Search Results (27)

The increasing integration of renewable energy sources necessitates efficient energy storage solutions, with large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) playing a key role in grid stabilization and time-shifting of energy. This study presents a multi-level simulation framework for optimizing BESS operation across multiple markets while incorporating degradation-aware dispatch strategies. The framework integrates a day-ahead (DA) dispatch level, an intraday (ID) dispatch level, and a high-resolution simulation level to accurately model the impact of operational strategies on state of charge and battery degradation. A case study of BESS operation in the German electricity market is conducted, where frequency containment reserve provision is combined with DA and ID trading. The simulated revenue is validated by a battery revenue index. The study also compares full equivalent cycle (FEC)-based and state-of-health-based degradation models and discusses their application to cost estimation in dispatch optimization. The results emphasize the advantage of using FEC-based degradation costs for dispatch decision-making. Future research will include price forecasting and expanded market participation strategies to further improve and stabilize the profitability of BESS in multi-market environments. Full article

With the increasing emphasis on emission reduction targets, the low-carbon sustainable transformation of industrial energy supply systems is crucial. Addressing the urgent issue of reducing industrial carbon emissions, this study presents an integrated industrial energy supply system (IRE-CCUS-BESS-SPS) that incorporates renewable energy; calcium-based carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) to improve energy efficiency and sustainability. The system model is designed to achieve a cost-effective and environmentally low-impact energy supply, validated through Aspen Plus V11.0 and Matlab R2019b simulations. The system’s performance is evaluated using a 4E index system encompassing economy, environment, energy, and exergy. The findings indicate that the system’s lifetime net present value (NPV) is positive, with a payback period of 6.09 years. Despite a 12.9% increase in the overall economic cost, carbon emissions are significantly reduced by 59.78%. The energy supply composition includes 48.60% from fuel oil and 22.10% from biomass, with an additional 270.04 kW of heat provided by waste heat boilers. The equalization costs for CO₂ removal (LCCR) and methanation (LCOM) are 122.95 CNY/t and 10908.35 CNY/t, respectively, both exceeding current carbon emission trading costs and methane prices. This research offers a robust framework for designing sustainable industrial energy systems that integrate renewable energy, CCUS, and energy storage technologies for low-carbon operations. The analysis also suggests that government policies, such as direct financial subsidies or tax relief, are effective in accelerating the adoption of CCUS technology. Full article

This research aims to assess the integration of different fuel cell (FC) options with battery and waste heat recovery systems through a mathematical modelling process to determine the most feasible retrofit solutions for a marine electricity generation plant. This paper distinguishes itself from existing literature by incorporating future cost projection scenarios involving variables such as carbon tax, fuel, and equipment prices. It assesses the environmental impact by including upstream emissions integrated with the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) calculations. Real-time data have been collected from a Kamsarmax vessel to build a hybrid marine power distribution plant model for simulating six system designs. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodology ranks the scenarios depending on environmental benefits, economic performance, and system space requirements. The findings demonstrate that the hybrid configurations, including solid oxide (SOFC) and proton exchange (PEMFC) FCs, achieve a deduction in equivalent CO₂ of the plant up to 91.79% and decrease the EEXI and the average CII by 10.24% and 6.53%, respectively. Although SOFC-included configurations show slightly better economic performance and require less fuel capacity, the overall performance of PEMFC designs are ranked higher in MCDM analysis due to the higher power density. Full article

This paper evaluates the reliability of smart home energy management systems (SHEMSs) in a residential community with an unreliable power grid and power shortages. Unlike the previous works, which mainly focused on cost analysis, this research assesses the reliability of SHEMSs for different backup power sources, including photovoltaic systems (PVs), battery storage systems (BSSs), electric vehicles (EVs), and diesel generators (DGs). The impact of these changes on the daily cost and the balance of energy source contribution in providing electrical energy to household loads, particularly during power outage hours, is also evaluated. To address the uncertainty of electricity market prices, a risk management approach based on conditional value at risk is applied. Additionally, the study highlights the impact of community size on energy costs and reliability. The proposed model is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem and is solved using GAMS. The effectiveness of the proposed risk-based optimization approach is demonstrated through comprehensive cost and reliability analysis. The results reveal that when electric vehicles are used as backup power sources, the energy index of reliability (EIR) is not affected by market price variations and shows significant improvement, reaching approximately 99.9% across all scenarios. Full article

