• Energy Research

The UK Government and British industries are making important efforts for the development and implementation of carbon capture, transport and storage (CCTS). Critical to this will be an understanding of the composition and characteristics of the industrial clusters and of the costs for the CCTS systems. However, the available literature presents a wide range of cost values and many of the studies do not tend to consider all of the carbon transport and storage elements together. Moreover, there are a very limited number of UK specific analyses and in some cases the studies are considered to be too historical. In this paper, we present a review and characterisation of the main UK industrial clusters, in terms of geographical limits, available infrastructure, industries present and level of emissions. We then provide a brief review of carbon transport and storage (T&S) cost models and costing information before conducting a technoeconomic assessment of the potential T&S system costs for the UK industrial clusters. To the best of our knowledge, this integrated analysis has not been conducted for the UK context, and this is key for policy development and to assess the wider economic impacts of CCTS. Fromourcluster characterisation and techno-economic analysis, we found that there is important potential for CCTS for industrial decarbonisation in the UK. Also, the creation of a CO2 shipping industry will allow for industrial clusters that do not have an adequate storage sites nearby to use the CCTS infrastructure in other sites. The development of a CO2 shipping infrastructure also enables carbon management and storage services to be exported to polluters overseas, potentially creating and maintaining jobs and economic growth. We believe that the cluster characterisation and cost estimates produced here provide valuable insight to inform policy and can be used as a first step for to develop further analysis in policy relevant areas such as an analysis of the wider economic impacts of these investments, the effect on jobs and competitiveness and the impact on the wider society.

This paper is a literature review of fuel and transport poverty in the U.K. with a focus on contextualising this challenge in Scotland. Building on the discussion in the literature, we see that the objective of policy interventions should be to provide a mechanism for identifying vulnerable households. First, we analyse the definitions of fuel, energy, and transport poverty and observe that definitions in policy have been used to limit the scope of the issue to make it more easily addressable. In contrast, academic research points out that fuel poverty should not only encompass all energy use, including household heating, but that transport poverty should be considered under the same umbrella as the drivers overlap. We then consider the indicators used to measure fuel and transport poverty, finding that the thresholds set are arbitrary and only measure one of many possible drivers, namely expenditure. Through an analysis of the drivers, it is clear that both fuel and transport poverty are complex multidimensional challenges requiring a combination of indicators to allow the policy to accurately identify vulnerable households.

Artículos en revistas A smart city is a sustainable and efficient urban centre that provides a high quality of life to its inhabitants through optimal management of its resources. Energy management is one of the most demanding issues within such urban centres owing to the complexity of the energy systems and their vital role. Therefore, significant attention and effort need to be dedicated to this problem. Modelling and simulation are the major tools commonly used to assess the technological and policy impacts of smart solutions, as well as to plan the best ways of shifting from current cities to smarter ones. This paper reviews energy-related work on planning and operation models within the smart city by classifying their scope into five main intervention areas: generation, storage, infrastructure, facilities, and transport. More-complex urban energy models integrating more than one intervention area are also reviewed, outlining their advantages and limitations, existing trends and challenges, and some relevant applications. Lastly, a methodology for developing an improved energy model in the smart-city context is proposed, along with some additional final recommendations. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Artículos en revistas To achieve an effective integration of the electric vehicle in the grid, not only technical issues must be solved, but also a new regulatory context and business models must be proposed. This paper proposes two electric vehicle integration business models; one resembles the mobile-phone business, while the other is more based on current practices in the electricity-supply business. Decomposition into three layers: physical, management, and business, is used to describe those business models. Furthermore, electric vehicle charging scenarios are presented to illustrate how the proposed business models fit in each of the potential situations. Finally, several practical study cases are presented. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Artículos en revistas Many efforts are being devoted towards achieving optimal planning and operation of DER (Distributed Energy Resources). However, during the planning process, not all relevant thermal constraints of the distribution network are considered; some works claim that they must be taken into account, while others follow the single-node approach. This paper assesses the effects of the distribution network thermal constraints in DER planning, using a deterministic linear programming problem to find the optimal DER planning and operation. Three case studies with different network topologies under several DER implementation scenarios are analyzed. A DC load flow is used to estimate the required network reinforcements to accommodate optimal DER investments, if any. Reinforcement costs are then calculated to assess the net benefit compared to limiting DER investments and operation, according to the network thermal limits. Results suggest that there is no significant economic advantage in limiting DER investments and line flows, compared to reinforcing the low voltage network to allow the larger flows that result from an unconstrained network problem. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Artículos en revistas Due to the increasing concern for energy efficient storage devices, extensive research is being done on the mechanisms which are involved in the battery degradation process. Optimality in electric vehicle energy management has been traditionally pursued from the perspective of efficient grid operation, but barely considering battery degradation in the process. The objective is to formulate a battery degradation model which will yield the degradation suffered by a battery as a function of its use, allowing both the comparison between different energy management strategies as well as including the model in linear optimization algorithms. Nearly three-hundred tests were carried out on Li-ion battery cells which were subjected to different depth-of discharges, currents and temperatures. Results are used to identify the variables which categorize best, using self-organizing maps, the degradation suffered by the cells. A model is proposed which yields the rate of degradation of the battery as a function of both temperature and depth-of-discharge. This model is then linearized and used in an electric vehicle energy management optimization problem, where the degradation suffered by the battery due to a controlled charge is minimized. Finally, the results are compared with other charging methods. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Capítulos en libros Operation of distributed energy resources is taking importance nowadays. This paper proposes an optimal planning and operation model of distributed energy resources in a district taking into account the mobility of consumers using conventional fuel vehicles (FV) or electric vehicles (EV). The stochastic model considers the uncertainty of the type of vehicle, availability and distance traveled, and then it manages the available resources to obtain the maximum benefit from the grid. Results show that the EVs assist to achieve greater benefits of the distributed resources. Moreover, the costs per driven km are mainly independent of the type of vehicle considered. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Electrifying transport to meet local pollution and overall net zero carbon ambitions is now a key UK policy focus, but this will have important impacts on the energy system, the economy, and the environment. Understanding the changes that the electrification of transport will bring is crucial for developing sustainable policies for net zero goals and a just transition. A literature is emerging to analyse the impact of a large-scale penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), but generally limiting focus to the implications for the electricity network. In this paper, we aim to provide insight on the wider energy system impacts of the expected EV rollout in the UK, in terms of fuel changes, energy costs, CO2 emission reduction and network investments; and how different EV charging strategies increase or mitigate the impacts of the expected large-scale penetration of EVs. Results show that non-smart and/or decentralised charging will require considerably larger investments on the network to accommodate new EV demand. Network reinforcement costs are passed to the consumer via increased electricity prices and, albeit reduced, emissions shift from the transport to the power sector. These results show the importance of considering the whole energy system and the wider economy, to avoid carbon leakage and to maximise the effectiveness of policies.