Aid by Sector
TEA - Transforming Energy Access
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
TEA is the flagship FCDO research and innovation platform supporting early-stage testing and scale-up of innovative technologies and business models that accelerate access to affordable, clean, and modern energy in developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, enabling sustainable and inclusive growth. TEA seeks to improve clean energy access for 25 million people, create 170,000 green jobs, and leverage £1.3 billion of additional investment into clean energy technology research, innovation and scale-up. It contributes to International Climate Finance (ICF) objectives and it is the main FCDO platform for delivery of the £1 billion UK Ayrton Fund for clean energy innovation between 2021 and 2026. TEA is delivered by four lead FCDO partners - Carbon Trust, Innovate UK, Shell Foundation, and ESMAP – and a network to date of more than 750 downstream partners delivering research and innovation activities in more than 60 countries.
Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain Solutions
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
This activity supports a number of different areas of work which aim to accelerate the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment (KA) to the Montreal Protocol (MP) and encourage uptake of energy efficient and climate friendly solutions. This includes (1) The creation of an African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chains (ACES) in Rwanda. ACES will accelerate deployment of sustainable (environmental, economic and social) cold-chain solutions throughout Africa. (2) The development and deployment of an HFC outlook model to address information gaps on energy use and energy related CO2 emissions from the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pumps (RACHP) market. It will assist in reducing cost of the transition for Article 5 countries to the Montreal Protocol and increase the climate benefit of action under the MP. (3) Increasing countries technical capacity and providing insights on global best practice of EE improvements of cooling products in parallel with HFC phase down, through model regulations and sustainable public procurement in ASEAN and Africa.
Private Enterprise Programme Zambia Phase II
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To create investment in Zambia by building the capacity of micro, small and medium sized enterprises. The programme will aim to systematically transform the finance and investment environment for SMSEs in Zambia, by helping companies with potential to grow and become the engine of job creation in the economy. In addition, the programme will also provide independent technical advice and assistance to Zambian government bodies and private sector organisations engaged in projects that harness the potential of Zambia’s infrastructure, cities and towns to act as drivers for economic growth and job creation. Furthermore, the programme will support trade facilitation initiatives that will help reduce time spent at the Nakonde boarder post. The programme will create jobs at scale, including for women, disabled, and rural communities with high levels of poverty. SMSEs supported by the programme will help to improve nutrition outcomes and improve climate resilience of smallholder farmers.
Increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency in the Eastern Caribbean
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures and to improve energy security in the Eastern Caribbean
2050 Calculator
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The International 2050 Calculator Programme was a technical assistance programme, funded by UK International Climate Finance (ICF), a ring-fenced portion of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget for climate change, through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The programme supported ODA-eligible countries develop their own interactive 2050 Calculator energy and emissions tools.
SEBA - Smart Energy Blackout Avoidance
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
In South Africa, energy generation is regularly too low to meet demand. Eskom, the national energy company, performs scheduled Load Shedding; sections of the grid are powered off, so that limited generation can supply demand. There are widespread deployments of local backup generation and battery storage at commercial premises such as offices and hotels so that they can cope with load shedding, but socially disadvantaged people do not have such resources. Eskom supplies municipalities, who then distribute and sell the energy to energy consumers. On average, 27% of municipal revenue is derived from selling energy. Changes to Eskom tariffs, with higher price periods, cause municipalities financial challenges. For example, Hessequa are losing 3Million rand per month. This project will provide demand side control to municipalities. In its simplest form this involves temporarily turning-down electrical demands such as air-conditioning or water pumps, at times of high price. This will be controlled by Gridimp's innovative iDSR (Intelligent Demand Side Response) technology which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce maintenance and configuration costs. The installation involves an engineer installing the control appliance on-site and connecting it to local sensors using our engineering console. This project will create new software to integrate with IoT sensors, plus a new interface to the microgrid controller to enable control or charging/discharging of batteries. Gridimp will be the lead UK partner and provider of demand control technology. GreenSun will be the South African partner, leading the installation work. The project demonstration customer will be Hessequa Municipality. Hessequa Municipality have provided their support to this project, are recognised as a green leader amongst municipalities in South Africa and are committed to helping us to create a model for other municipalities to follow. The main impacts of the project will be: Use demand response at scale to avoid load shedding, supporting greater reliability -- key to multiple UN objectives (including GESI) Avoid excessive charges to municipalities & direct Eskom customers. Increase available funds for investment in network reinforcement and social projects Create a low-carbon balancing reserve to enable an increased uptake for intermittent renewable generation This project will address load-shedding in South Africa, reducing blackouts and delivering cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy to all, supporting GESI, ODA and the Energy Trilemma goals. The project will bring smart energy skills training to local people, focussing on social inclusion (GESI), to secure these gains as a project legacy.
