A Software for Calculating the Economic Aspects of Floating Offshore Renewable Energies

[Abstract] The aim of this work is to develop a software to calculate the economic parameters so as to determine the feasibility of a floating offshore renewable farm in a selected location. The software can calculate the economic parameters of several types of offshore renewable energies, as follows: one renewable energy (floating offshore wind—WindFloat, tension leg platform (TLP), and spar; floating wave energy—Pelamis and AquaBuoy), hybrid offshore wind and wave systems (Wave Dragon and W2Power), and combined offshore wind and waves with different systems (independent arrays, peripherally distributed arrays, uniformly distributed arrays, and non-uniformly distributed arrays). The user can select several inputs, such as the location, configuration of the farm, type of floating offshore platform, type of power of the farm, life-cycle of the farm, electric tariff, capital cost, corporate tax, steel cost, percentage of financing, or interest and capacity of the shipyard. The case study is focused on the Galicia region (NW of Spain). The results indicate the economic feasibility of a farm of floating offshore renewable energy in a particular location in terms of its costs, levelized cost of energy (LCOE), internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and discounted pay-back period. The tool allows for establishing conclusions about the dependence of the offshore wind resource parameters, the main distances (farm–shore, farm–shipyard, and farm–port), the parameters of the waves, and the bathymetry of the area selecte

The Decarbonisation of Galicia Using Renewable Marine Energy

Paper: 19th International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ’21) Almeria (Spain), 28th to 30th July 2021[Abstract] The objective of this paper is to examine the importance of independent arrays in the offshore renewable energy farms. In this context, several scenarios have been contemplated for a floating offshore renewable energy farm: a farm only using floating wave energy; a farm only using floating offshore wind energy; and a farm composed by floating wave energy and floating offshore wind energy installed in independent arrays. The article proposes a method to calculate the main economic parameters and decide their economic feasibility. A hypothetic offshore renewable energy farm located in the Galicia region (Spain) has been studied as case of study. Results show which of the scenarios has the best economic results. This method is worthwhile to compare different floating offshore renewable energy technologies in economic terms and help in the decision making of this new emerging sector that can help to rebuild Europe in the post-pandemic period.This research was funded by Project PID2019-105386RA-I00 “Design of a tool for the selection of offshore renewable energy locations and technologies: application to Spanish territorial waters (SEARENEW)”, financed by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación – Agencia Estatal de Investigación/10.13039/50110001103

Numerical Analysis of NOₓ Reduction Using Ammonia Injection and Comparison With Water Injection

[Abstract] This work analyzes NOₓ reduction in a marine diesel engine using ammonia injection directly into the cylinder and compares this procedure with water injection. A numerical model based on the so-called inert species method was applied. It was verified that ammonia injection can provide almost 80% NOₓ reduction for the conditions analyzed. Furthermore, it was found that the effectiveness of the chemical effect using ammonia is extremely dependent on the injection timing. The optimum NOₓ reduction was obtained when ammonia is injected during the expansion stroke, while the optimum injection timing using water is near top dead center. Chemical, thermal, and dilution effects of both ammonia and water injection were compared. The chemical effect was dominant in the case of ammonia injection. On the other hand, water injection reduces NOₓ through dilution and, more significantly, through a thermal effect

Methodology to study the life cycle cost of floating offshore wind farms

The main objective of this paper is to determine a theoretical methodology process to study the life cycle cost of floating offshore wind farms. The principal purpose is adapting the LCC (Life-Cycle Cost Calculation) from several authors to the offshore wind energy world, providing a new method which will be called LCSFOWF. In this sense, several general steps will be defined: life cycle definition, process breakdown structure, viability study and sensitivity study. Moreover, technical and economic issues and their relations will be considered. On the other hand, six life cycle phases needed to install a floating offshore wind farm will be defined: conception and definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling. They will be useful to define the majority of the steps in the process. This methodology could be considered to calculate the real cost of constructing floating offshore wind farms

Methodology to Calculate the Costs of a Floating Offshore Renewable Energy Farm

This paper establishes a general methodology to calculate the life-cycle cost of floating offshore renewable energy devices, applying it to wave energy and wind energy devices. It is accounts for the contributions of the six main phases of their life-cycle: concept definition, design and development, manufacturing, installation, exploitation and dismantling, the costs of which have been defined. Moreover, the energy produced is also taken into account to calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. The methodology proposed has been applied to two renewable energy devices: a floating offshore wave energy device and a floating offshore wind energy device. Two locations have been considered: Aguçadoura and São Pedro de Moel, both in Portugal. Results indicate that the most important cost in terms of the life-cycle of a floating offshore renewable energy farm is the exploitation cost, followed by the manufacturing and the installation cost. In addition, the best area in terms of costs is the same independently of the type of floating offshore renewable energy considered: Aguçadoura. However, the results in terms of Levelized Cost of Energy are different: Aguçadoura is better when considering wave energy technology and the São Pedro de Moel region is the best option when considering floating wind energy technology. The method proposed aims to give a direct approach to calculate the main life-cycle cost of a floating offshore renewable energy farm. It helps to assess its feasibility and evaluating the relevant characteristics that influence it the most

