Sun rises on university’s
A pioneering project by Swansea University will enable Indian villages to thrive off-grid using houses that act as power stations. Here’s how it works…
From marine energy to medical discoveries, Swansea University is constantly breaking new ground with its research, but its new SUNRISE project goes a step further and puts key research findings into action in the developing world.
The project, which will enable homes in remote Indian villages to create and store their own energy, is being led by Swansea University and a consortium of 12 UK and Indian universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Brunel and Imperial College London. By turning homes into power stations, it will enable villagers to thrive off-grid.
SUNRISE has its roots in another Swansea University project, the Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings (SPECIFIC). Carried out in collaboration with Tata Steel, the project created functional coated steel and glass products that transform the roofs and walls of buildings into surfaces that will generate, store and release energy.
The university then put these products into action, creating an energy-positive classroom on the Swansea University Bay campus.
The classroom can run off-grid, with electricity generated by a steel roof with integrated solar cells, supplied by SPECIFIC spin-out company BIPVco. It is connected to two saltwater batteries, which are being used in the UK for the first time and are capable of storing enough energy to power the building for two days.
The building also uses Tata Steel’s perforated steel cladding for generation of solar heat energy, which can be stored in a water-based system, and an electrically-heated floor coating developed by SPECIFIC researchers.
REAL-WORLD POTENTIAL
Speaking at the launch of SPECIFIC’s pilot project in 2012, Kevin Bygate, chief executive of SPECIFIC, said: “What we are achieving is of global significance. It has the potential to create a range of renewable energy applications.”
Now this vision is becoming a reality through the SUNRISE project. With £7m from the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the project will demonstrate the technology’s value to remote Indian communities, encouraging local industries to manufacture affordable prefabricated buildings, adapted for their environment, that can generate, store and release their own power.
The project is in line with Indian government plans, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to turn the country into a solar energy leader. Last year, Modi announced he was determined to “leapfrog” fossil fuels and harness global solar expertise to turn his nation green.
“Swansea has a track record of scale up of enabling technologies that can lower the cost of renewables and also demonstrating full-scale energy-positive buildings,” says Dr Ian Mabbett, chief operations officer for the SUNRISE project.
“It was clear that by leading a group of UK and Indian scientists, we could work together to deliver these technology demonstrations in challenging environments.
“The phrase ‘leapfrog fossil fuels’ is the part of Prime Minister Modi’s announcement that is so important. Demonstration where there is no