends itself to easy reading, each section islimited to one page of text and one page ofdiagrams. The title headings invite the reader intothe book, for example: ‘Is there enough solarpower?’ and after a few paragraphs of reading anappreciation of the amount of solar powerincident onto the earth is put into perspective withthe amount of fossil fuel power used. So the suggestion is that the answer is‘yes’, but without discussing the conversion efficiency it is difficult to knowand the authors do not commit themselves to a definitive answer. This isindicative of the main shortcomings of the book, it just doesn’t go intoenough detail to get the author’s message across in a compelling way.

For the first one hundred pages the facts come thick and fast withclear overviews of many wind, solar, and geothermal technologies. Even theexperienced renewable energy engineer will find interest in some of the lessfamiliar technologies. One particularly elegant example, which has hadsome commercial success, is the solar powered air-conditioner whichutilises the latent heat of water to remove heat from humid air, however,again detail is lacking. In the second hundred or so pages the economics ofrenewable technologies are presented. The presentation is mainlyconcerned with the German renewable power market since this is theauthors’ territory of interest, although much is still relevant to the UK readersince many of the incentive schemes described are pan-European. Thecoverage of the macro-economics is too brief to draw any real conclusionsand, unfortunately this leaves the authors open to the criticism that theirconclusions are biased by their own opinions and cultural environment. Theauthors are attempting to promote renewable energy technologies to


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address the problems of fossil fuel usage, nuclear power, and man-madeclimate change. However the brevity of their arguments devalues themessage they are attempting to get across. A few more facts withsubstantiated arguments would justify the title ‘Renewable Energy: thefacts’.

In summary, this is a good treatment of a wide subject. It is concise,clear, well written, well presented and gives a good introduction to thesubject. However, the subject is so wide that only a brief insight into manyaspects can be given, so the book lacks depth of knowledge. Having readthe book I am still not clear as to its intended readership; is it for scientists,interested laypersons, investors, energy companies, policy makers,economists, activists? I’m not sure this will be the definitive text for any ofthese groups. Is it worth the cover price to have the book on a book shelf sothat the owner can flick through the book on demand? Personally I willcontinue to check Wikipedia for introductory information, or refer to DavidMackay’s “Sustainable Energy: without the hot air” which addresses thesame subject and is a difficult benchmark to beat – and free if you downloadit from his website.

Dr Roger Welch

Energy, the Subtle Concept. The discovery of Feynman’s blocks fromLeibniz to Einsteinby Jennifer Coopersmith

Published July 2010, 416 pages, ISBN-13 978-0-19-954650-3, £29.95(hardback), Oxford University Press, www.oup.co.uk

In following the history, Coopersmith claims to providea crucial aid to understanding the intellectualrevolutions required to comprehend the concept ofenergy. I like the idea of (for once) treating energy asa distinct philosophical subject and, having taughtthermodynamics for a number of years, certainlyagree that it is a very subtle concept. The title makes agrand claim and implies that the author draws acrossdiscipline boundaries. So I was intrigued, and eagerlyawaited its arrival. I’ll unpick the title later which,because I think needs explaining, perhaps belies thatthis book is a curate’s egg.


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The text is presented (almost) fully chronologically, thus the coupleof chapters written from a conceptual view felt out of place. Most chaptersfollow a pattern of introducing an individual with some biographicalinformation, then move on to what the individual contributed at that point intime – this pattern might be repeated two or three times in a chapter. Whilstthe chronological approach is a valid framework to use it leads to a lot ofcross referencing with other chapters where the rest of that argument sits.The chapter overviews are succinct, and the timeline in the appendix wasuseful too.

Coopersmith starts off with Archimedes and Galileo before swiftlymoving to the treatment of heat in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesbefore moving on to Newtonian and Lagrangian mechanics. The early partsof the book are more about forces than energy explicitly – this is ok forthose who are doing or have done a physics degree, but will perhaps leaveothers a little baffled. Then the author considers how the first two laws ofthermodynamics came about. Throughout the book, Coopersmith offersexplanations of physical concepts as we meet them. The final two chapters(about 50 pages) are left to cover everything post Thomson and Clausius.Curiously, the statistical interpretation was in a chapter entitled ‘A ForwardLook’. This single chapter crammed together Maxwell-Boltzmann, Planck,radiant energy, quantum mechanics, and relativity. Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics appear to not get a mention, and oddly the zeroth law isdiscussed in a section entitled ‘Impossible Things’. This more discursivestyle made the story more interesting in some ways.

