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In this article, a large area bifacial solar cell on n-type silicon substrates using novel process and only industrial facilities is introduced. The boron emitter is formed by BCl3 precursor and the phosphorus BSF is made by ionimplantation followed by in-situ front and rear side passivation with silicon oxide. Meanwhile, the wafer source and cell series resistance affiliated to process control variability are analyzed. The resulting cell efficiency achieved 19.7% on 156 PSQ n-type Cz wafers. Moreover, such process was adopted on 156 inch n-type mono-like wafers and achieved cell efficiency up to 18.9%. 28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 1053-1056

Lignite-fired power plants in Northern Greece produce about 50% of the electricity and account for nearly 60% of the allocated CO2 emissions. The implementation of biomass co-firing is considered a cost effective and efficient method for minimizing GHG emissions. However, despite a favorable legislative framework, co-firing in Greece has not progressed since low lignite costs and distance of power plants from harbor facilities limit access to internationally traded solid biomass. The improvement and optimization of local biomass supply chains is thus a strategic priority in the national context. The purpose of the present work is to present preliminary investigations of a wheat straw supply chain for a Greek lignite-fired power plant to be converted into biomass co-firing operation. On¬field demonstration data are analyzed in order to estimate costs for supply chains involving either pelletized straw or straw bales. Information of energy consumption is also presented for different cases and GHG emissions calculated according to the methodology of (COM 2010)11. Results indicate that the cost of straw delivered at the power plant varies depending on whether pelletization is included as a supply chain step. Overall, over short distances, transfer of baled biomass is more economic and results in lower GHG emissions, however the increase in the cost of the supply chain suggest that a pelletization step should be considered for longer distances. The transport cost of the supply chain also depends on whether the vehicles are assumed to return empty at their starting point or loaded. Also, compared to imported or domestic wood pellets, straw pellets have lower prices and could be more attractive to plant operators. Long-term fuel contracts are essential in order to ensure the financial viability of co-firing, especially if a reduction in the feed-in tariff is expected. Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 136-142

Solar power appears to be one of the most promising resources to meet the medium and long term renewable energy targets. The integration of large amounts of photovoltaic (PV) generation into distribution networks faces some limitations due to the network constraints. The PV community became well aware of these limitations in the last years. While first solutions have been pointed out mainly for large installations connected to the medium voltage network, the specificities of low voltage networks are still not fully understood. This paper aims at explaining the challenges associated to the planning and operation of low voltage network with high PV penetration. The actual impact of PV infeed is quantified on the basis of real and accurate network, load and generation data. Results from unsymmetrical load-flow computations are presented and the implementation of reactive power-based voltage control is shortly discussed. 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 4469-4478

