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News archive - European Energy Research Alliance launched by leading EU research institutes

Ten leading research institutes in the European Union (EU) have initiated the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). The Alliance is going to expand and optimise EU energy research capabilities through the sharing of world-class national facilities and the joint realisation of national and European programmes. The primary focus of the EERA will be on the strategic and targeted development of next generations of energy technologies drawing on results from fundamental research and maturing technologies to the point where it can be embedded in industry driven research.

This new Research Alliance will be a key actor of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) and will contribute to accelerate the development of new low carbon technologies for EU to move toward a low carbon economy.

The key objective of the EERA is to accelerate the development of new energy technologies by conceiving and implementing Joint Research Programmes in support of the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan by pooling and integrating activities and resources, combining national and Community sources of funding and maximising complementarities and synergies.

The triple challenge of energy security, climate change and competitiveness that the EU currently faces is such that it will require scaling up and better coordination of all available resources to develop the energy technologies that will allow Europe's citizens to enjoy a good quality of life in carbon constrained future. Going it alone at national level will lead to failure and waste of resources. Working together will put Europe in the driver's seat on the way to a new energy era.

The European Energy Research Alliance is the SET Plan' research community pillar. The cooperation of major national research institutes and universities will move help to move from today's model of collaborating on individual projects towards a new way of jointly implementing whole programmes which go from research and development through deployment. There are many scientific fields which have an impact on the development of energy technologies, from engineering to the social sciences. The Alliance is able to cover many different disciplines, bringing a much-needed multidisciplinary approach to energy research.

The SET Plan also includes a series of new priority European Industrial Initiatives focusing on the development of technologies for which working at Community level will add most value. Initiatives in preparation focus on carbon capture and storage, bio-energy, wind and solar energy, the European smart grid and sustainable fission.

Current members of the EERA are:

  • Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France
  • Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT), Spain
  • Centre for renewable energy sources (CRES), Greece
  • Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Netherlands
  • Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente, (ENEA), Italy
  • Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZ Jülich), Germany
  • INETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, Portugal.
  • Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark
  • Energy Research Centre (ERC), United Kingdom
  • Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Finland
  • European University Association (EUA),
  • European Heads of Research Councils (EUROHORCS)

Further Information: EECA website

Source: European Commission Press Release (as of October 28, 2008)

 


Entry created by Katarina Rohsmann on November 5, 2008
Modified on November 5, 2008