News Article
Tecnalia to use SiC and GaN in energy usage project
The 5 year project will enable a more rational use of electrical energy in all industrial sectors, say MBN Comunicación.
Tecnalia Technological Corporation is taking part in “Consolider Rue”, one of the most important research projects on power electronics within the Spanish state. The Semiconductor Devices project involves a wide band of energy gaps for efficient energy use, with particular emphasis on renewable energies, the electric vehicle and very high frequency communications.
It is part of the “Consolider” program, a strategic policy of the Spanish Government aimed at achieving excellence in research, increasing cooperation amongst researchers and creating large groups of research.
Tecnalia is the only technological centre in the consortium and is able to provide a very clear vision of the interest of private enterprise in working with power electronics-related themes. The fundamental contribution of its Energy Unit involves applications, responding to the keen interest in new topologies of converters for the evacuation of high-voltage, direct current energy (HVDC), for offshore wind energy.
The budget for the project is €4.56 million and is being funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). The project is coordinated by the CNM and the rest of the participants are teams from six Spanish universities ; Oviedo, Zaragoza, Madrid Polytechnic, the Polytechnic of Catalonia and the Rovira i Virgili University, apart from the Energy Unit at Tecnalia.
The principal aim is to develop the first industrial generation of wide band gap semiconductor devices that enable both important improvements in current power converters and the development of new topologies based on silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies.
