Professor Eduardo F. Camacho gets a new erc proof of concept grant

Its project aspires to optimize the production of commercial solar plants through predictive control algorithms by cooperative models with multiple scenarios

The researcher Eduardo Fernández Camacho, professor of the Department of Systems and Automatic Engineering at the University of Seville, has received one of the Proof of Concept Grants granted by the European Research Council (ERC). With a value of 150,000 euros, this financing is intended for the Cooperative Optimal Control Plants project, which continues a wide line of investigation by Fernández Camacho in this area.

The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that the predictive control algorithms by cooperative models with multiple scenarios (MSC-MPC), developed within the framework of the Ocontsolar project, whereby Eduardo Fernández Camacho has already received an Advanced Grant of the ERC, can be effectively applied to optimize the production of commercial solar plants. The main idea is to coordinate the different subsystems of a plant to optimize production with a several days horizon taking into account uncertainties about environmental and market conditions.

The project is part of the financing line granted by the European Research Council to Fernández Camacho, recognized for its research in automatic control, dynamic and robotics systems, with an approach to the modeling and control of complex systems. During his long career, he has participated in the design of algorithms for the optimization and improvement of automatic systems performance in different fields, such as industry and robotics, and currently works for the AICIA Technology Center, in addition to being an honorary researcher of the Department of Systems and Automatic Engineering of the University of Seville.

The objective of these proof of concept grants of the ERC is to promote the passage of the results of the investigations to its commercial or social application. Eduardo Fernández Camacho is one of the 20 Spanish researchers who have received this financing, which makes Spain the second country by number of researchers and institutions benefiting from these grants that the ERC has distributed in this call for 21 countries throughout Europe.

A fruitful and extensive career

Professor Fernández Camacho is a Doctor Industrial Engineer and Emeritus Professor of the University of Seville, in whose Higher Technical School of Engineering he has developed his extensive career as a teacher and researcher. Pioneer of the methodology called 'Predictive Control', has written several books, including Model Predictive Control, and innumerable articles in magazines. 

He was president of the European Union Control Association (EUCA) and presided over the International Affairs Committee of the Control Systems Society (CSS) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He was also a member of the IEEE CSS Board and the Council of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). He is an honorary member of IFAC and IEEE societies. 

In 2018, he received one of the prestigious Advanced Grant subsidies from the European Research Council (ERC) to work on the optimal control of thermal systems. He has directed 37 doctoral theses and has been the main researcher of multiple projects with financing.