Next Generation Energy Systems
About Nexsys
NexSys in Numbers
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- €16 million in funding
- 46 academics collaborating
- 54 research staff
- 59 PhD students
- 9 all-island academic institutions
- 9 co-funding industry partners
- 1 philanthropic donor
About NexSys
Next Generation Energy Systems (NexSys) is an all-island, multidisciplinary energy research programme.
NexSys is hosted by the UCD Energy Institute in partnership with eight other leading research institutions: ESRI, DCU, Queen’s University Belfast, NUI Galway, Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, UCC, and Ulster University.
46 leading academics work in partnership with industry to tackle the challenges of energy decarbonisation, developing evidence-based pathways for a net zero energy system.
NexSys has received €16 million in funding through Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Strategic Partnership Programme (2022-26), with nine industry co-funding partners and one philanthropic donor.
The Core Of NexSys
The core is multidisciplinary research that will define pathways to a net zero energy system.
The largest programme component is Energy Systems with four critical, connected research strands: Cities and Communities, Transport, Water, and Offshore Wind.
By 2027, NexSys will have identified credible, just, and accelerated pathways for a net zero energy system,
and have developed technologies and talent needed for the energy transition.
In NexSys, we seek to collaborate as a multi-disciplinary team to provide technology development and evidence-based insights to the energy transition, through multi-dimensional research and outreach that is focused on equity for energy citizens and practical solutions for industry.
What will Nexsys do?
Nexsys is unique in scope: it comprises an all-island partnership of 9 academic institutions and 9 industry partners examining a range of research questions to define evidence-based and just pathways for the energy transition.
To deliver this, the main NexSys research comprises 24 research programmes within its five strands
NexSys cross-cutting themes: Climate, Data, Finance, and Society.
In addition, over 20 ‘Targetted Projects‘ will provide evidence-based recommendations to research questions from our industry partners.
NexSys Five Strands
Why is NexSys important?
Energy is of ever-growing importance in Ireland and across the world.
In Ireland, we ratified the international UNFCCC treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement, in 2016.
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 means that Ireland is now on a legally binding path to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030 and to net zero emissions no later than 2050.
In this context, NexSys is crucial to develop pathways to achieve net zero in energy systems and more broadly to provide an evidence base for a Just Transition.
* Source: UN Environment Programme
The climate Emergency
“A code red for humanity”* – means that we need to change the way we generate and consume energy, and manage the technical, social and economic impacts of this change.
IEA Setting the Scene: a Global Perspective
The International Energy Agency published a Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector in 2021 which illustrates the scale of change needed:
‘The energy sector is the source of around three‐quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced.
Reducing global carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 is consistent with efforts to limit the long‐term increase in average global temperatures to 1.5 °C.
This calls for nothing less than a complete transformation of how we produce, transport and consume energy.’
In parallel with the technological advances needed for the energy transition, a focus is needed on evidence-based policies that guide a just and inclusive transition.
NexSys is financially supported by Science Foundation Ireland under the SFI Strategic Partnership Programme (Grant Number 21/SPP/3756), industry co-funding partners, and a philanthropic donation by Mr David O’Reilly.