Energy
NPL is working with the energy sector to help ensure reliability of supply through developing robust systems and technologies that will help bring a safe and sustainable future. NPL is working with industry to overcome the challenges of a future supplied by renewable energy while addressing today’s demands on traditional fossil fuel systems through our expertise in measurement science.
How NPL Can Help?
- New materials adoption – NPL’s expertise in the area of advanced materials can be used to assess the use of new materials in new or demanding applications by helping you understand properties, performance and durability over their lifetime of use ensuring the right decisions can be made for their implementation.
- Nuclear waste - Through our knowledge in the area of radioactivity standards and radiochemical analysis, we can work with the nuclear industry to make waste classification more cost effective and achieve significant waste volume reduction.
- Intelligent Grids – With the introduction of smart metering into the energy grid, knowledge of their accuracy and performance under variable loads is needed. NPL can work with companies to develop & validate their smart meters under a range of conditions to validate their performance. NPL is also developing the necessary technology for high accuracy on-site power and power quality measurements.
- Renewable energy technologies – as energy from renewable sources becomes more widely used, the challenges that need to be overcome before they make a significant contribution to the grid needs to be addressed. NPL’s capability in the areas of corrosion, surface engineering, composite materials, environmental testing, acoustic monitoring and condition monitoring can be used by companies developing products for renewable technologies to ensure their robustness in challenging operational environments can be achieved
- Large volume metrology (LVM) – The LVM facility at NPL is only one of a handful in Europe and can be used to measure objects or features over one meter in size. NPL can tailor solutions that meet the needs of manufacturers of wind turbine blades, where sub-millimetre accuracies are needed to ensure matching of the blades.
NPL is working with companies in the Energy sector to develop and provide measurement capabilities, standards and infrastructure that will support innovation in low carbon energy, enable diversity of supply options, extend life and improve efficiency of existing plants along with the development of an intelligent grid system, which will allow for energy security, climate change and affordability to be addressed simultaneously, helping stimulate the UK energy economy.
With our multi-disciplined approach, NPL can work with your businesses across most areas of the energy sector, from nuclear waste classification through to the development of new materials for renewables such as wind and tidal energy. Our expertise, driven from our understanding of the importance of measurement and how to utilise it to overcome technical barriers and help drive innovation, makes NPL a valuable partner to have in any research and development programme.
Challenge Driven, Solution Focused
NPL is a world leading National Measurement Institute for the physical sciences committed to using the science of measurement to help drive innovation, support industry and improve the quality of life.
NPL is working with the energy sector by developing solutions driven by your challenges through the application of cutting edge measurement that meets our customer's needs.
Our capability includes:
Materials development and characterisation
Radiochemical analysis & reference standards for the nuclear industry
Structural Health / Condition monitoring for plant life cycle management
Instrumentation - validation and optimisation
Environmental noise monitoring for off and onshore wind power
Power quality measurements for high-accuracy on-site measurements
Working with business and industry, NPL’s Research and Development programmes focus on identifying and addressing customer needs, ensuring our expertise and knowledge is always relevant and easily applied by our partners.