Energy Catalyst backs pro-growth climate action

A system which uses the sun to cool buildings and uses no electricity, an ultra-low temperature battery that can be used in Antarctica and a biofuel cell which turns a waste product from beer into energy are some of the 32 projects supported through the latest £11mn round of the Energy Catalyst programme. The Energy Catalyst is a joint programme run by the government’s innovation experts at Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The 32 supported projects are based all over the country and will start their projects in November.

The Energy Catalyst programme supports innovative ideas all the way from early concept through to prototype demonstrators, so long as they help tackle the energy ‘trilemma’ of reducing carbon emissions, reducing costs and increasing security of supply, says Innovate UK.

Among the successful projects are:

• Solar Polar, based in Peterborough, has invented a solar cooling system that will require no electrical power, will have no moving parts and will provide cooling at low cost. The innovative system design will be simple to build with local materials, will be easy to maintain, reliable and will have an operating lifetime of 30 years or more.
• Hyperdrive Innovation based in Sunderland and Oxis energy from Oxford are working with the British Antarctic Survey to test the feasibility of a new generation of energy storage for use in extremely cold climates. They will test the chemistry of a rechargeable battery and battery management system that can outperform current batteries.
• Chester based C-Tech Innovation and Imperial College London are developing a device which takes waste water containing carbohydrates, such as sugar from food producers, breweries and other processes that are contaminated with a sugars, and uses it to simultaneously generate electricity in a fuel cell, whilst cleaning the waste water.