Henry Royce Institute calls for Technology Roadmap to help co-ordinate action to address degradation issues
The Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials (Royce) calls for coordinated action to address the significant degradation challenges presented by the transition to net zero through a technology roadmap.
The roadmap would select which technologies should be prioritised for investment and also be attached to key dates linked to when they’re expected to come online.
It could also define the most cost-effective investment pathway to net zero, allowing industry and academia to create research, development and innovation (RD&I) programmes in alignment with clear timescales for delivery.
To explore these issues in more depth, Royce commissioned a major landscaping exercise which examined the impact of degradation on wind power generation, carbon capture use and storage (CCS), nuclear fission power generation, transportation technologies (air, road, rail and sea), and hydrogen production and usage.
The overall aim was to identify the materials-related issues affecting the lifetime of structural components, and prioritise the research needed to improve the lifetime of these components.
The report says there is a need for high-level strategic direction to guide R&D efforts towards these degradation challenges. But it says that in order for such a strategy to have authority and credibility, it is imperative that it should be developed as a collaborative effort between senior policymakers, along with a broad range of cross-sectoral academic and industrial stakeholders.
Bill Hedges, Project Champion for the Royce landscape study into materials for degradation, and President of the Institute of Corrosion, says, ‘Significant savings and societal benefits can be achieved through better understanding and effective management of degradation issues.
‘Yet at the moment funding calls continue to encourage an isolated approach to investigating degradation mechanisms and this report recommends that only with a significant change in leadership and policy will the obvious opportunities for transformational change be grasped and ultimately realised.
‘While the report confirms that there are no ‘show-stopping’ issues associated with materials degradation that will block our path to net zero, there are however many opportunities to reduce the costs associated with this.’
He adds that the report also really clarifies some of the RD&I programmes required to support net zero. ‘To tackle the degradation challenge, collaboration between governing bodies, UK Research and Innovation, major industry players, the supply chain, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and academia, is now essential.’
