De l’échelle nationale à l’échelle du site, cartographie et description de la ressource en énergies marines renouvelables

International audienceLa caractérisation de la ressource est une des étapes critiques lors de l’élaboration d’un projet d’exploitation d’énergies marines renouvelables. Elle consiste non seulement à établir les caractéristiques du gisement, telles que sa richesse, sa variabilité, son accessibilité, mais également à décrire précisément tous les forçages environnementaux qui viennent en influencer l’exploitabilité. La base de données Homere d’Ifremer est un rejeu d’états de mer sur la période 1994-2012 réalisé sur un maillage non structuré ayant une résolution maximale de 200 m à la côte. La mise à disposition de cette base de données par Ifremer et son analyse dans le cadre du projet IREMARE (financement ADEME) ont permis de caractériser la ressource en énergies marines renouvelables le long de la façade maritime ouest française. Cette caractérisation consiste en la génération i) de cartes saisonnières de gisement, de caractéristiques de la houle et du courant, d’évaluation préliminaire de la production annuelle d’énergie en fonction de la technologie, ii) de paramètres avancés tels que les tableaux de probabilités conjointes (H, T) de la houle, les fenêtres météo, les fonctions de répartition des paramètres de houle et de courant, les caractéristiques directionnelles de la houle et du courant, etc. Ces informations sont établies sur une bande côtière de 50 km de large, en chacun des 73000 points que compte le maillage de Homere dans cette zone. Les informations générées dans le cadre du projet IREMARE sont mises en libre accès grâce à une Infrastructure de Données Spatiales (IDS) accessible par le site webservice-energy.org (http://www.webservice-energy.org/resources-list/iremare) développé par le Centre Observation, Impacts, Energie. Les données sont mises à disposition via un serveur d’application THREDDS Data Server (TDS, http://tds.webservice-energy.org) qui les expose au moyen de services standards et interopérables. L’ensemble de ces services permet une exploration et un téléchargement aisés des informations disponibles, et assure une très haute capacité de diffusion et d’utilisation par des logiciels tiers (QGis, Matlab, Excel, importation dans des clients web-GIS, etc). Cette étude et ses résultats s’adressent à l’ensemble des acteurs concernés par la caractérisation de la ressource en Energies Marines Renouvelables

Converting a successful research project into a sustainable service: the case of the SoDa web service

International audienceInformation on solar radiation is a critical issue in several environmental domains. The means for accessing information suffer from severe drawbacks. The SoDa project was launched (2000-2003, IST programme of the European Commission) to bring solutions by an efficient use of information and communication technologies. Integration of information sources of different natures was realized by the SoDa Intelligent System. Surveys of users demonstrated that large gains in terms of efficiency, costs, etc. were expected by engineers, companies, agencies and research institutes. The SoDa Service was created in 2003. During the past three years, it has undergone several improvements, including works on the user interface and on the presentation of the services, all aiming at consolidating it with respect to access by users. Promotion efforts were made in the media, including TV. The use of the SoDa Service is increasing from year to year: in 2003, 10000 requests were satisfied, in 2004, 17000 requests and 27000 in 2005. This article presents the lessons learned from the past years and the perspectives of the SoDa Service. We discuss the sustainability of the SoDa Service, the technologies used and the approach to customers, in the perspective of building a B2B merchant site

Controlling the quality of solar irradiation data by means of a web service

International audienceThe control of the quality of the irradiation data is often a prerequisite to the further processing of the data. Though data are usually controlled by meteorological offices, the sources are so numerous that the user often faces time-series of measurements containing questionable values. As customers of radiation data, we established our own procedures to screen time-series of measurements. Since this problem of quality control is of concern to many researchers and engineers and since it is often a lengthy and tedious task, we decided to make this screening procedure available to everyone as a web service. This service is the purpose of this paper. The objective is not to perform a precise and fine control, an objective out of reach without details on the site and instruments, but to perform a likelihood control of the data and to check their plausibility. This is achieved by comparing observations with some expectations based upon the extraterrestrial irradiation and a simulation of the irradiation for clear skies. This service is available to everyone on the Web site www.helioclim.net. It offers a very convenient mean to check time-series of irradiation: data are input in a HTML page by a copy and paste procedure and the return is also a HTML page that can be analyzed in details for the data flagged as suspicious

A Web service for controlling the quality of measurements of global solar irradiation

International audienceThe control of the quality of irradiation data is often a prerequisite to their further processing. Though data are usually controlled by meteorological offices, the sources are so numerous that the user often faces time-series of measurements containing questionable values. As customers of irradiation data, we established our own procedures to screen time-series of measurements. Since this problem of quality control is of concern to many researchers and engineers and since it is often a lengthy and tedious task, we decided to make this screening procedure available to everyone as a web service. This service is the purpose of this paper. The objective is not to perform a precise and fine control, an objective out of reach without details on the site and instruments, but to perform a likelihood control of the data and to check their plausibility. This is achieved by comparing observations with some expectations based upon the extraterrestrial irradiation and a simulation of the irradiation for clear skies. This service is available to everyone on the Web site www.helioclim.net. It offers a very convenient means to check time-series of irradiation: data are input in a HTML page by a copy and paste procedure and the return is also a HTML page that can be analyzed in details for the data flagged as suspicious

Three years of experience with the SoDa Web service delivering solar radiation information : lessons learned and perspectives.