I picked up some problems including “generating” kinetic energyfrom potential energy instead of it being transformed (p104). Another wasmixing units in an unhelpful way saying that “…20 times more water cameout of English mines than ore” – pumping was measured as a volume (orflow rate) and the mined ore in terms of mass, so 20 times what exactly?Coopersmith has perpetuated the long-since quashed myth of JonathanHornblower infringing James Watt’s patent. Hornblower patented hisdouble-acting steam engine in 1781, a year ahead of Watt, and by allaccounts it was superior. Watt didn’t challenge until Hornblower askedParliament to extend his patent. Boulton and Watt objected and Watt’s‘industrial espionage’ and lobbying skills won the day – Hornblower wasunable to compete. However, it was Jonathan’s elder brother Jabez whowronged Boulton and Watt (probably on several occasions) and ended up indebtors’ prison as a result! Coopersmith claims to have consulted Marsden

1

several times, yet failed to read pages 137-146 which set out the correct

1 Marsden, Ben. “Watt’s Perfect Engine: Steam and the Age of Invention”. 2002, Icon Books. Itis Hugh Torrens’ work (listed in the bibliography) which unpicked the Hornblower story.


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story. It seems that Coopersmith relied on one of the older texts. Anothererror was the claim that William Hamilton was one of the founders of theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science – he was not, though hewas one of the early Presidents. These are telling examples thatCoopersmith has relied heavily on a handful of well-known secondary textsin the history of physics. Some of these texts are nearly 40 years old and itseems that the author has not consulted some of the more recent journalliterature. The superficial treatment of the 20

thcentury material and a patchy

inclusion of philosophy are not the only omissions. There is virtually notreatment of chemical energetics, very little engineering, nothing on exergy,Jevons only gets the briefest of mentions, and the depth of meaning inGibbs Free Energy is not explored fully, thus so much of the true subtlety of‘energy’ is missed. The title made grand claims – this book does not deliver.

In terms of the writing, Coopersmith has adopted a conversationalstyle. Some may like this; I found that it became tedious because it isinefficient at getting the point across. The paragraphs were also very short,some being only a single sentence – the shortest I noticed being only ninewords! There were a lot of potentially interesting statements which werenever followed-up. They were left in isolation, and without the context I wasleft asking why I needed to know that particular piece of information. Idetected a lack of clarity at whom this book is aimed. The history isn’t strongenough to compare with other popular history authors, such as Marsden.For it to be classed as popular science there would need to be far more up-to-date material, plus the author assumes a high degree of readerknowledge. An example of this confusion appears on p298 – Coopersmithtells the reader what the ‘greater than’ symbol means in equation 16.6, butassumes that the same reader knows all about integration! This bookneeded stronger editing. Now, as to the title…Feynman used a story aboutDennis the Menace, his toy blocks, and Dennis’ mother’s attempt to‘conserve’ the number of blocks. Feynman concluded ‘What is the analogyof this to the conservation of energy? The most remarkable aspect that mustbe abstracted from this picture is that there are no blocks’. Coopersmithgoes on to say (p4) ‘We shall attempt to understand the nature of thesenon-existent ‘blocks’ of energy through the history of their discovery’. This isthe weakest link for a title that have I ever seen used.

Coopersmith has been on a commendable personal journey tounderstand energy (thermodynamics) – perhaps her story will help others,but it doesn’t work for me.

Colin Axon,Brunel University


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Forthcoming Events

The Energy Challenge and the Need for NuclearProfessor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith

Date: Thursday 24th

March, 2011Time: 19:00 – 21:00Venue: Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT.Registration: www.iop.org/events/scientific/conferences/y/11/energy/Cost: FreeOrganiser: IOP Nuclear Industry Group

Sir Chris will offer his views of future energy demand and supply, and thefuture of nuclear power generation, both from the perspective of new buildand the prospects for fusion. Sir Chris is a former Director General of CERNand former Director of UKAEA Culham Division, which holds theresponsibility for the United Kingdom's fusion programme and operation ofthe Joint European Torus (JET). The meeting will be preceded by a shortdiscussion about the aims and objectives of the new Group. Lightrefreshments will be served.

The Great Energy Debate: How Can We Keep the LightsOn for the Next 20 YearsBerkshire Engineering Institutions

Date: Wednesday 30th

March, 2011Time: 19:00 – 21:30Venue: Palmer Building, University of Reading.Location www.reading.ac.uk/about/find/about-findindex.aspxRegistration: http://localevents.theiet.org/register.php?event=ab4cdbCost: Free

An opportunity to hear about the issues, to ask your questions and to putforward your views relating to the supply of electricity in this country. Thespeakers will cover renewable generation, carbon capture andsequestration, nuclear power, and smart grids. Supported jointly by IMechE,IET, IChemE, and the ICE. Registration is essential.

