Heuristic optimization of clusters of heat pumps: A simulation and case study of residential frequency reserve

The technological challenges of adapting energy systems to the addition of more renewables are intricately interrelated with the ways in which markets incentivize their development and deployment. Households with own onsite distributed generation augmented by electrical and thermal storage capacities (prosumers), can adjust energy use based on the current needs of the electricity grid. Heat pumps, as an established technology for enhancing energy efficiency, are increasingly seen as having potential for shifting electricity use and contributing to Demand Response (DR). Using a model developed and validated with monitoring data of a household in a plus-energy neighborhood in southern Germany, the technical and financial viability of utilizing household heat pumps to provide power in the market for Frequency Restoration Reserve (FRR) are studied. The research aims to evaluate the flexible electrical load offered by a cluster of buildings whose heat pumps are activated depending on selected rule-based participation strategies. Given the prevailing prices for FRR in Germany, the modelled cluster was unable to reduce overall electricity costs and thus was unable to show that DR participation as a cluster with the heat pumps is financially viable. Five strategies that differed in the respective contractual requirements that would need to be agreed upon between the cluster manager and the aggregator were studied. The relatively high degree of flexibility necessary for the heat pumps to participate in FRR activations could be provided to varying extents in all strategies, but the minimum running time of the heat pumps turned out to be the primary limiting physical (and financial) factor. The frequency, price and duration of the activation calls from the FRR are also vital to compensate the increase of the heat pumps’ energy use. With respect to thermal comfort and self-sufficiency constraints, the buildings were only able to accept up to 34% of the activation calls while remaining within set comfort parameters. This, however, also depends on the characteristics of the buildings. Finally, a sensitivity analysis showed that if the FRR market changed and the energy prices were more advantageous, the proposed approaches could become financially viable. This work suggests the need for further study of the role of heat pumps in flexibility markets and research questions concerning the aggregation of local clusters of such flexible technologies.Comisión Europea 69596

Renewable Energy Access and Resilience in Urban Developing Areas: Distributed Solar Networks and Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading in Puerto Rico

This senior essay under the Environmental Studies major at Yale University explores the environmental and social benefits of applying innovative technology to the energy sector. Three types of energy networks are analyzed, focusing on the use of distributed energy and peer to peer energy trading on a blockchain platform. The benefits of distributed renewable energy networks can most strongly be applied to locations in need of more reliable, resilient, and cost-effective electricity. Puerto Rico is a case study. Methods include analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration and Census Bureau data as well as personal interviews with Puerto Rican energy developers. A financial model was created to tailor a power-purchase-agreement format to residential solar in order to develop an alternative funding method to the current grid price of electricity of 22.77 cents per kWh in Puerto Rico. The hurricanes of 2017 damaged the entire island, and every problem was exacerbated by the prolonged and total lack of power. Building a network of distributed solar energy through residential and school rooftops in Puerto Rico is argued in this thesis to be the best post-hurricane action to take in order to improve energy reliability, affordability, access, and resilience to future disasters and risks

NETWORKED MICROGRID OPTIMIZATION AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Military vehicles possess attributes consistent with a microgrid, containing electrical energy generation, storage, government furnished equipment (GFE), and the ability to share these capabilities via interconnection. Many military vehicles have significant energy storage capacity to satisfy silent watch requirements, making them particularly well-suited to share their energy storage capabilities with stationary microgrids for more efficient energy management. Further, the energy generation capacity and the fuel consumption rate of the vehicles are comparable to standard diesel generators, for certain scenarios, the use of the vehicles could result in more efficient operation. Energy management of a microgrid is an open area of research especially in generation constrained scenarios where shedding of low-priority loads may be required. Typical metrics used to assess the effectiveness of an energy management strategy or policy include fuel consumption, electrical storage energy requirements, or the net exergy destruction. When considering a military outpost consisting of a stationary microgrid and a set of vehicles, the metrics used for managing the network become more complex. For example, the metrics used to manage a vehicle’s onboard equipment while on patrol may include fuel consumption, the acoustic signature, and the heat signature. Now consider that the vehicles are parked at an outpost and participating in vehicle-to-grid power-sharing and control. The metrics used to manage the grid assets may now include fuel consumption, the electrical storage’s state of charge, frequency regulation, load prioritization, and load dispatching. The focus of this work is to develop energy management and control strategies that allow a set of diverse assets to be controlled, yielding optimal operation. The provided policies result in both short-term and long-term optimal control of the electrical generation assets. The contributions of this work were: (1) development of a methodology to generate a time-varying electrical load based on (1) a U.S. Army-relevant event schedule and (2) a set of meteorological conditions, resulting in a scenario rich environment suitable for modeling and control of hybrid AC/DC tactical military microgrids, (2) the development of a multi-tiered hierarchical control architecture, suitable for development of both short and long term optimal energy management strategies for hybrid electric microgrids, and (3) the development of blending strategies capable of blending a diverse set of heterogeneous assets with multiple competing objective functions. This work could be extended to include a more diverse set of energy generation assets, found within future energy networks

Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Study of a Light Rail Transit System

