Multi-scale ANalysis for Facilities for Energy STorage (Manifest)
A multidisciplinary project providing state-of-the-art equipment in five university consortia.
Project leader
Dates
July 2016 to June 2020
Project staff
Sponsors
Partners
Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough, Manchester, Sheffield, and Imperial College London
Description
This project is a response to the Government's £30m investment in energy storage facilities under the 'Eight Great Technologies' call.
Manifest builds on the investment to tackle some key challenges facing the energy storage community. We draw on our collective expertise and facilities to tackle research questions. We are exploring the storage technologies under development. We will also maximise the impact of the test-bed demonstrators.
We will address a set of research questions that apply across the technologies supported by capital investment. We will consider the key challenges, across length scales, from materials to devices, to systems. We will explore:
- how materials are used in energy storage technologies, including batteries and thermal energy
- how processes are modelled in the technologies, validating the models with experiments
- how energy storage devices can be integrated into the energy system most effectively
- how data from operational runs of pilot plants can improve our understanding of the role of energy storage.
This project can be the catalyst which leads to:
- improved understanding of physical processes
- accelerated technology development
- shared learning from the operation of energy storage technologies
The research will also drive further collaboration between institutions. It will build the national research and innovation community and increase recognition of the UK's role. It will maximise the impact of the facilities in the international energy landscape.