Axe 1 : Solar and Renewable Energies

This axis brings together the activities of laboratories working in the field of solar energy and, more generally, the development of renewable energies (RE). On the interdisciplinary theme of the deployment of these technologies, they contribute their skills in experimental and exact sciences, as well as in the fields of ecology and the social and economic development of the regions where they are located.

Although focused on all energy sources (renewable energy and their mix), this axis relies particularly on research activities carried out on solar energy due to the presence and implementation of international-level solar installations on the site, such as the Odeillo Large Solar Furnace and the THEMIS pilot solar power plant in Targassonne.

Research focuses on the scientific and technical means required for their deployment at local, national and international levels:

• energy conversion processes and systems [especially solar],
• integration, dynamics and control of energy systems [smart grids and systems], energy storage,
• materials with controlled and sustainable properties

The research conducted on these technologies is directly and necessarily linked to the impacts that renewable energy can have both:

• at the environmental level (ecological impact on biotic and abiotic resources),
• and the socioeconomic level (spatial organization and socioeconomic development of territories, development policies, legislation, energy markets, eco-design, acceptability, industrial and ecological tourism),
• from the point of view of their representation and the sensory perception that one can have of the changes in progress, and from that of the trajectory of human societies in search of energy for their development since remote ages (learning from the past to better understand the future).

This axis is divided into 5 complementary sub-axes between the aspects of

• physical sciences aimed at the deployment of these technologies
• of socio-economics and territorial development
• relations between the humanities and their future environments.

Sub-axis 1: Solar processes and associated materials
Sub-axis 2: Solar power plants of the future and energy mix
Sub-axis 3: Energy-Water-Agricultural Resources Interconnections (nexus)
Sub-axis 4: Renewable energy and circular economy for regional development
Sub-axis 5: Energy and humanities, critical representation/perception of the worlds of energy