Hybrid models for the evaluation of energy sustainability in urban areas

Urban population in the world accounts for 54%, with 69% in Italy, and it continues to grow (The United Nations Population Division's World Urbanization Prospects, 2015). In this work, energy sustainability has been analysed in urban contexts with high energy consumptions and low availability of renewable energy sources. The sustainable management of energy is a great opportunity in the complex environments of urban areas where the buildings are always an important contributor. Main results of recent research activities, carried out by the authors, are presented with energy-use models for buildings considering statistical bottom-up and top-down models. These models have been tested on about 50 municipalities in the Metropolitan City of Turin comparing the results of bottom-up models (at building scale) with the top-down model at municipal scale using a GIS tool. Finally, new hybrid models have been integrated to consider urban morphology, solar exposition and microclimatic variables of different urban environments. The use of a GIS tool consents to manage and represent buildings data at urban scale

Chapter The EU Research Project PLANET

Renewable energy sources offer unprecedented opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But some challenges remain to be solved before their full benefits can be reaped. The main one relates to the intermittency of their electricity supply which can lead to grid problems such as congestion and imbalance between generation and demand. Energy conversion and storage has been touted as a very promising solution to all aforementioned issues. PLANET will develop a holistic decision support system for the optimal orchestration of the different energy networks for aggregators and balance responsible parties, policy makers and network operators. It will aid them to leverage innovative energy conversion in alternative carriers and storage technologies in order to explore, identify, evaluate and quantitatively assess optimal grid planning and management strategies for future energy scenarios targetting full energy system decarbonization. Moreover, an analysis of the possible synergies between electricity, gas and heat networks will be carried out by creating simulation models for the integration between energy networks and conversion/storage technologies, for example power-to-gas, power-to-heat and virtual thermal energy storage. Application of the developed tools in two different test cases in Italy and France will showcase their benefits and reveal potential grid stability issues and effective countermeasures

Energy networks in sustainable cities: towards a lull integration of renewable systems in urban area

The European Commission is supporting many projects intended to improve the use of renewable energy sources and a special attention has been devoted to the case of large scale urban areas. The project POLYCITY represents a significant demonstration of this energy policy which is applied to 3 cities: Barcelona, Stuttgart and Torino. The case of Torino appears of particular relevance because it is dedicated to the improvement of existing building and installations which is in our opinion the most frequent situation. In particular the most qualifying characteristic of Torino project is the installation of a new combined heat and power generator (CHP) coupled with the existing district heating and an absorption chiller in order to supply energy more efficiently in a district which include the Housing Authority of the Province of Torino (ATC) and 30 council buildings. The paper describes this project highlighting the use of renewable sources and the initial results. The preliminary assessment of our experiment will be discussed according to socio-economic, environmental and energetic indicators

The PLANET Project: A Tool for Flexibility in the Energy Transition

Renewable energy resources offer immense prospects to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, whilst addressing the growing energy demand. In recent years, owing to falling costs and supportive policies, the integration of renewable energy has expanded significantly. Nevertheless, challenges to its further expansion are raised due to the inherent variability of renewable energy production (‘vRES’) coupled with grid stability considerations, which – if not properly addressed – shall lead to vRES generation curtailment. The latter would cause renewable capacity expansion to decelerate, reductions in the capacity factors of vRES technologies and subsequent economic losses, to name a few. Against this backdrop, PLANET has developed a holistic decision support system for utilities, network operators and policy makers to help them implement optimal grid planning and management solutions compatible with complete decarbonization of the energy system. To that end, the project leverages energy conversion and storage technologies, such as Power-to-Gas, Power-to-Heat, Combined Heat and Power, Thermal storages and Virtual Energy Storage. These technologies have been deemed very promising to address issues related to the integration of renewables in the electricity grid, by enabling coordination of the electricity, heat and gas sectors towards revealing the maximum potential of network flexibility, a vital prerequisite for ensuring security of supply. The PLANET project commenced in November 2017 with the participation of 11 partners from 7 different countries: Italy, Finland, Greece, UK, Germany, France and Belgium including technical universities, research centers and associations, consultancy firms, utilities and information technology companie

