To achieve carbon reduction targets as we move increasingly away from the use of fossil fuels, the infrastructure of electricity generation and transport will change as wind generation and electric vehicles become more important. Both of these require very specific materials, the so-called E-tech elements, and the ability of the mining industry to supply these is a matter of strategic significance. The provision of new technology on the required scale carries a significant risk of failure to secure materials needed to deliver the politically-agreed targets. Our proposal sets out to develop a generic approach to understanding and modelling the supply chain through Material Flow Analysis, uniquely adding a geological component with associated spatial visualisation and uncertainty. We will use standard methodology (ISO 14041), which is part of the ISO 14001 family; and these management systems are familiar to stakeholders. We add to these layers descriptions of geological (and so geographical) distribution of sources of selected E-tech elements, following through to consider the implications of space (geographical location) and time (including lead times from exploration through mining to product) at all stages of the supply chain. Using this approach, we will produce a tool that enables users to understand where bottlenecks arise in the supply chain, informing decisions that relate to resource use that include end-of-life recovery of these elements and providing constraints that inform policy makers. Our proposal involves close liaison with key representatives of non-academic users of E-tech elements.

Power electronics and electrical machines are key components in a low-carbon future, enabling energy-efficient conversion and control solutions for a wide variety of energy and transportation applications. The strength of the UK manufacturing base and its strategic importance to the UK was highlighted in the UK government strategy document "Power Electronics: A Strategy for Success" (UK government Department for Business Innovation and Skills, October 2011). This calls for concerted action across the industrial and academic communities to ensure that the full potential of this growing global market can be realised for the UK economy. Specific recommendations relevant to the UK academic community include: 1) the development of a co-ordinated strategy for postgraduate training; 2) support for research focussing on underpinning the core technology areas whilst ensuring that the national capability in Power Electronics remains internationally leading; 3) establishment of a Virtual Centre linking world-class UK universities with each other and with industry. A core team including the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Greenwich, Imperial College, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Strathclyde and Warwick, has been formed to develop this proposal for a UK Virtual Centre. Our vision is that the Centre will be the UK's internationally recognised provider of world-leading, underpinning power electronics research, combining the UK's best academic talent. It will focus on sustaining and growing power electronics in the UK by delivering transformative and exploitable new technologies, highly skilled people and by providing long-term strategic value to the UK power electronics industry. Centre activities will be divided into three main strands: research, community and pathways to impact. Our research activities will bring together the leading academic research groups from across the UK to address key research challenges, build critical mass and develop a widely recognised internationally leading research capability. We will develop a UK research strategy for power electronics which will build on foresight activities to inform our research direction. Our community support activities will build capacity through the training of researchers at doctoral and postdoctoral level. We will extend our research funding to the broader community through themed calls for pump priming, strategic support and feasibility projects. In addition we will support and coordinate responses to major initiatives from national and international funding bodies. Pathways to impact will include: 1) the establishment and development of the Centre brand and communication mechanisms, 2) the development and implementation of an exploitation plan which benefits UK industry, 3) support for government policy development and 4) the development of collaborative links with key power electronic research teams around the world. The Centre programme focuses on fundamental power electronics research at low technology readiness level (TRL) and hence supports a wide range of application areas with a medium to long-term time horizon. Key challenges to be addressed are: increased efficiency, increased power density, increased robustness, lower electromagnetic interference (EMI), higher levels of integration and lower through life cost. The work programme is split into four high-level themes of Devices, Components, Converters and Drives, each of which will address the key challenges, supported by a coordinating Hub. The themes will deliver the majority of the technical output of the Centre.

This proposal is to establish a DTC in Wind and Marine Energy Systems. It brings together the UK's leading institutions in Wind Energy, the University of Strathclyde, and Marine Energy, the University of Edinburgh. The wider aim, drawing on existing links to the European Research Community, is to maintain a growing research capability, with the DTC at is core, that is internationally leading in wind and marine energy and on a par with the leading centres in Denmark, the USA, Germany and the Netherlands. To meet the interdisciplinary research demands of this sector requires a critical mass of staff and early stage researchers, of the sort that this proposal would deliver, to be brought together with all the relevant skills. Between the two institutions, academic staff have in-depth expertise covering the wind and wave resource, aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, design of wind turbines and marine energy devices, wind farms, fixed and floating structures, wind turbine, wind farm and marine energy devices control, power conversion, condition monitoring, asset management, grid-integration issues and economics of renewable energy. A centre of learning and research with strong links to the Wind and Marine Energy industry will be created that will provide a stimulating environment for the PhD students. In the first year of a four year programme, a broad intensive training will be provided to the students in all aspects of Wind and Marine Energy together with professional engineer training in research, communication, business and entrepreneurial skills. The latter will extend throughout the four years of the programme. Research will be undertaken in all aspects of Wind and Marine Energy. A DTC in Wind and Marine Energy Systems is vital to the UK energy sector for a number of reasons. The UK electricity supply industry is currently undergoing a challenging transition driven by the need to meet the Government's binding European targets to provide 15% of the UK's total primary energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020. Given that a limited proportion of transport and heating energy will come from such sources, it is expected that electricity supply will make the major contribution to this target. As a consequence, 40% or more of electricity will have to be generated from non-thermal sources. It is predicted that the UK market for both onshore and offshore wind energy is set to grow to £20 billion by 2015.There is a widely recognised skills gap in renewable energy that could limit this projected growth in the UK and elsewhere unless the universities dramatically increase the scale of their activities in this area. At the University of Strathclyde, the students will initially be housed in the bespoke accommodation in the Royal College Building allocated and refurbished for the existing DTC in Wind and Marine Energy Systems then subsequently in the Technology and Innovation Centre Building when it is completed. At the University of Edinburgh, the students will be housed in the bespoke accommodation in the Kings Buildings allocated and refurbished for the existing IDC in Offshore Renewable Energy. The students will have access to the most advanced design, analysis and simulation software tools available, including the industry standard wind turbine and wind farm design tools and a wide range of power system and computation modelling packages. Existing very strong links to industry of the academic team will be utilised to provide strategic guidance to the proposed DTC in Wind and Marine Energy through company membership of its Industrial Advisory Board and participation in 8 week 7 projects as part of the training year and in 3 year PhD projects. In addition, to providing suggestions for projects and engaging in the selection process, the Industry Partners provide support in the form of data, specialist software, access to test-rigs and advice and guidance to the students.