INL Clean Energy cluster, improving the performance of energy applications
The most used energy sources today are based on fossil fuels which create severe implications for climate change. Moreover, Europe lacks easy access to these resources, as these have an uneven global distribution. There is an urgent need to develop new materials and technologies that will enable society to electrify and convert to renewable energy sources allowing for a green society with local value chains.
At INL, we recognise our responsibility to work towards meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal ‘7: Affordable and clean energy. Additionally, the Clean Energy cluster is also focused to tackle issues within the goals ‘11: Sustainable cities and communities, ‘1: No poverty’, and ‘9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure’.
We aim at improving the performance of energy applications while, at the same time, reducing their production and usage cost in order to address the energy challenge. This has an indirect impact on the developments addressing all other societal challenges.
The INL Clean Energy cluster is working towards solutions for low-carbon renewable and recyclable energy technologies that incorporate nanomaterials and micro/nanofabrication, to enhance their performance, cost-effectiveness and sustainability. Solutions provided range from proof-of-concept up to prototype devices for energy conversion (such as photovoltaic and hydrogen technologies), and energy storage (rechargeable batteries and hydrogen).
The INL Clean Energy cluster consists of 10 core research groups from INL, and in 2023 is coordinated by Pedro Salomé with Yury Kolen´ko being the deputy coordinator. The Clean Energy cluster is open to collaborations in the energy sector with different stakeholders, from industry to academia.
Examples of ongoing projects: SmartPVm, REMAP, ATE, GreenAuto, R2UTechnologies, Baterias 2030, SITA, PLuTO, FUNLAYERS, HEDAsupercap, NGS, SpinCat, Cat4GtL, Kesper, Moving2Neutrality, H2GreenValley, AdIrCAT, KNOWSKITE-X.