University of Warwick opens hi-tech energy research centre
Jul 5 2010 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post
The University of Warwick has formally opened a new high-tech facility marking a £10.6 million investment in energy efficient technology which local businesses can share in.
The Science City Cleanroom for Energy Efficient Semiconductors is part of project funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Birmingham Science City Energy Efficiency & Demand project.
The University of Warwick is leading the project in collaboration with the University of Birmingham as part of the Science City Research Alliance programme.
Some £9.5 million has been invested in leading-edge equipment which will be accessible to any interested users from both local industry and academia.
The University of Warwick’s Professor Phil Mawby will head the new facility.
He marked the event by presenting the first semiconductor wafer to be processed by the new facility to Professor Chris Snowden, President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, who gave the keynote address at the opening of the new lab.
Also present at the event were representatives from high-tech companies in the Midlands who hope to work with the University of Warwick to make use of the new facility including Converteam, the UK’s largest technology company in the renewable energy sector.
Professor Mawby is one of the University of Warwick’s senior professors in the School of Engineering at Warwick and has an international reputation for research excellence in power electronics.
He said: “The new Science City Cleanroom builds on the Warwick Institute for Sustainable Energy and Resources (WISER), which links together energy research at Warwick, including the fundamental sciences, economics, business and social studies and now creates new links with other local universities and high tech business.”
“Power electronics is the technology used to manage electrical energy efficiently.
“Almost every piece of modern electrical equipment uses power electronics.
“It is a generic technology with a vast array of applications, from the very low power levels found in mobile phones to the very high levels used in power distribution grids.
“Technological advances in this area have a significant potential to reduce energy consumption, even at a time when the global demand is growing rapidly.
“Japan judges power electronics to be one of the three most important technologies that are necessary for building a low carbon future.
“This award will greatly assist our research in these areas.”
