Gas Networks Ireland has joined forces with Research Ireland to seek solutions to some of the challenges it faces in its efforts to decarbonise the country’s gas network. The new €2.7 million Research Ireland – Gas Networks Ireland Innovation Challenge invites multidisciplinary research teams to develop breakthrough technologies in renewable gas, energy system integration and artificial intelligence (AI) that will support Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon energy future.
This joint initiative, co-funded by Research Ireland and by Gas Networks Ireland through its Gas Innovation Fund, is a phased funding programme which will see successful research teams awarded up to €200,000 to work through a series of phases to develop their idea. The team that demonstrates the highest potential for transformative impact will receive an overall prize award of €1 million to support high-impact research and accelerate the development of sustainable energy technologies.
The concept of challenge funding has been around for a very long time. Broadly speaking, it is used when a problem is reasonably well defined, but a solution has been hard to come by. The basic idea is that a cash prize or other inducement is awarded to researchers to find a solution to a particular problem, but they aren’t told how to go about it. Instead, the researchers are given the space to be creative and bring new perspectives.
Research Ireland has built up considerable expertise in the area in recent years through its Future Innovator Prize Sustainable Development Goals Challenge Programme, according to the organisation’s director of research for society, Dr Ruth Freeman. “We have also worked with other parts of Government on other initiatives such as the Defence Innovation Challenge to develop innovative solutions to enhance the Defence Forces’ capabilities and deliver benefits to wider society,” she says.
The Research Ireland – Gas Networks Ireland Innovation Challenge has two overarching challenge themes. The first is the Energy System Integration Challenge. This seeks to support the development of solutions to accelerate the optimisation and integration of the energy system in Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon economy. There are two broad areas within the challenge: the integration of renewable gases at a local and regional level; and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) based solutions for intelligent gas network performance diagnostics.
The second theme is the Biomethane and Biohydrogen Challenge, which will seek to support the development of solutions which improve the efficiency, efficacy and commercial viability of biomethane and biohydrogen production, including extraction and utilisation of the byproducts.
“We are asking researchers to come up with solutions innovations to make the production of biogases commercially viable in Ireland,” says Freeman. “We know how to do it, what we want to find is the most cost-effective way of producing them from waste streams here in Ireland.”
There are other problems to be overcome as well, she notes. “Hydrogen is an inherently unstable gas and storage and transport can be challenging. It might be a case of looking at localised facilities. The challenge then is how to integrate these gases into the network. The two themes are interlinked.”
The challenge funding process enables researchers to engage with people with direct experience of the problems to be solved. “It involves a massive amount of stakeholder engagement,” says Freeman. “The researchers will get to talk to gas engineers and system engineers about the challenges they face to gain a real understanding of working with these renewable fuels, which can be difficult to integrate on to the network. The aim is to find solutions that will work for Ireland. This is an opportunity for researchers to delve deep into the problems being encountered by the people who are trying to transform the gas system and look for new ways of doing things. Innovation can also provide solutions; it doesn’t always have to be something totally new.”
The research teams will not be limited to dealing with those specific problems, she adds. “It is a researcher’s job to come up with answers, but it can also be part of their job to come up with questions as well.”
The closing date for applications from research teams is September 26th. “All teams selected to participate will receive funding of up to €50,000 to develop their concept,” says Freeman. “Teams that come through that phase will go on to receive funding of up to €150,000 during the seed phase, which will last for 12 months. At the end of that phase, the team with the most potentially transformative proposal will go on to receive the €1 million prize to develop it.”
It’s not just about money. “The researchers will get training and support and will get the opportunity to engage with Gas Networks Ireland and its Research and Innovation Centre. They will not only work on interesting projects, but they will also come out with new skills and new thinking about ways to do research. Teams that don’t go on to win the overall prize could still end up working with Gas Networks Ireland in future.”
