APRÈN. Portal de la producció docent del professorat de la UPC

This Master's thesis investigates the feasibility, design, and environmental impacts of implementing a District Heating and Cooling (DHC) system for the industrial port of Tema, Ghana. The study assesses three energy generation scenarios: biomass-based heating, solar thermal integration, and natural gas heating, aiming to identify the most feasible solution based on economic, environmental, and operational factors. Scenario 1, which focuses on biomass, stands out as the most effective choice. It offers cost efficiency and moderate carbon dioxide emissions, amounting to 382 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, alongside favourable energy selling prices of 0.05 €/kWh for heating and 0.06 €/kWh for cooling. This scenario shows the quickest return on investment and ensures a dependable energy supply, marking it as the best option for prompt implementation. Meanwhile, Scenario 2, involving solar thermal energy, records the lowest emissions of carbon dioxide at 153 tonnes annually and boasts high energy efficiency; however, its steep initial costs and elevated energy prices (0.10 €/kWh) present considerable obstacles for near-term viability. Finally, Scenario 3 natural gas is economically competitive but is associated with the highest emissions at 2,706 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, as well as elevated operating costs, limiting its sustainability prospects. The results highlight the critical role of renewable energy in reducing carbon emissions and advancing sustainability objectives. Therefore, I select Scenario 1 (Biomass) as the optimal strategy for the Tema industrial region, effectively reconciling economic and environmental aims. This thesis lays out a solid framework for the implementation of DHC systems. In summary, the project offers a blueprint for adopting sustainable energy practices in industrial areas, presenting a model that can be replicated worldwide to aid decarbonisation and foster the use of renewable energy solutions.

The truck manufacturing industry generates various forms of waste like wastewater, residues, solid waste, and heavy metals that cause enormous environmental damage during operations. Industrial businesses have incrementally increased pressure on sustainable development over short-term gains mainly due to the rise in concerns of the public over the economic, environmental, and social effects of climate change and environmental impact. Such an initiative is necessary to reduce waste and improve sustainability within its operation to align with UN Sustainable Goal 12. Later, this led to framing the manufacturer their own Sustainability pathway to achieve by 2025. The Historical data between 2019-2022 accounts for 77% of non-recyclable waste. This non-recyclable waste categorizes into two, hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste. Hazardous wastes include wastewater and paint residue. Non-hazardous wastes consist of mixed waste and landfill waste. The project applies the lean and green six sigma concepts to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of green-lean initiatives. Finally, the project proposes solutions to improve the potential waste generated in the operations and progress the manufacturer to achieve the defined

I en värld där energiförbrukningen ökar varje år och det nuvarande systemet skadar miljön, är ny teknik nödvändig för att klara sådana intensiva energibehov över hela världen. I en sådan tid är polygenerationssystem en innovativ och hållbar lösning för det problemet. Polygenerationssystem kan samtidigt producera el, värme, kylning, varmt vatten, dricksvatten och andra tjänster på mindre, mer flexibla och effektivare sätt. Småskaliga polygenerationssystem kan också hjälpa till att decentralisera energiproduktionen och främja användningen av mer förnybara energikällor inom kraftproduktionssektorn. I denna studie föreslås ett polygenerationssystem för ett ekohotel i Guanacaste-regionen i Costa Rica. Ekohotelbehovet och tillgängligheten för lokala förnybara energikällor studerades för att dimensionera systemkomponenterna korrekt. Det småskaliga polygenerationssystemet består av en biomassaförgasare och en förbränningsmotor, liksom PV-paneler, batterier, en biobränslepanna, en absorptionskylare och ett membrandestillationssystem. Energiflödena från systemet, vilka ska användas på hotellet är el, kylning, varmt vatten och dricksvatten. Resultaten är positiva ur ett ekonomiskt och miljömässigt perspektiv jämfört med det nationella elnätet. De ekonomiska besparingarna uppgår till 410 268 USD under en systemlivslängd på 25 år, vilket motsvarar en marginalskillnad på 27%. När det gäller utsläppen sparas 14,4 ton koldioxid varje år från att nå atmosfären, vilket motsvarar en minskning på 38% per år. Resultaten som visas i denna studie återspeglar att polygenerationssystemen är av stort intresse för att övergå till ett mer hållbart och effektivt energisystem. Denna studie kan replikeras för andra hotell i Costa Rica med beaktande av de naturresurser som finns i de lokala omgivningarna och med anpassning av systemet till de tillgängliga resursernavailable

