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The aggregated peaks in power demand necessitate substantial overcapacity in the size of power generators, transformers, transmission lines, and protection circuitries. It results in poor utilisation of the electric infrastructure for a substantial proportion of the time of a day. Moreover, power generators that can respond rapidly to the rapid changes in demand associated with the peak are more expensive than baseload generators. With the advancement of smart grids, more small-capacity distributed renewable energy generators are added which are intermittent and non-dispatchable. Therefore, a robust power-demand management system (PDMS) is essential to coordinate, these intermittent sources and loads to maximise the system's utilisation and reliability. Basically, PDMS is an important process that allows energy providers to reshape load profiles, increase energy efficiency, and reduce overall operational costs. In this thesis, an advanced PDMS is developed to manage various distributed energy resources such as electric vehicles (EVs), photovoltaics (PVs), electric boats (EBs), and battery storage. The types, capacity, characteristics, and dynamics of these resources are considered in the analysis. The management technique is tested in real Australian power distribution networks under real load and weather conditions. The various scales of the network are considered, e.g. small-scale, large-scale, grid-connected, and islanded. The energy resources in a small-scale system are utilised to meet the domestic power demand. Likewise, aggregated PVs and aggregated PVs in a parking lot are used to manage the large-scale commercial load demand. Any excess energy after meeting the domestic power demand is shared with neighbours through a bidirectional energy-transaction process. In the demand management process, various ancillary supports such as voltage and frequency regulation are provided. The placement of the controller and the impact of the uncoordinated energy-management systems along with their feasible solutions are also investigated. Additionally, the economic benefit of the power-demand management to the prosumers are calculated. The proposed techniques are compared with an artificial neural-network-based technique and validated in a laboratory experiment. The study shows that, using the proposed method, the peak demand on the distribution grid can be reduced significantly, thereby substantially improving the load factor.

Abstract: After the implementation of a biofuel target in 2017, China, the second largest consumer of oil in the world, accelerated the development of lignocellulosic biomass technology to produce ethanol and minimized food security risks commonly associated with first generation biofuel production. In this study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to investigate three new lignocellulosic biomass refinery systems based on corncob which co-produce ethanol with chemicals and energy. The bioethanol is used in E10 and E85 biofuel mixes and these are compared with a fossil gasoline reference system. Using 1 km distance driven by a compact size flexible fuel passenger vehicle as the functional unit and a exergy allocation approach to the raw material inputs and to the co-products in the simulated multifunctional biorefinery processes, the results indicate that regardless of the configuration of the ethanol-biorefinery, ethanol-blended fuels performed better than gasoline in terms of fossil fuels depletion (E10 6% lower; E85 64–70% lower), global warming potential (E10 1–10% lower; E85 5–113% lower) and human toxicity potential (E10 6–7% lower; E85 72–75% lower), but worst in terms of ozone layer depletion (E10 4.5–6.8 times higher; E85 51.9–78.2 times higher), acidification (E10 30–50% higher; E85 3.3–5.5 times higher) and eutrophication potential (E10 5.2–7.0 times higher; E85 42.4–64.0 times higher) than gasoline.

Abstract In order to achieve a perfect bottom-up electroplated Cu filling with a minimal surface thickness, 2-mercaptopyridine (2-MP) was investigated as a new leveler for replacing Janus Green B (JGB) for bottom-up copper filling. Electrochemical impedence results indicate that 2-MP has a stronger suppression for Cu deposition than JGB. With the addition of 2-MP, the filling capability of the electroplating solution is improved significantly with the Cu thickness on surface decreasing from ∼16 μm to ∼10 μm. The interaction mechanisms of 2-MP, bis(3-sulfopropyl) disulfide (SPS), Cl − and tri-block copolymer of PEG and PPG with ethylene oxide terminal blocks (EPE) in the plating solution are studied by galvanostatic measurements (GMs). The acceleration effect of SPS and the inhibition effect of 2-MP on copper deposition occur in the presence of EPE, and the convection-dependent adsorption (CDA) behavior of additives usually occurs with the injection of four additives at optional concentrations. Further, it was found that when 1.0 ppm 2-MP, 1.0 ppm SPS and 200 ppm EPE were injected into the basic electrolyte, the potential difference ( Δ h) value of the electrolyte became positive, and the bottom-up electroplated copper filling was obtained in the electrolyte in absence of Cl − . The interaction mechanisms of three additives for bottom-up filling have been investigated by GMs.

While different in emphasis, spirituality and sustainable development are intertwined concepts that cannot be meaningfully discussed in isolation from each other. This is especially pertinent in Pacific Island countries that are characterised by both high degrees of vulnerability to climate change and high degrees of religious engagement. There is a paucity of research that examines the relationship between spirituality and sustainable development in contemporary human development discourse. To address this gap in the literature, this research employs an inductive and exploratory methodological approach to the study of major development organisations in Australia. It investigates what significance contemporary NGOs ascribe to matters of spirituality in the design and implementation of their community aid and development programming in the Pacific and beyond. To achieve its goal, the study conducts a systematic term frequency analysis in the annual reports of government-funded and independently funded NGOs, both faith-based and secular. It extends previous research by focusing expressly on the intersectionality of sustainable development and spirituality as a fertile space for interdisciplinary inquiry. The findings link development policy and practice more closely to the needs and worldviews of Pacific peoples. A better understanding of the spirituality–sustainability nexus will enable more effective, sustainable, equitable, ethical, and culturally acceptable development programming. Crucially, integrated approaches promise to make ongoing community development programmes and adaptation responses to climate-driven environmental change more effective and sustainable. Finally, it is an important aim of this study to conceptualise various opportunities for future research, thus laying the foundation for an important emergent research agenda.

