Sheffield to get £21m energy research centre

A £21m energy research centre to support the UK’s transition to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050 will be built at the University of Sheffield.

The Translational Energy Research Centre will give businesses access to testing facilities and the opportunity to collaborate with leading academics in low-carbon energy research.

It’s hoped that the new partnerships will bring green technologies to the commercial market faster.

The new centre will also develop next-generation carbon capture technologies as well as helping to develop the UK’s renewable energy, bioenergy and smart grid sectors.

Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, Chris Skidmore, from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), said: ‘Cutting edge technology to capture carbon will cut emissions as we work towards a net zero economy, while creating new jobs – a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

‘The Translational Energy Research Centre represents a major milestone in efforts to rollout carbon capture at scale by the 2030s.’

The Translational Energy Research Centre will expand on the University’s Pilot Advanced-Scale Capture Technology National Facilities (PACT) centre which opened in 2012.

PACT is open access, national centre of excellence for experimental research on carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS).

Since its launch, PACT has supported more than 70 industrial collaborations with both local SMEs and large corporate businesses.

Last week, Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) revealed more details of its industrial-scale Carbon Capture & Utilisation (CCU) plant, which will be the UK’s first.

The plant in Northwich, Cheshire, will be capable of capturing and producing up to 40,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide, according to Tata and it’s scheduled to begin carbon dioxide capture operations in 2021.

The Committee for Climate Change (CCC) recently recommended the UK government should set a target of 2050 for a net-zero emissions economy and said carbon capture technology is a ‘necessity and not an option’ in order to meet that goal.

Following that recommendation, the House of Commons unanimously passed legislation to commit the UK to its new target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Photo Credit – The University of Sheffield.