Information on solar radiation is a critical issue in several environmental domains as well as for sun-powered sys-tems. The present means for accessing information by users present several severe drawbacks. Three major problems were identified and should be solved to supply users with relevant information: improved access to information, improved space and time description / knowledge of the radiation field and related quantities, improved matching to actual user needs. The SoDa project was launched (2000-2003, IST programme of the European Commission) to bring solutions by an efficient use of advanced information and communication technologies. An integration of information sources of different natures was initiated by the SoDa Intelligent System (see online at http://www.soda-is.com). These sources include databases containing solar radiation parameters and other relevant information; several of them originate from the processing of images taken by satellites. The sources! also include user-oriented applications. The successive prototypes of the SoDa Service were validated through users trials. The outcomes of the project SoDa represent a significant step forward beyond the current state of the art and include substantial original work. The main innovations of SoDa are to offer a smart access to diverse networked sources of information that are geographically dispersed, and to supply users with information of high quality. Surveys of users demonstrated that large gains in terms of efficiency, costs, etc. were expected by engineers, companies, agencies and research institutes if relevant information were more easily available for virtually any geographical location at any time. Accordingly, it was decided in 2003 to create the SoDa Service and to operate it. During these past three years, the SoDa Service underwent several improvements, all aiming at consolidating it with respect to access by users. Improvements were made on the SoDa Intellig! ent System, including works on the user interface and on the p! resentation of the services. Promotion efforts were made towards media, including TV. The effective use of the SoDa Service is increasing from year to year. In 2003, 2000 requests for information were satisfied; in 2004, 20 000 requests; 35 000 are expected in 2005. This communication presents the lessons learned from the past and the perspectives of the SoDa Service. We discuss the sustainability of the SoDa Service, the technologies used and the approach to customers, in the perspective of developing a B2B merchant site

Production and Dissemination of Marine Renewable Energy Resource Information

International audienceThis paper investigates the capacity of appropriate Earth Observation Systems (EOS) – in situ and satellite measurements, numerical models – to deliver basic variables from which high level information relevant for Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) resource assessment can be generated. In addition, an operational solution for the production and dissemination of such information is proposed and set up. First, the parameters expected by end-users for accurate MRE resource assessment are identified. It turns out that a combination of appropriate spatial coverage and resolution, duration of time series and accuracy has to be met for the EOS data set to be relevant for the production of such parameters. Consequently, long term, high resolution hindcasts of sea states are identified as offering the best compromise over in situ and remote sensing measurements, which are best suited for models calibration and validation. Based on this analysis, a 19-year sea-state hindcast, Homere, has been selected. Homere accurately delivers relevant basic variables at appropriate time and spatial scales, over an area covering the south of the North Sea, the Channel, and the Atlantic coast of France and has been used to produce high level, end-user oriented information for the characterization of marine energy resource. Finally, dissemination tools, respecting international standards of interoperability, have been developed with a user-oriented state of mind in order to deliver the information

Sitting of a solar power plant: Development of Web service based on GEOSS data and guidance

International audienceRenewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy offer a large untapped potential for electricity production. The exploitation of these energies requires accurate knowledge of the resources and of their availability (in space and time) as well as accurate forecasts in the different phases of an energy system life cycle. For instance, the site selection process for development of large solar systems, such as photovoltaic on open land, require data on time-averaged values of solar irradiance from which basic economic assessments of a plant concept can be made. The paper illustrates the exploitation of Earth Observation data in this context. It describes the approach of setting-up a series of Web services that implement key features in Earth Observation data exploitation and illustrate their use through a complex application in the sitting of a solar power plant. The scenario is built on GEOSS interoperability and standard guidance

Evolution des propriétés mécaniques du carbure de silicium sous irradiation aux ions

International audienceLe carbure de silicium (SiC), en raison de ses propriétés réfractaires et de sa bonne compatibilité avec le flux neutronique, est retenu pour constituer les pièces de structure des coeurs des réacteurs nucléaires de future génération. L'influence d'une irradiation aux ions Xe (95 MeV) en température (400°C), aux fluences comprises entre 3,0.1014 et 3,6.1015 ions/cm2, sur la microstructure et le comportement mécanique d'un a- SiC polycristallin est étudié. En raison de la faible épaisseur endommagée (~10 Bm), les modifications des propriétés mécaniques du SiC (module d'élasticité, dureté) induites par irradiation ont dans un premier temps été évaluées par des caractérisations de surface (spectroscopie Raman, nanoindentation, microscopie acoustique)

Environmental impact for offshore wind farms: Geolocalized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach

International audienceThis paper presents an approach for Environmental Impact Assessment through the use of geolocalized LCA approach, for fixed and floating offshore wind farms. This work was undertaken within the EU-sponsored EnerGEO project, aiming at providing a versatile modeling platform for stakeholders allowing calculation, forecasting and monitoring of environmental impacts of different sources of energy. This paper described the geolocalized LCA approach, and its use for the evaluation of environmental impacts of wind energy. The effects of offshore wind farms on global environnemental impacts are evaluated though the LCA approach. It takes into account the type of wind farm, the construction phase, all technical aspects, the operation and maintenance scheme and the decommissioning. It also includes geolocalized information such as wind resources, bathymetry, accessibility ... Environmental impact parameters are accessible through a web service helping the decision makers in assessing the environnemental impacts

A proposal for a thesaurus for web services in solar radiation

International audienceMetadata are necessary to discover, describe and exchange any type of information, resource and service at a large scale. A significant amount of effort has been made in the field of geography and environment to establish standards. Efforts still remain to address more specific domains such as renewable energies. This communication focuses on solar energy and more specifically on aspects in solar radiation that relate to geography and meteorology. A thesaurus in solar radiation is proposed for the keys elements in solar radiation namely time, space and radiation types. The importance of time-series in solar radiation is outlined and attributes of the key elements are discussed. An XML schema for encoding metadata is proposed. The exploitation of such a schema in web services is discussed. This proposal is a first attempt at establishing a thesaurus for describing data and applications in solar radiation