NERC: Jennifer Watts: NE/S007504/1

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU) is driven by industry and market needs, which indicate unprecedented growth in renewable and distributed energy to 2050. This growth is underpinned by global demand for electricity which will outstrip growth in demand for other sources by more than two to one (The drivers of global energy demand growth to 2050, 2016, McKinsey). A significant part of this demand will arise from vast numbers of distributed, but interconnected devices (estimated to reach 40 billion by 2024) serving sectors such as healthcare (for ageing populations) and personal transport (for reduced carbon dioxide emission). The distinctive remit of ReNU therefore is to focus on materials innovations for small-to-medium scale energy conversion and storage technologies that are sustainable and highly scalable. ReNU will be delivered by Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham Universities, whose world-leading expertise and excellent links with industry in this area have been recognised by the recent award of the North East Centre for Energy Materials (NECEM, award number: EP/R021503/1). This research-focused programme will be highly complementary to ReNU which is a training-focused programme. A key strength of the ReNU consortium is the breadth of expertise across the energy sector, including: thin film and new materials; direct solar energy conversion; turbines for wind, wave and tidal energy; piezoelectric and thermoelectric devices; water splitting; CO2 valorisation; batteries and fuel cells. Working closely with a balanced portfolio of 36 partners that includes multinational companies, small and medium size enterprises and local Government organisations, the ReNU team has designed a compelling doctoral training programme which aims to engender entrepreneurial skills which will drive UK regional and national productivity in the area of Clean Growth, one of four Grand Challenges identified in the UK Government's recent Industrial Strategy. The same group of partners will also provide significant input to the ReNU in the form of industrial supervision, training for doctoral candidates and supervisors, and access to facilities and equipment. Success in renewable energy and sustainable distributed energy fundamentally requires a whole systems approach as well as understanding of political, social and technical contexts. ReNU's doctoral training is thus naturally suited to a cohort approach in which cross-fertilisation of knowledge and ideas is necessary and embedded. The training programme also aims to address broader challenges facing wider society including unconscious bias training and outreach to address diversity issues in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects and industries. Furthermore, external professional accreditation will be sought for ReNU from the Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Engineering Technology, thus providing a starting point from which doctoral graduates will work towards "Chartered" status. The combination of an industry-driven doctoral training programme to meet identifiable market needs, strong industrial commitment through the provision of training, facilities and supervision, an established platform of research excellence in energy materials between the institutions and unique training opportunities that include internationalisation and professional accreditation, creates a transformative programme to drive forward UK innovation in renewable and sustainable distributed energy.

The recent expansion of the unconventional gas industry in North America and its potential advent in Europe has generated public concern regarding the protection of groundwater and surface water resources from contamination by stray gas, saline formation water and fracturing chemicals. A major scientific challenge and an indispensible prerequisite for environmental impact assessment in the context of unconventional gas development is the determination of the non-impacted baseline conditions against which potential environmental impacts on shallow water resources can be accurately and quantitatively tested. The objective of this Franco-Canadian NSERC-ANR project is to develop an innovative and comprehensive methodology of geochemical and isotopic characterization of the environmental baseline for water and gas samples from all three essential zones: (1) the production zone, including flowback waters, (2) the intermediate zone comprised of overlying formations, and (3) shallow aquifers and surface water systems where contamination may result from diverse natural or other human impacts. The outcome will be the establishment of a methodology based on innovative tracer and monitoring techniques for detecting and quantifying and modeling stray gas and leakage of saline formation water mixed onto flowback fluids into fresh groundwater resources and surface waters taking into account the mechanisms of fluid and gas migration. The new knowledge derived from this project will be of critical importance for ensuring the environmentally acceptable development of unconventional energy resources in Canada and Europe. Decision support and recommendations for stakeholders on meaningful baseline and monitoring programs in the context of unconventional energy resources will be provided as final deliverable.