The Supergen Bioenergy Hub is the UK’s £5m bioenergy research programme, that aims to develop sustainable bioenergy systems that support the UK’s transition to an affordable, resilient, low-carbon energy future. It will do this by pursuing the following objectives:
- Explore options for the production of sufficient feedstock to support the UK bioenergy system without negatively impacting food production and whilst maximising local environmental and global climate benefits. (Biomass Resources Topic Group)
- Identify and select preferred bioenergy pathways and develop new technologies and systems that support the Hub’s vision for UK bioenergy (Bioenergy Pre-treatment & Conversion Topic Group).
- Identify and select appropriate energy vectors and determine how these fit within a wider biorefinery strategy to reduce carbon, reliance on fossil fuel and maximise national and regional resilience (Bioenergy Vectors Topic Group).
- Identify and evaluate impacts of the UK’s bioenergy sector that maximise the benefits of bioenergy to the energy trilemma of affordability, resilience and carbon (Bioenergy Systems Topic Group).
- Evaluate the role and impact of selected bioenergy pathways at appropriate deployment scales on the energy system and interfacing sectors. (All Topic Groups)
Tyndall Manchester’s Dr. Andrew Welfle is Topic Representative of the Bioenergy Vectors Topic Group and carries out research within the Bioenergy Systems Topic Group. This has included evaluating the role of bioenergy modelling in renewable energy research & policy development and the development of a Bioenergy Sustainability Indicator model that will be applied to assess the wider economic, environmental and social sustainability performances of bioenergy systems.
