CIC energiGUNE is a non-profit energy cooperative research centre based in the Basque Country (Spain). CIC energiGUNE’s mission is to play a leading role on the international scientific stage focused on basic research in energy related materials oriented to storage applications, contributing to industrial competitiveness through: (i) excellent and breakthrough research; (ii) transfer of technology and knowledge to industry; (iii) coordination of Basque academia, technology and research efforts in energy storage field, a scientific and technological area that is considered of strategic importance for the region’s economic and social development as a pillar of Basque Country’s RIS3 policy.
Since its establishment in 2011, CIC energiGUNE has achieved 22 European projects -14 are ongoing, two of them as coordinator-, 42 private funded projects, 13 patents granted, published or in process, recruited more than 120 people, published more than 574 publications in high impact factor journals and, last but not least, launched its first start-up named BCARE, specialized in battery health testing and post mortem analysis (www.bcaremb.com). Additionally, CIC energiGUNE is recognised as a reference centre in solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Techniques by Bruker Spain, being the only research centre authorized to provide training in this field.
Besides, CIC energiGUNE is working to reinforce its role in main initiatives related to energy storage such as Battery 2030+, has being nominated as expert in ETIPs Batteries Europe’s working groups and co-chair of stationary application WG, active member of EMIRI (Energy Materials Industrial Research Initiative), EERA (European Energy Research Alliance), Spire (Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency), EMMC (European Materials Modelling Council), member of the Governing board of the BatteryPlat (Spanish Technology Platform) and Aepibal (Spanish Association for cell and batteries for energy storage), contributing to define the strategic plans and research agendas.
The development of innovative battery technologies for sustainable storage systems is a key line at CIC energiGUNE, working with industrial companies, from local to international level (Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Siemens Gamesa, Iberdrola, Acciona, Huawei, Cegasa Portable Energy, Umicore, Solvay, etc.), to push innovation in advanced materials for energy storage.
In particular, CIC energiGUNE has a strong experience on polymer electrolytes and their integration in a complete battery system. The group involved in HIGREEW project has worked on the development of inorganic and organic electrolytes, processing of catholyte-containing cathode material and cell assembly. These works were granted with patents (WO 2016/156451 A1) and high impact factor publications (DOI: 10.1039/c6ee01883a; 10.1002/anie.201813700; 10.1002/anie.201712702).
CIC energiGUNE is the coordinator of the HIGREEW project.
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CIC energiGUNE envisions the next generation of organic redox flow battery to contribute to tackle climate change by developing a new water soluble low-cost organic electrolyte that integrated in HIGREEW high performance battery prototype will facilitate renewable energy storage system deployment.