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The integration of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems for self-consumption is expected to unlock a variety of economic, technical and social benefits, such as the creation of local work and the reduction of the price of electricity, CO2 emissions and electrical power losses in the transmission network. In spite of all these advantages, regulatory barriers prevented the development of renewable self-consumption in Spain prior to October 2018, when a new regulation introduced the right to self-consume electrical energy without charges. This work aims to estimate the effect of residential self-consumption on the Iberian electricity market. To achieve this goal, a ceteris paribus approach was adopted, the accumulated scattered PV self-production was turned into a reduction of the aggregate demand in the market and the new clearing point was established. Based on 2017 market data, the results showed that a 1% curtailment of the annual demand due to PV self-consumption could reduce the cost of the market-traded energy by almost 2%. European Commission, Horizonte 2020 SI-1778/12/ 2018

uch of the social housing stock in southern Europe is obsolete in energy terms, with users who also present very specific socio-economic profiles requiring in-depth study. Proposals for this type of housing stock of current energy retrofitting policies, based on standardized user patterns, will only contribute to increasing the ‘performance gap’ between real and estimated consumption. This study evaluates the thermal comfort conditions and energy consumption in the specific case of social housing in southern Spain, under a severe summer climate. This evaluation is based on in-situ data measurements of three housing units in use. This paper aims to test which adaptive comfort models work best in the specific conditions of the case studies and to identify the user behaviours which reduce thermal comfort. Thus, real user patterns were established and measured data were analysed. The results show that the case studies are in discomfort conditions during a high percentage of occupied hours, mainly due to the severe climate and the unsuitable use of passive measures including natural night-time ventilation and solar protection. This situation worsens with limited use of local cooling systems due to financial constraints. National regulations should define different retrofitting targets based on climatic and socio-economic conditions.

Abstract An algorithm for mapping Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) in thermosolar power plants using a Mobile Robotic Sensor Network (RSN) is presented. The algorithm selects measurement spots and allocates the RSN accordingly to carry out the dynamic estimation of DNI. A generic thermosolar power plant with a fleet of vehicles is used as a simulated case study to assess the performance of the algorithm. The results show that the proposed method allows us to obtain a spatial estimation of the DNI that could improve the performance of the plant, and that outperforms estimations based on a single pyrheliometer.

En este artículo se presenta el modelado de un sistema de abastecimiento de energía frigorífica basado en enfriadoras de agua refrigeradas por aire, al que se le ha añadido un sistema de almacenamiento de energía. Con ello se pretende satisfacer la demanda de frío de una gran instalación. El modelado de cada uno de los elementos se ha integrado en Simscape a fin de poder simular la planta completa. En el simulador se ha supuesto el sistema controlado a bajo nivel, de tal manera que es capaz de recibir consignas de caudales desde un optimizador a un nivel jerárquicamente superior. Finalmente, se ha propuesto un problema de optimización mixto no lineal con variables enteras asociadas al funcionamiento de partes de la instalación, de forma que se optimice el coste económico de la generación del frío; y se han presentado resultados de simulación que avalan el buen funcionamiento del optimizador.

An ever more environmentally conscious society demands the use of green, sustainable and high-efficiency renewable energy resources. However, large-scale energy storage remains a challenge for a deep penetration of power produced from renewables into the grid. The Calcium-Looping (CaL) process, based on the reversible carbonation/calcination of CaO, is a promising technology for thermochemical energy storage (TCES) in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants. Natural limestone to be used as CaO precursor is cheap, non-toxic and abundant. Nevertheless, recent works have shown that carbonation of CaO derived limestone at optimum conditions for TCES is limited by pore-plugging, which leads to severe deactivation for large enough particles to be employed in practice. In our work, we have synthesized inexpensive CaO/SiO composites by means of a biotemplate method using rice husk as support. The morphological and compositional features of the biomorphic materials synthesized help improve the CaO multicycle activity under optimum CSP storage conditions and for particles sufficiently large to be managed in practical processes. Peer Reviewed

In the recent years, the integration of heat storage systems inside building components has been applied for heating and cooling purposes. The implementation of the thermal energy storage inside the building is used to manage and smooth the peak demand. An innovative constructive system including heat storage has been designed to reduce the energy consumption of the HVAC systems, during both heating and cooling periods. It consists of a prefabricated concrete slab with macro-encapsulated PCM inside its hollows. An installation of air ducts allows the air to be forced through the inside of the slab and therefore enhancing the heat exchange with the PCM. The operational mode during summer lies in solidifying the PCM during the night time and using the cold stored as a cooling supply during the day. Moreover, a solar air collector is installed for the winter mode, where the heat from the solar radiation is used to melt the PCM and cover part of the heating demand. The objective of this study is to analyse the benefits of this new system and to quantify its potential in reducing the energy consumed both for heating and cooling. The work partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2011-28269-C03-01 and ULLE10-4E-1305)

Abstract Given that the existing residential buildings are expected to become a huge part of the future stock due to their low replacement rate, retrofitting plans are crucial to meet 2030 and 2050 energy efficiency targets. Notwithstanding, an extensive assessment of the current energy and thermal performance of the stock must be conducted prior to the proposal of energy saving measures in order to properly tackle the retrofit process. Thus, the analysis and characterisation of the existing buildings under real variability conditions through statistical techniques is key to provide useful information at the stock level, instead of the most commonly single-building level approach. In the presented study, a statistical analysis on the most predominant variability ranges of the social housing stock of southern Spain (Andalusia) is carried out. Efforts are focused on the building characterisation of the linear block typology. To do so, an extensive database, which contains information on slightly under 39,500 social dwellings, is analysed. The conclusions reported in this study may be implemented into the construction of real case building archetypes through bottom-up building stock modelling techniques with the objective of assessing the real energy and thermal performance of the existing stock, providing useful information for public stakeholders.