ALFRED-DONAT AGACHE URBAN PROPOSAL FOR COSTA DO SOL. FROM THE TERRITORY TO THE CITY.

This paper reviews the development of Costa do Sol, as planned by architect urbanist Alfred-Donat Agache, for Lisbon Region in Portugal. The Plano Expansão Região Oeste de Lisboa (1934-1936) prepared by Agache and requested by Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco will be analyzed. This paper aims also to identify the principles and the theoretical foundations that have determined Agache urban vision for Lisbon City and its Territory. Finally, this paper aims to demonstrate that Alfred-Donat Agache methodological framework has applied Frederick Le Play socio-economic scientific approach. Such approach has informed the construction of a ‘civic’ urbanism that will be identified and analyzed. Two main goals seem to have guided Agache work at Costa do Sol: (i) the fully urban analysis of the city, throughout its social, economic, geographic and urban conditions (past and present) and (ii) the need to expose such analysis to the city’s inhabitants. Finally, this paper demonstrates Costa do Sol proposal to testify a comprehensive understanding of three distinct scales: (i) the territory; (ii) the city; (iii) but also the urban form. The acknowledgment of Agache ‘civic’ urban vision requests a public divulgation to allow the building of Good Practice Lessons for contemporary urban planning theory and practice

ALFRED-DONAT AGACHE URBAN PROPOSAL FOR COSTA DO SOL. FROM THE TERRITORY TO THE CITY.

This paper reviews the development of Costa do Sol, as planned by architect urbanist Alfred-Donat Agache, for Lisbon Region in Portugal. The Plano Expansão Região Oeste de Lisboa (1934-1936) prepared by Agache and requested by Portuguese Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco will be analyzed. This paper aims also to identify the principles and the theoretical foundations that have determined Agache urban vision for Lisbon City and its Territory. Finally, this paper aims to demonstrate that Alfred-Donat Agache methodological framework has applied Frederick Le Play socio-economic scientific approach. Such approach has informed the construction of a ‘civic’ urbanism that will be identified and analyzed. Two main goals seem to have guided Agache work at Costa do Sol: (i) the fully urban analysis of the city, throughout its social, economic, geographic and urban conditions (past and present) and (ii) the need to expose such analysis to the city’s inhabitants. Finally, this paper demonstrates Costa do Sol proposal to testify a comprehensive understanding of three distinct scales: (i) the territory; (ii) the city; (iii) but also the urban form. The acknowledgment of Agache ‘civic’ urban vision requests a public divulgation to allow the building of Good Practice Lessons for contemporary urban planning theory and practice

Portugal

Portugal has few indigenous energy resources, such as those that satisfy the majority of the energy needs of the economically developed countries, such as oil, gas, and coal. This situation leads to a large dependence on foreign economies for fossil primary resources. In this context, the contribution of renewable energies and the need to improve their penetration becomes of strategic relevance for the country’s development. In 2006, the total renewable sources installed capacity was 6,961 MW. The total electric energy production from renewables has shown an impressive 86% growth rate with respect to the end of 2005, its final value being reported as 16,120 GWh. This growth was strongly correlated with the variation in hydropower production, about 124%. In what concerns to wind energy, as will be shown in the next paragraphs, there was a moderate growth in the installed capacity when compared to previous years. In 2006, the 2005 policy continuance was verified, with special relevance to the ending of the first phase of the 1,500 MW public call for wind park grid connection opened in July 2005

A new methodology for urban wind resource assessment

In the latest years the wind energy sector experienced an exponential growth all over the world. What started as a deployment of onshore projects, soon moved to offshore and, more recently to the urban environment within the context of smart cities and renewable micro-generation. However, urban wind projects using micro turbines do not have enough profit margins to enable the setup of comprehensive and expensive measurement campaigns, a standard procedure for the deployment of large wind parks. To respond to the wind assessment needs of the future smart cities a new and simple methodology for urban wind resource assessment was developed. This methodology is based on the construction of a surface involving a built area in order to estimate the wind potential by treating it as very complex orography. This is a straightforward methodology that allows estimating the sustainable urban wind potential, being suitable to map the urban wind resource in large areas. The methodology was applied to a case study and the results enabled the wind potential assessment of a large urban area being consistent with experimental data obtained in the case study area, with maximum deviations of the order of 10% (mean wind speed) and 20% (power density)

