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.

Decarbonising both heating and cooling across residential, business and industry sectors is fundamental to delivering the recently announced net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. Such a monumental change to this sector can only be delivered through the collective advancement of science, engineering and technology combined with prudent planning, demand management and effective policy. The aim of the proposed H+C Zero Network will be to facilitate this through funded workshops, conferences and secondments which in combination will enable researchers, technology developers, managers, policymakers and funders to come together to share their progress, new knowledge and experiences. It will also directly impact on this through a series of research funding calls which will offer seed funding to address key technical, economic, social, environmental and policy challenges. The proposed Network will focus on the following five themes which are essential for decarbonising heating and cooling effectively: Theme 1 Primary engineering technologies and systems for decarbonisation Theme 2 Underpinning technologies, materials, control, retrofit and infrastructure Theme 3 Future energy systems and economics Theme 4 Social impact and end users' perspectives Theme 5 Policy Support and leadership for the transition to net-zero

Solar energy can provide both electricity and heat without greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of solar radiation incident on the roof of a typical UK home still exceeds its heating demand over the year. However, there is only 1% of renewable heat from solar currently exploited in the UK. The paramount reason for that is the seasonal mismatch between heating demand and solar thermal energy availability and the lack of extensive deployment of thermal energy storage in the UK. Secondly, because of relatively weak solar radiation being far away from equator leads to relatively low temperature heat using the existing solar thermal collectors, particularly during periods outside summer. In this case, it is imperative to develop a seasonal solar energy storage that can effectively store abundant but relatively low temperature solar heat in summer and utilise this at the desired temperature for space and hot water heating in winter, so that 100% solar fraction can be used for space and hot water 'zero-carbon' heating. Thermochemical sorption energy storage technology offers higher energy density with minimum loss due to the temperature-independent means of storage, storing energy as chemical potential. However, its desorption temperature (i.e. temperature of the energy charging process) is relatively high, which makes it problematic to recover solar energy in high-latitude regions like the UK when using the most mature and economic solar thermal collector technology (flat-plate or evacuated tube type). Therefore, an advanced hybrid thermochemical sorption and vapour compression processes is proposed in this project, the integration of the electric-driven compressor, using a small amount of electricity input, enables a large amount of low or ultra-low temperature solar heat (<50 degC) to be efficiently used for thermochemical desorption, leading to enhance the efficiency, capability and flexibility of solar energy storage and heat pumping (Solar S&HP). Since such a hybrid system utilises thermal energy and electric energy simultaneously, it is a win-win solution when it couples with a solar hybrid thermal-photovoltaic (T-PV) collector. The solar T/PV collector supplies the hybrid storage system with solar heat and electricity, whilst the timely extraction of solar heat from the hybrid solar T-PV collector also allows the PV cell to operate at a lower temperature to increase its electrical conversion efficiency, leading to substantially improved overall solar energy conversion efficiency. Some other detailed advantages of the proposed system are, (1) the quality (thermal only) and quantity of different energy inputs (both thermal and electrical) can be adjusted to complement each other whilst storing energy so as to cope with highly variable weather conditions whilst maximising solar energy conversion. Even if solar electricity is not available, electricity from the grid in summer can be used, which has a ~15% lower carbon intensity than in winter. (2) The hybrid thermochemical cycle has a lower desorption temperature which reduces sensible heat loss from the solid sorbent and metallic reactor during the energy storage process which further increases the overall energy efficiency of storage system. (3) During thermal discharging in winter: (a) primary energy consumption for heating can be eliminated, and (b) the collective effect of thermal-driven and electric-driven heat pump processes can be used in extremely cold weather conditions. The whole SSTES system can provide heating at near zero carbon intensity, its carbon emission is approximately 92% and 85% lower comparing to gas boiler and electric heat pump technology, as revealed by the preliminary calculation results.

Perovskite solar cells are the fastest growing solar technology in history, with demonstrated power conversion efficiencies exceeding 23%, above established solar technologies such as polycrystalline silicon, CIGS or CdTe. The main advantage of perovskites is their ease of processing, i.e. they can be printed from simple inks, and their elements are in abundance; ensuring their long-term low cost. This results in very high-quality materials that can also be applied in lighting applications such as general room lighting, displays for hand-held devices and larger screens and communication devices. It is highly unusual that low-cost materials that can efficiently convert light to electricity can also efficiently do the reverse process of electricity to light. Manufacturing these kinds of materials does not require the expensive high-tech infrastructure currently needed to make electronic components. This makes this family of materials extremely attractive for many important technological sectors beyond solar energy. The main aim of our project is to improve the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells by introducing a novel layered perovskite material to extract charge from the device. This approach removes the requirement to employ very expensive organic layers currently in use and will lead to significant further cost-savings, making the technology more attractive for commercial enterprises. To achieve this, our project aims to introduce moisture barrier layers that can efficiently allow electrical current flow only in one direction through them based on perovskite ``quantum-well'' structures, i.e. very thin sheets of the perovskite material (several atom layers in thickness) that are sandwiched between equally thin plastic sheets. By carefully selecting the appropriate plastic sheet material, the structure becomes more resistive to water, and thus more stable, while maintaining the high-quality electronic properties of the perovskite family. By developing these novel structures, our project will enable the manufacture of new types of electronic devices beyond solar cells. For instance, materials that show quantum-well properties are very useful for the fabrication of lasers. These are integral to information technologies and are also used in many other applications that could be even more widespread if they were sufficiently cheap.