PowerHouse
A global centre of excellence for floating offshore wind and green hydrogen technologies to power our future world.
PowerHouse
Introduction and background information
The PowerHouse is a new applied research centre dedicated to developing floating offshore wind and green hydrogen technologies. It will become a global centre of excellence and renewable energy innovation, reinforcing the UK’s position as a world leader in floating offshore wind and green hydrogen developments at commercial scale.
The centre’s initial focus is on accelerating floating offshore wind and green hydrogen substructure manufacture and deployment. The centre will also act as a specialist educational hub to deliver training modules from STEM activities for school pupils to continuous professional development (CPD) for individuals interested in joining the renewable energy industry, throughout the Highlands and beyond, to ensure the workforce across the region have the required skills to take advantage of the nationally significant renewable energy projects being constructed in the region. The centre will connect academia, industry, and different stakeholders to inspire innovation, set priorities and guidance towards accelerating the development of floating offshore wind and green hydrogen technologies and developing the workforce needed for supporting the UK net zero transition.
Hosted by the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) at Tern House, Alness, the PowerHouse will combine the best international research and development with leading industry at the heart of industrial deployment of these emerging technologies. Tern House is located on the Cromarty Firth, which is a strategic national renewable energy hub with a proven track record in supporting onshore and offshore renewable energy projects. The existing cluster of business and investment in the Firth is expanding due to the location of the ScotWind leasing sites with new manufacturing and production facilities are being established for floating substructures, steel offshore wind components and green hydrogen.
PowerHouse Services
The PowerHouse will provide a range of services, from research and development in green hydrogen and floating offshore wind to continuous professional development (CPD) for individuals interested in joining the renewable energy industry.
Creating a new generation of futures continuous professional development centre of excellence
Our range of services
Research & Development
- Accelerate and support the design, testing and commercialisation of new floating offshore wind and green hydrogen technologies to reduce their cost and accelerate their rate of deployment.
- Facilitate the creation of new products and technologies that can be exported around the world to other countries developing their decarbonisation plans.
Education Hub
- Through its network of members, the centre will co-create and deliver training modules from STEM activities for school pupils to continuous professional development (CPD) for individuals interested in joining the renewable energy industry.
- The PowerHouse will provide reskilling for individuals working in the non-renewable energy sectors such as the oil & gas and the nuclear energy required for net-zero transition.
Skills Development
- The centre will train the highly skilled workforce of tomorrow, from apprentices to fully qualified technical engineers, so they can capitalise on the 50-year pipeline of work that the renewables revolution will bring to Scotland.
- The PowerHouse is expected to develop expertise that will be exported to other countries decarbonising their own economies; providing export opportunities for many decades to come.
The current members of the PowerHouse working group are:
STEM Engagement
STEM is a form of an educational structure that merges science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in one cohesive unit to solve different problems.
STEM is usually presented through hands-on learning experiences where the students are given an in-depth understanding of the real world around them and are taught to use innovation, information analysis, research, and critical thinking to solve different challenges; thus, preparing future professionals who can transform the society.
The PowerHouse participated at the Inverness Science Festival 2022 Family Day where a number of STEM activities were conducted including building snap circuits and circuit symbols hunt. Educational Wind Turbine Kits were distributed for the winners of the circuit symbol hunt. In addition, the PowerHouse Project Manager delivered a lecture to the families at UHI’s Inverness Lecture Theatre on Inverness Campus where he introduced the different types of renewable energy sources and explained the expected opportunities and benefits to the local society from the upcoming renewable energy projects in the region.
In October 2022, the PowerHouse in collaboration with UHI North Highland College’s Creative Arts Department organised a film making event for secondary school pupils to learn about renewable energy and the sustainable energy projects in the Cromarty Firth alongside industry professionals.
School pupils from Invergordon Academy and Dingwall Academy were able to learn in a creative way about the offshore wind industry, hydrogen and ammonia fuel cells production and testing conducted at the labs of the University of St. Andrews, and the transition from the oil and gas to renewables taking place at the Ports of Cromarty Firth and Nigg.
The day consisted of several workshops that commenced with an educational presentation about green hydrogen and floating offshore wind delivered by Mina Hanna, Project Manager at the PowerHouse. Followed by storyboarding, filming, music composition, sound production and post-production led by UHI lecturers, Peter Noble and Anna McPherson, with support from 4th year film making student, John Baikie and lecturer, Stephen Bull. Pupils led and conducted live interviews with Steve Chisholm, Director of Operations and Innovation at the Global Energy Group and Mina Hanna, The PowerHouse Project Manager. The pupils had access to a recorded interview with Dr. Paul Connor, Senior Research and Teaching Fellow at St. Andrews University’s School of Chemistry.
In addition to their interview footage, the pupils also had access to photos and videos captured by students on UHI’s Contemporary Film Making degree. The students had filmed at different key locations around the Cromarty Firth and the University of St Andrews to create educational content for the pupils to gain knowledge, edit and incorporate into their films.
We’d like to thank UHI North Highland College and our partners from the Global Energy Group and the University of St Andrews/Hydrogen Accelerator for their support to the event.