Denna rapport undersöker effekterna av variabel förnybar energi (VRE) på krafthandeln på den eu- ropeiska elhandelsmarknaden för stora aktörer. Den komplicerade driften av ett typiskt kraftutbyte i Europa åtföljs av ett lika komplicerat balanseringssystem. Den ökande mängden VRE i kraftsys- temet, såsom vind- och solkraft, har långtgående effekter för krafthandlare på både denna elmarknad och motsvarande balanseringssystem. Som ett resultat utvecklas elmarknaden på enastående sätt och nya deltagare kommer in på spelplanen för att dra nytta av den förändrade dynamiken som orsakas av VRE-generatorer. En ny spelare, det virtuella kraftverket (VPP), har en fördel jämfört med andra mark- nadsaktörer genom att samla VRE-generatorer med styrbara förnybara energiproducenter, som biogas och vattenkraftverk, till en enhet. Detta gör att VPP både kan få tillgång till live VRE-produktionsdata som större anläggningar inte har, som den sedan använder för att distribuera olika underpooler av till- gångar och för att tillhandahålla balanstjänster till nätet. Därefter kan VPP: er handla med VRE och annan förnybar el på ett överlägset sätt på samma spotmarknader och balanseringssystem som stora centrala kraftverk och industrikonsumenter. Rapporten visar att VPP-handlare kan göra vinster genom innovativa handelsstrategier som utnyttjar förutsägbara marknadseffekter orsakade av VRE-kraft genom en detaljerad förståelse för elmarknaden och unik tillgång till data för produktionen av förnybar energi

Den höga penetrationen av förnybara energier i kraftsystem ökar den flyktiga produktionen på produktionssidan och närvaron av distribuerade energiresurser över territoriet. Å andra sidan är virtuella kraftverk en sammanställning av distribuerade energiresurser som hanteras som en enda enhet för att främja flexibilitetstjänster till kraftsystem. Därför är virtuella kraftverk: er en giltig strategi för att hantera de uppkomna utmaningarna i kraftsystemet relaterat till förnybara energier genomslag. I denna rapport definieras konceptet med en virtuella kraftverk verktygsskala som ett verktyg för att stabilisera nätet och öka flexibilitetskapaciteten i kraftsystem. För detta ändamål lägger rapporten särskild tonvikt på användningsfall som kan utvecklas med en virtuella kraftverk-nytta. Trots det är implementering av en virtuella kraftverknyckelskala en komplex procedur, eftersom virtuella kraftverk-lösningar är mycket anpassningsbara beroende på omfattning och villkor för varje projekt. Av denna anledning analyserar denna rapport de viktigaste faktorerna som måste beaktas vid implementering av en VPP-lösning. Rapporten drar slutsatsen att de två mest kritiska faktorerna som definierar ett virtuella kraftverk projekts livskraft är, dels energimarknadens utformning och regelverk och för det andra de tekniska kraven. Dessa två måste alltid anpassa sig till projektets omfattning och användningsfall som är avsedda att utvecklas. Vidare beaktas även andra mindre faktorer, inklusive en kostnadsuppskattning för en virtuella kraftverk lösning, i rapporten

Development of studies focused on the analysis of the main competitors' growth strategy, market trends, and assessment of the company's downstream position. This report includes an analysis of forecasts and trends in the renewable generation market and the electricity and gas network sector focused on the European scene.

The European Union is currently driving forward the development of an energy model that is more reliant on renewable supply. Indeed, recent European Commission figures estimate a renewable penetration of 50% by 2030. As well as a shift towards renewables, our reliance on electricity is also set to dramatically increase in coming years, largely due to the inevitable electrification of vehicles and heating/cooling systems. Further to this, daily lives becoming less regimented and predictable is making energy use patterns more irregular. All of these factors are increasing the need for greater flexibility from our energy model so as to balance demand and supply. Improved flexibility and demand side management are crucial for the European Union so that it can meet its decarbonisation goals. Furthermore, taking into consideration the continued decommissioning of fossilbased power sources across the region, flexibility will need to take new forms. This is also growing demand for both companies and households to shift from being consumers to prosumers through the localised integration of renewable energy resources. A higher number of prosumers equates to higher flexibility and this could have significant impact of supporting grid stability. For prosumers to access flexibility markets, and in turn, support the decarbonisation of our energy system, there is need for a new player in the energy value chain – the aggregator. The aggregator should be the force that connects prosumers with transmission system operators, distribution system operators, and balance responsible parties (BRP). The role of aggregator can be done by pre-existent market stakeholders (e.g. suppliers). Both regulators and industry bodies agree that demand-side management and response will become of increasing importance as the energy system develops in coming years and aggregators will be fundamental for this transition. With Resolution 300/2017, Italy has defined the criteria to allow demand, “relevant production units” from non-programmable renewable sources, “non relevant units” (i.e. distributed generation), as well as accumulation systems to participate in the flexibility market. To date, 24 subjects have decided to take part as aggregators in the balancing market. If the interest of the main market operators in the aggregation of flexibility resources is evident, the need for an adjustment of the regulatory framework that, overcoming the barriers and obstacles currently existing, can encourage a greater participation is equally clear. Despite this, there remains to be much debate over how aggregation should best be implemented, and what regulatory framework needs to be put in place so that it can effectively support flexibility markets. Various aggregator implementation methods have already been proposed internationally. However, for a truly robust, integrated, and clear flexibility market, there is still need for more clarity on its roles and processes.

