Real-Time Demand Response Program Implementation Using Curtailment Service Provider

Nowadays, electricity network operators obligated to utilize the new concepts of power system, such as demand response program, due to peak shaving or reducing the power congestion in the peak periods. These types of management programs have a minimum capacity level for the consumers who tend to participate. This makes small and medium scale consumer incapable to participate in these programs. Therefore, a third party entity, such as a Curtailment Service Provider, can be a solution for this barrier since it is a bridge between the demand side and grid side. This paper provides a real-time simulation of a curtailment service provider that utilize realtime demand response programs for small and medium consumers and prosumers. The case study of the paper represents a network with 220 consumers and 68 distributed generations, which aims at the behavior of two small and medium scale prosumers during a real-time demand response program.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794 (project DREAMGO) and from FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and from National Funds through FCT, under the project UID/EEA/00760/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development and management of collective network and cloud computing infrastructures

Pla de Doctorat industrial de la Generalitat de CatalunyaIn the search and development of more participatory models for infrastructure development and management, in this dissertation, we investigate models for the financing, deployment, and operation of network and cloud computing infrastructures. Our main concern is to overcome the inherent exclusion in participation in the processes of development and management and in the right of use in the current dominant models. Our work starts by studying in detail the model of Guifi.net, a successful bottom-up initiative for building network infrastructure, generally referred to as a community networks. We pay special attention to its governance system and economic organisation because we argue that these are the key components of the success of this initiative. Then, we generalise our findings for any community network, aiming at becoming sustainable and scalable, and we explore the suitability of the Guifi.net model to the cloud computing infrastructure. As a result of both, we coin the attribute extensible to refer to infrastructure that is relatively easy to expand and maintain in contrast to those naturally limited or hard to expand, such as natural resources or highly complex or advanced artificial systems. We conclude proposing a generic model which, in our opinion, is suitable, at least, for managing extensible infrastructure. The Guifi.net model is deeply rooted in the commons; thus, the research in this field, in general, and Elinor Ostrom’s work, in particular, have left a profound imprint in our work. Our results show that the \guifinet model meets almost entirely the principles of long-enduring commons identified by E. Ostrom. This work has been developed as an industrial doctorate. As such, it combines academic research with elements of practice and pursues an effective knowledge transfer between academia and the private sector. Given that the private sector’s partner is a not-for-profit organisation, the effort to create social value has prevailed over the ambition to advance the development of a specific industrial product or particular technology.En la recerca i desenvolupament de models més participatius per al desenvolupament i gestió d'infraestructura, en aquesta tesi investiguem sobre models per al finançament, desplegament i operació d'infraestructures de xarxa i de computació al núvol. La nostra preocupació principal és fer front a l’exclusió inherent dels models dominants actualment pel que fa a la participació en els processos de desenvolupament i gestió i, també, als drets d’us. El nostre treball comença amb un estudi detallat del model de Guifi.net, un cas d'èxit d'iniciativa ciutadana en la construcció d'infraestructura de xarxa, iniciatives que es coneixen com a xarxes comunitàries. En fer-ho, parem una atenció especial al sistema de governança i a l’organització econòmica perquè pensem que són els dos elements claus de l'èxit d'aquesta iniciativa. Tot seguit passem a analitzar d'altres xarxes comunitàries per abundar en la comprensió dels factors determinants per a la seva sostenibilitat i escalabilitat. Després ampliem el nostre estudi analitzant la capacitat i el comportament del model de Guifi.net en el camp de les infraestructures de computació al núvol. A resultes d'aquests estudis, proposem l'atribut extensible per a descriure aquelles infraestructures que són relativament fàcil d'ampliar i gestionar, en contraposició a les que o bé estan limitades de forma natural o be són difícils d'ampliar, com ara els recursos naturals o els sistemes artificials avançats o complexos. Finalitzem aquest treball fent una proposta de model genèric que pensem que és d'aplicabilitat, com a mínim, a tot tipus d'infraestructura extensible. El model de Guifi.net està fortament vinculat als bens comuns. És per això que la recerca en aquest àmbit, en general, i els treballs de Elinor Ostrom en particular, han deixat una forta empremta en el nostre treball. Els resultats que hem obtingut mostren que el model Guifi.net s'ajusta molt bé als principis que segons Ostrom han de complir els béns comuns per ser sostenibles. Aquest treball s'ha desenvolupat com a doctorat industrial. Com a tal, combina la investigació acadèmica amb elements de practica i persegueix una transferència efectiva de coneixement entre l'àmbit acadèmic i el sector privat. Ates que el soci del sector privat és una organització sense ànim de lucre, l’esforç per crear valor social ha prevalgut en l’ambició d’avançar en el desenvolupament d'un producte industrial específic o d'una tecnologia particularPostprint (published version