Portugal

In 2014, the wind energy sector achieved a maturity status within the Portuguese power system. While it still experienced some additional capacity deployment (222 MW), after 15 years of intense deployment Portugal reached 4, 953 MW of installed wind power capacity by the end of 2014. Wind power represents 25% (considering only mainland Portugal) of the total operational capacity and 42% of renewable energy capacity in the country. In 2014, Portuguese wind parks produced 12.1 TWh maintaining a wind energy contribution of 24% of the annually electricity consumption. This high wind penetration was influenced by the favorable wind conditions observed in the first three months of the year over central and northern regions of mainland Portugal that also correspond to the largest concentration of installed wind capacity

Monthly forecasts of the average wind speed in Portugal

Forecasts of the monthly anomaly of the average wind speed can provide useful information for energy management and production. Unlike methods which use state-of-the art highly complex dynamic or statistic models, this study presents a methodology based on analogues. This simple method identifies similar weather patterns using past observations to produce a forecast and relies on the fact that the atmosphere has a limited number of preferred weather patterns. The forecast is provided as the most likely category and its skill is assessed against persistence. Results are shown only in an area limited to Portugal and the nearby Atlantic ocean

Sustainable Offshore Wind Potential in Continental Portugal

This study intends to depict the availability of the sustainable offshore wind energy for Continental Portugal and identify the preliminary areas for developing offshore wind parks. Two scenarios were performed to distinct the different offshore wind turbine prototypes assembled by the manufactory energy sector – bottom fixed and floating models. The results achieved until now indicate that Portugal has a very large potential for offshore wind deployments ready to be exploited, especially for deep offshore solutions

Interannual variability of the average wind speed in Europe

Interannual variability of the average wind speed is the main factor for erroneous annual wind park production estimates and therefore can cause serious economic problems to wind park promoters from lower income than expected. In this study, the magnitude of interannual variability of the average wind speed is assessed in Europe, based on data sets from NCEP Reanalysis II. The areas with the highest values of interannual variability are identified and both average and maximum expected deviations are given as a function of the length of the monitoring period

Portugal

In Portugal, 2012 was an atypical year in Portugal with regards to energy. Due to the efficiency measures implemented in recent years, but also due to the economic recession, electricity consumption in Portugal dropped 3.6% to 49.1 TWh. This represents a reduction of 6% of electricity demand in the last two years (1). It was also an extremely dry year, the fifth driest hydro year of the past 80 years (63% below the normal climate). Therefore, due to the reduced hydro production, the renewable contribution for the energy mix decreased 17% compared to 2011

Portugal

Portugal has its most valuable energy asset in renewable energy resources. It is one of the countries of Europe with a high level of sun radiation, considerable vegetable and animal biomass potential, and a good wind resource. Portugal also has available hydro resources and possibilities for ocean energy (when that technology reaches maturity). Although Portugal still depends largely on foreign countries for oil, gas, and coal, especially for the transportation sector, in recent years the country has taken a clear path towards a sustainable, renewable-based, electricity generation. The energy contribution and the investments in the renewable energies are becoming more relevant every year as a strategically sector for the development of the country’s economy. By the end of 2007, Portugal had installed 7,409 MW (1) of renewable-based power plants. That capacity has generated an estimated 18, 207 GWh (2) during 2007. Renewable sources have contributed an estimated 36.4% of the total electricity demand, one of the highest percentages in Europe. The goals defined for 2010 and 2013 of 39% and 45% of the national electricity demand generated from RES, respectively are within reach. In 2007, fewer wind parks were installed than in previous years. However, the second phase of the public call for grid connection of wind power capacity, started in 2005 was concluded in August 2007. As a result, 400 MW were added to the 1,200 MW attributed in 2006. It is expected that wind energy capacity growth will increase again in the next few years