Ammonia Fuel Cell
Ammonia(NH3) is a highly attractive energy vector; compared to liquid and compressed hydrogen, liquid ammonia has higher energy density, is cheaper to produce, and easier to store and handle.
Ammonia is a carbon free fuel, therefore, will not release CO2 when combusted.
Ammonia fuel cells can be considered either direct or indirect depending on the location of the ammonia decomposition process. One of the advantages of direct ammonia fuel cells is the elimination of the requirement for hydrogen storage leading to savings in operation and production costs. In addition, internal cracking of ammonia in direct fuel cells avoids efficiency losses typically occurring due to external ammonia cracking in separate units.
In a protonic Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) ammonia fuel cell, ammonia gas is fed at the anodic side of the electrochemical cell that is maintained at high temperatures (450°C –1000°C) where the ammonia molecules are expected to decompose thermo-catalytically internally into hydrogen and nitrogen molecules. H+(protons) diffuse through the porous electrolyte to the cathode where water is formed when protons encounter oxygen. The schematic of a direct ammonia fuel cell can be seen in the figure below:
Figure 1: Process Description for a Direct Ammonia Fuel Cell. Source: Advanced Power Generation Systems. (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123838605/advanced-power-generation-systems
The PowerHouse’s first joint research project was participating in the UK Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition strand 1- feasibility study to develop a novel protonic Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) system that efficiently converts ammonia directly into water and nitrogen, yielding electric power for maritime propulsion. Low Emissions Resources Global, The Port of Cromarty Firth, The PowerHouse, The University of St. Andrews, and ZEM Fuel Systems joined forces to examine ways of decarbonising the maritime transport sector using ammonia as a clean alternative fuel to minimise the maritime industry’s environmental footprint.
The feasibility study, which was conducted from September 2021 to March 2022, entailed lab testing to develop, monitor, and optimise the ammonia SOFC system’s performance, market research, and site visits to study vessels for potential strand 2- system demonstration and testing.
The results of strand 1 proved that the newly developed protonic solid oxide ammonia fuel cells are a game-changing concept to utilise ammonia in the context of a more efficient and non-polluting alternative means of power generation. Single cell and bundle testing in the lab demonstrated minimal system degradation over hundreds of hours of testing with zero ammonia leaks detected. The results of strand 1 were presented by the project partners at the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition final showcase at Portsmouth International port in May 2022.
Online courses
We have partnered with leading educational institutions and training providers to provide courses in hydrogen and offshore wind technologies.
Offshore Wind Awareness Course
The UK has over one-third of the global installed offshore wind capacity. Offshore wind is expected to have an important role in the UK’s 2050 net-zero transition. This Offshore Wind Awareness course has been designed by ESP in partnership with North East Scotland College and Dundee & Angus College. This course aims to give an overview of the installation, operation and associated work in relation to offshore wind farms.
Hydrogen Awareness Course
Hydrogen will play a crucial role in the UK’s fuel mix to reach its net-zero target for 2050. This hydrogen skills tool has been designed by ESP in partnership with SGN, Orkney College UHI, and Dundee & Angus College. This tool aims to raise awareness of hydrogen through an understanding of the characteristics and behaviours of hydrogen, hydrogen production and storage, available career opportunities, and current hydrogen applications including hydrogen refuelling and hydrogen safety.
ESP – A collaboration of Scotland’s colleges and industry partners established to increase Scotland’s capability and capacity to deliver the right skills for the energy, engineering and construction sectors to meet industry demand.
GWO Standards Equivalent Training
Global wind organisation developed a process called ‘Merit Assessment’ to help assess existing qualifications, training, and curricula against GWO standards (Gap Analysis).
Existing training can then be audited by a GWO-appointed certification body. At the end of the process, training can be converted to a GWO certificate with a record then uploaded into WINDA.
Inspiring future generations
It is crucial to educate younger generations about the climate change crisis and pathways to a sustainable future. Although the climate crisis will have massive impacts on the coming generations, given the right education and awareness they could change the future.
Free Renewable energy learning resources from our friends can be found below:
When I grow up – Inspiring stories from people working in clean energy
Let The Wind Blow
Kids vs Wind Gurus
Wind Energy Basics
Offshore Wind for Kids
Contact us
For enquiries, please fill out our online form and someone from our team will contact you shortly.
Alternatively you can also contact: joanne@cfpa.co.uk or minaehanna@outlook.com
Sponsorship and Funding
We are actively seeking additional academic and industry partners to create a global centre of excellence that can access the best talent and knowledge from across Europe and beyond. Bespoke sponsorship packages are available with various benefits.
If you would like to fund this project or be a sponsor, please contact Joanne Allday: joanne@cfpa.co.uk or Mina Hanna: mina.hanna@uhi.ac.uk
Inverness & Cromarty Firth Green Freeport
Port of Cromarty Firth, Port Office, Shore Road, Invergordon, IV18 0HD.
Email: info@greenfreeport.scot
Connect with us
Click here to add your own text