Development and management of collective network and cloud computing infrastructures

In the search and development of more participatory models for infrastructure development and management, in this dissertation, we investigate models for the financing, deployment, and operation of network and cloud computing infrastructures. Our main concern is to overcome the inherent exclusion in participation in the processes of development and management and in the right of use in the current dominant models. Our work starts by studying in detail the model of Guifi.net, a successful bottom-up initiative for building network infrastructure, generally referred to as a community networks. We pay special attention to its governance system and economic organisation because we argue that these are the key components of the success of this initiative. Then, we generalise our findings for any community network, aiming at becoming sustainable and scalable, and we explore the suitability of the Guifi.net model to the cloud computing infrastructure. As a result of both, we coin the attribute extensible to refer to infrastructure that is relatively easy to expand and maintain in contrast to those naturally limited or hard to expand, such as natural resources or highly complex or advanced artificial systems. We conclude proposing a generic model which, in our opinion, is suitable, at least, for managing extensible infrastructure. The Guifi.net model is deeply rooted in the commons; thus, the research in this field, in general, and Elinor Ostrom’s work, in particular, have left a profound imprint in our work. Our results show that the \guifinet model meets almost entirely the principles of long-enduring commons identified by E. Ostrom. This work has been developed as an industrial doctorate. As such, it combines academic research with elements of practice and pursues an effective knowledge transfer between academia and the private sector. Given that the private sector’s partner is a not-for-profit organisation, the effort to create social value has prevailed over the ambition to advance the development of a specific industrial product or particular technology.En la recerca i desenvolupament de models més participatius per al desenvolupament i gestió d'infraestructura, en aquesta tesi investiguem sobre models per al finançament, desplegament i operació d'infraestructures de xarxa i de computació al núvol. La nostra preocupació principal és fer front a l’exclusió inherent dels models dominants actualment pel que fa a la participació en els processos de desenvolupament i gestió i, també, als drets d’us. El nostre treball comença amb un estudi detallat del model de Guifi.net, un cas d'èxit d'iniciativa ciutadana en la construcció d'infraestructura de xarxa, iniciatives que es coneixen com a xarxes comunitàries. En fer-ho, parem una atenció especial al sistema de governança i a l’organització econòmica perquè pensem que són els dos elements claus de l'èxit d'aquesta iniciativa. Tot seguit passem a analitzar d'altres xarxes comunitàries per abundar en la comprensió dels factors determinants per a la seva sostenibilitat i escalabilitat. Després ampliem el nostre estudi analitzant la capacitat i el comportament del model de Guifi.net en el camp de les infraestructures de computació al núvol. A resultes d'aquests estudis, proposem l'atribut extensible per a descriure aquelles infraestructures que són relativament fàcil d'ampliar i gestionar, en contraposició a les que o bé estan limitades de forma natural o be són difícils d'ampliar, com ara els recursos naturals o els sistemes artificials avançats o complexos. Finalitzem aquest treball fent una proposta de model genèric que pensem que és d'aplicabilitat, com a mínim, a tot tipus d'infraestructura extensible. El model de Guifi.net està fortament vinculat als bens comuns. És per això que la recerca en aquest àmbit, en general, i els treballs de Elinor Ostrom en particular, han deixat una forta empremta en el nostre treball. Els resultats que hem obtingut mostren que el model Guifi.net s'ajusta molt bé als principis que segons Ostrom han de complir els béns comuns per ser sostenibles. Aquest treball s'ha desenvolupat com a doctorat industrial. Com a tal, combina la investigació acadèmica amb elements de practica i persegueix una transferència efectiva de coneixement entre l'àmbit acadèmic i el sector privat. Ates que el soci del sector privat és una organització sense ànim de lucre, l’esforç per crear valor social ha prevalgut en l’ambició d’avançar en el desenvolupament d'un producte industrial específic o d'una tecnologia particula

Something Old, Something New: Forecasting Willing Buyer/Willing Seller’s Impact on Songwriter Royalties

