Degradation Monitoring of Photovoltaic Plants: Advanced GIS Applications

In order to evaluate a photovoltaic (PV) plant performance, payback time, profitability and environmental impact, an analysis must be made of plant maintenance needs, module and wiring degradation, mismatches and dust effects and PV cell defects and faults. Although a wide range of studies can be found that show the theory and laboratory testing of how these circumstances may affect PV production, very few studies in the field have covered or quantified real degradation effects and faults using a systematic procedure. The authors have therefore reviewed the conditions of PV plants operating in Southern Europe, examining the most frequently found faults and types of degradation, and they look at how novel technologies, such as geographic information system (GIS) applications, can help maintainers, owners, and promoters to supervise and locate damaged PV modules and monitor their evolution and impact on plant working conditions. GIS applications in this field allow the organization of a geo-referenced database of the system, locating and supervising the thirds of each PV cell in the power plant. With this information, investors and maintainers can exert increased control on the PV plant performance and conduct better preventive maintenance measures. The examples given demonstrate that these sorts of applications can be applied both to large PV plants and to domestic installations

Aplicación de técnicas de ludificación para la consolidación de conocimientos en asignaturas del área de ingeniería eléctrica y energética

Como profesores de enseñanzas técnicas en las ramas energética y eléctrica, hemos detectado un descenso del rendimiento del alumnado motivado principalmente por una falta de interés y compromiso con las asignaturas y sus contenidos. Además venimos observando que los alumnos no relacionan de forma adecuada los contenidos abordados en las diferentes asignaturas del área, lo que dificulta la adquisición de conocimientos de tipo multidisciplinar y global. Esto nos ha llevado a plantear la inclusión de técnicas "gamification" o de ludificación para mejorar la consolidación de conocimientos, potenciar el interés de los alumnos y mejorar el rendimiento global. El objetivo buscado es involucrar al alumno en las actividades propias de la asignatura, generando un profundo impulso en su aprendizaje, tal y como se ha demostrado en experiencias similares. Además el uso de estas técnicas favorece el desarrollo de competencias transversales y habilidades tales como el trabajo el equipo. La experiencia planteada consiste en la implantación de una competición interna mediante el juego “Power-Matrix” en tres asignaturas de los cursos tercero y cuarto respectivamente de la titulación de Grado en Ingeniería de la Energía en la Universidad de León. El juego, desarrollado por SIEMENS, consiste en el desarrollo de una solución que incluya las tecnologías necesarias para cubrir la demanda energética de un conjunto de ciudades del modo más eficiente y eficaz posible, lo que permite profundizar en los conceptos de generación, transporte y distribución de la energía entre otros. El análisis de los resultados muestra que la realización de esta actividad no ha tenido un impacto significativo en las calificaciones de los alumnos, teniendo en cuenta que el sistema de evaluación apenas ha sido modificado. Si se han encontrado resultados positivos en el desarrollo de competencias transversales y un aumento en la interrelación de contenidos de distintas asignaturas del área de conocimiento. Esto induce a, que aplicando un proceso de mejora en determinados aspectos, puede resultar recomendable extender el uso de estas técnicas en otras asignaturas de la misma u otras áreas de conocimiento.Los autores de este trabajo quisieran agradecer a los alumnos de tercero y cuarto de Grado en Ingeniería de la Energía su participación en la actividad realizada así como a todos los colaboradores que han intervenido en la misma

Jornada de Puertas Abiertas 2014: presentación Escuela Superior y Técnica de Ingenieros de Minas

Otro año más, como viene siendo habitual, la Universidad de León, desde el Vicerrectorado de Estudiantes y el de Ordenación Académica, tiene sus puertas abiertas para aquellos futuros alumnos que estén interesados en comenzar sus estudios universitarios el curso que vien

Electrical Consumption Profile Clusterization: Spanish Castilla y León Regional Health Services Building Stock as a Case Study

Health Services building stock is usually the top energy consumer in the Administrative sector, by a considerable margin. Therefore, energy consumption supervision, prediction, and improvement should be carried out for this group in a preferential manner. Most prior studies in this field have characterized the energy consumption of buildings based on complex simulations, which tend to be limited by modelisation restrictions and assumptions. In this paper, an improved method for the clusterization of buildings based on their electrical energy consumption is proposed and, then, reference profiles are determined by examining the variation of energy consumption over the typical yearly consumption period. The temporary variation has been analyzed by evaluating the temporary evolution of the area consumption index through data mining and statistical clusterization techniques. The proposed methodology has been applied to building stock of the Health Services in the Castilla y León region in Spain, based on three years of historical monthly electrical energy consumption data for over 250 buildings. This building stock consists of hospitals, health centers (with and without emergency services) and a miscellaneous set of administrative and residential buildings. Results reveal five distinct electrical consumption profiles that have been associated with five reference buildings, permitting significant improvement in the demand estimation as compared to merely using the classical energy consumption indicators

Optimal Sizing and Location of Co-Digestion Power Plants in Spain through a GIS-Based Approach

The promotion of the development of co-digestion power plants will be intensified in many European Union member states as the main target of the Union concerning energy generation is complete decarbonisation by 2050. This potential expansion prompts the need for optimal resources allocation according to several techno-economical parameters, highlighting energy costs, power infrastructures access, and social and environmental aspects and restrictions. In Spain, agricultural and livestock biogas production trough co-digestion power plants is still poorly deployed, although the EU Directive 2009/28/EU stipulates that energy from bio-fuels and bio-liquids should contribute to a reduction of at least 35% of greenhouse gas emissions in order to be taken into account, and many authors agree that biogas produced from energy crops and livestock waste fulfils this criterion. Moreover, biogas can be used to upgrade gas pipelines and may have other efficient thermal uses. In this paper, through a Geographical Information System approach, eight different co-digestion mixtures have been evaluated and the most profitable ones have been optimized for the Spanish Iberian Peninsula according to the geographical distribution of the resources. Furthermore, the best locations for co-digestion power plants siting have been calculated, minimizing transport costs and considering technical, environmental and social restrictions. In contrast with other studies, this proposed approach is focused on a holistic optimization. Results show that in Spain the most feasible co-digestion mixtures are based on slurry, glycerine and animal meals, and four areas arise with an outstanding energetic potential up to 208 MW exploitable in large electrical power plants, while 347 MW can be reserved for distributed generation based on this technology