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Newcastle University and Siemens join forces for new £20m smart energy integration centre

Newcastle University and Siemens are joining together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to fund a new £20m research centre that could unlock the potential of low carbon smart energy in the UK’s energy supply.

The EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration will bring together academics from Newcastle, Heriot-Watt, Sussex, Edinburgh and Durham, along with experts from Siemens, to look at the country’s energy system as a whole.

Utilising Newcastle University’s testing facilities at Science Central, the centre will look at ways in which supply and demand is changing across coal, gas, renewables, heating and cooling, and consider ways in which flexible smart energy infrastructure can help meet our changing energy needs.

Announced today by Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson, the MP outlined hopes that the centre would help solve the challenge of ‘storing new sources of energy’ to meet future demand and ‘secure the UK’s leading position in low carbon technologies.’

With two-thirds of the country’s existing power stations expected to close by 2030, the energy sector is having to look for new, and low carbon ways, to fulfill growing energy requirements UK-wide.

Professor Phil Taylor, Siemens Professor of Energy Systems and Director of the Institute for Sustainability at Newcastle University, who is to lead the centre, explained that the UK’s changing energy needs carry a number of risks and challenges.

He said: “Electricity generation is undergoing fundamental change. Many existing fossil fuel power stations will be decommissioned in the coming 15 years and new sources of generation are coming on stream.

“This new National Centre will provide us with robust information about energy usage in the real world, enabling us to develop methods to deal with the inherent risk and uncertainty so we can confidently inform government policy.

“It gives us an opportunity here in the UK to really drive forward the smart energy revolution and become international leaders in this space. We are delighted here in Newcastle to be leading such an exciting project.”

Work at the energy systems integration centre will initially focus on UK applications; however, research will be guided by an Industrial Innovation Board consisting of 30 companies from around the world, including National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US, with a view to exploring the smart energy potential for energy grids worldwide.

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