Loads Providing Ancillary Services: Review of International Experience

In this study, we examine the arrangements for and experiences of end-use loads providing ancillary services (AS) in five electricity markets: Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), the Nordic market, and the ERCOT and PJM markets in the United States. Our objective in undertaking this review of international experience was to identify specific approaches or market designs that have enabled customer loads to effectively deliver various ancillary services (AS) products. We hope that this report will contribute to the ongoing discussion in the U.S. and elsewhere regarding what institutional and technical developments are needed to ensure that customer loads can meaningfully participate in all wholesale electricity markets

Transit Fleet Electrification Barriers, Resolutions and Costs

This paper synthesizes insights from a workshop on fleet electrification at the 2023 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, which included participants from transit agencies, national labs, industry, government and academia. Participants identified barriers to fleet electrification including lack of knowledge on fleet electrification, high utility demand charges, lack of charging infrastructure, delays in grid infrastructure upgrades and high up-front costs. To overcome these challenges, panelists emphasized partnering with OEMs and utilities, and having flexible charging infrastructure with software support tools. Finally, participants identified opportunities for integrating with electricity markets on peak demand management, time-of-use charging, participation in wholesale markets, and various vehicle-to-grid solutions. Based on these findings, we propose specific steps that various stakeholders like fleet operators, utilities and regulatory authorities could take

The “Wireless Sensor Networks for City-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” Project

This paper gives a detailed technical overview of some of the activities carried out in the context of the “Wireless Sensor networks for city-Wide Ambient Intelligence (WISE-WAI)” project, funded by the Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo Foundation, Italy. The main aim of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale wireless sensor network deployments, whereby tiny objects integrating one or more environmental sensors (humidity, temperature, light intensity), a microcontroller and a wireless transceiver are deployed over a large area, which in this case involves the buildings of the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Padova. We will describe how the network is organized to provide full-scale automated functions, and which services and applications it is configured to provide. These applications include long-term environmental monitoring, alarm event detection and propagation, single-sensor interrogation, localization and tracking of objects, assisted navigation, as well as fast data dissemination services to be used, e.g., to rapidly re-program all sensors over-the-air. The organization of such a large testbed requires notable efforts in terms of communication protocols and strategies, whose design must pursue scalability, energy efficiency (while sensors are connected through USB cables for logging and debugging purposes, most of them will be battery-operated), as well as the capability to support applications with diverse requirements. These efforts, the description of a subset of the results obtained so far, and of the final objectives to be met are the scope of the present paper

Trends and Regional Differences in Breastfeeding in Germany From 1871 To 1937

This article describes trends and regional differences in breastfeeding within Germany from 1870 to 1937. Sharp regional differences in both the in cidence and duration of breastfeeding are present around 1910. There is a com plex pattern of trends in infant-feeding practices. Breastfeeding declined in urban areas between the late nineteenth century and the first World War. A strong nationwide resurgence in the incidence of breastfeeding occurred between the two world wars, accompanied by a decline in the average duration of breastfeeding. By 1937, the formerly great regional differences in breastfeeding had nearly dis appeared. The article also discusses social, economic, cultural, and historical variables affecting infant-feeding practices, including local breastfeeding customs, a national infant welfare campaign, and allowances to nursing mothers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67272/2/10.1177_036319908501000203.pd

A review of pumped hydro energy storage development in significant international electricity markets

The global effort to decarbonise electricity systems has led to widespread deployments of variable renewable energy generation technologies, which in turn has boosted research and development interest in bulk Electrical Energy Storage (EES). However despite large increases in research funding, many electricity markets with increasingly large proportions of variable renewable generation have seen little actual bulk EES deployment. While this can be partly attributed to the need for technological developments, it is also due to the challenge of fairly rewarding storage operators for the range of services that storage provides to the wider network, especially in markets that have undergone significant restructuring and liberalisation. Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (PHES) is the overwhelmingly established bulk EES technology (with a global installed capacity around 130 GW) and has been an integral part of many markets since the 1960s. This review provides an historical overview of the development of PHES in several significant electrical markets and compares a number of mechanisms that can reward PHES in different international market frameworks. As well as providing up-to-date information about PHES, a primary motivation for this work is to provide an overview about the types of rewards available to bulk EES for the wider storage community including investors, technology developers and policy-makers. Observing that bulk EES projects seem to be unattractive investments for the private sector, the paper also includes a brief discussion in terms of public sector investment

Contested visions and sociotechnical expectations of electric mobility and vehicle-to-grid innovation in five Nordic countries

Based on original data derived from 257 expert respondents across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, we investigate the different expectations and visions associated with one form of low carbon transport, electric mobility, inclusive of vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-grid-integration configurations. Utilizing concepts from the sociology of expectation—notably rhetorical visions, ideographs, promise-requirement cycles, and enablers and selectors—we examine how future electric mobility is envisioned. A collection of eight visions is analyzed and then placed into a typology. Some visions see electric mobility as a harbinger of positive social change in terms of ubiquitous automobility or endless innovation, others warn of families literally stranded and freezing to death on mountains and a business landscape marred with insolvent and financially struggling firms. We conclude with insights about what such competing and contradictory visions mean for energy and climate policy as well as sustainability transitions