Energy

Addressing major scientific and technological challenges in emerging energy technologies and sustainability

A wind turbine

About us

We are concerned with the technological, environmental, economic and social impacts of energy technologies.

The group is engaged with a wide range of cutting-edge fundamental and applied research activities in sustainable energy utilisation, including renewable energy technologies. The group undertakes research in a number of core areas of both mainstream and renewable energy technologies, specifically in Bioenergy Utilisation, Combustion and Fuels, Electricity System, Hydro Power and Fluid Machinery, Wave and Tidal Energy, Wind Energy and other cleaner energy utilisation technologies.

The Renewable Energy Group (LUREG), carries out research into conversion of energy from natural sources, including waves, tides, wind and land-based hydropower. Aspects of renewable energy production such as system condition monitoring and economics also form strong research themes.

Waves, wind, tides and hydro are plentiful sources of energy globally, and more especially for the UK, which is surrounded by the sea and benefits from generous wind and rainfall. Off the west coasts of the British Isles, there is a vigorous climate of sea waves. Tidal variations in sites such as the Severn Estuary are among the highest in the world.

Wave and tidal power devices are by their nature almost entirely submerged beneath the water surface. Consequently, they are almost invisible and do not suffer the opposition that is often aroused by wind-turbine installations, for example. A second bonus is that, for given power output, water-based devices are generally smaller than those based on wind or other sources, because water is 800 times denser than air.

Current research projects in the group are funded from a variety of sources, including research council, regional development, European Union, industrial and individual sources, and range from single projects conceived and developed within the School to multi-million multi-institutional national-scale projects.

We encourage enquiries from individuals to institutes to make use of our excellent facilities and expertise in the field of renewable energy. Whether it's proof of concept testing or more in-depth model validation, LUREG welcomes the opportunity to work with external researchers and developers of renewable energy devices.

Group Lead

Professor George Aggidis

Professor of Energy Engineering

Energy, Energy Lancaster, Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre, LIRA - Environmental Modelling

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Professor George Aggidis

Renewable Energy Group (LUREG)

Lancaster University Renewable Energy Group (LUREG), based in the School of Engineering, carries out research into conversion of energy from natural sources, including waves, tides, wind and all associated fluid machinery.

  • Wave Energy

    The group has long been associated with both generic and applied research into extracting power from waves. Our recent research involvement with the SUPERGEN consortium of marine energy research institutes is but the most recent endeavour spanning 30 years of research. Our research has also involved the development of a wide range of devices, from inception to scaled testing in our excellent tank facilities. This section describes the wave-energy research currently in progress in the group.

  • Tidal Energy

    Research is concentrating on a niche area of high-lift vertical axis tidal stream devices for tidal stream energy generation operating within a shallow resource. These devices will offer significantly lower costs during manufacture, and installation without the need for excessive infrastructure. Readers will find useful information regarding the basic principles of generating electricity from tidal streams. LUREG is also involved with numerous regional tidal barrage proposals.

  • Hydro Power

    Work is in progress on the exploitation of hydropower by converting the water pressure into air pressure, which allows the use of much smaller, less-expensive turbines running in air. These turn much faster than the water turbines that would otherwise be used, so eliminating the need for a step-up gearbox to drive the generator. The system under development uses siphons, bridging the weir or barrage. The aeration of the water makes the system attractive for use in water treatment plants. Other projects include the Hydro Resource model project, which looks at the economic and technical issues of hydro sites in the N-W region.

  • Fluid Machinery

    Devices that transfer energy between a fluid system and a mechanical system are called Fluid Machines or Turbomachines. For example, the centrifugal pump continues to be the workhorse of the oil, gas, petrochemical, utilities, power, nuclear, chemical and process industries worldwide, and hydro-power turbines produce one-fifth of the entire world's electricity.

  • Tidal Stream

    The closeness of the moon to Earth (238,857 miles), and the distance to the sun (92,955,770 miles), accounts for the moon having a tide-raising force nearly 2.5 times greater than the sun. The position of these celestial bodies results in significant variations in pulling forces causing above or below normal tidal ranges.

  • Energy Modelling

    Our pioneering work with the NW Hydro Resource Model has been recognised internationally as a multi-level decision-support modelling tool for the development of energy projects. This model integrates disciplines in a way that supports the development of energy schemes.

  • Wind Energy

    Wind power, as an alternative to burning fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and uses little land.

Energy Lancaster

The Engineering Energy research group and LUREG also feed into the Energy Lancaster multi-disciplinary research centre. Energy Lancaster brings together Lancaster University's world-leading expertise in a wide range of energy-related areas covering demand, supply and storage, as well as their environmental and societal impacts.

Energy Lancaster

Highlighted Projects