The FEVER project team has had a busy and inspiring summer, hitting the road to share our research across the UK and Europe! From renewable energy specialists in Glasgow (@ All-Energy), power electronics leaders in Nuremberg (@ PCIM) and sustainability innovators in London (@ Reset Connect), we’ve been actively demonstrating how grid-independent, renewable-powered EV charging stations can unlock rapid, scalable charging infrastructure.

The FEVER project recently held a 2^nd Policy Workshop in the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Headquarters Building in Savoy Place, London on Monday 22^nd June 2026, seeking to answer the question: “Can we help the Grid by developing off-grid clean power systems?”. This workshop, attended by representatives from SSEN, DfT, Hive Energy Ltd, the Faraday Institution, the IET, and members from each of the 4 FEVER consortium Universities, built on the success of an initial Policy workshop ran in November 2025.

This week, the FEVER team visited one of United Utilities’ (UU) Wastewater Treatment sites at Cargo, near Carlisle. This site has been a UU target for upgrading to minimise spills following storm overflows and hence reduce potential pollution issues, part of UU’s ‘Better Rivers’ Programme.  Ensuring the safe, clean, secure and reliable energy supply for continuous operation of such sites is a significant challenge. The high costs, capacity constraints, and long waiting times for securing connections and upgrades to the electricity grid, often leave these essential facilities vulnerable.

The FEVER project ran a successful policy workshop at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Headquarters Building in Savoy Place, London, on Wednesday 26^th November 2025, including representatives from Ofgem, DfT (OZEV), SSE, Siemens and the IET, as well as from the Universities of Sheffield, Portsmouth and Southampton (see Figure 1). The key query was to explore and discuss whether current Government transport and energy policy would benefit from more explicit inclusion and appreciation of the role off-grid (i.e. grid independent) power systems could offer to our national Grid.

A recent interview in Autocar (6^th Oct 2025) with charger operator Osprey put costs associated with the grid as the bottleneck in their profitability equation. In the last three years, the standing charge alone has increased by almost two orders of magnitude now accounting for the majority of the cost of energy. With the inclusion of planning, grid connection and other non-energy operational costs profitability for such charging hubs is proving elusive.

Part of the FEVER team attended the Solar & Storage Live exhibition at Birmingham’s NEC from the 22nd to the 24th of September. This major event provided an excellent opportunity to present the progress of the FEVER research project to experts in solar and energy storage from around the world.

The FEVER project team, represented by Prof Andrew Cruden, Prof David Stone, and Dr Maria Nunez recently got back from a lively couple of days at the All Energy Exhibition and Conference 2025 in Glasgow, on 14th-15th of May 2025.

This leading event draws in renewable energy experts, enthusiasts, and innovators from all over the world, and it gave us a brilliant platform to show everyone the exciting progress we're making on all aspects of the FEVER research project.

During our Q10 FEVER consortium meeting at the Utilita Bowl, Southampton, on 26^th March 2025, members of the FEVER Industrial Advisory Board, namely Hugh Brennan (UK Managing Director, Hive Energy) and Dr Nick Head (Head of Sustainability, XPO Logistics) visited the Wide Lane containerised demonstrator and witnessed this fully off-grid system charging an electric van.

Southampton University members of the FEVER project team exhibited and promoted a fully off-grid solution to electric vehicle (EV) charging at the recent University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day (SED) on the 15^th March 2025. This was the 2^nd year running that FEVER have presented at the annual University of Southampton Science and Engineering Festival (www.sotsef.co.uk), delivered as part of the national British Science Week.