Green Cities & Industries
Energy
We put our knowledge and technologies to work with business in the energy industry value chain to develop new products, processes and innovation solutions
Eurecat’s Energy sector is a strategic partner specialising in various energy industry areas from generation to end use. We raise productivity indicators by conducting R&D and innovation projects designed to transfer knowledge to innovate in materials, processes, products and technological solutions.
Sector services
Renewable energies
- Photovoltaic solar energy: system design, optimisation and characterisation.
- Polar thermal energy: solar thermal system design, optimisation and characterisation plus developing concentrated solar power systems for thermal energy production.
- Wind energy: wind energy system simulation and efficiency optimisation coupled with component and infrastructure characterisation and design.
- Energy generation forecasting and energy hybridisation.
Decarbonisation and biofuels
- Research into carbon dioxide capture, storage and use technologies for fuel production and other applications.
- Biomass and biofuels: technologies for biofuel production from a range of sources including biomass, agricultural waste and organic waste.
- Optimising combustion, pyrolysis and gasification processes for producing solid, liquid or gaseous renewable biofuels.
- Developing energy storage and management technologies: using batteries.
Green hydrogen
- Producing hydrogen using advanced technologies such as electrolysis, plasma and waste gasification.
- Hydrogen transformation, reactor design and implementation.
- Hydrogen storage and transport infrastructures: fuel cells, system modelling, coating development, embrittlement studies, printed stand-alone sensors.
- Hydrogen usage studies for industry and transport in assorted applications including power generation, heating and cooling, mobility and heavy industry.
Energy storage in cities
- Preliminary studies and benchmarking between battery models.
- Battery development and validation: Battery testing and trials: characterisation, cycling and safety.
- Analysing battery performance under various conditions: real cycles, ageing studies, charging intensities and safety.
- Modelling and simulating battery thermo-chemical performance to support cooling system design.
- Battery second life: assessing the health of a battery for new applications and/or functionalities.
- Battery recycling and recovery of critical materials.
Smart energy management and energy efficiency
- Optimal energy management and supervision in buildings and facilities and in improving energy efficiency in industrial processes.
- Characterisation and operational forecasting for renewable energy facilities.
- Optimisation and control of heating and cooling equipment operation.
- Artificial intelligence for processing plant and energy infrastructure information.
- Diagnostics and error detection, alert generation and remaining-life calculations for facilities.
- Predictive maintenance for energy facilities.
- Energy efficiency for buildings and NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Buildings).
- Implementing BMS (Building Management System).
Energy equipment characterisation, simulation and design
- Renewable energy component design and optimisation.
- Characterisation and testing of low-powered (<10 kWth) equipment and systems.
- Thermal and mechanical design of thermal equipment and systems (heat exchangers, thermal and thermochemical storage, PCM).
- Advanced simulation of heat- and mass-transfer processes and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Managing electrical equipment and grids
- Modelling and forecasting energy demand.
- Designing and validating operating strategies for micro-grids.
- Characterisation of energy performance and operation of micro-grid components.
- Optimal design of complex energy production systems and flexibility (multi-energy, multi-equipment, multi-demand, renewables).
- Developing energy management systems to minimise energy infrastructure operating costs.
- Studies on making equipment immune to grid interruptions and fluctuations.
Robotisation for inspection
- Autonomous robots and drones for monitoring and inspecting infrastructures: distribution grids, solar plants, onshore and offshore wind farms, etc.
- Integration of advanced solutions for industrial task automation.
System sustainability assessment
- Technical, financial and environmental feasibility studies for developing and bringing to market new materials, products and processes.
- Sustainability metrics: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), environmental footprint, carbon footprint, water footprint, Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).
- Chemical risk analysis: human health and ecosystems.
- Validating new methods for assessing the environmental impact of pollutants.
- Ecodesign of products and processes.
Technological innovation consultancy and sector training
- Technology watch, sector trend antennae and competitive intelligence.
- Innovation strategy: Lean management, Industry 4.0 roadmaps, circular economy roadmap.
- Intellectual/industrial property studies.
- Specialised training: Industry 4.0, circular economy, robotics.
Brochure of the sector
Know more about the projects and services of the energy sector
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Facilities
Outstanding projects
SOLARADAPT
Smart active management of solar photovoltaic energy and local usage in flexible electricity grids. The project’s overarching goal is to research and develop new management and distribution strategies which make it possible to integrate solar photovoltaic power into the energy system.
SMP SOLAR
Efficient solar plant management and modelling in Chile. Eurecat’s SMP SOLAR project in Chile consists of developing an innovative solution for efficiently managing photovoltaic solar power plants.
GEOFIT
Developing innovative systems and technologies to foster renewable energy use. The GEOFIT project develops innovative and optimised geothermal systems to promote uptake of renewable energies and energy efficiency in the construction sector, mainly in renovation, coupled with implementing advanced inspection methods anchored in a multidisciplinary approach.
PREDALIN
Developing a new smart predictive maintenance system for street lighting in cities. The system taps artificial intelligence algorithms and advanced data analytics to integrate multiple information sources in real time, generating predictive recommendations and optimising maintenance tasks based on performance, cost and location criteria.
IDARIA
Demonstration of using charcoal in treating slurry to enhance its value as a fertiliser. The project’s specific goals include studying biochar activation processes to step up its adsorption capacity coupled with developing and validating a new application to enhance its value as a fertiliser and remove ammonium from slurry which can be toxic in anaerobic digestion processes.
European projects
News of the energy sector
Transforming industrial CO2 emissions into sustainable chemical products
The European SunCoChem sustainable chemistry project has developed a reactor prototype to manufacture chemicals using renewable energies drawing on [...]
Eurecat develops new filtration processes to save water and resources in industry
The Eurecat technology centre has developed a new process harnessing membrane technologies to treat liquid effluents from industrial processes [...]
Eurecat unveils battery, hydrogen, robotics, new materials and plastronics technologies for sustainable mobility at eMobility World Congress
At the eMobility Expo World Congress, which brings together the European mobility industry from 13-15 February in Valencia, the [...]
Generative AI, breakthroughs in sensor technology and the potential of photovoltaic energy among the industry trends which will shape 2024
The introduction of generative artificial intelligence in virtually every link of the supply chains of many industrial sectors, the [...]
Eurecat investigates manufacturing advanced materials with graphene for the automotive, aerospace, hydrogen energy and water treatment industries
The Eurecat technology centre is coordinating the European GIANCE project which is to develop and test grapheme-based innovative and recyclable [...]
Santos Jorge and Eurecat create new product with waste glass for golf bunkers
Santos Jorge, a business engaged in managing and treating recycled glass, and the Eurecat technology centre have teamed up to [...]