Diverse Energy secure funding for further development of their low carbon PowerCube
Diverse Energy, an innovative start-up company taking to market novel clean technologies for sustainable micro-generation of electrical power for use in remote locations for the telecommunications sector, has been awarded £100,000 by One North East through the region’s Grant for Research and Development scheme, with the assistance of the Enterprise Europe Network team.
Alastair Livesey, R&D Director at Diverse Energy said:
" Initially we contacted The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) on a purely technical basis to undertake a mission critical testing programme. We were very impressed with the added value services they provided. Firstly they worked with us to identify potential funding opportunities and then deployed their panel of experts to help us prepare our applications for national and European funding. It is rare to find business support agencies that are so highly proactive. The more we work with organisation such as CPI and EEN the more they understand our business, the more proactive and targeted support we receive"
Could result in 350 new jobs in North East England
Diverse Energy is looking at locations in either Teesside or Tyneside for a plant to build "low carbon Powercubes" for the telecommunications industry. that could result in 350 jobs in the North East of England. The firm is at the development stage and are doing trials with a number of big mobile phone operators.
The Centre for Process Innovation, based at Wilton in North East England, will work closely with Diverse Energy in the development and testing of a revolutionary new technology that efficiently utilises ammonia to power fuel cells in off grid and remote locations, replacing costly and high-polluting diesel generators.
The company’s innovative multi-stage ‘ammonia cracker’ is used to convert ammonia to hydrogen fuel for Diverse Energy’s PowerCube™ - a complete integrated turn-key power system in a secure 8-foot steel cube. Ammonia is the second most widely used chemical in the world and readily available in many markets. In comparison with diesel generators currently used for powering mobile phone towers in developing countries, the PowerCube™ offers zero local emissions of greenhouse gases and particulates combined with a lower overall life-cycle and maintenance costs. From source-to-sink the PowerCube® will reduce greenhouse emissions by over 80% and offers a fast return on investment of under two years.
The PowerCube™ is specifically designed to serve telecommunications markets in developing countries that have low electrification rates relative to the rest of the world. The systems will ultimately be manufactured and shipped from North East England, boosting the economy and creating around 350 jobs. In light of the company’s plans to open a fuel cell manufacturing facility in the region following the successful completion of the project, Diverse Energy has already established an office at the Wilton Centre, Redcar, alongside the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). The company will tap into the Centre’s Low Carbon Energy expertise and facilities to complete research and analysis before finalizing a design for high-volume manufacturing.
"We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with CPI and leverage their considerable resources and expertise,” stated Dr. Alastair Livesey, Operations Director at Diverse Energy. “This important development work will help us to further improve our ammonia cracker system efficiency, which will enable us to drive down our customer’s operating costs and allow us to design higher power systems for additional applications. This will in turn enhance demand for our clean, low carbon PowerCubes and necessitate rapid expansion of our manufacturing capacity.”
The announcement coincides with the government’s refreshed drive to develop more clean technologies. A £750m investment fund, unveiled at the recent budget, has been earmarked for low carbon businesses and technologies over the next two years.
Dr. Graham Bulman, Project Manager at the Enterprise Europe Network for North East England, commented “A key objective of the Network is to work closely with businesses to find new technology partners and access finance for new product development with emphasis on Europe’s agenda for sustainability, innovation and assisting innovative small businesses,. We are delighted to have been of assistance to Diverse Energy.“