Clean Energy Transition Programme (CETP)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Clean Energy Transitions Programme (CETP) leverages the IEA’s unique energy expertise across all fuels and technologies to accelerate global clean-energy transitions, particularly in major emerging economies. The Programme includes collaborative analytical work, technical cooperation, training and capacity building and strategic dialogues.
Partnership for Market Implementation (PMI)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
To support the implementation of carbon pricing instruments in developing countries as a means to deliver cost-effective greenhouse gas mitigation.
South East Asia Energy Transition Programme (ETP)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Technical Assistance programme involving donor countries and philanthropies to support the energy transition across developing countries in South East Asia.
Global Climate Partnership Fund (GCPF)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
GCPF is a public-private partnership which seeks to mobilise investment flows in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in developing and emerging markets, with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. GCPF primarily does this by providing debt finance via local financial institutions, extending credit lines so they can offer loans for small-scale low carbon projects. GCPF also supports local finance institutions through technical assistance and capacity building.
Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) is a multi-donor trust fund that provides technical assistance to help shape global energy policies and leverage significant development financing. It primarily targets six Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam) where the most new, unabated coal-fired power generation is due to begin operation (from 2018 to 2020). ESMAP is influential in advising countries on the clean energy transition, with significant demand for its technical assistance.
Transformative Carbon Asset Fund (TCAF)
UK - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Transformative Carbon Asset Facility will target sector or policy wide programmes where the implementing country is planning to take climate mitigation action. This could be via regulations, fiscal policies, feed-in-tariff or incentives. As long as these plans are in line with the TCAF programme selection criteria, in collaboration with the implementing entity (normally a Government ministry) TCAF will design a methodology that pays for the verified emissions reductions of the programme above its intended ambition, giving targeted support to unlock the barriers to allow the increased ambition to be realised.
Residential building energy demand reduction in India (RESIDE)
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The RESIDE (Residential building energy demand reduction in India) project will help support the improvement of living conditions for millions of Indian citizens through establishing the knowledge base to develop a residential building code for high quality, low-energy housing across all five climatic zones in India. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of architects, engineers, digital scientists, urban planners and behavioural researchers to assess all aspects of the residential energy use problem, including performance of the building fabric; in-home appliances including heating, ventilation and air conditioning; indoor environment and occupant behaviour. RESIDE will undertake surveys and monitoring of energy consumption in 2000 homes spread across the five different climatic zones in India in order to build up a new, open access database for policy and practitioner communities in India and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In 10% of these homes, we will also trial and evaluate a Smart Home Energy Management System, to be designed within the project, to enable householders greater control over their comfort and energy consumption. These activities will be used to develop low-cost monitoring and post-occupancy evaluation protocols suitable for the Indian situation. This will not only improve Best Practice, but allow a framework by which consistent data can be collected and added to the RESIDE database. Using novel techniques developed by the project team for assessing the potential up-scaling of individual household measures and actions to a neighbourhood level, RESIDE will explore and establish protocols for assessing the potential for, and likely benefits of, widespread take up of energy efficiency and rooftop solar technologies at a community scale. By engaging with a wide range of stakeholders involved in planning and construction throughout the project, and by undertaking an extensive review of policy experiences in similar countries, the RESIDE project will establish the key factors essential for consideration in the development of a new residential building code for India. Then, building on the extensive data collected through the project, and a set of co-design workshops, the project will develop a proposed framework for a new residential building code.