The TFG title mentioned consists on a RAM Study of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) System. Its aim lies in achieving a defined level of service in a given time, by demonstrating quantitatively and qualitatively the availability of the system. The Quality of the Service has to be guaranteed by the application of engineering concepts, methods, techniques and tools, such as ITEM Toolkit.    This study is a first approach to the Preliminary Engineering Analysis of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) System. The study is divided into four interrelated parts. The first one consists on a presentation of the RAM Discipline, by a development of its theoretical foundations and the four Key Performance Indicators used through all the study. The methodology employed during the analysis and actual methods used for RAM analysis are also described in this section. Then, it has been developed a Failure Mode and Effects Criticality Analysis (FMECA) with a subsequent Sensitive Analysis to ensure that the results are binary in terms of probability. With that, a consequent Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) has been carried out. After that, the third part of the study provides the LRT RAM Requirements Apportionment and last, but not least, Preventive/Corrective Actions have been proposed

Town of Farmington, New Hampshire 2021 annual report.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

2014 Annual town report Brookline, New Hampshire.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

Town of Farmington, New Hampshire 2020 annual report.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

Energy efficiency savings allowance in South Africa : an international comparison

New and proposed tax relief sections have been added to the Income Tax Act no 58 of 1962 over the past few years and this is an indication that the South African (SA) Government acknowledges that there is considerable investment required, by both SA taxpayers and the SA Government, to go “green” and to save energy. The National Treasury proposed the introduction of section 12L to the Income Tax Act No 58 of 1962 (the Act) in the 2009 Taxation Laws Amendment Act. This will provide an incentive for taxpayers to benefit from energy savings by incurring capital expenditure with the purpose of reducing energy consumption. The idea with the proposed section 12L is that the more energy one saves, the less tax one pays. However, the proposed introduction of section 12L has led to uncertainty as to the process to be followed by a taxpayer, in order to qualify for the allowance. There will be a discussion on whether this notional allowance will be in addition to the allowances and deductions based on actual expenditure incurred in the investment of new green technologies. The objective during the current study is to examine how government should formulate SA legislation in terms of section 12L of the Act to stimulate investment in the conversion of old technologies to new “green” technology. The challenges of improved energy savings will be addressed in the SA context, and compared to similar legislation in China and the United Kingdom (UK). This comparison will identify the gaps, alternatives and possible improvements to the proposed SA section 12L. AFRIKAANS : Nuwe en voorgestelde wetsartikels vir die vermindering van belasting is gedurende die laaste paar jaar ingedien. Dit is ’n aanduiding dat die Suid-Afrikaanse (SA) Regering erken dat aansienlike belegging benodig word om “groen” te raak en om krag te bespaar. Die Nasionale Tesourie het die indiening van artikel 12L in die Inkomste belasting Wet Nr. 58 van 1962 (Die Wet) in die 2009 Belasting Wysigingswet voorgestel. Dit sal as aansporing dien vir belastingbetalers om voordeel te trek uit energiebesparing deur om kapitaaluitgawes wat lei tot die vermindering van kragverbruik aan te gaan. Die idée agter die voorgestelde artikel 12L is dat hoe meer energie ’n mens spaar, hoe minder belasting jy hoef te betaal. Die voorgestelde indiening van wetsartikel 12L lei egter tot onsekerheid oor die proses wat die belatingbetaler moet volg om vir die toelaag te kwalifiseer. Die bespreking sal insluit of hierdie voorgestelde toelaag bykomend sal wees tot die toelae en aftrekkings wat gegrond is op werklike uitgawes wat aangegaan is tydens belegging in die nuwe groen tegnologie. Die doelwit met hierdie studie is om ondersoek in te stel in hoe die regering die SA wetgewing in terme van artikel 12L van die belastingwet moet formuleer om sodoende belegging in die omskakeling van die ou tegnologie na die nuwe “groen” tegnologie te stimuleer. Die uitdaging van energie besparing sal in die SA konteks aangespreek word en vergelyk word met soortgelyke wetgewing in die Verenigde Koningkryk (VK) en China. Die gapings, alternatiewe en moontlike verbeterings in die voorgestelde wetsartikel 12L sal tydens hierdie vergelyking identifiseer word. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Du Toit, EF 2011, Energy efficiency savings allowance in South Africa : an international comparison, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd F12/4/146/gmDissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Taxationunrestricte

The application of volt/var optimisation on South African distribution power networks.

Master of Science in Engineering. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.Electric power utilities can achieve cost savings by maximizing energy delivery efficiency and optimizing peak demand. Technical losses are influenced by both network impedances and currents. Power flow through distribution components are composed of active and reactive components. The reactive power does no real work, but contributes to the overall technical losses. By the appropriate placement and operation of reactive power compensation devices, reactive power flows could either be eliminated or significantly minimized, thus, inherently reducing technical losses. This research investigation presents a method for reactive power compensation of medium voltage radial networks as a cost-effective approach to achieve loss minimization and voltage regulation improvement. The study addresses the optimal placement of distributed shunt capacitors along distribution feeders. A mathematical formulation is developed to show that there is a specific location for a given size of capacitor bank that produces the maximum power loss reduction for a given load distribution on a network. In the Eskom distribution system, for those networks that are voltage constrained, the application of capacitors will also consider raising voltages to statutory requirements, however at the expense of the power loss reduction capability. The method developed maximizes both voltage and power loss reduction. Switching and control strategies are developed to meet these objectives throughout a day cycle. The methodology was tested on an Eskom distribution medium voltage network by power system simulation. Results obtained of improvements in voltage regulation and feeder losses are presented and discussed. The application of shunt compensation and the associated feeder voltage regulation improvement is an enabler for Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) that can be applied for demand reduction during peak times. Control strategies for CVR are presented, to cater for an integrated Volt/VAr solution for distribution networks. Furthermore, an assessment of CVR potential within Eskom Distribution networks is presented. This research forms the inception for a series of studies aimed at incorporating Volt/VAr optimization within Eskom Distribution networks