The award for scientific articles of the ETSi quarter failed: January-March 2022

Publication date

The Jury of the Scientific Article of the Quarter Award of the Higher Technical School of Engineering (ETSi) has unanimously decided among its members to award the ETSi Scientific Article of the Quarter Award: January-March 2022 to the following works:

 
  • “Facing the high share of variable renewable energy in the power system: Flexibility and stability requirements”
    Applied Energy, vol.
    310, March 2022. DOI 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.118561. Authors: Karla Belén Guerra Huilca, Pedro García Haro, Raúl E. Gutiérrez, Alberto Gómez Barea.
    Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the University of Seville

    The European Union (EU) has developed a series of policies to overcome the challenges of climate change and meet the decarbonization objectives of energy systems.

    Regarding the electricity sector, the Paris emissions benchmarks would lead to a decrease in emissions intensity of up to 75-80 kgCO2/MWh in 2030 and close to zero in 2040. In this context, renewables They have become competitive technologies for electricity generation thanks to climate policies, incentives, technological development and cost reduction. However, electrical systems with a high proportion of variable renewable energy (VRE: wind and solar photovoltaic) pose a challenge for system operators due to increased flexibility and stability requirements. This study analyzes the behavior of a real electrical network with a high participation of ERV. A rule-based model called “Future Renewable Energy Performance into the Power System” (FEPPS) has been developed to simulate the behavior of the future electricity system. The flexibility requirements of the future power system were determined from flexibility constraints, stability (inertia), and anticipated changes in grid interconnection. The results of the model (applied in Spain) indicate that the ambitious network decarbonization objectives are not realistic due to these requirements. The ERV share is 33% by 2030 and 35% by 2040, well below the share predicted by national and international organizations. CO2 equivalent emissions will be reduced to 157 and 159 kg CO2/MWh, respectively, which is well above the Paris targets. Furthermore, no scenario allows the planned environmental objectives to be achieved. Therefore, in electrical systems with more than 39% VRE, the results suggest that new technologies with emissions lower than ∼113 kgCO2/MWh, a maximum cost of ∼134 €/MWh, and an inertia constant should be considered. greater than 5 s.
  • “Market-based clustering of model predictive controllers for maximizing collected energy by parabolic solar collector fields”
    Applied Energy, vol.
    306, January 2022. DOI 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117936 Authors: Eva Masero Rubio, José Mª Maestre Torreblanca and Eduardo F. Camacho
    Department of Systems Engineering and Automation of the University of Seville

    In this article, they propose dynamic grouping of predictive controllers through a strategy inspired by the intraday electric energy market and whose purpose is to maximize the thermal power produced in parabolic trough solar thermal plants. In these plants, they consider that each loop of solar collectors is individually controlled by an agent that supplies/demands heat transfer fluid (FCP) in the market, depending on the operating conditions. Once an FCP transaction agreement is made between ties, the agents involved form a group or coalition, acting as a single controlling entity. Therefore, the formation of coalitions of predictive controllers (MPC) is encouraged dynamically to improve the overall control objective, thus increasing the thermal energy generated by the plant. Finally, the proposed method is evaluated by simulating two solar thermal fields of different dimensions and is also compared with other predictive control techniques. The results of this coalitional control show a performance improvement of up to 12% compared to other traditional controllers, as well as the ability to be implemented in real time for the control of large-scale solar plants.
 
The Jury for the Scientific Article of the Quarter Award of the ETSi Higher Technical School of Engineering: January-March 2022 was composed of Mr. Emilio Freire Macías, as President, acting as Members, Mr. Alfonso Miguel Gañán Calvo, Ms. Juana María Mayo Núñez, Mrs. Consuelo Arahal Junco, Ms. Lourdes García Rodríguez, and Mr. Alejandro Carballar Rincón, who in addition to being a member acted as secretary.  
 

After evaluating the articles submitted to the Award, the members of the Jury exchanged opinions and agreed to value the high quality of all the publications. The candidacy of one of the works (of very high scientific quality) was rejected by the jury for not complying with the rules of the Prize call in relation to “The connection of the first author with the ETSi or with one of its Departments must expressly appear in the signature of the work candidate for the award, for future applications it is recommended to follow the instructions for the Signature of Scientific Publications of the University of Seville. Good Practices for scientific publications