Investigation of the novel challenges of an integrated offshore multi-purpose platform
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The Made in China 2025 report, highlights ocean renewable energy technologies as one of the 10 areas of opportunity for UK and Chinese companies. The "Outline of the National Marine Economic Development Plan" specifically targets the development of novel ocean farming methods, more productive but also more socially and environmentally compatible. In the EU, the "Blue Growth" program aims at sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors, already representing 5.4 million jobs and generating a gross added value of 500 billion euros a year. Offshore structures are very costly. The main idea of a Multi-Purpose Platform (MPP), integrating (for example) renewable energy devices and aquaculture facilities, is to find the synergies to share manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning costs. This has the potential to, save money, reduce the overall impact, and maximize the socio-economic benefits. MPP development poses cross-disciplinary challenges, since they simultaneously aim to achieve several potentially conflicting objectives: to be techno-economically feasible, environmentally considered, socially beneficial, and compatible with maritime legislations. In the EU, previous research focused on farms of multi-megawatt MPP (ocean renewable devices + aquaculture systems), with very few/no attempts to investigate lower rated power systems suitable for island/coastal communities. In China, previous projects aimed at island communities focused on renewable energy, but they did not integrate any aquaculture elements. Therefore, for island communities, novel fundamental questions arise, especially in terms of techno-economic feasibility and assessment and maximization of socio-environmental benefits at a completely different scale, but still requiring a whole-system, cross-disciplinary approach. The proposed solution is to investigate which are the specific challenges arising from the integration of these different offshore technologies, and with a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle them, making sure that all the dimensions (technological, economic, social, environmental, legal) are taken into account. The renewable energy technologies (Which wind turbine? Which wave device? What kind of solar panel?) and aquaculture systems most suitable for the needs of an island community will be identified, and the "cross-disciplinary" questions will be defined, e.g. "What is the impact of the noise generated by the renewable energy devices on the (closely co-located) aquaculture species growth rate?". Answering these questions, the novel contribution will consist in developing approaches to assess the feasibility of an MPP system, focusing on: global MPP dynamic response to metocean conditions, overall integrated control and power management strategies, environmental impact, socio-economic risks and benefits. The potential of these methodologies will be then show-cased through two case-studies, one focusing on an island community in China, and one in the UK. This consortium brings together internationally recognised experts from three Chinese and three British universities and institutes, for a total of 20 investigators, in the fields of solar and offshore wind and wave energy, control systems for renewable energy devices, environmental and socio-economic impact of renewables and aquaculture systems, aquaculture and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture development, and ecosystem modelling. These investigators are also leading members of the research community, directly involved in: Renewable Energy Key Lab of Chinese Academy of Sciences, IEC and Chinese National Standardization Committee for Marine Energy Devices, Supergen Wind Hub, EU Energy Research Alliance JP Wind, ITTC Ocean Engineering Committee, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects Maritime Innovation Committee, ICES WG-Marine Mammal Ecology, International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem, Ecopath Consortium Advisory Board.
Resilient Integrated-Coupled FOW platform design methodology (ResIn)
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
This project will enhance the design and development of floating offshore renewables, in particular offshore floating wind as commercially viable electricity infrastructure through a risk based approach allowing to build resilience against extreme events. The socio-economic challenge is the increasing energy need in emerging economies, such as China, which causes grave air pollution and CO2 emissions. The project work focusses on China, where heavy air pollution alone is estimated to have caused 2.2million premature deaths. Sustainable energy generation, thus replacing coal-fired power plants is one of the solutions to address this problem. In China specifically, the energy demand is at its highest along the industrialised and densely populated coastal regions. The challenge for a renewable energy supply is that the solar, wind and hydro resource are primarily located in the NW and SW of China and electricity transmission via the grid is already constrained. The Chinese government therefore has identified offshore wind energy as one of the primary energy resources with a potential of over 500GW of installed capacity, capable to produce up to 1,500 TWh of electricity per year, which would offset as many as 340 coal-fired power stations. Whilst initial installations in shallow waters near the coast have been made, over 1/3rd of the resource is located in deeper water (>40m) and will require floating installations. Offshore wind energy generation is currently more expensive than fossil fuels in China, and the risk of typhoon damage is high. The project has a fourfold approach: 1.Enhanced environmental modelling to accurately determine extreme loadings; 2. Assessment of novel, porous floating offshore wind structures and active damping mechanisms; 3. Enhanced numerical modelling techniques to efficiently calculate the complex coupled behaviour of floating wind turbines; 4. Risk based optimisation of devised designs and engineering implications. This combined approach is carried through distinguished scientific research expertise and leading industry partners in the field of offshore wind. To maximise the impact and benefits of this research the project places large emphasis on knowledge exchange activities, industry liaison and the