Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Exeter Universities, together with the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and consultancy HR-Wallingford. Companies taking part include EDF Energy, BP, Caterpillar, E.ON, Rolls Royce and Shell  and will be involved with the training.

Working at the heart of industry, students will be trained in innovative future technologies from designing cost-efficient new windmill blades to testing the latest wave energy technology at leading facilities like Edinburgh University.

Engineers will also be trained to understand the needs of business and develop their entrepreneurial skills alongside boosting their research and technical skills. The first graduates, expected to begin their training in January 2012, will gain an internationally-leading Engineering doctorate.

Visiting the University of Edinburgh, that will  be one of three delivering the programme, Business Secretary Vince Cable (right) said, "Engineering skills are vital for the growth of a more sustainable economy and are in high demand from employers. This scheme will see industry working with universities to provide students with the training and commercial experience businesses want.

"Scotland has real strengths in renewable energy - wind, wave and tidal power, building on a strong tradition of hydro. These students will have the chance to work with some of the leading energy companies based here and tackle one of our biggest challenges - developing technology for a greener future."

Centre director, David Ingram PhD, Professor of Computational Dynamics at the University of Edinburgh and said, "If the UK is to meet its ambitious targets for renewable energy deployment in 2020 and 2050 we need to dramatically increase the number of highly trained engineers with expertise and understanding in resource assessment, project planning, device development, grid integration and environmental impact. The 50 engineering doctorate students IDCORE will train over the next nine years will, I am sure, help the UK to maintain its position as a world leader in offshore renewables."

The new Centre will be funded through the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Centre forms part of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme which aims to position the UK to meet its energy and environmental targets and policy goals through world-class research and training.

Led by the EPSRC, the Energy Programme is investing more than £530m in research and skills to pioneer a low carbon future. This builds on an investment of £360m over the past 5 years. The Centre will also form a key part of the ETI's Marine and Offshore Wind Programmes, addressing a priority area for the ETI's engineering and technology developments. The ETI has so far invested £61m in these two programme areas.

ETI TO INVESTIGATE SAFE USE OF HYDROGEN
Below: Hydrogen composite Courtesy sciencebusiness.technewslit.com http://www.meta-synthesis.com/webbook/30_timeline/timeline.html & http://gexconus.com/FLACS_CFD
Through new modelling and large-scale experimental work the ETI project will look to identify the bounds of safe design and operation of high efficiency CCGT (combined cycle gas turbine) and CHP (combined heat and power) systems operating on a range of fuels with high and variable concentrations of hydrogen.


The goals of the project are to increase the range of fuels that can be safely used in power and heat generating plant by:

• 
Indentifying the boundaries of safe design and operation of power generation systems using hydrogen based fuels;
• 
 identifying improvements in the detailed design and instrumentation of hydrogen fuelled power systems in order to deliver more robust and inherently safer system designs.


The outcomes of this project will benefit the manufacturers and operators of all powerplants which may potentially utilise fuel containing high or variable levels of hydrogen such as gas feeds from landfill and anaerobic digestors.


The project will be led by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), an agency of the Health and Safety Executive, in collaboration with Imperial Consultants, the consulting arm of Imperial College.


The project will investigate the impact of a ‘flameout’ in a CCGT or reciprocating engine CHP system, which may result in an explosive mixture of fuel and air being pumped into a hot exhaust system before the flameout is detected. This in turn could lead to an explosion.


ETI CEO  Dr David Clarke said: “This ETI project will help improve the fundamental design, safety, and operation of future high hydrogen systems, as well as help inform new standards.

The project has been developed with the input of industry and with the additional input of academics from Europe and North America.


The ETI is also commissioning a project to develop and demonstrate next generation carbon capture technologies specifically for gas fired power stations. An announcement on who will carry out the work on this project is expected by early 2012.

ETI is a public private partnership (PPP) between six global industrial companies – BP, Caterpillar, EDF, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell - and the UK Government tasked to develop “mass scale” technologies that will help the UK meet its 2020 and 2050 energy targets. It is concerned with identifying affordable, sustainable and secure energy across heat, power, transport and the infrastructure that links them.