Access to electricity is essential for socioeconomic growth, especially in developing countries. However, over 1.1 billion people still do not have access to modern sources of energy. This is particularly prevalent in rural or remote areas, where renewable off-grid solutions and particularly minigrids seem the most cost-effective solution to deliver long-term energy solutions. Comprehensively forecasting energy demand in these areas and designing the most optimal solution requires a thorough feasibility design process. A literature review of project development tasks revealed that a research gap regarding how the household's ability to pay relates with the project's cost exists. This frequently leads to viability gaps, which demand costly and time-consuming manual adaptations to the project's design. The goal of the study was to adapt household's ability to pay and energy demand assessment at early stages of minigrid design so as to avoid these adaptations at later stages. Rural Nepal was chosen as a case study, and an extensive energy household survey based onmultidimensional energy access parameters developed by the Reiner Lemoine Institute was used. The data employed was collected from 9 different rural municipalities from Province Number 1 and Province number 7, with a total of 3600 surveyed households. Households were clustered into three wealth groups, using socioeconomic variables such as education, financial status, owned and desired electrical appliances and willingness to pay. The construction of a stochastic load modeller using R allowed translating the energy needs of each wealth groups into load profiles. The most common energy services for the different clusters are lighting and communication for group 1, plus entertainment and space cooling for group 2, plus occasional thermal loads or base loads (fridge) for group 3. A cost estimator was built through a linear regression to obtain an overall project cost estimation based on the customer distribution. In parallel, household estimated-energy-expenditures were determined by allocating a literature-accepted percentage of their total annual expenditures over the entire project lifetime. This value was averaged for each municipality and wealth group, and a community's minigrid economic potential was determined using the municipality's average customer distribution as a reference. By using this and the cost estimator, it is possible to quantify a potential viability gap based on the customer distribution. An automated adaptation tool was designed in R to obtain the most similar feasible customer distribution when a viability gap is encountered. This is done by fixing the economic potential and using the customer distribution and its associated cost as a variable. Results show that in all but one municipality, providing households with basic energy services is viable, while an average grant of 75 USD per type 2 household and 515 USD per type 3 household for the entire project life-time is required. Additionally, only three municipalities suggest a feasible average customer distribution, while the rest required adaptation. However, a significant regional heterogeneity exists, suggesting that location-specific policies are required to optimise the effects of subsidies. The study also shows that while the demand for higher energy services exists in rural Nepal, there is a significant lack of available income that impedes this supply, and policy makers and energy planners should work to bridge this gap in order to foster socioeconomic development

Due to the increase of rotor size in horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) during the past 25 years in order to achieve higher power output, all wind turbine components and blades in particular, have to withstand higher structural loads. This upscaling problem could be solved by applying technologies capable of reducing aerodynamic loads the rotor has to withstand, either with passive or active control solutions. These control devices and techniques can reduce the fatigue load upon the blades up to 40% and therefore less maintenance is needed, resulting in an important money savings for the wind farm manager. This project consists in a study of load control techniques for offshore wind turbines from an aerodynamic and aeroelastic point of view, with the aim to assess a cost effective, robust and reliable solution which could operate maintenance free in quite hostile environments. The first part of this study involves 2D and 3D aerodynamic and aeroelastic simulations to validate the computational model with experimental data and to analyze the interaction between the fluid and the structure. The second part of this study is an assessment of the unsteady aerodynamic loads produced by a wind gust over the blades and to verify how a trailing edge flap would influence the aerodynamic control parameters for the selected wind turbine blade.