establishment of cross-country research capacity to foster the global commercial realisation of offshore floating wind energy. The project is an interdisciplinary, cross-country collaboration with leading research Universities and industry partners. The academic expertise from the University of Exeter, the University of Edinburgh and University of Bath in the areas of Environmental assessment and modelling, Hydrodynamic design, Advanced computational modelling and risk based reliability engineering is matched with Dalian University of Technology and Zhejiang University as two of the leading Chinese research institutions in Ocean Engineering and Offshore Renewable Energy. Whilst the project carries out fundamental engineering research, strong industrial partnerships in both countries will facilitate industry advice and subsequent research uptake. The strong industrial UK support for this project through the ORE Catapult, DNV-GL, ITPE is matched with wider international support through EDF (France) and DSA (Canada), as well as the Chinese project partners MingYang Wind Power Ltd (3rd largest wind manufacturer in China), the National Ocean Technology Centre, NOTC, (institutional responsibility for marine spatial planning) and the 'Shanghai Investigation, Design & Research Institute', SIDRI (State-owned offshore wind project developer in China), demonstrates the timeliness and industrial relevance of the proposed research. All partners are committed to support the establishment of a long-lasting research base to develop resilient and cost effective offshore floating wind energy systems through collaborative research and innovation efforts, as well as capacity building and knowledge exchange.
Extreme wind and wave loads on the next generation of offshore wind turbines
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
In many areas around the world dominant load on offshore wind turbines is from environmental forces. One example of this is in China where typhoons can do considerable damage to offshore installations. This project builds up from fundamental modelling of the underlying environment and how offshore wind turbines interact with this, to analyzing the structural response and design scenarios. The project will have four themes: The first stage examines the wave environment in areas of moderate depth and complex bathymetry with wind input. The second and third stages of the project will analyse loads from wind and waves on offshore wind structures. The fourth stage will examine the associated structural and geotechnical design. An ongoing theme throughout the project will be directed towards outreach, networking and dissemination. The project will improve our understanding of the underlying physical processes as well as exploring the design and environmental implications. In particular, the first theme will provide a better fundamental understanding of typhoon-wave interactions, an important topic in its own right in ocean environmental science. The project will use a wide-range of techniques to tackle the particular problems. These range from analytical modelling of the underlying equations, numerical modelling, physical modelling, and analysis of field data. Insight from all these approaches will be pooled to tackle the challenge of designing offshore wind turbines in harsh maritime environments.
Modelling, Optimisation and Design of Conversion for Offshore Renewable Energy (UK-China MOD-CORE)
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
China has the world's largest installed capacity for wind energy and is rapidly developing its wave energy technologies. Strong growth in both offshore wind and wave are needed to displace fossil fuel generation in order for China to achieve a sustainable economy. For this to happen, greater investor confidence and commercial debt are needed. This is possible if a significant reduction in costs at all levels are achieved, thereby reducing the cost of energy to a point where it competes with fossil-fuel generation. However, the high risks of offshore renewable energy (ORE) have impeded faster development. In China, onshore wind power is severely curtailed due to crowded transmission corridors. Exploitation of offshore wind would better match the population distribution in China, and so hence there is a strong motivation to exploit this ORE. In order to accelerate this development, new technologies are desperately needed to improve the performance in terms of cost, efficiency and reliability (availability). In addition to offshore wind, other forms of marine renewable energy will also play indispensable roles in the future renewable energy mix. Because these technologies are less mature, this development involves even higher risks. As yet none of the wave energy generation companies have shown to be commercially viable without economic support mechanisms. Recognising the high risks involved and the development work that is urgently needed in the industry, this project aims to carry out fundamental modelling and validating work that will lead to the capability of virtual prototyping. Such a capability will significantly accelerate and de-risk the development work in industry. Complementary expertise in China and the UK are combined to address the requirements of overall system performance from ORE devices (wind and wave) to grid, and focuses on the critical technical aspects that will dictate the design decisions. This will be achieved through multiple scale (dimensional and time-wise) and multiple resolution modelling, taking into account the specifications and utilisation of materials and components in the designed systems subject to optimal control. The modelling will cover the manufacturability of the designs and will consider environmental constraints including impact on sea life in different locations. These will be important as ORE development is scaled up in the future. The outcome of research will be demonstrated through a series of case studies including both systems for large wind farms and wave arrays, and also small scale devices supplying energy to off-grid islands. Although China is the primary beneficiary of this activity, there are possible future secondary benefits to the UK. The project members have long track records in modelling and design of components in wind and marine renewable systems. The project allows the researchers to interact and carry out studies cutting across the borders of different engineering disciplines, enabling hi-fidelity modelling and virtual prototyping.
