Final report - Leicester City Hall Operational Pilot: V2B and V2G at Leicester City Hall – case study

This report provides evaluation of the SEEV4-City Operational Pilot at Leicester City Hall, in the city of Leicester, U.K. In cooperation with Cenex UK, a demonstration project was set up to evaluate the technical requirements and commercial benefits of V2B (Vehicle to Building) technology at Leicester City Hall, U.K. It is part of a collection of reports published by the project covering a variation of specific and cross-cutting analysis and evaluation perspectives and spans 6 operational pilots. This report is dedicated to the analysis of the pilot itself

Online machine learning of available capacity for vehicle-to-grid services during the coronavirus pandemic

Vehicle-to-grid services make use of the aggregated capacity available from a fleet of vehicles to participate in energy markets, help integrate renewable energy in the grid and balance energy use. In this paper, the critical components of such a service are described in the context of a commercial service that is currently under development. Key among these components is the prediction of available capacity at a future time. In this paper, we extend a previous work that used a deep learning recurrent neural network for this task to include online machine learning, which enables the network to continually refine its predictions based on observed behaviour. The coronavirus pandemic that was declared in 2020 resulted in closures of the university and substantial changes to the behaviour of the university fleet. In this work, the impact of this change in vehicles usage was used to test the predictions of a network initially trained using vehicle trip data from 2019 with and without online machine learning. It is shown that prediction error is significantly reduced using online machine learning, and it is concluded that a similar capability will be of critical importance for a commercial service such as the one described in this paper

Exploring Opportunities for Vehicle-to-Grid Implementation through Demonstration Projects

Global warming, pollution, and increasing energy demand have compelled electrification of the transport sector. Electric vehicles are not only an attractive and cleaner mode of transport, but they also possess the capacity to offer flexible storage alternative based on bidirectional vehicle-to-grid schemes. Vehicle-to-grid or V2G technology permits electric vehicles’ batteries to store energy and discharge it back to the power grid during peak-load periods. However, the feasibility and economic viability of V2G is still a matter of concern and needs investigation. In this paper, the authors delved into the feasibility of V2G technology by analysing the real time-charging data of a V2G demonstration project named EV-elocity, located at the University of Nottingham campus in the UK. The authors analysed the charging data and trip-status data of two charging sites and put forward some insights regarding the feasibility of V2G and the behavioural traits of the vehicles. This paper will enlighten the research community regarding the feasibility and benefits of V2G in a real-world environment by analysing the charging/discharging and vehicle behaviour and reporting the opportunities and benefits of vehicle-to-grid technology

SEEV4-City approach to KPI Methodology

SEEV4-City is an innovation project funded by the EU Interreg North Sea Region Programme. Its main objective is to demonstrate smart electric mobility and renewable energy solutions integration and share its learnings. The project must report on the results of 6 Operational Pilots (OPs) of the following three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): A. Estimated CO2 reduction B. Estimated increase in energy autonomy C. Estimated Saving from Grid Investment Deferral The project aimed to establish a common methodology to calculate the contributions to the three main KPIs with significant level of detail and accuracy (where feasible). This was a collaborative exercise between Work package (WP) partners leading WP3-Intelligence (Data analysis, monitoring and simulation), WP4- Operational Pilots Implementation and Coordination and WP5-Policy and Business Case work packages and was done in consultation with the OP partners. The result of this effort is collated in this defined approach the KPI Methodology report. It is part of a collection of reports published by the project covering a variation of specific and cross-cutting analysis as well as different evaluation perspectives spanning the 6 operational pilots

