Title
The Development of ERA Technologies in collaboration with
Chinese Companies
Presenter
M. Freer/C. Moore
Input required from IAB
ADVICE on nature of the proposal and RECOMMENDATIONS on how to
improve the concept and taking it forwards
Description, including Impact & Objectives
ERA will undertake an outbound investment mission to China in
Jan 2020 to meet with leading Chinese energy companies, research
partners and government funding bodies with specialisms in energy
aligned with ERA’s capability strengths. The visit will be
primarily organised by the University of Nottingham’s Asia Business
Centre (ABC) working closely with the relevant departments at the
other ERA institutions as appropriate. The mission will make use of
the participating ERA institutions’ UK and China government
connections and links with industry to facilitate the visit.
It is proposed that the mission will focus on three centres –
Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou. These cities have been selected due
to:-
• The established links that ERA institutions already have with
local government, industrial company and universities in these
three particular cities.
• The publically declared alignment that these cities have with
many of the technology areas that ERA has strength in.
• Their relatively high potential for investment and their close
proximity to each other, which minimises travel time whilst in
country.
The draft programme at the end of this document provides more
detail of the proposed engagement and the schedule as planned.
The ERA partner institutions have a wide variety of activities
within China which range from the UoN campus in Ningbo through to
some successful large-scale demonstrator programmes associated with
thermal storage, high speed rail and food distribution. The purpose
of the mission is to explore the potential for deeper engagement,
were partners share their contacts to open up a broader range of
collaborative activities with the Midlands region. The overarching
intent is to seek strategic partnerships leading to UK-China
collaborative research at a scale that raises the profile of the
Midlands region.
An example of an initiative which has the potential for ERA to
develop a gateway for technology transfer into the Chinese market
is a collaborative activity within the Jiangsu province, funded
presently by Research England, in collaboration with the Chinese
organisation the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute
(JITRI) in Nanjing. JITRI aims to be a top industrial technology
research centre in China. It focuses on bridging the gap between
fundamental technology research and its commercialisation by
developing industrial technology research. In particular it focuses
on research that serves the needs associated with economic
structure transformation and the purpose of industrial innovation
and market-oriented product development. So far, JITRI has 40
specialty research institutes and over 6,000 personnel, as well as
about 800,000m2 of operating sites, RMB 2.6 billion (£289 million)
of equipment and an annual total R&D expenditure of about RMB
2.01 billion (£330 million). There are nearly 1,000 technologies
transferred and transformed by the various specialised research
institutes. About 490 start-ups have been established, 18 of them
have gone public or are about to go public. JITRI has established
seven provincial industrial technology innovation centres in the
fields of nanotechnology, medical equipment, intelligent equipment,
laser and optoelectronics, telecommunication and network,
environmental-protection equipment, and internet of things. JITRI
has 49 project managers associated with its institutes and has
attracted nearly 200 world-class researchers and engineers
globally.
The University of Birmingham is working with JITRI to establish
a cleantech R&D centre, which would be funded by local
government in China (£20-25m). The present visit would allow other
ERA partners to understand the opportunity for collaborating within
this institute to provide a gateway by which ERA technologies could
come through into the Chinese market.
The planned mission is a test to examine the potential of such a
collaborative approach to China engagement and if successful, there
would be future missions.
ERA Institutions Capability
This is an activity which covers the full range of ERA
capabilities. The planned initial missions will involve academics
with expertise in wind power, hydrothermal carbonisation and CCS,
energy storage, hydrogen and fuel cells and cooling for road and
rail transportation.
It is proposed that ERA Professors, Academic Staff and Business
Development personal from the universities of Birmingham,
Nottingham and Loughborough are all delegates on the mission, which
will be headed up by Martin Freer, ERA Director. Professor Freer
will represent all of ERA and ensure that the R&D associated
with the ERA institutions that are not present will be reflected in
the presentations.
Potential Industrial Collaborators & Contact Points.
There are a range of organisations in each of the three
locations that are being scoped out for engagement during the
mission. ERA is also in close contact with the UK Embassy in
Beijing to see if they are prepared to host an event in the
Ambassador’s Residence that will showcase ERA’s capabilities as
part of a much wider ‘Green is GREAT’ campaign that the UK
Government has recently launched.
All of the organisations listed below have been selected as the
capabilities they are currently focused on align with those of ERA.
These capabilities are also specifically declared as being
‘national endeavours’ by the Chinese Government and are detailed in
the Chinese national and provincial ‘5 Year Plans’.
BEIJING
Research
· Institute of Electric Engineering Chinese Academy of
Sciences
· National Climate Centre - study on the characteristics of
complex wind resources in wind power generation and its application
and verification
· Beijing Jianheng Certification Centre Co., Ltd. - research on
blade testing technology and test system for large offshore wind
turbines
· Jiangsu Hanlong Environmental Protection Sci. & Tech.Co.,
Ltd. – study on the design of special equipment for environmental
protection
· Tsinghua BP Centre for Research & Education – study on
China’s energy strategy by integrating the research capabilities on
energy technology, energy system, energy strategy and energy
policy
· China Huaneng Group Clean Energy Research Institute
· Beijing Low Carbon Clean Energy Research Institute
· CAS Institutes of Engineering Thermophysics, Geology and
Geophysics, Policy & Management and Process Engineering
Industry
· China National State Grid
· CRRC Corporation Ltd
· China Electricity Council (non-profit and self-disciplinary
national trade association)
· China Renewable Energy Society Biomass Energy Professional
Committee
· Biomass Energy Industry Technology Innovation Strategic
Alliance
· China Circular Economy Association Renewable Energy
Professional Committee
· CNNC Geothermal Industry Development Alliance - the
development reserve of 79 geothermal projects has been completed so
far.
· Sinovel (Beijing) - new energy integrated solution
provider
· China Energy Investment Corporation - a joint venture
restructured after the merge of Guodian United Power and Shenhua
Group (Beijing)
· China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
· North China Electric Power Design Institute Engineering Co
Ltd
· PetroChina (CNPC)
· Shenhua Guohua (Beijing) Power Research Institute Co Ltd -
provides residential energy resources supply services (electricity,
gas, and water supply)
· Sinopec Petroleum Engineering Corporation
· State Grid E-Commerce Co., Ltd. - distributed photovoltaic
system, intelligent operation and maintenance technology
· Beijing Kono Weiye Technology Co., Ltd. - research on key
technologies of independently operated micro-renewable energy
systems
· KTCN - efficient and clean energy service provider
Government
· National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC)
· Ministry of Science & Technology (ACCA21 - administrative
centre for China's ‘Agenda 21’)
· State Bureau of Oceanic Administration (SOA)
Academia
· Beijing Forestry University
· North China Electrical Power University
· Beijing Normal University
· China University of Geosciences
· China University of Petroleum (Beijing)
· Tsinghua University
· University of Science & Technology Beijing
NANJING (JIANGSU)
· Nanjing University of Technology - key technology and
demonstration of fully renewable energy multi-energy complementary
thermal and electrical storage coupling energy supply system in
characteristic towns
· GCL System Integration (HQ: Suzhou) - an international energy
company specializing in clean and sustainable power production
· China University of Mining & Technology
· Leading province in PV and distributed PV
· Nanjing University of Technology - Key technology and
demonstration of fully renewable energy multi-energy complementary
thermal and electrical storage coupling energy supply system in
characteristic towns
HANGZHOU CITY, (ZHEJIANG)
· Zhejiang University
· Zhejiang Jinko - Photovoltaic product manufacturer
· Zhejiang Energy Group
· Zhejiang Jiahua Energy Chemical Industry Co. Ltd - production
of sulphuric acid series products, chlor-alkali series products,
thermoelectric unit, as well as ortho-para and fatty alcohol
production
· Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group – biomass power generating
company
· Zhejiang’s first 10 kV energy storage power station (capacity:
2MW/4MWh) went online in Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City, August
2019
ERA Facilities Utilised:
Whilst the mission itself will not tap into any existing ERA
facilities – the presentations will make specific reference to the
capabilities associated with the 23 Innovate UK funded facilities
across ERA – with specific reference to those associated with wind
power, hydrothermal carbonisation and CCS, energy storage, hydrogen
and fuel cells and cooling for road and rail transportation.
Timescales associated with Project
This is the first ERA mission to China but builds on existing
relationships that the ERA Academic staff have with many Chinese
research establishment and government stakeholders. The aim would
be to follow this up with other such missions with ever increasing
focus on specific opportunities, technologies and
collaborations.
Alignment to ERA Capability Areas
Energy Generation☒
Energy Integration☒
Energy Storage☒
Energy Use ☒
Alignment to National Agenda, Need or Published Strategy?
Part of the strategy of ERA is to bring technologies through
into markets both in the UK and overseas. As the 23 ERA facilities
now reach their operational stage, Innovate UK are keen to see how
they are being exploited – both currently and in the future.
Increasing the industrial stakeholders / collaborators to overseas
markets and organisations is a clear opportunity to further
leverage the Innovate UK investment.
Timeliness of Project? Why do this now?
ERA facilities are now largely developed and operational. As the
exploitation discussions continue there are clear opportunities to
develop collaborative research programmes that build on the
existing relationships that many of the ERA institutions have with
Chinese academic institutions and organisations. The natural
development of this is to leverage these relationships across the
wider ERA community and take advantage of the strong government
support for internationalisation that exists in China.
Appendix 1 – Participants and capabilities represented
At the forefront of energy transformation
The current proposed list of participants are identified below.
Availability will probably dictate that some substitutions will be
required
1. Professor Martin Freer, ERA Director, Director of the
Birmingham Energy Institute, University of Birmingham
2. Professor Gavin Walker, The Sir Harry and Lady Djanogly Chair
in Sustainable Energy, University of Nottingham
3. Professor Seamus Garvey, Professor of Dynamics & Director
of the Rolls-Royce UTC in Gas Turbine Transmission Systems,
University of Nottingham.
4. Professor Colin Snape, Director of Engineering Doctorate
Centre in Efficient Power from Fossil Energy and Carbon Capture
Technologies, University of Nottingham.
5. Professor Yulong Ding, Founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical
Engineering, RAEng-Highview Chair of Cryogenic Energy Storage,
Director of the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, University of
Birmingham.
6. Professor Robert Steinberger-Wilckens, Director of the Centre
of Doctoral Training in Fuel Cells and their Fuels, Director of the
Birmingham Centre for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research, University
of Birmingham
7. Professor Philip Eames, Professor of Renewable Energy,
Loughborough University
8. Dr Ming Li, Assistant Professor in Materials, University of
Nottingham
9. Representation from the British Geological Survey (BGS)
10. Representatives from University of Nottingham Ningbo
China
11. Jason Feehily, Director of Knowledge Exchange-Asia,
University of Nottingham
12. Min Rose, Deputy Director of Knowledge Exchange-Asia,
University of Nottingham
13. Dr Bing Liu, Head of International Business Engagement,
Birmingham Energy Institute and International Business Engagement
(Asia) Partner, University of Birmingham
14. Nick King, ERA Comms and Marketing Manager
Capabilities to be represented
Colin Snape – Hydrothermal Carbonisation - HTC is a technology
for converting high-moisture biomass into solid fuels using
moderate temperatures and high pressures. The HTC process
effectively mimics the long-term natural process of coal formation,
with the process taking a matter of hours rather than millennia.
The process is able to convert waste streams such as green /
organic waste into value-added fuel products that can be used in
both domestic and industrial applications.
Seamus Garvey – Wind Thermal Power (WindTP) - WindTP is a
power transmission system for wind turbines that enables large
quantities of energy to be stored – typically 25–100 hours of rated
turbine output. Every wind turbine must have some set of machinery
to convert the mechanical power input from a slowly turning rotor
into electrical power output. Conventional arrangements for this
power transmission simply enable the turbine to make electricity
when the wind blows. With WindTP, energy is collected when the wind
blows but energy is dispatched as electricity when required.
Dispatchable power is already much more valuable than power whose
timing cannot be controlled.
Seamus Garvey – Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) - CAES is a
way to store energy generated at one time for use at
another time using compressed air. At utility scale, energy
generated during periods of low energy demand (off-peak) can be
released to meet higher-demand (peak load) periods. This is
especially important in an age where intermittent renewable-energy
sources such as wind and solar power are becoming more prominent
energy sources. CAES systems can have a vital impact in making sure
that the electricity demands can be met at peak hours.
Yulong Ding – Liquid air energy storage (LAES) - LAES uses
off-peak and/or excess renewable electricity to liquefy air and
store the energy in the form of liquid air. When needed, liquid air
is heated up by the environmental energy, expands some 700 times to
drive a turbine to produce electricity. The Birmingham team, led by
Professor Yulong Ding, invented LAES technology some 13 years ago
and led the initial stage to the technology development. The
technology has now been commercialized by UK Highview Power. The
technology development went through lab scale (15 kW and 35kW),
pilot scale (350kW), and commercial demonstration scale (5MW), and
Highview has recently announced its plan to build a 50MW/250MWh
system in the UK.
Yulong Ding – Composite phase change materials (cPCMs) - The
cPCM are made of three ingredients, a phase change material (PCM)
for heat storage, a structural material for shape stabilization and
a heat transfer enhancement material for improving charging /
discharging kinetics. The University of Birmingham team led by
Professor Yulong Ding has developed a unique method for formulating
and manufacture of cPCMs. The materials are now in large scale
engineering applications (250MW/1.5GWh installation since
2016).
Yulong Ding – Passive cooling technologies for integrated
rail-road transportation - This technology uses specifically
formulated and structured phase change materials (sPCMs) to store
cold. The sPCMs are contained in a specifically designed storage
heat exchange units, which are integrated and installed in freight
containers for integrated road and rail transportation. The
technology has been shown to be highly competitive compared with
conventional highly polluting diesel engine powered refrigeration
units. The freight containers were made for testing under
stationary and mobile conditions and subsequent commercial
demonstration during October to November 2018, carrying real,
perishable goods for 36,000 kilometres by road and rail. Mobile
communication technologies have also been integrated into the
containers to monitor the container’s location, temperature and
humidity in real time. The demonstration showed that, once the
sPCMs are charged (a process that takes less than 2 hours, but can
be a lot shorter if needed), they can maintain the container
temperature between 5 and12 ˚C for up to 140 hours.
Robert Steinberger-Wilckens – Fuel Cell Technology – The Centre
for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research within the University of
Birmingham School of Chemical Engineering is conducting research in
a number of key areas of fuel cell technology: reducing the
platinum content of low temperature fuel cells (PEFC/DMFC) in order
to make them more robust in operation and cheaper to manufacture.
The Centre has designed a novel stack type that will be lighter and
will require less parasitic power for blowers in fuel cell systems.
With high temperature fuel cells (SOC) the university is making
cells that can convert methane and ethanol directly to electricity
at very high efficiencies. In all areas they work both in catalyst
development as well as fabricating their own test cells for full
proof-of-concept.
Robert Steinberger-Wilckens – Zero-net carbon fuels:
Decarbonising Transport – The University of Birmingham employ the
technologies developed in the fuel cell area to electrify vehicles
of all sizes: passenger cars, lorries, off-road vehicles, rail,
maritime, and aircraft. They have developed an energy management
concept for hybrid vehicles (fuel cell and battery, potentially
also supercaps) that has been filed for patent. Using hydrogen from
renewable sources and recycled carbon (CCU) work is ongoing on
synthetic fuels that have zero-net carbon release based on biomass
and renewable electricity.
Robert Steinberger-Wilckens – Efficient Hydrogen Production –
Solid oxide cells are ceramic ‘electrochemical reactors’ that can
be both employed as fuel cells – producing electricity and heat –
and as electrolysers – producing hydrogen and syn-gas. Making use
of high-temperature waste heat (steam) they can convert close to
100% of electricity into hydrogen. The University of Birmingham
also work on increasing the efficiency of low temperature
electrolysis by improving the electrode structure and
catalysis.
Phil Eames – To be confirmed
Gavin Walker – To be confirmed
Appendix 2 – Primary & secondary Chinese stakeholders and
potential partners
The following section describes the prime stakeholders that will
be specifically targeted at each of the three cities that ERA plans
to visit. A longer list of other organisations that will be
contacted once the itinerary has been firmly established is
contained in Appendix B.
Beijing
(1) ‘From Problem to Opportunity – How Green Chemicals can lead
to Green Energy’ (led by Green Chemicals Beacon of University of
Nottingham). University of Nottingham has secured support from the
British Embassy in Beijing for a medium scale partnership
engagement event as part of UK Government’s Green is GREAT campaign
being launched this autumn.
The University of Science & Technology, Beijing have agreed
to host this event which hopefully will take place at either the UK
Ambassador’s residence or at the University. We would aim to invite
approx. 25 institutions.
(2) Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (IET), Chinese
Academy of Sciences, is an internationally renowned leading
research institute in energy, power and environment. It is the
Chinese leader in the research of energy storage technologies,
particularly compressed air energy storage technologies. UoB have
had many years’ collaboration with IET and formed a joint centre in
energy storage technologies with them in 2018.
(3) State Power Investment Corporation State Power Investment
Corporation (SPIC). One of the top five China’s power generators,
SPIC have been listed in the Fortune Globe 500 consecutively since
2012. With 9 listed companies and over 140,000 employees, it has a
registered capital of USD 6.49 billion, total assets of USD 126.3
billion. It is an integrated power group that covers thermal,
hydro, nuclear, solar and wind powers, with clean energy accounting
for 45.14% of its total. University of Birmingham (UoB) has a
strong relationship with SPIC with several projects in
developing.
Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province (led by Birmingham)
(1) The Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute
(JITRI), aims to be, and is fast becoming, a top industrial
technology research centre in China. It focuses on bridging the gap
between fundamental technology research and its commercialization
by developing industrial technology research. In particular it
focuses on research that serves the needs associated with economic
structure transformation and the purpose of industrial innovation
and market-oriented product development. UoB, through its
Birmingham Energy Institute, will launch a Clean Energy Institute
in Jiangsu jointly with JITRI. This could serve as a strong
platform upon which to build a strategic collaborative partnership
between ERA and the Jiangsu province, especially with bridging and
joining the R&D and translational activities between the
Midlands and Jiangsu Province (UK-China) a main objective of the
UoB-JITRI institute. Specifically, for the ERA Mission, with JITRI
as the main host, we could easily draw in a good number of strong
energy institutions and companies that UoB has been collaborating
with, e.g. Southeast University, Nanjing University of Science
& Technology, and Nanjing University of Aerospace and
Aeronautics.
The objective to visit Nanjing is to deepen and expand
Birmingham’s partnership in the province with wider ERA partners.
Nottingham has also identified a number of potential partners to be
explored in Jiangsu Province, included in Appendix I.
Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province (led by Nottingham, supported
by Birmingham)
(1) University of Nottingham has long-standing partnerships with
Zhejiang Province, building on its China campus located in Ningbo
City of the Province established in 2004. It has been invited by
Zhejiang Science and Technology Department to establish a clean
energy innovation centre as the outcome of a recently signed MOU
between the Department and the Midlands Engine to promote science
and innovation collaboration, where ‘green energy’ is on top of the
priority areas in the MoU.
