Why are we doing this?
The excellence of the UK’s scientific output is well recognised, generating almost 12% of the world’s scientific paper citations, second only to the US1.
The broader work that the Carbon Trust undertakes in Insights, Solutions and other areas of our business gives us a uniquely comprehensive insight into what it will take to create a low carbon economy. We are aware that key technical hurdles – often related to cost – are holding back the development of important low carbon technologies; in many cases we believe that an appropriately-targeted collaborative research project could overcome these hurdles and thus unlock the potential of whole new industries in the UK and beyond. Thus, directed research support is more than just funding; it is a new approach to technology innovation that is designed to capitalise on the UK’s world-class researchers and leverage their achievements and capabilities to create breakthrough commercial opportunities.
The automotive community are now demonstrating fuel cell vehicles, but have called for a step-change in cost before mass markets, and mass carbon savings of up to 1 Gt CO2(e) by 2050, that can be viable:
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Do the math and you figure out that we will have to reduce the cost of that car by more than 95 percent in order to gain widespread market acceptance.”2
The cost of the MEA itself remains a major part of this cost challenge in automotive as well as other applications such as portable, backup power and CHP.
What are we doing?
Working in coordination with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) we are therefore seeking to answer the question: “what would it take to convert breakthroughs in polymer MEA research to provide proof of concept of a step-change in cost?”
A step change in cost is required, and Carbon Trust analysis has indicated that the UK may be able to contribute to this if recent research breakthroughs can be converted into commercially “invest-able” concepts. Thus, we are initially looking to:
- Identify UK organisations and researchers with the capability of carrying out step-change applied R&D in this area
- Understand the willingness from key stakeholders to undertake significant work at this time
How are we doing this?
The Carbon Trust has significant resources available, including the following: directed research accelerators, which could provide £3-10m funding per project; the ability to influence policy, through our Insights work; and a well-established network of researchers, commercial investors, public funding bodies, industrial companies and government stakeholders.
The Directed Research process will be the following:
- A launch event was held on the 19th November in London to scope out the opportunities for the Accelerator. We invited stakeholders from the fuel cell community to gather views on how this conversion could be best achieved and what role the Carbon Trust should play. Outputs from the event will be uploaded to this page shortly.
- Building on the outcome of the event and the networking opportunities provided on that occasion, the Carbon Trust will seek to identify whether directed funding in that area is relevant. A funding call will be launched accordingly and Expressions of Interest will be received describing Research Programme proposals.
- A thorough review process will select the most promising Programme(s) to be developed and funded. This investment will aim to accelerate the deployment of large-scale, cost-effective applications of advanced PEM fuel cells both in the UK and abroad by combining intellectual property, scientific expertise and manufacturing excellence.
Alongside this PEM initiative, we are also examining other fuel cell areas where support may be required, including balance of plant, demonstration/deployment of CHP, and small commercial vehicles, and we are working with the TSB, who will be launching a call for other areas of fuel cell R&D next year.
If you would like more details on the Research Accelerator process please contact directedresearch@carbontrust.co.uk
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