Multi-million pound Energy Centre officially opens

Designed to promote growth and acceleration in the development and exploitation of technologies for the energy market, the new Energy Centre is already providing a flexible place where industry and academia come together to innovate, develop and demonstrate new intelligent energy technologies.

Welcomed by the University of Chester’s vice-chancellor, professor Tim Wheeler, the Minister was given a tour of the state-of-the-art facility – which was created following the repurposing of an existing building on the former Shell Technology Centre site, successfully conducted by Willmott Dixon.

Examples of technologies that may be tested and developed include:

• New types of photovoltaic solar cells
• Innovative electrical energy storage solutions
• Developments in low power motor drives
• New algorithms for load balancing on micro-grids
• Non-electrical energy systems such as heat networks and thermal storage.

Located within an Enterprise Zone site, and drawing on the wealth of technical expertise, facilities and supporting infrastructures that are available at Thornton, the Centre is a space where industry can work alongside the University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering (this is also happening throughout Thornton Science Park).

It is destined to become a nationally significant facility, primarily aimed at supporting and enabling energy research, innovation, technology development and demonstration, to meet the growth needs of the sector. With access to the latest equipment and expertise for energy technology development, energy companies are already testing at scale new power saving and distribution technologies, aiding the development of low cost, environmentally responsible sources of energy.

The Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, Jake Berry MP, said: “How exciting that the place that was responsible for fuelling the Lancaster Bomber and Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One car, will now be fuelling the Northern Powerhouse.