Optimization of a Multiple Injection System in a Marine Diesel Engine through a Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

[Abstract] In this work, a numerical model was developed to analyze the performance and emissions of a marine diesel engine, the Wärtsilä 6L 46. This model was validated using experimental measurements and was employed to analyze several pre-injection parameters such as pre-injection rate, duration, and starting instant. The modification of these parameters may lead to opposite effects on consumption and/or emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydrocarbons (HC). According to this, the main goal of the present work is to employ a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach to characterize the most appropriate injection pattern. Since determining the criteria weights significantly influences the overall result of a MCDM problem, a subjective weighting method was compared with four objective weighting methods: entropy, CRITIC (CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation), variance, and standard deviation. The results showed the importance of subjectivism over objectivism in MCDM analyses. The CRITIC, variance, and standard deviation methods assigned more importance to NOₓ emissions and provided similar results. Nevertheless, the entropy method assigned more importance to consumption and provided a different injection pattern

Methodology to design an economic and strategic offshore wind energy Roadmap in Portugal

The main objective of this paper is to establish a roadmap for offshore wind energy in Portugal. It will determine the best sea areas to install fixed and floating offshore wind farms in this region, using spatial analysis of four economic indexes: Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Net Present Value (NPV), Discounted Pay-Back Period (DPBP) and Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE). Several economic parameters will be considered (Portuguese offshore tariff, investment and O&M costs, credit values, etc.).Three different discount rates were used into the sensitivity analysis. Several types of physical restrictions will be taking into account: submarine electrical cables, bathymetry, seabed geology, environmental conditions, protected areas in terms of heritage, navigation areas, seismic fault lines, etc. Moreover, location settings as proximity to shipyards or ports will be considered to complement the strategy. All of them will define the resulting area to install offshore wind farms along Portuguese coast. Spatial operations, considering economic, physical and strategic issues, have been carried out using Model Builder of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. Results indicate the Portuguese areas economically suitable for installing offshore wind farms

The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of wave energy using GIS based analysis: the case study of Portugal

The main objective of this paper is to establish an economic modelling of wave energy through a Geographical Information System (GIS). Furthermore, this method has been tested for the particular case of the Portuguese coast. It determines the best sea areas to install wave energy converters in this region, using spatial analysis of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). Several economic parameters, as capital or O&M costs, have been considered. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed by varying the discount rate in three different scenarios. Several types of physical restrictions have been taken into account: bathymetry, submarine electrical cables, seabed geology, environmental conditions, protected areas in terms of heritage, navigation areas, seismic fault lines, etc. Spatial operations have been carried out to complete the procedure, using Model Builder of GIS software. Results indicate the most suitable areas in economic terms in Portugal to install wave energy devices

Analysis and Diagnosis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in a Galician Association of Entrepreneurs

[Resumo] A responsabilidade social empresarial (RSE) comeza a ser un dos ámbitos importantes dentro dunha empresa, como noutros días o foron a prevención de riscos laborais ou a calidade. No entanto, os estudos en entidades sen ánimo de lucro son escasos. Por tal motivo, este traballo pretende analizar e diagnosticar a RSE nunha asociación de empresarios galega. Neste sentido, considéranse os aspectos legais, identifícanse os grupos de interese mediante as matrices de importancia-influencia e impacto-probabilidade, lévase a cabo un diagnóstico de percepcións e cuantitativo da situación actual da entidade e, finalmente, realízase unha análise das súas debilidades, ameazas, fortalezas e oportunidades. As conclusións permiten determinar cales son os focos en termos de RSE que a organización pode mellorar no futuro.[Abstract] Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming one of the most important fields in a company, as risk prevention and quality were years ago. However, there are not enough studies about non-profit organizations. This is the main reason why the present study will analyse the CSR in a Galician association of entrepreneurs. In this regard, several aspects can be considered: legal issues, stakeholders (importance-influence matrix and impactprobability matrix), insight and quantitative study and, finally, the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Conclusions determine where the focus in CSR terms should be in the future

The Effects of Exchange Experience on the Professional Identity Constitution of Undergraduates from CEFET-MG

International academic mobility programs are increasingly expanding, mainly due to the process of institutionalization of Brazilian educational institutions. The exchange experience can enable greater foreign language learning, intercultural, academic, and professional development of students, and a partnership network, which can contribute to future partnerships and/or job opportunities. Thus, the objective of this work was to understand some effects of meaning in the Campus Divinópolis CEFET-MG undergraduate students’ identity constitution, due to their experience studying abroad, in addition to identifying the representations that emerge in the discourse of the subjects participating in the research in relation to international exchange. This is qualitative research and the instruments we used to form the corpus were written autobiographical narratives and semi-structured interviews with the subjects participating in this study via Google Meet. Then, this study has an interpretive nature, as it allows different interpretations of the collected material. Four students from the Mechatronics Engineering course participated in our research, who, when narrating their experiences, brought their representations to life. The importance of exchange for personal, academic, and professional growth reverberated in the participants' statements, allowing constant identity transformation. Finally, this study can contribute to a better understanding of the need for the internationalization process of our institution, allowing an evaluation of international academic mobility programs, in addition to encouraging other students to seek these opportunities offered by the institution