„Energy Hills“ is the largest European energy cluster and therefore the leader in the European Union when it comes to competence and know-how in the energy sector.
Energy Hills combines the energy related expertise, research and development skills of leading European universities, major research institutions and private sector companies from the energy sector. This competence is completed by members from the public sector, financial institutions and regions.
The competence of Energy Hills is backed up by:
- 4.000 academic researchers
- 10 top leading European universities with together 87 institutes involved in research and development in energy
- 3 of the largest national research centers in the EU doing energy research
- An annual research volume of 300 million EURO by third part funding
- 500 graduates (master energy) from universities annually
- 40 dissertations and 900 publications annually in the energy sector
- 75 billion euro turnover by the members in 2010
- 125.000 employees by the members in 2010
- 150.000 students
- The third fastes computer world-wide
Energy Hills Members offer world leading technologies and competences in the following field:
- High efficiency coal power plants including high temperature materials (RWE)
- Solar thermal power plants (Solar Institute FH)
- Carbon capture and storage (RWE)
- Lighting technology (Philips)
- Education of scientists and engineers in close collaboration with research institutes and industry (RWTH Aachen)
- Photovoltaics (ECN)
- Energy transfer networks (RWE)
- Computer Simulation (FZ - Jülich)
- Converting old waste sites into new materials and energy. (Closing the Circle project, Gemeente Houthalen-Helchteren)
- Smart metering system (Alliander AG)
- Wind turbines and energy efficiency of industrial equipment (Siemens AG)
- Improved CO2 capture via genetic improvement in plants (The Biology 1 Institute, RWTH)
Some other notable areas in which Energy Hills is a European leader include:
- Conventional power production (RWE)
- New energy company incubation (AGIT, Heerlen Muni.)
- Geothermal energy from old coal mines (Heerlen Muni., Open Uni. NL)
- Internal combustion engine development (VKA)
- Energy Trading (Trianel)
- Energy transfer networks (ProCom, SOPTIM, TUE)
- Largest research cooperation between a company and a university in the European Union. (EON ERC at RWTH)
The specifique competences of the Energy Hills cluster include:
Energy Research and Education
- 10 Universities
- 3 Research institutes
- 87 Institutes
Energy Resources Extraction and Processing
- Coal & Brown Coal (3)
- Agriculture for biomass fuels (2)
- Biofuel production and storage (1)
- Hydrogen production (2)
- CO2 Sequestration and storage (4)
Energy Conversion
- Biomass combustion (4)
- Geothermal energy (4)
- Solar thermal applications (4)
- Power Plant operation (4)
- Material science for energy applications (3)
- Automotive technology (3)
- Nuclear power (3)
- Electric generators and equipment (3)
- Waste incineration (3)
- Fusion technology and plasma physics for energy applications (2)
- Gas turbines (2)
- Steam turbines (2)
- Microturbines (2)
- Combustion chambers and boilers (2)
- Combined heat and power (2)
- Hydroelectric power (1)
- Internal combustion engines (1)
- Photovoltaics (11)
- Wind energy (6)
- Fuel Cells (4)
Energy Distribution
- Grid management (12)
- Energy supply and trading (11)
- Smartgrids (10)
- Grid management (12)
- Energy grids
- Energy supply and trading (11)
- Smartgrids (10)
Energy Consumption
- Energy saving in the built environment (6)
- Lighting optimization (5)
- Heating, ventilation, and cooling (5)
- Energy efficiency of industrial equipment (3)
Energy and society
- Energy auditing (8)
- Education and Training (8)
- Climate and/or Emissions policy (8)
- Start up company assistance (7)
- Sustainable Society Considerations (6)
- Regional Development (5)
- Capital investment acquisition (4)
- Networking hub (3)
- Energy utilities IT services (2)
- Energy and consumer behaviour, social impacts