The overall research aim of this activity are to increase overall conversion efficiency, cost efficiency, significantly drive down the cost of electricity production from indigenous renewable energy resources including biodegradable fraction of waste, enhance process reliability and further reduce the environmental impact and eliminate existing obstacles. Emphasis will be on photovoltaics, wind and biomass including CHP. Furthermore, research will aim at realising the full potential of other renewable energy sources: geothermal, thermal solar, ocean (e.g. wave, tidal power) and hydropower.
This activity is divided into 7 thematic areas and a "cross-cutting" one to address common issues to the renewable energy technologies. The common expected impact for all the areas is the reduction of costs, while their specific aims can be summarised as follows:
- Photovoltaics: development and demonstration of new processes for photovoltaic equipment manufacturing, standardized and tested building components and the demonstration of the multiple additional benefits of photovoltaic electricity. Longer term strategies for next-generation photovoltaics (both high-efficiency and low-cost routes) will also be supported.
- Biomass: development should aim to solve specific problems of the use of biomass in direct co-firing and to address technical challenges for advanced biomass gasification systems. Demonstration should aim at medium to large scale bio-electricity systems, covering the whole process chain from sustainable feedstock supply over energy conversion to the recovery of by-products. Preference will be given to the ambitious use of biofuels with still high exploitation potentials such as forest residues, energy crops, agricultural residues incl. straw, refuse derived fuels etc.
- Wind: innovative large scale on and off-shore wind power plants based on improved technologies, more robust, reliable and low-maintenance multi-MW turbines, combined with dependable output forecasting tools as well as with standards and certification schemes should bring wind power to higher levels of market penetration.
- Geothermal: research and development should aim to develop enabling technologies for the exploitation of high-temperature resources, and to prove the feasibility and sustainability of EGS technology in representative EU sites. Demonstration projects should aim at improving geothermal reservoir detection technology, increasing the performance of fluid production systems (corrosion and scaling), and increasing the efficiency of electricity generating systems. The overall expected impact is a reduction of costs.
- Concentrated solar power: improvements in the optical and thermal efficiency of the solar components, power generation efficiency (including hybridisation with other fuel), and operational reliability. This could be achieved through development and demonstration of new receiver concepts; demonstration of heat transfer cycles with higher performances; development of low-cost high efficient storage systems; demonstration of lower cost, intermediate size power plants for decentralised electricity, heating and cooling generation; improvement of the environmental profile of the CSP installations (e.g. lower water consumption, more efficient land use,...).
- Ocean: technological improvements in new components and system designs, leading to higher efficiencies and lower operator and maintenance requirements. Demonstration of ocean energy technologies should mainly address their intrinsic technical and financial risks. Among them the proving of the energy conversion potentials and the technical problems associated to the site's harsh environment.
- Hydro: technological challenges should be addressed in order to develop further the technology and to exploit the remaining potential, composed mainly of low-head and very-low-head sites. The main objective is to further improve the energy and cost-efficiency of hydropower plants, in particular smaller systems, while minimising the adverse environmental impact. There is a need for demonstration of innovative systems, equipment and design practices which could be at the same time economically and environmentally efficient. They should be easily customised for a site-specific use. The systems should improve the reliability and efficiency with guaranteed performance. Innovative solutions which can maximise the energy production of existing plants should also be developed and demonstrated.
Calls that cover this activity: FP7-ENERGY-2007-1-RTD (Call 1) and FP7-ENERGY-2007-2-TREN (Call 2)
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ACTIVITY ENERGY.2: RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION
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Area
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Topics Called
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Funding Schemes
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Call
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AREA ENERGY 2.1: Photovoltaics
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.1: Intermediate band (IB) materials and cells for PV | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.2: Dye-sensitised PV solar cells | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.3: Concentrating photovoltaics: cells, optics, modules | Collaborative project (large-scale integrating project) |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.4: Research for binary thin-film photovoltaics | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.5: Environmental aspects of photovoltaics | Coordination and Support Action (support type) |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.6: Alternative approaches for crystalline silicon PV | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.7: Secure, reliable and affordable supply of feedstock for the PV industry | Coordination and Support Action (support type) |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.8: Improved production equipment and cost reduction | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.9: Innovative/improved PV manufacturing processes | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.10: Development and demonstration of standardized building components | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.1.11: Multiple benefits of PV systems | Collaborative project |
2
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AREA ENERGY.2.2: Biomass
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.1: Advanced gas cleaning technologies for biomass | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.2: Innovative technologies for efficient electricity production in biomass-fired IGCC | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.3: New and improved slagging and corrosion control technologies for large-scale biomass co-firing processes | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.4: Large-scale co-firing | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.5: Novel solid biofuels for electricity generation | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.2.6: High-efficiency medium-to-large scale electricity generation from biomass | Collaborative project |
2
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AREA ENERGY.2.3: Wind
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.3.1: Development of components and systems for turbines and wind farms | Collaborative project (large-scale integrating project) |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.3.2: External conditions, resource assessment and forecasting for wind energy | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 .2.3.3: Testing, standards and certification for wind energy systems | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.3.4: Demonstration of large scale systems for on-and off-shore wind farms | Collaborative project |
2
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.3.5: Integration of wind power into the European wind power system | Collaborative project |
2
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AREA ENERGY.2.4: Geothermal
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.4.1: Understanding and Mitigation of Induced Seismicity Associated with Geothermal Field Development | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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AREA ENERGY.2.5: Concentrated Solar Power
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.5.1: Key components for CSP | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 .2.5.2: Using CSP for water desalination (Specific International Cooperation Action) | Coordination and Support Action (support type) |
1
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AREA ENERGY.2.6: Ocean
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.6.1: New components and concepts for ocean energy converters | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.6.2: A strategy for ocean energy | Coordination and Support Action (coordination type) |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.6.3: Pre-normative research for ocean energy | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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AREA ENERGY.2.7: Hydro
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.7.1: New or improved hydro components and concepts | Collaborative project (small or medium scale focused project |
1
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.7.2: A strategy for hydropower | Coordination and Support Action (coordination type) |
1
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AREA ENERGY.2.8: Cross-cutting issues
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Topic ENERGY 2007 2.8.1: Solar irradiation resource assessment and forecasting | Coordination and Support Action (support type) |
1
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For more details please read the Annual Work Programme for 2007 on the "Energy" cooperation theme.
Last updated on: 2008-04-29
