Energy research Centre of the Netherlands
Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands is one of the leading institutes in Europe concerning applied energy research. ECN's mission is to contribute to a future sustainable energy system by performing research and technology development and bringing it into implementation. ECN is experienced in the definition and execution of projects in the R&D area between universities and industries and is funded on a
contract basis. Contracts are obtained from the Dutch government and from national and international organisations and industries. ECN has about 650 employees that work in the field of solar and wind energy, biomass conversion, clean use of fossil fuels, energy efficiency in industry and the built environment, policy studies and environmental aspects of energy supply.
In the unit ECN Solar Energy approximately 70 scientists and engineers are involved in photovoltaics R&D. A full research programme is carried out on crystalline silicon wafers and ribbons, cells and modules and on thin film PV technology, including thin-film silicon, sensitized oxides and polymer solar cells. In the unit ECN Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment work is carried out on PV system technology and on the physical and electrical integration of PV in the built environment. ECN is participating in many EU projects, also in the area of photovoltaics and has much experience to operate as a coordinator.
ECN is worldwide amongst the frontrunners in performing Environmental and Economic Assessments in PV technologies. Expertise has been built up in the area of crystalline silicon PV systems, dye sensitized oxide PV and balance-of-system components. In the FP6 CrystalClear Integrated Project a public life cycle
inventory data set has been compiled and delivered to the EcoInvent database. The EcoInvent database is the most important European database used for environmental benchmarking of energy supply options.
Within this project, ECN will be the leader of the workpackage Environmental and Economical Assessment which corresponds perfectly with the objectives of ECN and the available expertise.