Stimulating innovation in solar, wind, oceanic energy

euspen announces workshop focused on the role of precision engineering in stimulating innovation in solar, wind, and oceanic renewable energy and energy storage technologies.

There is increasing demand from the general public and governmental agencies for sustainable energy solutions, the basic principle being that the human use of energy meets today’s needs without compromising the ability for generations to come to meet their needs. 

Sustainable energy strategies centre around cleaner methods of producing energy through the use of solar, wind, and oceanic energy technologies, and energy storage considerations, the cost of which have decreased hugely in recent years due to increasingly effective government support policies and investor confidence as the sustainable energy market expands exponentially.

Another driver is technological advances, and it is here that the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (euspen) will focus its upcoming Special Interest Group (SIG) Workshop looking at various issues of concern to the sustainable energy community to be held 9th-10th October 2019 at the University of Strathclyde, U.K.

The role of precision engineering in the sustainable energy sector will stimulate the advancement of various technologies that are needed to gain industrial competitiveness.

The euspen workshop will bring together professionals from academia, industry, and government to share experiences concerning the use of precision engineering principles to help develop new ideas and manufacturing systems to reduce production and ownership costs in sustainable energy solutions. 

As with all areas where demand for cheaper and more efficient technology solutions are key drivers, engineering innovation is critical, and where engineering innovation is the focus, the role of precision engineering is central to success. 

The goal for all involved in the sustainable energy sector, and for the attainment of the low carbon future that so many governments and institutions see as one of their main objectives is the continual proliferation of low cost efficient solar, wind, and oceanic sustainable energy solutions. 

All new and innovative technologies in these sectors will require the design and manufacture of extremely accurate, robust, and decisive mechanical components, and the euspen workshop will help to further the advancement of work taking place in this important field of energy creation and storage.

The workshop will look at automated precision production of components and systems ranging from manufacture of solar cells and panels to their installation and maintenance; to ever larger wind turbines on and offshore including in-situ manufacturing of ever larger elements; to energy storage systems from batteries to hydro power systems.

For sustainable wind technology, the specific focus will be on the design and manufacture of actuators, gearing and controls, blades and materials, and towers. 

The hot topics that will be covered when looking at solar energy will be concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaics, and for oceanic energy wave, tidal, off-shore wind, and automated aquaculture and mineral harvesting will be considered. 

Obviously of critical importance when looking at any energy solution is the topic of storage, and so hydro, flywheel, battery, and thermal (including geothermal) storage technologies will also be central to the Workshop.

The organising committee and local hosts supporting euspen for workshop is made up of a team of experts from across the precision engineering and sustainable energy sector including Dr Harald Bosse from Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB);  Prof. Paul Shore from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL); Prof. Alex Slocum from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and Prof. Xichun Luo from the University of Strathclyde.