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Piles à combustibles Piles à combustible Pre-investment assessment of novel fuel cell technology market potential (several) Clients: Venture capital funds Typical challenge: Assess early-stage market potential for hydrogen/ fuel cell technology based on understanding of the technology and market requirements within specific market segments. Technologies covered include SOFC, PEM, MCFC, AFC, hydrogen production. Approach: Evaluate key technology issues relevant to market take-up in specific markets and identify any showstoppers. Conduct high-level market scoping to identify potential
Client: UK Carbon Trust and Department of Trade & Industry Challenge: Identify the market areas where fuel cells have strongest prospects and the most attractive sectors of the value chain for UK companies, together with the issues which need to be addressed through policy. Approach: Large scale project involving stakeholder interviews, workshops, desk research and presentations. Wide range of recommendations made. Result: Report published and Fuel Cells UK established, UK fuel cell vision developed . See: DTI website
Client: Fuel cell system developer Challenge: Assist client in defining product concept and assessing feasibility for target market. Define product requirements specification for system components and provide assistance in identifying and evaluating suppliers for key systems and components Approach: Considering all categories of users, identify and categorise requirements, list system components, develop process flow diagram, list and prioritise suppliers. Discuss and refine product requirements spec with suppliers and present findings to client Result: Commercial product successfully launched.
Client: Global Environment Facility/UNEP working together with Imperial College. Challenge: Model potential uptake of buses and fuel cell distributed generation worldwide, with particular reference to developing countries. Approach: Built econometric model based on expert input and wide data collection, presented model to broad international peer group, assessed carbon emissions benefits on regional basis. Another stream of work involved E4tech in synthesising the results of the entire study to produce a report for submission to the GEF council. Result: Report and GEF fund launched. Reference: Report and references available on request.
Client: A consortium of fuel cell sector participants Challenge: Determine the nature of the opportunity for a UK fuel cells application centre, and the best means by which to exploit it, engaging all stakeholders in the centre Approach: Assessed commercial prospects for fuel cells in the UK; conducted targeted stakeholder consultation; synthesised market opportunity, visions for the centre and capability gaps; interviewed potential users; prepared high level business plan Result: Centre set up and pursuing projects  Hydrogène Hydrogen energy strategy development Client: A leading industrial company. Challenge: Understand the opportunities offered by the emergence of hydrogen as a potential fuel and its use with fuel cells for the client's existing business. Evaluate and develop new business areas in relation to hydrogen fuel and fuel cells. Approach: Highly collaborative strategy development, working with a senior team across several regions and lines of business. Developed contacts with leading fuel cell and hydrogen technology companies for the client team, developed and appraised several technology business cases, planned implementation phase. Result: Strategy endorsed by Board and multi-million $ implementation continuing successfully.
Clients: Venture capital funds Typical challenge: Assess early-stage market potential for hydrogen technology based on understanding of the technology and market requirements within specific market segments. Approach: Evaluate key technology issues relevant to market take-up in specific markets and identify any showstoppers. Conduct high-level market scoping to identify potential
Client: UK Regional Development Agency Challenge: Recommend the applications where hydrogen energy has a realistic prospect of contributing to regional greenhouse gas reduction targets and regional development Approach: Initially worked with client to improve their understanding of potential opportunities and related issues. Developed criteria for filtering all known potential hydrogen energy applications and applied a rigorous methodology resulting in a shortlist of desirable applications Result: Partners now being pursued to implement several of the recommended opportunities
Client: UK Department for Transport Challenge: Assess the energy implications of a widespread uptake of hydrogen and biomass-based fuels Approach: Review of potential improvement from existing fuels; modelling of fuel and vehicle uptake, fuel demand and therefore energy requirements of a transition to hydrogen and biomass-based fuels; discussion of implications of this energy use and associated emissions reductions Result: Published via Dti website under Energy White Paper commitments
Client: UK Department of Trade and Industry Challenge: Assess the potential of hydrogen in meeting UK energy policy objectives and recommend a strategy by which the UK might engage to best effect in hydrogen energy Approach: Interviewed senior Government figures to assess future key policy objectives in conjunction with associates; modelled energy-environment performance of hydrogen energy and competing technologies; assessed UK competitive and strategic position; produced recommendations for UK strategy development Result: Report published via Government website and formal Government response awaited See: DTI website Analyse de système Market assessment for the early adoption of fuel cells for distributed generation in developing countries The International Finance Corporation/UNEP needed to understand the potential uptake of buses and fuel cell distributed generation worldwide, with particular reference to developing countries. This was in order to design a support programme for fuel cells. We built an econometric model based on expert input and wide data collection, presented it to a broad international peer group and assessed carbon emissions benefits on regional basis. Another stream of work involved E4tech in synthesising the results of the entire study to produce a report for submission to the GEF council.
