Concept
Photovoltaic mounting system
Related people (40)
François Maréchal
Ph D. in engineering Chemical process engineer
Researcher and lecturer in the field of computer aided process and energy systems engineering.
Lecturer in the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and environmental sciences engineering in EPFL.
I'm responsible for the Minor in Energy of EPFL and I'm involved in 3 projects of the Competence Center in Energy and Mobility (2nd generation biofuel, Wood SOFC, and gas turbine development with CO2 mitigation) in which i'm contributing to the energy conversion system design and optimisation.
Short summary of my scientific carrer
After a graduation in chemical engineering from the University of Liège, I have obtained a Ph. D. from the University of Liège in the LASSC laboratory of Prof. Kalitventzeff (former president of the European working party on computer aided process engineering). This laboratory was one of the pioneering laboratory in the field of Computer Aided Process Engineering.
In the group of Professor Kalitventzeff, I have worked on the development and the applications of data reconciliation, process modelling and optimisation techniques in the chemical process industry, my experience ranges from nuclear power stations to chemical plants. In the LASSC, I have been responsible from the developments in the field of rational use of energy in the industry. My first research topic has been the methodological development of process integration techniques, combining the use of pinch based methods and of mathematical programming: e.g. for the design of multiperiod heat exchanger networks or Mixed integer non linear programming techniques for the optimal management of utility systems. Fronted with applications in the industry, my work then mainly concentrated on the optimal integration of utility systems considering not only the energy requirements but the cost of the energy requirements and the energy conversion systems. I developed methods for analysing and integrating the utility system, the steam networks, combustion (including waste fuel), gas turbines or other advanced energy conversion systems (cogeneration, refrigeration and heat). The techniques applied uses operation research tools like mixed integer linear programming and exergy analysis. In order to evaluate the results of the utility integration, a new graphical method for representing the integration of the utility systems has been developed. By the use of MILP techniques, the method developed for the utility integration has been extended to handled site scale problems, to incorporate environmental constraints and reduce the water usage. This method (the Effect Modelling and Optimisation method) has been successfully applied to the chemical plants industry, the pulp and paper industry and the power plant. Instead of focusing on academic problems, I mainly developed my research based on industrial applications that lead to valuable and applicable patented results. Recently the methods developed have been extended to realise the thermoeconomic optimisation of integrated systems like fuel cells. My present R&D work concerns the application of multi-objective optimisation strategies in the design of processes and integrated energy conversion systems.
Since 2001, Im working in the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI) of Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where Im leading the R&D activities in the field of Computer Aided Analysis and Design of Industrial Energy Systems with a major focus on sustainable energy conversion system development using thermo-economic optimisation methodologies. A part from the application and the development of process integration techniques, that remains my major field of expertise, the applications concern :
Rational use of water and energy in Industrial processes and industrial production sites : projects with NESTLE, EDF, VEOLIA and Borregaard (pulp and paper).Energy conversion and process design : biofuels from waste biomass (with GASNAT, EGO and PSI), water dessalination and waste water treatment plant (VEOLIA), power plant design (ALSTOM), Energy conversion from geothermal sources (BFE). Integrated energy systems in urban areas : together with SCANE and SIG (GE) and IEA annexe 42 for micro-cogeneration systems.
I as well contributed to the definition of the 2000 Watt society and to studies concerning the emergence of green technologies on the market in the frame of the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
Roberto Castello
Roberto Castello is a senior scientist and group leader at the EPFL Laboratory of Solar Energy and Building Physics. Physicist by training, he has extensive experience in collecting, classifying and interpreting large datasets using advanced data mining techniques and statistical methods. He received his MSc (2007) in Particle Physics and PhD (2010) in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Torino. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Belgian National Research Fund (2011-2014) and at the CERN Experimental Physics Department (2015-2017) as a research fellow and data scientist. He is primary author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and he presented at major international conferences in the high energy physics domain.
In 2018 he joined the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO-PB) to work on data mining and Machine Learning techniques for the built environment and renewable energy. His main research interests are: spatio-temporal modeling of renewable energy potential, energy consumption forecasting techniques, anomaly detection, and computer vision techniques for automated classification in the built environment.
He leads the group of Urban Data Mining, Intelligence and Simulation at LESO-PB and he is a member of the NRP75 Big Data project (HyEnergy) of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a member of the Swiss Competence Centre for Energy Research (SCCER) and deputy leader of the working group on Leveraging Ubiquitous Energy Data. He has served as a scientific committee member, workshop organizer and speaker at international conferences (ICAE 2020, Applied Machine Learning Days 2019 and 2020, CISBAT 2019 and 2021 and SDS2020).
Since 2017 he is member of the Geneva 2030 Ecosystem network, promoting the United Nations agenda towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sophia Haussener
Sophia Haussener is an Associate Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemical energy conversion reactors through multi-physics modeling. Her research interests include: thermal sciences, fluid dynamics, charge transfer, electro-magnetism, and thermo/electro/photochemistry in complex multi-phase media on multiple scales. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. Between 2011 and 2012, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Energy Environmental Technology Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She has been awarded the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis (2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), the Global Change Award (2017), and the Raymond Viskanta Award (2019), and is a recipient of a Starting Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014). She is a deputy leader in the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER) on energy storage and acts as a Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Helmholtz Zentrum.
Laure-Emmanuelle Perret Aebi
Laure-Emmanuelle Perret-Aebi a obtenu son doctorat en chimie de l’Université de Fribourg en 2004. Après 4 ans de post-doctorat à l’Université d’Edinburgh (Ecosse) et de Neuchâtel (Suisse), elle rejoint en 2009 le PVlab de EPFL en tant que cheffe de groupe des activités back-end liées aux modules PV. En 2013 elle rejoint le CSEM PV-center à Neuchâtel en tant que cheffe du secteur “Module Technology” jusqu’en 2018. Ces principales activités sont liées aux aspects d’encapsulation et fiabilités des modules PV pour diverses applications telles que l’intégration au bâtiment, la mobilité ou les centrales solaires. Elle a été de 2015 à 2017 experte dans la Commission micro et nanotechnologies de la Commission pour la Technologie et l’Innovation (CTI). En 2017 elle a fondé l’association Compáz qui a pour but de lier Art et Science. Parallèlement à son activité chez Compáz, elle a créé sa société LMNT consultancy afin d'accompagner les entreprises et personnes intéressées à l'intégration du photovoltaïque dans le bâtiment et coordonne depuis octobre 2018 le projet européen BeSmart sur l’intégration architecturale du BIPV en tant que collaboratrice scientifique au PVLab de l'EPFL à Neuchâtel.
2019-date : Senior Expert at the PVLab of EPFL. Coordinator of the EU project Be-Smart H2020-LC-SC3-2018, 818009 ( started in October 2018 for 4 years)
2018-date : CEO of LMNT consultancy, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Scientifique and technical advisory in the field of building integrated photovoltaics.
2018 -2019 : Scientific expert at the PV-centre of CSEM, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2018- date : Founder and Scientific advisory of COMPÁZ, Association for the promotion of Science through Art. Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2014- 2017: Expert in the CTI commission micro-nano, Bern, Switzerland.
2013- 2018 : Sector Head and activity manager “Modules & Systems” at the PV-centre of CSEM, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2009-2013: Group leader, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne,Institute of Microengineering, Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory, Switzerland.
2008-2009:
Postdoctoral research assistant, Institute of Physics, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2006-2007:
Postdoctoral research assistant, Institute of Microtechnology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2004-2006:
Postdoctoral research assistant, Institute of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
2004:
Postdoctoral research assistant, Institute of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.