Manchester Uni research teams secure £7.6m
THE University of Manchester has been awarded nearly £7.6m for two research projects, with one funding a new energy storage research centre.
An £4.3m award by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has been given to Manchester scientists to develop advanced materials for demanding industrial environments.
A second EPSRC grant of £3.3m – awarded jointly to Manchester and the University of Liverpool – will help establish state-of-the-art facilities to support the development of new energy storage devices that use graphene as a key component.
The Manchester-Liverpool consortium has been funded to create an interdisciplinary centre of energy storage research with the aim of transforming batteries and super-capacitors into a viable option for wide-scale utility and grid applications.
Professor Ian Cotton, who led the £3.3m bid, said: “The University of Manchester is already home to the largest high voltage laboratory in the UK and a new grid-scale energy storage test facility will be made available to industrial partners to allow energy storage systems to be fully tested before widespread deployment.
“The funding that was provided for the development of national scale electricity storage promises massive benefits – in terms of savings on UK energy spend and in environmental benefits as it enables greater penetration of renewable generation technologies.”
He added: “The facility will be operational by 2014 and will provide the Northwest and the UK with a distinct advantage in the global research and development into advanced materials and manufacturing, which is vital to socio-economic improvement.”
