• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close

This report reflects upon the concept of social innovation and the way it is used in the energy sector. It does so by bringing together theoretical investigations and empirical knowledge. We aim to clarify the concept of social innovation in the energy sector by reviewing the literature and reflecting over a number of social innovation projects in Europe. The analysis of the projects against various contextual factors and their goals reveals the significant potential of social innovation on accelerating the energy transition while tackling societal problems. Energy production, energy efficiency and energy literacy are the main domains to which socially innovative activities contribute the most. High competences of project leadership and management observed though projects are often small in scale and context-dependent. This indicates that successful socially innovative energy initiatives require advanced bottom-up governance structures even if that may imply limitations for scaling up. This setting may complicate top-down support as legal, financial or even cultural policy-making must be tailor-made and reinvent or adjust continuously. Nevertheless, social innovative activities are expected to further proliferate the following years and move towards a sound environmental, cultural, political, economic and social direction, as knowledge creation and diffusion of technological and governance innovations accompanied with policy support are on the rise. JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Union

High penetration of renewable energy sources into isolated microgrids (µGs) is considered a critical challenge, as µGs’ operation at low inertia results in frequency stability problems. To solve this challenge, virtual inertia control based on an energy storage system is applied to enhance the inertia and damping properties of the µG. On the other hand, utilization of a phase-locked loop (PLL) is indispensable for measuring system frequency; however, its dynamics, such as measurement delay and noise generation, cause extra deterioration of frequency stability. In this paper, to improve µG frequency stability and minimize the impact of PLL dynamics, a new optimal frequency control technique is proposed. A whale optimization algorithm is used to enhance the virtual inertia control loop by optimizing the parameters of the virtual inertia controller with consideration of PLL dynamics and the uncertainties of system inertia. The proposed controller has been validated through comparisons with an optimized virtual inertia PI controller which is tuned utilizing MATLAB internal model control methodology and with H∞-based virtual inertia control. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller against different operating conditions and system disturbances and uncertainties.

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Free cooling of buildings uses the nocturnal outdoor air as a heat sink via a ventilation process. This could be performed by storing the night coolness for use during the daytime as appropriate. Due to the latent heat capacity, phase change material (PCM) could play anessential role in the effective operation of the free cooling systems by shifting the daytime peak load to the night. However, there is a scarceness on the technology application in hot climates. This paper presents results of a parametric investigation into the application of PCMs as thermal energy storage (TES) to provide sustainable cooling to buildings in hot arid climate by making use of the night-time free cooling. The proposed TES medium comprises an arrangement of metallic modules filled with RT28HC PCM. Numerous geometrical configurations and operational parameters have been assessed. A transient CFD simulation has been employed using ANSYS Fluent software. Validation of the numerical results with experimental data has shown a good agreement. The results have demonstrated that the temperature difference between the PCM and the air, at appropriate air flow rate would have a significant impact on the performance of the system. A free cooling system based on the proposed arrangement has the potential to meet around 42% of a typical building cooling load and has the ability to save up to 67% of building cooling energy load in summer season compared to conventional air-conditioning systems in hot arid climates.

Decarbonizing the building sector is extremely important to mitigating climate change as the sector contributes 40% of the overall energy consumption and 36% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Net-zero energy buildings are one of the promising decarbonization attempts due to their potential of decreasing the use of energy and increasing the total share of renewable energy. To achieve a net-zero energy building, it is necessary to decrease the energy demand by applying efficiency enhancement measures and using renewable energy sources. Net-zero energy buildings can be classified into four models (Net-Zero Site Energy buildings, Net-Zero Emissions buildings, Net-Zero Source Energy buildings, and Net-Zero Cost Energy buildings). A variety of technical, financial, and environmental factors should be considered during the decision-making process of net-zero energy building development, justifying the use of multi-criteria decision analysis methods for the design of net-zero energy buildings. This paper also discussed the contributions of renewable energy generation (hydropower, wind energy, solar, heat pumps, and bioenergy) to the development of net-zero energy buildings and reviewed its role in tackling the decarbonization challenge. Cost-benefit analysis and life cycle assessment of building designs were reviewed to shape the priorities of future development. It is important to develop a universal decision instrument for optimum design and operation of net-zero energy buildings.

The energy transition is a global reality. In Brazil, the market is already signaling interest in investing in offshore wind, as can be seen from the environmental licensing processes underway at the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). This article carries out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for this typology on the Brazilian coast. To this end, the activities of an offshore wind farm were listed for the planning, installation and operation phases of the project. Based on this information, a correlation is made with the environmental impacts identified when carrying out similar activities already carried out by the Brazilian offshore industry (ports, oil and gas exploration and production). Finally, these results are compared with environmental impacts already reported in projects of this type already implemented in the North Sea, United Kingdom. The results of the analysis indicate that, despite the development of significant knowledge about EIA of offshore wind projects, there are still gaps to fill in the consolidation of an effective procedure for assessing the environmental impacts of these projects.

Cette thèse est basée sur des simulations numériques régionales et aborde, d’un point de vue énergétique, la variabilité à Méso (O(10-100)km) et Sous-mésoéchelle (O(0.1-10)km) dans la région du Courant des Aiguilles.(i) La variabilité de sous-mésoéchelle à la transition entre les deux branches du Courant des Aiguilles (28◦E-26◦E) est dominée, en l’absence de méandres de mésoéchelle, par des tourbillons cycloniques frontaux formant un ‘vortex street’. La tension ambiante frontogénétique intensifie le cisaillement frontal qui déclenche l’instabilité barotrope menant à la génération de tourbillons de sous-mésoéchelle.(ii) Un budget modal d’Energie Cinétique des Tourbillons est développé pour caractériser les transferts d’énergie entre les différentes structures verticales. Les interactions canalisées par la topographie (3 processus) résultent globalement en une perte d’énergie pour les tourbillons de mésoéchelle plus grande que les processus de dissipation (friction au fond et vent) et une cascade verticale inverse (interactions triadiques) renforce les tourbillons de mésoéchelle dans les zones au large.(iii) Notre budget modal permet de caractériser la région du Courant des Aiguilles comme une source nette d’énergie pour les tourbillons de mésoéchelle en contradiction avec celui estimé à partir de données d’altimétrie. Cette différence vient des données d’altimétrie ne tenant pas compte de la contribution principale de la dynamique aux sources et puits d’énergie des tourbillons de mésoéchelle (partie linéaire de la dynamique agéostrophique du mode barotrope et du 1er mode barocline). This dissertation is based on regional numerical simulations and addresses, from an energetic perspective, the Meso (O(10-100)km) and Submesoscale (O(0.1- 10)km) variability in the Agulhas Current region.(i) Submesoscale variability at the transition between the two Agulhas Current branches (28◦E-26◦E) is dominated, in the absence of mesoscale meanders, by cyclonic frontal eddies forming a ’vortex street’. The frontogenetic background strain intensifies the frontal shear which triggers the barotropic instability leading to submesoscale eddies generation.(ii) A modal Eddy Kinetic Energy budget is derived to characterize the energy transfers between the different vertical structures. Interactions canalized by topography (3 processes) globally result in a larger energy loss for mesoscale eddies than dissipation processes (bottom friction and wind) and an inverse vertical cascade (triadic interactions) reinforces mesoscale eddies in offshore areas.(iii) Our modal budget allows to characterize the Agulhas Current region as a net energy source for mesoscale eddies in contradiction with one inferred from altimetry data. The discrepancies come from altimetry data not accounting for the main contribution of the dynamics to mesoscale eddies energy sources and sinks (ageostrophic linear part of the dynamics of the barotropic and 1st baroclinic modes).