About UCE

The Utrecht Centre for Energy research (UCE) at Utrecht University initiates, acquires and manages national and international energy research projects. Research is in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and carbon capture and storage, and ranges from fundamental research to support for policymakers. The partners have created UCE with a small staff (3 persons), so the projects are carried out by experts from its partners, including often experts from third parties.

Partners
The UCE University partners are:

• Science, Technology and Society (STS)
• Innovations Studies (DIS)
• Environmental Studies and Policy (ESP)
• Surfaces, Interfaces and Devices (SID)
• Organic Chemistry and Catalysis.

The UCE external partners are: 

• ECN, the national Energy research Centre of the Netherlands
• Econcern, the largest Dutch consultancy group in the area of renewable energy
• TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, through TNO Built Environment and Geosciences
• KEMA, energy consultancy, specialized in testing and certification
• Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Technology Management 

Projects
UCE manages for example the CATO programme, the national Dutch research programme in the area of CO₂ Capture, Transport and Storage, with a budget of € 25 million, of which 50% is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, through its agency SenterNovem. In CATO seventeen Dutch parties from industry, research institutions, universities and environmental organisations collaborate, for the period 2004-2009 (www.co2-cato.nl).
UCE, together with ECN, also manages the CAPTECH research programme on CO2 capture technologies. The CAPTECH consortium consists of: ECN (coordinator), KEMA, Shell Global Solutions, Procede, Utrecht University and TNO Science & Industry. The programme runs from 2006 until 2009, with a budget of 2.5 million Euro per year, financially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, through the EOS programme of SenterNovem (www.co2-captech.nl).

More information on projects can be found here.

UCE participates in several international networks, such as the IEA Greenhouse Gas programme (IEA GHG), the Technical Committee of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). UCE projects lead to concrete results in the form of databases, models, reports and advice to policymakers, in addition to better contacts and networking among its partners. Typical product examples are the ICARUS database on energy efficiency measures, the GRAIN study on the world-wide availability of biomass (presently being updated), research on quantum dots to enhance the efficiency of solar PV cells (QD-PV), energy efficiency analysis for the chemical industry (PIE), advice to the government of the Maldives on energy efficiency and solar and wind applications (SMILES), a study of the interaction between monetary and physical growth, and an overview of electricity storage research in the Netherlands.