Institute for Energy Systems
The Institute for Energy Systems (IES) is one of five multi-disciplinary research institutes within the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. The head of IES is Professor Robin Wallace and the formal divisions of activity are as follows: Marine Energy led by Professor Ian Bryden; Power Systems, Machines and Power Electronics led by Dr Markus Mueller; and Energy and Climate
led by Dr Gareth Harrison.
With 13 academic staff, 11 research staff and over 30 postgraduate students, IES leads the EPSRC-funded Supergen Marine Energy Consortium (Lead and Finance Hub). It is a partner in the EPSRC SuperGen FlexNet, AMPerES and Photovoltaics consortia. It was selected to co-host the Research Councils' UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), with responsibility for the theme Future Sources of Energy. The current research grant portfolio at IES amounts to about £5.5M. Most recently IES became one of five Joint Research Institutes (JRI) in the Edinburgh Research Partnership which combines research skills in Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities. This increases the JRI in Energy to 20 academic staff, 15 research staff and over 40 postgraduate students. In addition to PhD-level postgraduate training opportunities, IES runs a well-established and successful MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems.
Highlights
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£8m ETI Marine Project announced
IES are part of the £8 million PerAWaT project funded by the Energy Technologies Institute to produce tools that estimate energy yield of major marine energy arrays.
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NGenTec Spinout Company Formed
NEW A new spinout company NGenTec has been launched to exploit IES's radical new generator design that promises cheaper, lighter and more reliable wind turbines. [More...]
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Research Areas
- Wave power
- Tidal energy
- Offshore wind
- Coastal defence
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- Distributed and renewable generation
- Asset management and planning
- Markets, deregulation and economics
- Power system dynamics and stability
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- Wind, marine and hydropower resource modelling
- Climate change impact assessment
- Life cycle assessment
- Decarbonising energy supply
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- Novel generator designs for renewables
- Power converter design for renewables
- Switched-mode power supplies
- Machine parameter identification
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IES History
The Institute for Energy Systems was formed in August 2002 and brought together colleagues from a range of different disciplines. Research was originally grouped into Energy Systems and Wave Power.
The Energy Systems Group combined expertise in traditional power engineering and power electronics with energy resource management and environmental preservation. It operated extensively with UK industry, within Europe and in less-developed countries. The diverse activities and interests of the Group were suported by work on computational intelligence, software development and modelling. It included the design and operation of power plant, energy trading, design of switched-mode power supplies, and novel applications of geographical information systems.
The Wave Power Group dates back to 1974 when Stephen Salter invented the 'duck' as a means of generating electricity from some of the abundant natural power that arrives as ocean waves on our western shores. Subsequently research has focussed on improved wave devices, very high efficiency high-pressure bi-directional oil hydraulic transmissions that could implement the advanced control algorithms required to get the most energy out of waves and a new generation of test tanks. An innovative wave tank has been commissioned and the expertise in designing and developing wave tanks has been commercially developed by Edinburgh Designs Ltd now world leaders in wavemaking and tank building. Another spin-off company, Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd, was founded by Win Rampen in 1994 and performs contract research, consulting, and technology licensing associated with development and applications of Digital DisplacementTM technology in the control and transmission of fluid power.
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