Dr Edward Barbour PhD, MPhys

Dr Edward Barbour

School of Chemical Engineering
Postdoctoral fellow in Energy Storage

Contact details

Address
School of Chemical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Edward Barbour is a postdoctoral research fellow in Energy Storage at the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, which is part of the School of Chemical Engineering.

He has published several research papers in the fields of energy storage, energy storage economics and energy policy, Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), renewable energy and climate change.

He is passionate about energy-related issues and has experience of both experimental systems and computer modelling and simulation. Further information can be found on his personal website: www.energystoragesense.com.

Qualifications

  • PhD in mechanical engineering, University of Edinburgh, 2013
  • MPhys in Physics, Hertford College, Oxford University

Biography

Edward Barbour qualified with a MPhys (Hons) in Physics from Hertford College, the University of Oxford in 2008.

He went on to do a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Edinburgh before joining the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage in 2014.

Teaching

Dr Barbour has tutored undergraduate classes in thermodynamics, mechanics, dynamics and mathematics.

Research

Themes:

Energy storage; energy economics; thermomechanical energy storage systems; thermodynamics; renewable energy; climate change.

Activity:

At the Centre for Energy Storage at the University of Birmingham, Dr Barbour primarily focuses on the economics of energy storage systems. His aim is to improve our understanding of how energy storage can form an integral part of the electricity systems of the future.

He has developed a techno-economic computer model of energy storage, which considers the technical performance of the storage system and several potential revenue streams from the electricity market. This is being used to schedule the operation of the pilot Cryogenic Energy Storage (CES) plant at the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage

He is also interested in Compressed Air Energy Storage, especially in advanced fuel-less CAES systems and continues to carry out research out these systems. During his PhD he performed experimental testing on small-scale CAES systems.

Previously he has carried out research on solar energy and climate change, investigating how the future solar energy resource will change as a result of climate change. He has also been involved with tidal energy research.

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Barbour, E. and Bryden, I.G. (2011). Energy storage in association with tidal current generation systems. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 225:443.
  • Barbour, E., Wilson, I.A.G., Bryden, I.G., McGregor, P.G., Mulheran, P.A. and Hall, P.J. (2012). Towards an objective method to compare energy storage technologies: development and validation of a model to determine the upper boundary of revenue available from electrical price arbitrage”, Energy and Environmental Science 5, 5425-5436.
  • Gill, S., Barbour, E., Wilson, I.A.G. and Infield, D. (2013). Maximising revenue for non-firm distributed wind generation with energy storage in an active management scheme. Renewable Power Generation, IET, vol.7, no.5
  • Burnett, D., Barbour, E. and Harrison, G. (2014). The UK Solar Energy Resource and the Impact of Climate Change, Renewable Energy, vol. 71.
  • Barbour, E., Wilson, G., Hall, P., and Radcliffe, J. (2014). Can negative electricity prices encourage inefficient electrical energy storage devices? International Journal of Environmental Studies

Conference Proceedings

  • Barbour, E. Energy Storage for Dispatchable Renewable Energy Conversion. International Network on Offshore Renewable Energy (INORE) Symposium May 2012 poster presentation.
  • Gill, S., Barbour, E., Wilson, I. A. G. and Infield, D. Maximising revenue for non-firm distributed wind generation with energy storage in an active management scheme. Renewable Power Generation IET Conference proceedings, pp.275-280, 6-8 Sept. 2011
  • Barbour, E. and Wilson, I.A.G. A Technical and Economic Model of Tidal Current Energy Conversion coupled with a Storage System, IRES 2010 Conference Proceedings, poster presentation.

Reports

  • Radcliffe, J., Taylor, P., Davies, L., Blyth, W. and Barbour, E. Energy Storage in UK and Korea: Innovation, investment and co-operation. Centre for Low carbon Futures Report. July 2014. Available online http://www.lowcarbonfutures.org/energy-storage/korea

View all publications in research portal