Optical systems integrated modeling

An integrated modeling capability that provides the tools by which entire optical systems and instruments can be simulated and optimized is a key technology development, applicable to all mission classes, especially astrophysics. Many of the future missions require optical systems that are physically much larger than anything flown before and yet must retain the characteristic sub-micron diffraction limited wavefront accuracy of their smaller precursors. It is no longer feasible to follow the path of 'cut and test' development; the sheer scale of these systems precludes many of the older techniques that rely upon ground evaluation of full size engineering units. The ability to accurately model (by computer) and optimize the entire flight system's integrated structural, thermal, and dynamic characteristics is essential. Two distinct integrated modeling capabilities are required. These are an initial design capability and a detailed design and optimization system. The content of an initial design package is shown. It would be a modular, workstation based code which allows preliminary integrated system analysis and trade studies to be carried out quickly by a single engineer or a small design team. A simple concept for a detailed design and optimization system is shown. This is a linkage of interface architecture that allows efficient interchange of information between existing large specialized optical, control, thermal, and structural design codes. The computing environment would be a network of large mainframe machines and its users would be project level design teams. More advanced concepts for detailed design systems would support interaction between modules and automated optimization of the entire system. Technology assessment and development plans for integrated package for initial design, interface development for detailed optimization, validation, and modeling research are presented

Arginine–glycine–aspartic acid functional branched semi-interpenetrating hydrogels

For the first time a series of functional hydrogels based on semi-interpenetrating networks with both branched and crosslinked polymer components have been prepared and we show the successful use of these materials as substrates for cell culture. The materials consist of highly branched poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)s with peptide functionalised end groups in a continuous phase of crosslinked poly(vinyl pyrrolidone). Functionalisation of the end groups of the branched polymer component with the GRGDS peptide produces a hydrogel that supports cell adhesion and proliferation. The materials provide a new synthetic functional biomaterial that has many of the features of extracellular matrix, and as such can be used to support tissue regeneration and cell culture. This class of high water content hydrogel material has important advantages over other functional hydrogels in its synthesis and does not require postprocessing modifications nor are functional-monomers, which change the polymerisation process, required. Thus, the systems are amenable to large scale and bespoke manufacturing using conventional moulding or additive manufacturing techniques. Processing using additive manufacturing is exemplified by producing tubes using microstereolithography

Vehicle4 Energy Services (V4ES) Evaluation for Upscaling and Transnational potential: Assessing the potential of further roll-out of 8 differing V4(ES) solutions

This report is intended to collect, present, and evaluate the various solutions applied in individual operational pilots for their (upscaling and transnational transfer) potential, in terms of opportunities and barriers, over the short and long(er)-term. This is done by identifying the main characteristics of the solutions and sites and the relevant influencing factors at different local (dimension) contexts. The analysis provides insights in barriers but also opportunities and conditions for success across four main dimensions that make up the local context landscape. We consider two main roll-out scenarios: 1. Upscaling within the boundaries of the country where the operational pilot (OP) took place 2. Transnational Transfer relates to the potential for transferring a (V4)ES solution to any of the other three (project) countries There are several aspects within the four main dimensions that are cross-cutting for all four countries, either because EU legislation lies at its roots, or because market conditions are fairly similar for certain influencing factors in those dimension. Ultimately, both Smart Charging and V2X market are still in their relevant infancies. The solutions applied in various SEEV4-City pilots are relatively straightforward and simple in ‘smartness’. This helps the potential for adoption but may not always be the optimal solution yet. The Peak shaving or load/demand shifting solutions are viable options to reduce costs for different stakeholders in the (electricity) supply chain. The market is likely to mature and become much smarter in coming 5 – 10 years. This also includes the evolvement (or spin-offs) of the solutions applied in SEEV4-_City as well. At least in the coming (approximately) 5 years Smart Charging appears to have the better financial business case and potential for large scale roll-out with less (impactful) bottlenecks, but looking at longer term V2X holds its potential to play a significant role in the energy transition. A common denominator as primary barriers relates to existing regulation, standards readiness and limited market availability of either hardware or service offerings. SEEV4-City has published a significant collection of varying reports, many taking a specific focus. For more detailed information on, for example a particular solution at one of the OPs or more in-depth policy evaluation, please look into these additional reports. They can be found through the Interreg NSR or project specific website, or one of the partners of the project would be glad to provide them

Final report – Loughborough Operational Pilot: Loughborough V2H Operational Pilot Final report with extension of Burton-upon-Trent with V2G application

This is the final report of the SEEV4-City Operational Pilot (OP) in Loughborough and its second phase in Burton-upon-Trent, UK. It is part of a collection of reports published by the Smart, clean Energy and Electric Vehicles for the City (SEEV4-City) Project

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or \u27scaffold\u27) of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data \u27onto\u27 this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved