TCP Universal Meeting 2021

International co-operation has a critical role to play in tackling the many global challenges associated with clean energy transitions. In the area of energy technology innovation, multilateral platforms can distribute the cost of innovation across many actors, enable exchange of good practice among policy makers, and support market uptake.

In many technology areas, multilateral platforms are already working to accelerate innovation and deployment of clean energy technologies. Within the framework of the IEA, the Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs) provide a platform for governments to work together to advance research, development, demonstration and commercialisation of energy technologies. As of 2021, there are 38 active TCPs, each focusing on specific energy technology areas.

Since 2015, the IEA has hosted biennial “Universal Meetings” of all TCPs. These meetings provide an opportunity for the Chairs and Secretaries of the TCPs to interact with each other, with the IEA Secretariat and with national delegates to the IEA's Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT) and Working Parties. For the 2021 TCP Universal Meeting, the Secretariat will hold the meeting in a digital format over the course of a week and in connection with the CERT meeting on 26-27 October. 

This IEA initiative is designed to win greater recognition for the work of the TCPs by highlighting research projects which they either manage directly, or contribute to in partnership with other international initiatives. TCPs that submitted projects to this initiative in 2020 and 2021 were invited to forward a short video presentation of these projects, a selection of which may be viewed below.

• High-performance transport materials for thermally sensitive vaccines (Energy Storage TCP)
• Underground hydrogen storage (Hydrogen TCP)
• Heat pumps in multi-family buildings (Heat Pump Technologies TCP)
• Global observatory on peer-to-peer trading (Users TCP)
• Raising methanol's potential as motor fuel (Advanced Motor Fuels TCP)
• More flexibility for more renewables in grid-connected heat supply (District Heating & Cooling TCP)

• New milestones in magnetic fusion (Stellarators & Heliotrons TCP)
• Accelerating research in smart electricity grids (ISGAN TCP)
• Hydrogen as a driver for the decarbonisation of shipping (Hydrogen TCP)
• Meeting an increased global demand for cooling (Heat Pump Technologies TCP)
• Decarbonising industry with green hydrogen (Hydrogen TCP)
• Managing large amounts of distributed energy resources on electricity grids (ISGAN TCP)
• Carbon-free hydrogen from low-cost wind power, stored for use on demand (Hydrogen TCP)
• SIC! Smart industrial concept (Industrial energy-related technologies & systems TCP)

The organisation of this meeting is supported by the Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging Economies programme, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952363.