Brian Hoskins (Grantham Institute, Imperial College) Tim Fox (Institution of Mechanical Engineers)


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Philip Eames (Loughborough) Alastair Smith (Costain) John Griffiths (Jacobs Engineering) Duncan Botting (Scottish European Green Energy Centre)

EU Sustainable Energy Week11-15 April, 2011www.eusew.eu/

Hundreds of events organised across Europefor the EU Sustainable Energy Week(EUSEW) will showcase the latest innovationsin energy efficiency and renewable energytechnology, policy and practice through avaried programme. EUSEW’s aim is todemonstrate to businesses, decision-makersand the wider public that sustainable energytechnologies are viable, cost-effective and good for the environment.EUSEW 2011 will feature a series of high-level events in Brussels as well asnumerous Energy Days throughout Europe, organised by schools,associations, companies, public authorities and many more.

Some UK EventsCarmarthenshire is Greener Every Day – a week-long eventDate: Monday 11

th– Friday 15

thApril, 2011

Time: 09:00 – 17:00Organisers: West Wales European Centre / Carmarthenshire CCInformation: www.wwec.org.uk/

The West Wales European Centre is organising a series of awareness-raising activities about energy efficiency and renewable energies. Theactivities include an electronic magazine and schools’ workshops.

The e-magazine aims to raise awareness of existing and futurelocal projects to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewableenergies as well as good practice examples from other EU countries. TheCentre will work with Carmarthenshire County Council SustainableDevelopment Team, community groups, and organisations to highlightinitiatives that illustrate how even small changes can make a real difference,even in the short-term. WWEC is liaising with Europe Direct in Blekinge


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Sweden to identify innovative schemes in their area that could betransferred to Carmarthenshire.

The school workshops aims to raise pupils awareness of how muchenergy is used, by individuals, by families at home and by schools toaccomplish every day tasks, such as boiling the kettle or turning thecomputer on and encourage them to reduce their energy consumption. Theactivities will actively involve the pupils in understanding the importance ofreducing carbon emissions, of utilizing renewable energies, and in findingways to cut down the energy used by an individual, by a family at home andby the school, by means of “what if situations”. These activities are intendedto prompt feasible behavioural changes amongst pupils and teachers, suchas switching the lights off when there is nobody in the classrooms.

1st UK Energy Day: Sustainable SupplyDate: Monday 11

thApril, 2011

Time: 09:00 – 18:30Venue: Graduate Centre, London Metropolitan Business School,

166-220 Holloway Road London, N7 8DB.Registration: www.londonmet.ac.uk/lmbs/research/cibs/energyday.cfm

Organised jointly by the London Metropolitan Business School andHamburg University of Applied Sciences. The event promotes issues ofenergy production to support economic and social activities. They aim toincrease awareness of the need to balance home-grown energy and energyimports to address both balance of payments and energy security – stable,affordable and diversified energy supplies. The target audiences are leadersin Government, civil society and business, and the general public. Talks anddemonstrations will increase awareness of sustainable ways of energyproduction at the global, regional, local and industrial levels.

Green MerseysideDate: Monday 11

thApril, 2011

Time: 08:30 – 16:30Organiser: St Helens ChamberVenue: St Helens Chamber, Salisbury Street, St HelensRegistration: www.sthelenschamber.com/

The conference will showcase companies, projects, and products fromacross the Merseyside region that are involved in energy efficiency andrenewable energy. The aim of the conference will be to inform people about


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what is being done in the region. It will encourage companies to networkwith other companies enabling the cross-fertilisation of ideas and thedevelopment of new opportunities. In addition to the Chamber ofCommerce, other partners such as Envirolink will be involved in informingcompanies of the assistance that is available.

How to Save Energy and MoneyDate: Monday 11

thApril, 2011

Time: 13:00 – 19:00Organiser: Redcar and Cleveland Borough CouncilVenue: Bydales School, Coast Road, Marske-by-the-Sea, RedcarRegistration: www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/energyday

You will be able to meet local renewable energy installers and find out aboutthe Government's clean energy cash back schemes the Feed-in-Tariff andupcoming Renewable Heat Incentive. The Council's Warm & Well team andthe Energy Saving Trust will be available to advise householders how toimprove the comfort of their homes and reduce their energy bills. TheCouncil's Energy Group will be on hand to show how we are working toreduce their carbon emissions and offer advice to business representativesabout energy saving and reducing carbon emissions and you can also talkdirectly to energy efficiency companies who can help with projects such asinsulation, lighting upgrades and voltage optimisation. Admission is free andno booking is needed. For further information, telephone 01642 771 164.