Exhaust hoods are commonly used to capture all emissions from stationary combustion systems that are open to the environment, such as residential heaters or stoves. For experimental purposes, emissions are sampled at one, or more, discrete locations downstream in the exhaust duct. Point-wise measurements in the duct are often taken with the assumption that the emissions are homogeneously distributed across the duct cross-section, because the flow is turbulent and therefore believed to be thoroughly mixed. However, the length of such systems is rarely sufficient to ensure fully-developed flow, and the actual homogeneity is seldom assessed. In the present work the mixing within the duct is investigated by simulating the emissions distribution within various hood and duct configurations. The simulations include a straight duct with and without baffles and two different exhaust hood configurations, namely at the Stove Testing Lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and at the University of Adelaide that meet standard requirements. The air flow in the ducts was simulated using Reynolds-averaged (RANS) turbulence modelling, with carbon monoxide (CO) as a representative combustion product, injected at three locations in the straight duct and two locations (centre and side) in the exhaust hoods. Simulations predict that, in isolation, neither a straight duct without baffles, nor a hood with a 90° elbow followed by a straight duct without baffles, provide sufficient mixing to achieve a near uniform distribution of CO at the sampling locations. However, simulations show that adequate mixing of dilution air and CO is achieved with baffles-induced flow detachment and recirculation, not from turbulent mixing in the straight section of the duct itself. The simulations also suggest that elbows, baffles, expansions or other geometrical features are needed to induce thorough mixing. For example, in the Stove Testing Lab at LBNL, flow disturbance is induced by an expansion into a larger diameter straight duct immediately downstream of the hood and the 90° elbow. Although these two systems demonstrate sufficient mixing of CO within the exhaust, the RANS simulations in this study suggest that other systems relying solely on mixing within a specified duct length (viz. 8–12 diameters) may not be sufficient. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Two studies conducted in Guadeloupe (West Indies) and Réunion (Indian Ocean) islands were designed to investigate the benefits of producing sugarcane as an energy crop and to assess the influence of agroclimatic factors on energy efficiency, respectively. In this context, it is essential to know the low heating value of the dry above-ground biomass (LHVd, MJ/kg) and its energy yield (EY, MJ/m2) in order to select the best varieties and set up a payment method for growers. Eighteen Poaceae (sugarcane and Erianthus) cultivars were compared under wet tropical environmental conditions in Guadeloupe. Three sugarcane cultivars were studied in four contrasting environments in Réunion. The partition sampling and biomass measurement procedures were identical at both locations. Low heating value (LHV) predictions were achieved using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) after specific calibration (Guadeloupe), or arithmetically after lignocellulosic compound prediction (Réunion). In both studies, LHV variability was very low and slightly dependent on the site, cultivar and above-ground biomass components (millable stalks and tops, and green and dead leaves). Considering the overall dry above-ground biomass (DAB, kg/m2), the LHVd was calculated by averaging 159 samples (mean 16.65 MJ/kg) in Guadeloupe and 315 samples (mean 16.45 MJ/kg) for Réunion. An excellent linear relationship between the DAB and its EY, regardless of cultivar, age and environment, was found (n = 474 and R² = 0.99). Sugarcane energy content assessment could thus be simplified by measuring the DAB, while enabling development of a faster method of payment for growers based on the DAB measurement and the correlation between DAB and EY. Finally, the findings of this study should allow growers to rapidly determine the commercial value of their sugarcane crops, and also enable purchasers to assess the amount of recoverable energy. (Résumé d'auteur)

The recent dispositions related to the energy performance of buildings, launched by the European Directives 2002/91/EC and 2010/31/EU, turned attention to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The aim of this study is to investigate the economic effects of the recent Italian statutory provisions related to energy performance of buildings on listing behaviour. With this aim an hedonic regression analysis is performed, in order to measure the impact of EPC level on listing prices. The study, based on a set of more than 500 housing property asset collected in 2012 from real estate advertisements websites, is focused on the Turin real estate market as a case study. Furthermore this paper contributes to the early limited literature on implication of the impact of EPC level on Italian housing market, representing one of the first systematic evidence about the energy certifications in the housing listing prices. Aestimum, Aestimum 65 (2014)

This paper describes the modelling of components for large PV pumping systems, which have been implemented in an online and free-software simulator of PV systems called SISIFO, which is publicly available at www.sisifo.info. Among other features, this software tool allows the prediction of water pumped as function of PV size and type and the analysis of system performance. 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 2933-2936

Solar tracking systems increase the electricity production by about 30% relative to fixed installations. A robust design of the mechanical system requiring less material than 100kg steel per kW nominal PV module power is essential to further improve the economics of PV tracker plants. The Solar Wings approach reaches this goal by using steel cables as a mounting system for the PV modules and benefits by the long-time experience of project partner BMF using steel cables in transportation systems such as ski-lift, funicular, aerial passenger lines. Tests with the first Solar Wings prototype in Switzerland passed successfully. The first 600 kW PV plant powered by the one axis Solar Wings tracking system will put into operation in December 2008 in Southern Germany. To maximize reliability and reduce maintenance costs only one electrical three-phase asynchronous motor is used to track 100kW PV modules. A two-axis tracking Solar Wings system will be available next year. Further development targets are low optical concentration by the use of planar mirrors mounted on a parallel axis to the PV module axis. PV modules and mirrors track individually and thus an increase of the electricity production of higher than 60% relative to fixed mounted installation is expected. First results of the measured increase of performance by individual tracking of the planar mirrors and the PV modules, performed on a small scale dish model, are reported. 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 1-5 September 2008, Valencia, Spain; 2790-2794

