A Combined Energy-Economic Optimization of the Location and Installation of Photovoltaic Panels

This project is an exploration of a research question in the environmental and economic domains. This project’s intent is to explore a multi-objective optimization of the placement and installation of solar panels by analyzing the quantum of their energy production and the economic value of this energy for the grid. This is an idea that has received a considerable amount of attention in the literature. We build on this research by widening the scope of previous studies and incorporating other factors such as the stochastic aspects of weather and performance, price dynamics, terrain and urban influence, among others. In this report we do some observations about different parameters that have an influence on the production of the panel first and then on the economic part. The work focus on the following parameters: - The orientation of the panel in terms of tilt (vertical angle from horizontal position) and orientation (horizontal angle from North) obviously has a critical influence of the amount of production; what will be the optimal angles such that the production is optimized? - The location may have an influence on the production but in witch way; does close location in term of weather will produce at the same efficiency? - The technology may have a small impact on the production; what will be the main difference between a given technology and another? - The set-up of the panel will change the production as well and it is said to be really relevant in term of production; what will be the difference between a panel close to the roof to another free standing and ventilated? After having analyzed all those parameters in term of production, we investigate the relevance of our observations in term of financial yield. In order to answer those questions, we proceed with the approach: 1. Description of the technical aspects of energy production of a PV panel submitted to solar radiation a. Calculation of the raw irradiance on a tilted plane b. Calculation of panel efficiency itself for some given situations 6 EPFL 2. Description of the economic aspects of energy production and pricing 3. Optimization of the PV panel production through optimization of Tilt and Orientation angles 4. Optimization of the PV panel financial yield through the study of the effective cost of the installation for different economic scenarios. 5. Presentation analysis of the results and discussion

Methodology for the identification of promising integrated biorefineries

Ayse Dilan Celebi

Steady increase in global energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and depletion of fossil energy resources, together with increased attention towards sustainable development has prompted researchers to discover economical and environmentally competitive non-petroleum alternatives and biomass is considered to be one of the most promising renewable sources of energy and carbon of this matter to address the aforementioned issues within a biorefinery platform. A biorefinery is an integrated processing facility that converts biomass into transportation fuels, value-added chemicals, heat, and electricity via biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes. Integrated biorefineries are capable of mimicking petroleum refineries via application of advanced process synthesis methods including modeling, simulation, integration and optimization techniques. This thesis presents a comprehensive synthesis methodology for the integration of bioprocessing technologies in biorefineries by addressing techno-economic and environmental sustainability analysis. The proposed systematic design approach combines advanced process modeling approaches, process integration techniques, and multi-objective optimization algorithms to assess the performance of the overall system with respect to economic, environmental, and energetic indicators. The design strategy is applied based on different case studies. Results indicate that multi-product processes can yield significant cost and environmental benefits. Additionally, the integration of biochemical and catalytic processes with thermochemical conversion pathways results in increased carbon efficiency and economic and environmental competitiveness. Synergies between biorefineries and energy system are assessed by integrating industrial plants with a cogeneration system producing biofuels and process heat. In doing so, system efficiency is increased by coupling the proposed cogeneration system with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and power-to-gas technologies to store the renewable intermittent electricity in the form of biofuels. The results exhibit that through system expansion, integrated biorefinery systems allow us to imitate fossil refineries with a large spectrum of bio-based products. This further increases the resource efficiency while offering a promising solution to mitigate CO2 emissions and hence reaching the longer-term decarbonization target set by the Paris Agreement.

EPFL2019

Valuation of a pumped-storage hydro-plant in a multiple markets framework

Nikolaos Iliadis

There has been an evolving electricity market structure starting from the spot market and its derivatives, to several other markets such as the Intraday Market, the Balancing Market and the Reserve Capacity Market. The participation in these markets has changed significantly the operation policy of the plants and therefore their value in the market. The process of valuating a generation plant is closely related to the markets the plant can participate in terms of country and type (Day Ahead Market, Intraday Market, Balancing Market). Increasingly more Renewable Energy Sources plants have been entering into the system, increasing thus the factor of intermittency in the power profile.In addition to the variability in generation, solar photovoltaic plants, where their generation is consistently during the peak hours, together with the wind power plants have driven down the peak Day Ahead Market prices. Furthermore, the decision of countries in Europe to decommission their nuclear power plants, has driven up the off-peak prices. The current research tackles the problem of the long term valuation of a Hydro Pumped-Storage plant participating in the Day Ahead Market and Intraday Market, for thirty-five (35) years ahead, starting from 2015 and ending to 2050. The consideration of hourly time stage was indispensable since the markets, a Hydro Pumped-Storage plant achieves its main revenues are in the short-term, such as Day Ahead Market and Intraday Market. Within the scope of this research was required the application of four (4) modules that assisted in calculating the intermediate results in order to valuate the Hydro Pumped-Storage plant through a set of economic and financial indicators. Among the four (4) modules, three (3) where specifically developed within this research, one for the IM prices simulation, using the R statistics package, one for the operation simulation of an Hydro Pumped-Storage in the Day Ahead Market and Intraday Market, using MatLab and the IBM Cplex algorithm, and one for the financial and economic valuation of the plant, in excel using the financial formulas package. The fourth (4)th module was a commercial software, named AURORAxmp and developed by the USA company EPIS, for the operation simulation of the Day Ahead Market and the calculation of a proxy of the Day Ahead Market prices throughout the horizon. The latter module was fed with four (4) generation expansion capacity scenarios and reciprocal demand evolutions until 2050, based in the official European Union reports. The final purpose of this research was to design, implement and apply a methodology, on a real case study, for the valuation of a Hydro Pumped-Storage plant in a long term horizon. The results for the Hydro Pumped-Storage plant participating in the Day Ahead Market and Intraday Market, showed after corporate tax, an Net Present Value of 653 million EUR, a payback of the in thirty-one (31) years and of the private equity in twenty (20) years, an Internal Rate of Return of the project of 7.9% and of the private equity of 12.81% (for 20% of private equity). Comparing to the results above, a Hydro Pumped-Storage participating in the Day Ahead Market only, showed deteriorated numbers, having an Net Present Value of 243 million EUR, a payback of the project in thirty-four (34) years and of the private equity in twenty-eight (28) years,an Internal Rate of Return of the project of 6.5% and of the private equity of 10.32%.

EPFL2015

Techno-Economic and Environmental Optimization of Palm-based Biorefineries in the Brazilian Context, 27th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering

Ayse Dilan Celebi, Ivan Daniel Kantor, Maziar Kermani, François Maréchal, Adriano Viana Ensinas, Anna Sophia Wallerand

Due to the global increase in energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and the depletion of fossil energy resources, the research presented here is focused on finding economically and environmentally competitive renewable energy resources. Fuel production from biomass is an attractive solution in this regard. Competing interests between food and energy have yielded increased interest in lignocellulosic biomass (LGB) as a feedstock. Processes such as biodiesel production from palm oil generate large volumes of LGB residues. Valorization of these residues through biorefineries may bring economic and environmental benefits through substitution of fossil fuels and such options must be studied in a systematic manner. The goal of this research is to propose a methodology for economic and environmental analysis of such biorefineries. A case study of a palm-based biorefinery in Brazil is used to illustrate this. Results indicate that multi-product processes can yield significant cost and environmental benefits.