The growing demand and market penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) have led to an expansion in the size of the market for used EVs, accompanied by a continuous increase in the return rate of aging battery systems. Consequently, a second-hand market for aged battery systems, known as second-life batteries, is slowly emerging. Understanding this market is crucial for enabling a functioning circular economy for batteries. This paper analyzes the market mechanisms influencing price formation for used goods, drawing parallels to the largest second-hand market, the used car market, and applies them to the second-life battery market. By examining these mechanisms, insights are provided into the dynamics of the second-life battery market, facilitating the development of strategies to optimize resource utilization and sustainability in the EV industry. Finally, the second-life battery price index is introduced, increasing the transparency of prices for lithium-ion batteries and the circular economy. Full article

Nowadays, the measurement of heat stress indices is of principal importance due to the escalating impact of global warming. As temperatures continue to rise, the well-being and health of individuals are increasingly at risk, which can lead to a detrimental effect on human performance and behavior. Hence, monitoring and assessing heat stress indices have become necessary for ensuring the safety and comfort of individuals. Thermal comfort indices, such as wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), Tropical Summer Index (TSI), and Predicted Heat Strain (PHS), as well as parameters like mean radiant temperature (MRT), are typically used for assessing and controlling heat stress conditions in working and urban environments. Therefore, measurement and monitoring of these parameters should be obtained for any environment in which people are constantly exposed. Modern cities collect and publish this relevant information following the Smart City concept. To monitor large cities, cost-effective solutions must be developed. This work presents the results of a Heat Stress Monitoring (HSM) system prototype network tested in the Benicalap-Ciutat Fallera district in Valencia, Spain. The scope of this work is to design, commission, and test a low-cost prototype that is able to measure heat stress indices. The Heat Stress Monitoring system comprises a central unit or receiver and several transmitters communicating via radiofrequency. The transmitter accurately measures wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, solar irradiation, and black globe temperature. The receiver has a 4G modem that sends the data to an SQL database in the cloud. The devices were tested over one year, showing that radio data transmission is reliable up to 700 m from the receiver. The system’s power supply, composed of a Photovoltaic panel and Lithium-ion batteries, provided off-grid capabilities to the transmitter, with a tested backup autonomy of up to 36 days per charge. Then, indicators such as WBGT, TSI, and MRT were successfully estimated using the data collected by the devices. The material cost of a 12-point network is around EUR 2430 with a competitive price of EUR 190 per device. Full article

The adoption of fully battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) in Kuwait is currently at less than one percent of the population, and hence Kuwait has the lowest index rank among countries around the globe. Effectively, only Kuwaiti nationals have the opportunity to own EVs, as there are no fast direct-current charging stations in Kuwait, and Kuwaiti landlords (expats cannot own real estate) do not allow the installation of EV-charging home wall boxes at their rented properties. Given these facts, this paper only focuses on the preferences of Kuwaiti nationals, even though they only constitute 25 percent of the population of Kuwait. To accomplish the present objectives, a quantitative descriptive method (closed-ended questions) was used to collect data from a sample of 227 Kuwaiti nationals who were representative of the owners of half a million internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and that were categorized as early majority consumers. The findings of the present study indicate that over 50 percent of the respondents would prefer to buy an EV in the following three years when certain criteria were satisfied, including government-controlled pricing policies and recharging point availability, high-speed roads, and free EV-dedicated parking spaces. Furthermore, over 40 percent of respondents stated that they would contemplate purchasing an electric vehicle if the price of gasoline or diesel increased by 19 to 50 percent. The findings also indicated that more than 40 percent of respondents believed that EVs are fire- and crash-safe, and roughly 50 percent of the respondents would be willing to pay between 6 and 20% more for an EV because they believe that EVs are ecofriendlier vehicles and are significantly faster than conventional petrol vehicles. Additionally, respondents rewarded those vehicles with an excellent mark because of their ecological, economical, and technological attributes and benefits. Full article

