Renewable energy

Biomass and Bioenergy (Dr DR McIlveen-Wright):

Biomass & Bioenergy will develop the new gasifier system being installed at CST and verify its performance with a number of fuels, understanding the impacts of fuel mixtures in addition to the traditional issues associated with gasification namely, fuel shape, & size, moisture content etc. Various producer gases can be created and their impacts on power generation will be ascertained by the performance of the engine and generator supplying electricity to the University of Ulster.

Solar Thermal and PV Systems (Dr M Smyth):

Systems using vacuum or partial vacuum technology offer the greatest performance improvement for northern maritime climates. Solar water heating has the potential to significantly reduce building CO2 emissions. Efficient, low-cost Integrated Collector/Storage Solar Water Heater ICSSWH systems are key to exploiting the as-yet-undeveloped market for solar water heating in climates such as Ireland and the UK. The only significant barrier preventing the wide-scale implementation of this solar water heating technology is heat loss during non-collection periods. The aim is to develop ICSSWH vessels with improved energy storage that can be economically competitive with traditional forms of water heating.