For more information please see: Renewables innovation review.
For more information please see: EuroIslas This project has led to a successor project, RenewIslands, in which E4tech is playing a significant role: For more information please see: RenewIslands
Input to a client's strategic review of threats and opportunities within its markets. Assessed status of drivers, barriers and technologies across distributed generation.
Bioenergie Assessment of biomass energy opportunities Client: Global energy industry player. Challenge: Identify and provide an assessment of biomass energy opportunities in selected world regions, based upon a thorough understanding of resource potential and demand side factors in stationary power and transport fuels. Result: Very close collaboration with client led to a very detailed assessment from which priority regions and fuel chains were identified. This has been used to underpin a shift in approach by the company in favour of key areas of bioenergy.
Client: International industrial company. Challenge: Determine the potential for involvement in waste to energy in the UK Approach: Examined the wide range of waste types, technologies and products in the UK; assessed policy drivers, potential resources and near-term technology options; interviewed key industry contacts; developed economic models for narrowed range of most suitable options. Result: Completed. Investment pursued
Clients: Venture capital funds. Typical challenge: Assess early-stage market potential for bioenergy technologies based on understanding of the technology and market requirements within specific market segments. Approach: Evaluate key technology issues relevant to market take-up in specific markets and identify any showstopper. Conduct high-level market scoping to identify potential applications, and indicative market sizing to identify attractive markets. Evaluate barriers to entry and assess potential and attractiveness of biomass technology. Result: Several assignments completed and many investments pursued.
Challenge: Determine an ambitious but realistic potential for biomass electricity generation in OECD countries by 2020 and discuss challenges for realisation.Approach: Global biomass electricity status review; modelling of resources potential; discussion of economic and environmental implications. Result: Report published by WWF International. Reference: Report and references available on request.
Challenge: An innovative wood-to-SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas) conversion technology is currently in its demonstration phase (a 1MW pilot plant is under construction in Austria). The client plans to build the first commercial plant based on this technology in Switzerland, with a capacity of approximately 30 MW by 2010. E4tech has been commissioned to assess the technical and economic feasibility of this project. Approach: The technology evaluation has been based on the results of the test phase as well as on expert views regarding potential scale-up issues. The economic assessment of the project has been built on detailed analysis of different wood supply strategies and SNG retail opportunities, and included medium term cost projections. This included the build-up of the wood supply curve. Result: A report containing a global technology assessment and identification of the development risks. The report also contains detailed economic and financial analyses of the foreseen plant, including comparative assessment of various wood supply strategies and assessment of the regulatory context and support mechanisms to bioenergy. Finally, the report includes a discussion of the economic constraints determining the project viability and conclusions about the overall feasibility of the project (economic, environmental, legal, risk aspects, etc.). Assessment of ‘biomass to electricity’ technologies Client: Large German Power UtilityChallenge: Technological and economic assessment of a range of ‘biomass to electricity’ technologies enabling the client to evaluate the opportunities presented by biomass and to make strategic choices accordingly. Approach: Assessment of technologies through key evaluation factors such as development status, market potential (at German, EU and global level), technical & financial risks, competitive environment, feedstock availability and cost projection, capital and operation costs, environmental added value, etc. Result: Report quantitatively assessing and comparing the following technologies (with and without co-generation): anaerobic digestion, combustion, gasification, co-firing, biomass-IGCC. Determining the potential for bioenergy on El Hierro island (Canaries) Clients: European Commission / Swiss Secretariat to Research and Education Challenge: The island of El Hierro, in the Canary Islands, has been declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. A 5-year Programme supported by the European Commission is dedicated to the achievement of self-sufficient energy supply in El Hierro via the integration of various renewable energy sources (wind, solar, biomass). E4tech