The EU Research Project PLANET

Renewable energy sources offer unprecedented opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But some challenges remain to be solved before their full benefits can be reaped. The main one relates to the intermittency of their electricity supply which can lead to grid problems such as congestion and imbalance between generation and demand. Energy conversion and storage has been touted as a very promising solution to all aforementioned issues. PLANET will develop a holistic decision support system for the optimal orchestration of the different energy networks for aggregators and balance responsible parties, policy makers and network operators. It will aid them to leverage innovative energy conversion in alternative carriers and storage technologies in order to explore, identify, evaluate and quantitatively assess optimal grid planning and management strategies for future energy scenarios targetting full energy system decarbonization. Moreover, an analysis of the possible synergies between electricity, gas and heat networks will be carried out by creating simulation models for the integration between energy networks and conversion/storage technologies, for example power-to-gas, power-to-heat and virtual thermal energy storage. Application of the developed tools in two different test cases in Italy and France will showcase their benefits and reveal potential grid stability issues and effective countermeasures

Best Practice Book - Training on energy audits as an Energy Efficiency DRIVER for the automotive sector

The Project E2DRIVER has been active for three years tackling the issue of energy efficiency in the automotive sector and particularly in the companies that belong to its complex manufacturing supply chains. By research results on this peculiar sector, it comes into evidence how the vast majority of the total European energy in production processes takes place in small- and medium-scale auto parts suppliers. Following the famous quote from Lord Kelvin, also known as William Thompson “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.”, the improvement in energy efficiency must firstly go through its effective quantification by means of energy audits. The goal of E2DRIVER is thus to train SMEs in the automotive sector in energy auditing and on energy saving measures for cost-effective energy efficiency improvements. To overcome the lack of knowledge, skills and awareness, often prevalent in this industrial segment, the project’s integrative approach aims at boosting capacity building programmes in energy auditing by establishing an innovative learning platform and methodology

Advanced Functionally Integrated E-Axle for A-Segment Electric Vehicles

This paper describes the latest advancements and interim results of the EU project FITGEN, aiming at developing a functionally integrated e-axle ready for mass-market in the third generation of electric vehicles. Among the key features of the developed e-axle, the high torque density 6-phase synchronous motor is fed by an high efficiency inverter adopting the last generation of SiC power MOSFETs. A DC/DC converter between the battery and the inverter permits a regulated high voltage dc-link during traction, and provides embedded compatibility with fast charging stations having different voltage ratings up to 800V. The e-axle is completed by a single speed transmission gearbox, an innovative cooling system and an on-board charger. Dedicated algorithms are developed for the control of the motor and the DC/DC converter, to maximize the efficiency during traction exploiting a variable dc-link voltage. After an overview and description of each e-axle component, the paper also details the planned exploitation strategy of the developed technologies

Energy Saving in Social Housing: an Innovative ICT Service for Occupant Behaviour

The European Commission is supporting many projects in the field of energy saving, with the aim to improve inhabitants behavior and to help Europe to meet emission targets. The objective of the Balanced European Conservation Approach - ICT services for resource saving in social housing (BECA) Project is to enable consumption reduction of key resources in European Social Housing by providing usable ICT-based services for Resource Management and Resource Use Awareness, directly by tenants. The project is developing a range of ICT innovative services to be provided to the inhabitants of 7 different European cities: Örebro (Sweden), Manresa (Spain), Darmstadt (Germany), Torino (Italy), Havirov (Czech Republic), Ruse (Bulgaria), and Belgrade (Serbia). The ICT service will deliver to tenants information with direct timely and comprehensible feedback on the impact of their behavior on a full range of resource uses, thereby enabling tenants to save energy and water. This paper describes the project highlighting the adoption of ICT service in Torino and the initial results

Assessment of potential energy producible from agricultural biomass in the municipalities of the Novara plain

District energy systems emerged as a best practice approach for providing a local, affordable and low-carbon energy supply. District energy represents a significant opportunity for cities to move towards climate-resilient, resource-efficient and low-carbon pathways. The integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are the core of the transition to the sustainable energy future. The paper showcases the central role of cities in the energy transition and the case study of a District Heating network is presented. The location of the DH power station in Trecate (NO, Italy) have been defined and some buildings have been chosen as final users. Based on the specific environment in Trecate and assumptions from previously DH existing plants, the feasibility of the DH is analysed and the time required to be recovered for the investment cost is evaluated