Due to an increase of renewables in the electricity mix in Europe in the last years, balancing services being provided by small aggregators is getting increasingly important. The aim of this thesis is to qualitatively analyze different market accesses in Europe for small flexibility based FCR providers. For the analysis, five different countries were chosen: Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Spain. For the market access analysis for FCR services of the different countries, the prequalification process of each of them was explained and later compared. Out of the five countries compared, the one that appears to have less entry barriers is Switzerland, followed by Belgium and then by Germany. In addition to the qualitative analysis, a case study was developed, presenting the pilot project between the German start-up KOENA tec and it partners. In this project, industrial coffee machines are aggregated to provide FCR services to the grid, thanks to KOENA tec's smart plug that can control the power output of the coffee machine. In this sense a simulation of the prequalification test was performed to determine the number of coffee machines that should be used to pass this test and provide 50kW of services to the grid. This was done through data analysis of the power profile of a coffee machine. The results show that a minimum of 278 coffee machines need to be aggregated to be able to provide 50kW of balancing services to the grid by using the specified coffee machines.

The present report describes the tasks performed during the internship period at Elum Energy, an energy and automation company that provides control & monitoring solutions for hybrid energy systems, from the 30th March 2020 to the 25th September 2020. The global energy framework is presented to show the need of the solution provided, as well as a brief introduction of the Company and the position of Key Account Manager. The main section of this document is aimed to present a market study for the America region (Latin America, the Caribbean, Central America and North America), concluding with the main opportunities for each sub-region and with a deeper focus on Chile, Miami, Texas, California and the Caribbean Islands. Moreover, the main systems for the studied region are presented, as well as the relevant control features of the Elum EMS solution. Finally, a use case project in Puerto Rico is explained from a technical and market opportunity point of view, integrating PV and battery energy storage system in a system with Grid and Genset as backup

‘'Estudi aerodinàmic per a la reedició d'un vehicle clàssic'' és un projecte vinculat amb la mecànica de fluids que es basa en l'estudi dels components que afecten l'aerodinàmica d'un turisme. L'objectiu del treball és dur a terme modificacions en la geometria d'un Renault 4 per tal de millorar-ne les prestacions aerodinàmiques i, a la vegada, mantenir l'essència i la personalitat del model original. Inicialment, el projecte està format per un apartat teòric. En aquest, s'expliquen els conceptes de la mecànica de fluids que intervenen a l'estudi. Seguidament, s'anomenen els elements més importants de la carrosseria d'un vehicle i de quina manera afecten al seu comportament aerodinàmic. I finalment, es realitza una breu contextualització de la història del Renault 4. A continuació, s'inicia la part experimental. En primer lloc, mitjançant el programari de simulació Ansys, es crea el mallat i es defineixen les condicions de contorn de l'estudi. Seguidament, s'estudia el flux d'aire al voltant de la geometria. I a partir dels resultats i els conceptes explicats al bloc teòric, es duen a terme les corresponents modificacions a través del programari de disseny, en aquest cas, el SolidWorks. Finalment, l'estudi de simulació ha permès entendre i comprovar els principis teòrics explicats inicialment. A la vegada, s'ha pogut observar amb claredat els pros i els contres que aporten a l'aerodinàmica del vehicle els diferents components del xassís. Amb tot això, s'ha pogut complir l'objectiu principal del projecte, millorar les prestacions aerodinàmiques del vehicle clàssic per realitzar-ne una reedició.

Transitioning to a society with almost null fossil fuel usage based on an alternative energetic model not dependent on fossil fuels nor nuclear power and based on decentralized energy system 100% renewable based with own resources by 2050 is a quite ambitious objective for Catalonia specially taking into account that renewables barely represented a 5% of total primary energy and a weak 8,5% of final brute energy in Catalonia in 2017. Nuclear centrals decommissioning is forecasted for 2027 but fulfilling such objective would require an equivalent solar capacity addition of around 7-times as much solar PV capacity as there is in place today, every year, for the following 8 years. The Spanish transition to renewable energies is being based on concentrating generation in fewer but bigger installations. However, a centralized model based on big installations would not be successful is Catalonia where land availability is scarce and geographic characteristics make it difficult for megaprojects to be developed. Therefore, this project will be centered in defining and applying a GIS-based methodology to conduct regional solar PV potential assessments aimed at siting small-medium solar parks (1-20 MW) within the Catalan territory. The methodology will be tested in the Catalan region of La Segarra using a two-stage framework approach. On a first stage, areas restricted for solar parks' development will be discarded according to pre-defined constraints to obtain a rough solar regional potential. On a second stage, several criteria as solar radiation, topography or accessibility considerations will be used to screen remaining lands and identify most optimal areas for solar parks' development. Results obtained in the study case of La Segarra have shown that if all optimal potential would be used in the region would be used, total generation would be of 3.231 GWh (7,1% of Catalan electricity consumption) whereas in the rough potential scenario it would be of 19.400 GWh (42,6% of Catalan electricity consumption) requiring, however, the occupation of a quarter of the total regional surface (clearly not feasible). The greatest density of potential is to be found at the eastern areas of the region.