FENGBO-WIND - Farming the ENvironment into the Grid: Big data in Offshore Wind
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The proposed project will develop an integrated computational simulation approach capable of handling the complex interactions between the local atmosphere, the coastal ocean and sedimentary environment, farm aerodynamics, turbine response and grid integration in offshore wind farms. This will target a substantial reduction in the cost of energy in offshore wind by exploiting: high-fidelity optimization of array design and operation, tailored to a specific site and able to deal with realistic marine atmospheric boundary layer conditions, in particular the very slow dissipation of rotor wakes; combined with big-data analysis of very-large-scale simulations of the whole system under extreme conditions, to minimize integrity risks without overly conservative safety factors. Both situations will be investigated within the context of the development of offshore farms off the Chinese coast, which brings particular challenges regarding coastal characteristics (e.g. high sediment concentrations) and extreme events (in particular typhoons). To achieve this we propose a multiscale approach to wind farm design and network integration that considers, first, a more accurate characterisation of extreme events (and active mitigation strategies) in the analysis through highly-resolved computer simulation; second, new optimization techniques for the design and operation of wind farms that allow for sustained power extraction using relevant knowledge of both the marine atmosphere and individual turbine (aeroservoelastic) dynamics; and third, robust grid design and operation strategies that accommodate wind resource variability and maximise the sustainability of energy generation. FENGBO-WIND will carry out the most ambitious computer simulations to date on farm dynamics and farm/environment interaction, to build physics-based predictive capabilities on farm output and investigate long-term interactions between farms and their local environment. An interdisciplinary consortium of experts, including Earth/environmental scientists, civil and electrical engineers, and fluid dynamicists, have been assembled to tackle this challenging computational problem. The team will have access to (1) the world's largest supercomputer (Sunway TaihuLight) to carry out full system simulations of energy output and farm state for specific environmental scenarios, (2) operational data from existing wind farms off the Chinese coast as well as conditions at a target site through a partnership with a local grid company, and (3) performance data for a state-of-the-art wind turbine design from the leading Chinese manufacturer. The results will be benchmarked against state-of-the-art industrial design tools and protocols for grid integration for offshore wind farms.
TRANSFORM - Transformative Market Based Models for low income household needs
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To deliver market based solutions to meet low income households needs by providing private sector creativity and commercial sector approaches to social marketing and demand creation to deliver innovative solutions and new approaches. This will benefit 100 million people by adopting behaviours and accessing household technologies and services that lead to sustained improvements in health, livelihoods, environment and wellbeing. This contributes towards the post-MDG, Nutrition and WASH agendas. The project will be for 5 years.To identify, test and deliver innovative market based solutions that meet the needs of poor households for basic services such as water, sanitation and hygiene in low-income African countries. Part of the DFID-Unilever partnership agreement, this five year project aims to utilise private sector creativity, social marketing and demand creation methods and techniques to promote behavioural change and accessibility of new technologies and services that lead to sustained improvements in health, livelihoods, environment and wellbeing of 100 million poor people.
Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The programme works with government and civil society at federal and state levels to reduce inefficiency and corruption in the use of Nigerian resources and therefore improve delivery of services, including for women, girls and persons with disability. It does this in partnership with other DFID programmes supporting service delivery by helping Nigerian stakeholders improve accountability for use of resources including improving processes for raising revenue, allocating resources, planning and programme implementation.
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