Biofuels: ethical issues seminarDate: Wednesday 13

thApril, 2011

Time: 13:00 – 19:00Organiser: Nuffield Council on BioethicsVenue: Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, 183 Euston

Road, London.Registration: Sarah Bougourd, [email protected]

Concerns over energy security, economic development and climate changeare driving the development of biofuels as one of a number of possiblesources of renewable and sustainable energy. The Nuffield Council onBioethics is launching a report on the ethical issues raised by biofuels andmembers of the Working Party will present and discuss the Council’sfindings in a series of talks and breakout sessions. The report will make


26

recommendations for biofuels policy in areas including environmentalsustainability and climate change. Admission is free but places must bebooked in advance. The event will be chaired by Julian Rush (science andenvironment journalist). The speakers include:

Joyce Tait (Working Party Chair, Edinburgh) Mike Adcock (Director, Master of Laws Programme, Durham) Guy Barker (Director, Genomics Resource Centre, Warwick) Simon Caney (Professor in Political Theory, University of Oxford) Robin Gill (Professor of Applied Theology, Kent) Ottoline Leyser (Professor of Plant Development, Cambridge) Nigel Mortimer (Director, North Energy Associates Ltd, Sheffield) Christine Raines (Professor of Plant Biology, Essex) Ian Smale (Head of Strategy and Policy, BP) Jim Watson (Director, Energy Group, Sussex)

Building A Smart Energy CommunityDate: Friday 15

thApril, 2011

Time: 07:45 – 11:00Organiser: University of NottinghamVenue: Sir Colin Campbell Building, Jubilee Park CampusInformation: www.nottingham.ac.uk/alce

This breakfast event will explore plans to create a local energy communityconnected by a shared smart energy management system. The communitywill be open to regional businesses and organisations and supported by theUniversity of Nottingham with the aims of raising awareness of the SmartEnergy Community project, identifying participants for the Smart EnergyCommunity, and identifying technology support from regional businesses.

London Low Carbon EconomyDate: Friday 15

thApril, 2011

Time: 09:30 – 14:00Organiser: Greater London Authority / London Development AgencyVenue: City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London.

This event will highlight how London’s ambitious sustainable energyinitiatives set a good example in the wider EU 2020 agenda for sustainablegrowth. The city is moving towards a low carbon economy and the Mayor


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has committed to reducing London's carbon by 60% and meeting 25% ofLondon's energy needs through localised generation by 2025. This eventaims to describe and discuss innovative policies and projects in order tomeet these ambitious targets. It will look at the EU’s concrete actions in thisarea, its latest funding programmes, investment tools and how London cantake advantage of these opportunities. It will showcase energy efficiencyprojects which are being implemented in London through the EuropeanRegional Development Fund. The target audience are policymakers,researchers, government and business leaders. The event is free to attend.

Advances in PhotovoltaicsFirst Announcement and call for papers.This is a tremendously successful annual event, co-sponsored by the IOPVacuum and Energy Groups. Ten minute oral contributions and a limitednumber of poster presentations are invited. A title should be sent by Friday10

thJune 2011 to: Christina Kokoroskou, CREST, Holywell Park,

Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, LoughboroughUniversity, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK. Direct line +44 (0)1509 635 340,email [email protected] Exhibition table-tops are also available

Date: Wednesday 14th

September, 2011Time: TBC (whole day)Venue: Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT.Registration: Not open yetOrganiser: IOP Ion and Plasma Surface Interactions GroupEnquiries: [email protected]

Confirmed Speakers: Martin Green (UNSW, Australia): Recent Developments Kurt Barth (Abound Solar, USA): Thin Film PV Manufacturing Matthias Kauer (Sharp Labs Europe): Next-Generation Solar Cells Stuart Irvine (Optic Technium): Towards Ultra-Thin Film CdTe Cells Ralph Gottschalg (Loughborough): Measuring / Predicting Performance


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Energy Group Contacts

We welcome comments and suggestions for events and items for theNewsletter.

ChairDr Simon Roberts, Arup.Email: [email protected]

Honorary SecretaryColin Axon, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University.Email: [email protected]

Honorary TreasurerDan Blood, E.ON UK.Email: [email protected]

Committee SecretaryJennifer Love, Energy Institute, University College London.

Newsletter EditorColin Axon, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University.Email: [email protected]

WebmasterRobin Morris, Consultant.Email: [email protected]

CommitteeDr Jeff Hardy, UK Energy Research Centre, co-opted member.

Dr John Roberts, Dalton Nuclear Institute, University of Manchester.

Professor John Twidell, AMSET Centre.

Dr Anthony Webster, Theory and Modelling Group, Culham Centre forFusion Energy.

Dr Roger Welch, Isis Innovation Limited.

newsletter issue no. 37 march 2011 - institute of physics

Documents