PARTNERS :

EPFL – Research coordinator

EPFL is one of Europe’s leading Research and Education Institutions (ranked number 12 in the QS World University Ranking of 2017-2018), with about 5000 staff (4000 academic), almost 5000 postgraduates, and more than 10000 BSc/MSc students (data for 2016). The Group of Energy Materials (GEM), led by MER Dr Jan Van herle, as a part of the Mechanical Engineering Institute (IGM) in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences (STI) at EPFL, has more than 25-year experiences on SOC R&D. Its strength is the strong coupling between multi-scale modelling, for both component and system designs, and experimental work on cell and stack. This coupling has allowed the optimisation for several planar stack designs and detailed modelling of degradation issues, which contribute significantly for the improvement of the SOC technology. GEM is firmly interconnected with other research groups at EPFL, e.g., the group of Industrial Process and Energy Systems Engineering for employing advanced computer-aided methodology and tools to address key design and optimization issues of solid-oxide cell related processes and plants, Materials Institute and Chemistry Institute for detailed post-test analysis at the Electron Microscopy Centre. Together with a sister Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Institute (LA – Automation), model predictive control and real time optimisation (RTO) on fuel cell stacks and systems is being developed since several years.

DTU – Research partner

Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is one of the highest ranking technical universities in Europe characterised by a strong position within energy research (2,000 researchers) and excellence in collaboration with industry (raked no. 4 in the world). The Centre for Electric Power and Energy (CEE) is part of the Department of Electrical Engineering at DTU. CEE carries out research, education and innovation in future energy systems at all scales from components to system level, and CEE operates the world-class experimental facilities, PowerLabDK. It performs research with focus on the challenges of modern electric power systems. CEE contributes to solving the huge technological challenges related to transforming the electric power system into a sustainable, economic and reliable system with a major share of renewable resources. CEE has been involved in a substantial number of successful projects at Danish and EU levels focusing on easing the integration of renewable energy into existing power systems, and through electricity markets. CEE is recognized internationally for its contributions to various fields of Power Systems Engineering and Economics.

ENEA – Research partner

ENEA is the acronym of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development. It is the second major Italian research organization, with around 2700 staff employees distributed in its 9 research centers all over the national territory. The Agency’s activities are mainly focused on Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Sources, Nuclear Energy, Climate and the Environment, Safety and Health, New Technologies, Electric System Research. ENEA’s multidisciplinary competences and great expertise in managing complex research projects are made available to the Italian economy. Specifically, its activities are devoted to: basic, mission-oriented, and industrial research exploiting wide-ranging expertise as well as experimental facilities, specialized laboratories, advanced equipment. ENEA also: develops new technologies and advanced applications; provides public and private bodies with high-tech services, studies, measurements, tests and assessments; delivers training and information activities aimed at providing greater public knowledge and awareness of the Agency’s fields of competence, and a higher level of dissemination and transfer of research results, thus promoting their exploitation for production purposes. ENEA’s team will be led by Alessandro Agostini. Alessandro’s competences were developed during his 7 years secondment at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, where he directly provided scientific support to the definition of sustainability criteria for bioenergy and biofuels and developed the methodology and database for the calculation of   Energy Directive and Fuel Quality Directive updates. Alessandro has also carried out andpublished in peer reviewed journals several analyses of energy related systems, from biofuels to fuelcells.

SOLIDPower – Industrial partner

SOLIDpower SA (SP SA) is a dynamic and dedicated SME specialized in high-temperature electroceramic applications for energy and gas conversion. SP SA works on the development and engineering of high temperature membrane reactors, with particular focus on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. The company has strong relationships to both industrial and academic partners for the development of cost competitive energy conversion devices. SP SA focuses its activities on market and product development, generating its revenues both through sales commission and engineering services. Its competence in system integration of the in-house developed SOFCpower module gives it a competitive advantage when establishing partnerships with large OEM companies in the combined heat and power market. Based on more than 10 years of dedicated research in the field of SOFC at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and its spin-off (HTceramix SA – now SP SA) since 2000, SP SA is now leading the industrialization of the products on the way to mass production. SP SA is now integral part of SOLIDpower S.p.A. in Trento, Italy.