is responsible for identifying biomass conversion chains which could be put in place in the short term. Approach: Conducted a survey of local biomass resources, and detailed technical and economic assessments, in order to compare the respective cost and conversion efficiencies of the various technological options. Result: Report quantitatively assessing the potential of different bioenergy chains and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of various configurations of gasification or combustion technologies. This study will be followed by a feasibility study of a biomass plant. Furthermore, the results from the El Hierro project will act as a precedent for replication on other islands. Bâtiment durable “Systemnachweis Minergie-ECO®” (en cours) Client: EcoBau, Office Fédéral de l'Energie (Suisse) Projet: Ce projet a pour but le développement d’un outil informatique de planification intégré et convivial permettant d’évaluer les besoins énergétiques, le niveau de confort et les impacts environnementaux de tout bâtiment (en construction ou en rénovation) en fonction des matériaux de construction prévus; et d’obtenir, si les conditions sont respectées, la certification Minergie-ECO® Client: Fonds propres Projet: Développement, en collaboration avec le laboratoire Leso de l'EPFL, du logiciel Lesosai qui permet le calcul du bilan thermique d'une construction selon les standards En13790, prEN13770, EN 13781, SIA380/1, DLGs 192, normattive anglaise SBEM. Lesosai est le logiciel de ce type le plus vendu en Suisse Romande et à plusieurs clients dans différents pays d'europe. Pour plus d'information: Lesosai. Client: Commission Européenne et Office Fédérale de l'Education et de la Science Suisse Projet: Green Hôtel est un projet de démonstration financé par la Communauté Européenne avec comme produit final un hôtel à Madeira, qui applique les dernières connaissances dans les secteurs de l'efficacité énergétique, de la consommation d'eau potable et de la production d'énergie. Pour plus d'information: Green Hotel Client: Commission Européenne et Office Fédérale de l'Education et de la Science Suisse Projet: Le projet Hope consiste à étudier l’influence des bâtiments à basse consommation d'énergie sur le confort et les risques sur la santé. Les résultats finaux servent à l’établissement de manuels d'aide à la construction saine, à la formulation de conseils pour la rédaction de normatives, et au développement d’un site web avec lequel il est possible de comparer un bâtiment donné avec ceux de la base de donnée. Pour plus d'information: Hope Novel Energy Technology acceleration beyond the Marine Energy Challenge Client: Carbon Trust Challenge: To determine how the Carbon Trust could continue to support wave and tidal energy development, building on the knowledge gained in the Marine Energy Challenge, through assessing the needs of existing and new players, and identifying new models for intervention. Result: The work, conducted with Garrad Hassan, identified three key areas where further support for developers is needed, and for each, determined what type of funded work (e.g. between developers and consultants, between developers and academics etc) would be appropriate. As a result of this, in October 2006, the Carbon Trust launched the Marine Energy Accelerator, providing £3.5m support for the industry.
Client: Developer of novel solar energy technology. Challenge: Assess the market potential of the technology given its unique characteristics and the immaturity of enabling technologies. Study required by client in order to secure seed funding. Approach: Modelled a wide range of possible applications based on a detailed understanding of the technology. Screened by technical and economic viability to produce a list of compatible applications over different timeframes. Result: Client received seed funding. Reference: Available on request.
Client: Carbon Trust (UK) Challenge: To assess the UK research landscape in each of the technology areas, and then determine whether there would be potential to accelerate progress in these areas through new initiatives funding collaborative work between academic groups and industry. Result: A profile of the UK’s research was produced for each topic, interviews conducted with key academic groups and with industry players that could potentially be involved, and the potential for research acceleration assessed. As a result of this, a new Carbon Trust initiative was launched in third generation photovoltaics. See: new Carbon Trust initiative
Client: Major industrial group Challenge: review of the development status and prospects of nuclear fusion with particular focus on the international ITER project based on the Tokamak technology. Result: report describing the R&D status of the various nuclear fusion technologies (inertial and magnetic confinement approaches), their main remaining technical challenges and horizon for solving, including a description and analysis of the "roadmap to fusion" proposed by the fusion community.
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