Cyber-physical attacks are the most significant threat facing the utilisation and development of the various smart grid technologies. Among these attacks, false data injection attacks (FDIAs) represent a major category, with a wide variety of types and effects. There has been extensive reporting on FDIAs recently. Several detection algorithms have been developed over the past few years to address this threat. In Chapter 2, this thesis starts by providing a deep analysis of the literature on these algorithms. The concluding remarks of this chapter present the main criteria that should be considered in developing future detection algorithms for FDIAs in different systems of smart grids. Following that, this dissertation proposes FDIA detection algorithms in the major systems in smart grids that are the most susceptible and vulnerable towards FDIAs. In wide-area monitoring systems, being able to promptly differentiate FDIA from normal grid contingencies is crucial for a grid operator to decide the correct response and reduce FDIA false alarms. In Chapter 3, two FDIA characterisation algorithms are developed to address this issue. The automatic generation control (AGC) is paramount in maintaining the stability and operation of power grids. FDIAs are particularly difficult to detect and represent a major threat to AGC systems. Chapter 4 proposes a novel spatio-temporal learning algorithm that can learn the normal dynamics of the power grid with AGC systems. It then utilises this unsupervised learned model in detecting FDIA affecting the AGC system. The utilisation of distributed generation units in power distribution systems has increased the complexity of system monitoring and operation. Numerous information and communication technologies have been adopted recently to overcome the associated challenges, but they have created wide opportunities for energy theft and other types of cyber-physical attacks. Chapter 5 utilises the developed spatio-temporal learning algorithm in Chapter 4 in detecting the various possibilities of FDIA affecting the distribution systems by evaluating the reconstruction error of each measurement sample. The proposed algorithm is data-driven, which makes it resilient against distribution systems’ uncertainties and nonlinearities. The collected results indicate a superior detection performance of the proposed detection algorithms compared to those in the literature.

Rechargeable aluminum batteries (AlBs), which represent cost‐effective energy‐storage devices due to the abundance of natural aluminum resources, have emerged as promising candidates for the next generation of rechargeable batteries. Although the electrochemical deposition of aluminum in ionic liquids (ILs) is well investigated for aluminum refining, the reversible electrochemical deposition/dissolution behavior of aluminum ions is not trivial. More specifically, the dendrite growth issue, which is common in Li metal anodes, is scarcer or vague. Herein, the electrochemical stability of the aluminum metal anode in IL electrolytes is investigated and the failure mechanism is discussed. It is confirmed that the inorganic anion of ILs mainly affects the electrochemical stability, whereas the organic cation influences the aluminum metal degradation. X‐ray computed tomography results further identify deterioration of the surface morphology of the aluminum metal. The formation of “dead aluminum” is further confirmed, which indeed causes cell failure with repeated cycles. Finally, using the predeposited aluminum graphene paper as an alternative anode candidate for AlBs is further demonstrated.

Abstract Metallization based on electroless metal plating of nickel and copper is a simple, cost-effective process used in the fabrication of Buried Contact silicon solar cells. Whereas the electroless Ni–Cu metallization scheme works well for metal deposition on early Buried Contact solar cells, in which deposition was required only on phosphorus diffused contact regions, more care is required for advanced Buried Contact solar cell designs that require simultaneous deposition on to both phosphorus and boron diffused contact regions. In this paper, we examine two key issues related to the metallization in these solar cells. Firstly we demonstrate an improved buffered hydrofluoric acid etch process for simultaneous removal of borosilicate and borophosphosilicate glasses from the contact regions prior to electroless deposition of nickel with good etch selectivity against silicon dioxide masking films. Secondly, we demonstrate an improved process for nucleation of the nickel layer on both phosphorus and boron diffused contact areas based on immersion palladium chloride activation of the plating surfaces. N-type double-sided buried contact solar cells metallized by processing introduced in this study show improvement on absolute efficiency of more than 3%.

Fullerene derivatives are commonly used as electron acceptors in combination with (macro)molecular electron donors in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Understanding the BHJ structure at different electron donor/acceptor ratios is critical to the continued improvement and development of OPVs. The high neutron scattering length densities (SLDs) of the fullerenes provide effective contrast for probing the distribution of the fullerene within the blend in a nondestructive way. However, recent neutron scattering studies on BHJ films have reported a wide range of SLDs ((3.6-4.4) × 10(-6) Å(-2)) for the fullerenes 60-PCBM and 70-PCBM, leading to differing interpretations of their distribution in thin films. In this article, we describe an approach for determining more precisely the scattering length densities of the fullerenes within a polymer matrix in order to accurately quantify their distribution within the active layers of OPV devices by neutron scattering techniques.