Whilst University of Nottingham is already collaborating with
the largest energy company in the Province – Zhejiang Energy Group,
it has also identified a number of other potential partners
including Zhejiang Jinko. The objective to visit Hangzhou is to
deepen and expand Nottingham’s partnership in the province with
wider ERA partners, as a demonstrable success between the
Zhejiang-Midlands Engine partnership.
(2) The University of Birmingham has a long-standing partnership
with the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. UoB are developing a
collaboration with the Group around thermal management of electric
vehicles and other aspects of new energy vehicle research,
including on the educational side. Their VP is coming to visit UoB
in November to sign the agreement.
Geely is a flagship of private enterprise in China and a top
Chinese automotive group that is fast becoming one of the top 10
car manufacturers in the world. It famously acquired the London
taxi Manganese Bronze in 2017 after successfully revived Volvo and
has been within the Fortune Globe 500 for 7 consecutive years. The
company has over 120,000 employees, a total asset of over RMB 100
billion, and global operations spanning the automotive value chain,
from research, development and design (with 1/6 of its staff work
in R&D and design) to production, sales and service. It aspires
to become a world leader in green mobility technology by developing
safe, low remission and energy efficient cars. Geely is working
with both the Zhejiang provincial and Hangzhou city authorities in
building an international R&D base at Hangzhou, to which UoB
would be a part. It should be potentially possible for ERA to
leverage into this and develop something for the consortium.
Appendix 3 – Proposed Itinerary
Day
AM
PM
Evening
Participants
Comments
Saturday 11th Jan
Fly from UK
Sunday 12th Jan
Arrive Beijing
Monday 13th Jan
A high-level, medium-scale Green is GREAT (GiG) event held at
either the UK Ambassador’s residence or the University of Science
and Technology, Beijing (Host)
PM Business visits
Martin Freer
Gavin Walker
Seamus Garvey
Colin Snape
Yulong Ding
Robert S-W
Phil Eames
Ming Li
Jason Feehily
Min Rose
Bing Liu
Nick King
Led by Green Chemical Beacon of Nottingham if the timing of this
event coincides with the ERA visit in Beijing
Aim to invite 25 institutions
Tuesday 14th Jan
Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (IET) – OR visit SPIC –
led by Birmingham
Fly to Travel to Nanjing
Intercontinental Hotel
Nanjing
Martin Freer
Gavin Walker
Seamus Garvey
Colin Snape
Yulong Ding
Robert S-W
Phil Eames
Ming Li
Jason Feehily
Min Rose
Bing Liu
Nick King
Colin Snape to leave the group and proceed to Shandong
University.
Wednesday 15th Jan
Nanjing partnership engagement event –
Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI)
Nanjing partnership engagement event –
Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI)
Travel to Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) by train
Nanjing – Hangzhou (2-3 hours)
Martin Freer
Gavin Walker
Seamus Garvey
Yulong Ding
Robert S-W
Phil Eames
Ming Li
Jason Feehily
Min Rose
Bing Liu
Nick King
Birmingham lead
Thursday 16th Jan
Zhejiang partnership engagement event – led by Nottingham
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group – led by Birmingham
Martin Freer
Gavin Walker
Seamus Garvey
Yulong Ding
Robert S-W
Phil Eames
Ming Li
Jason Feehily
Min Rose
Bing Liu
Nick King
Nottingham lead
Friday 17th Jan
Fly to UK
Fly to UK
Martin Freer
Gavin Walker
Seamus Garvey
Yulong Ding
Robert S-W
Phil Eames
Ming Li
Jason Feehily
Min Rose
Bing Liu
Nick King
Research Committee – Big Ideas Proforma
Page 13
Appendix 4 – China research strengths by region
