United Kingdom Research and Innovation
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is one of 9 research councils that make up UK Research and Innovation, which itself sits under the UK government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. STFC employs about 2000 staff across six sites in the UK and exists to develop advanced technologies for solving real-world challenges. STFC comprises many of the UK’s large research infrastructure including the central laser facility, the UK’s synchrotron (Diamond Light Source), the UK space programme and the UK’s spallation neutron and muon source (ISIS), which between them host several thousand scientific and industrial users per annum. These facilities are for the most part located at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, which also hosts the EnergyTec cluster—35 organisations focused on bringing their capabilities to address national and global energy challenges.
STFC also hosts a demonstrator, which makes ammonia from a wind-powered generator on site and then uses the ammonia in an internal combustion engine to release energy. This technology was developed in partnership with Siemens AG, and the Universities of Oxford and Cardiff and is the first of its kind to demonstrate the full power to ammonia to power cycle.