Mechanical royalties payable to songwriters for digital reproductions of their works on services such as Spotify and Apple Music are determined through a convoluted quasi-trial in front of an administrative body called the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”). The CRB is itself governed by statutory rate standards that constrain the types of evidence and analyses it may consider when setting royalty rates. In 2018, Congress passed a much-heralded, consensus piece of music legislation called the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”). The MMA attacked a broad swath of issues across the music industry, including, most visibly, establishing a blanket license for digital mechanical licenses, and a statutory entity to administer that license. But buried within the MMA was a less-celebrated wrinkle: a provision that replaced the old 801(b) rate standard used by the CRB for mechanical royalties with a new “willing buyer/willing seller” rate standard. While the new standard was seen as a victory for songwriters, its precise practical effects remain unsettled. Will it really increase rates? If so, why? What evidence, arguments, and analysis will it allow—and foreclose—relative to the old standard? This Comment seeks to answer these questions through a comparative case study of two past CRB proceedings. First, it dissects the analyses that shaped the CRB’s Phonorecords III decision—the most recent mechanical royalty rate-setting proceeding, and the last to use the old 801(b) rate standard. Second, it undertakes a similar analysis of the CRB’s Web IV decision, the most recent instance in which the CRB applied the willing buyer/willing seller standard to a rate-setting proceeding for a different rights type (the digital performance of sound recordings). It then compares and contrasts those two proceedings to predict how willing buyer/willing seller will operate in the digital mechanical royalty context. From that comparison it concludes that, while the change does skew songwriter-friendly, there is also a significant amount of uncertainty that may render the change less significant than copyright owners hope—and music licensees fear

Economic Analysis of Sustainable Spatial Allocation of Energy Systems: A Theoretical Examination and an Agent-Based Model of Renewable Energy Systems

The question how a least-cost spatial allocation of sustainable electricity infrastructure may look like using different decision-making procedures (markets, different kinds of land-use and grid regulations) has not yet been analysed explicitly. We measure the sustainability of emerging energy landscapes providing power from renewable energy sources (RES) by an overall welfare function also comprising all kinds of space-related disutilities, i.e. spatial externalities - be they site-specific or related to the distance to a residential area (consumer centre). The presented agent-based model (ABM) concept aims at assessing different policy scenarios to govern the land-use for energetic purposes under the constraint of ensuring the electricity supply for a virtual landscape with RES. To derive optimal spatial allocation an agent-based modelling approach is implemented, which includes a virtual landscape, three settlements as demand centres and profit-oriented producers of renewable power. For the design of the electricity grid and the calculation of grid-related reinforcement costs a load-flow model is applied, being also able to map grid externalities during the RES expansion in space. The model allows RES producers to choose profit-maximising cells for plant installations until the given demand for power of the virtual landscape is met. Different policy scenarios allocate particular costs to agents (e.g. grid reinforcement costs, spatial externalities) or restrict the land-use with respect to ecological or social restraints. Furthermore, consumer centres have the possibility to follow own particular regional strategies, to increase their individual benefit. The overall efficiency of allocation (total cost level) as well as the distributional fairness (regional net costs) are evaluated for the policy scenarios and the regional strategies

A Cooperative Game Theory Approach for Cost Allocation in Complex Water Resource Systems

In order to obtain an optimal water resource planning and management, a fair and efficient rule of cost allocation among the different water users has a very important function. Starting from a correct assignation of costs it is possible to establish the basis to define the pricing policy that considers the principles of cost recovery and the adequate contribution for the different water uses as required by the Directive 2000/60/EC (EU, 2000). The majority of cost allocation methods currently used in water resources system do not highlight the motivation of adopted criteria; so, we wonder why the users should accept an assignation which exceeds their opportunity cost or their willingness to pay (Young, 1985). The main problem searching for a commonly accepted division of costs is how to share the costs in a fair and just way providing an adequate justification of criteria of the adopted methods. Therefore, the aim of the research is to individuate an impartial and fair method for cost sharing for all the users who respect the principles of individual acceptability and general agreement and to argue for voluntary cooperation among the interested agents in order to maximize the efficiency of water resource management. In this thesis we present a methodology of water services cost allocation based on Cooperative Game Theory, which can be a very usable instrument for the decision makers in order to elaborate pricing policies for water resources systems, according to the principles of the Directive 2000/60/EC. The validation of the methodology has been realized for the water system Flumendosa-Campidano in Sardinia