{"references": ["U.S. Energy Information Administration. \"How much energy is\nconsumed in residential and commercial buildings in the United States?\"\nAvailable at: http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=86&t=1", "S. Darby, \"The effectiveness of feedback on energy consumption.\"\nEnvironmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, 2006. Available\nat: http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/energyconsump-feedback.pdf.\nVisited: September 2015", "J. S. John, \"Putting energy disaggregation tech to the test,\" November,\n2013. Greentech Media. Available at:\nhttp://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/putting-energydisaggregation-tech-to-the-test.\nVisited: September 2015", "A. Zoha, A. Gluhak, M. A. Imran, S. Rajasegarar, \"Non-intrusive load\nmonitoring approaches for disaggregated energy sensing: a survey,\"\nSensors, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 16838-16866, December 2012.", "G. W. Hart, \"Nonintrusive appliance load monitoring,\" in Proc. of the\nIEEE, vol. 80, pp. 1870-1891, December 1992.", "M. Baranski, J. Voss, \"Non-intrusive appliance load monitoring based\non Optical Sensor,\" IEEE Bologna PowerTech Conference, Bologna,\nItaly, June 2003. Available at:\nhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1304732", "L. Farinaccio, R. Zmeureanu, \"Using a pattern recognition approach to\ndisaggregate the total electricity consumption in a house into the major\nen-uses,\" Elsevier, Energy and Buildings, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 245-259,\nAugust 1999.", "J. M. Abreu, F. C. Pereira, P. Ferr\u00e3o, \"Using pattern recognition to\nidentify habitual behavior in residential electricity consumption,\"\nElsevier, Energy and Buildings, vol. 49, pp. 479-487, June 2012.", "C. Beckel, L. Sadamori, S. Santini, \"Automatic socio-economic\nclassification of households using electricity consumption data,\" in\nProc. of the 4th international conference on future energy systems, New\nYork, 2013, pp. 75-86.\n[10] H. Zhao, F. Magoul\u00e8s, \"A review on the prediction of building energy\nconsumption,\" Elsevier, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,\nvol. 16, no. 6, pp. 3586-3592, August 2012.\n[11] G. K. F. Tso, K. K. W. Yau, \"Predicting electricity energy consumption:\nA comparison of regression analysis, decision tree and neural networks,\"\nElsevier, Energy, vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 1761-1768, September 2007.\n[12] F. Farzan, S. A. Vaghefi, K. Mahani, M. A. Jafari, J. Gong, \"Operational\nplanning for multi-building portfolio in an uncertain energy market,\"\nElsevier, Energy and Buildings, vol. 103, pp. 271-283, September 2015."]} Energy disaggregation has been focused by many energy companies since energy efficiency can be achieved when the breakdown of energy consumption is known. Companies have been investing in technologies to come up with software and/or hardware solutions that can provide this type of information to the consumer. On the other hand, not all people can afford to have these technologies. Therefore, in this paper, we present a methodology for breaking down the aggregate consumption and identifying the highdemanding end-uses profiles. These energy profiles will be used to build the forecast model for optimal control purpose. A facility with high cooling load is used as an illustrative case study to demonstrate the results of proposed methodology. We apply a high level energy disaggregation through a pattern recognition approach in order to extract the consumption profile of its rooftop packaged units (RTUs) and present a forecast model for the energy consumption.

The European Union’s external energy policy architecture is very important for further energy security and economic development. European normative power on its neighbours represents the most efficient way of integrating neighbouring energy markets, with the EU’s emerging internal market and, in perspective, through economic interdependence and complementarities, there are chances of creating an European geo-energy space. EU’s tools for shaping the geo-energy space are becoming more effective in an extended European economic area that would allow it to act as the main actor in a multilateral interconnected system of energy producer and transit countries. The result of the paper is materialized in a new paradigm for EU’s external energy policy, which can provide future security of supply through market institutions and an active economic diplomacy in the resource energy countries.