The scarcity of drinking water is an increasingly pressing issue in many regions of the world, even in areas up till now considered developed. Climate change deprives many populations of the amount of water necessary for human consumption and traditional crops. Therefore, finding new water sources and making their usage more efficient and able to adapt to new environmental conditions without worsening the situation with further pollution is becoming mandatory. In the case study considered here, set on the Italian island of Vulcano in the Central Mediterranean, we propose the economic analysis and financial sustainability of plants for the desalination and recycled wastewater, powered by a DC-DC photovoltaic tracker system with silicon crystal panels sustained by a daily pack of lithium batteries. We present an estimation of the necessary budget, and propose a mix of traditional and innovative financial instruments to construct and analyse the economic trends of the installations over 30 years, considering the specific area price levels, salaries and interest rates. Finally, through the net present value index, we evaluate the financial sustainability of the entire operation, namely, identifying the circumstances when funding and building these plants in areas as remote as the one considered here is cost-effective. Full article

This paper proposes the electric vehicle (EV)-station-grid coordination optimization strategy considering user preferences, which regulates the charging behaviors of EV users from the user side to ensure the stable and safe operation of the power grid. Firstly, the spatio-temporal prediction model of charging load based on speed-temperature is developed. The model of EV power consumption per unit mileage affected by temperature and EV speed is constructed, and the shortest path algorithm is applied to determine the driving paths of EVs so as to judge the charging demand in combination with the state of charge (SOC) of the battery and to determine the charging periods and locations of the EVs, thus obtaining the spatio-temporal information of the charging load. Secondly, a multi-attribute charging decision model considering user preferences is constructed. Fuzzy clustering and rough set theory are applied to mine user behavior preferences, combined with behavioral economics to describe users’ irrational charging decision-making psychology. Lastly, a real-time charging price model considering voltage fluctuation index and user charging cost is constructed to analyze the impact of price on guiding charging behaviors. The simulation results verify the effectiveness and performance of the collaborative optimization strategy. Full article

The increasing limitations in the use of fossil fuels due to their limited availability and pollution have increased the use of renewable energies and storage systems for electricity generation. To achieve the goals of the integration of renewable energy, sizing and management methods for hybrid plants are needed to make investments profitable and attractive in these resources. This work presents an optimization method for the sizing and operation of hybrid plants with storage, choosing the best combination of technologies based on resource availability, installation costs and market prices, maximizing an economic index such as the net present value. One of the main contributions of this work is to reduce the oversizing that occurs in traditional methods through a penalty term for lost energy, encouraging investment in batteries to store excess energy above the point of interconnection (POI). In addition, it is intended to cover gaps such as the operation in coupled markets with different execution periods to maximize the benefits of the investment made and to contemplate different generation alternatives together with storage. The presented method is tested through sizing and operation simulations to demonstrate its potential. The presented method is tested through sizing and operation simulations to demonstrate its potential. In scenario A, the best combination of solar energy, photovoltaic energy and storage, is chosen. In scenario B, it is shown how the curtailment of the oversizing is reduced in some months by more than 5%. In scenario C, for daily operation in coupled markets, it is possible to improve the benefits from 0.7% to 37.04% in the days of the year. Full article

This paper presents an economic assessment of three drying systems (DS) with different configurations: diesel-powered (DDS), grid-powered (GDS), and photovoltaic-powered (PVDS). The third configuration, PVDS, presents important technological innovations regarding the electric configuration (stand-alone PV, without batteries or grid support) and the heat pump technology used (optimized for drying the recirculated air, which permits a reduction in the electricity consumption by more than 45% if compared to a diesel air-heater or an electric resistance). The profitability of the investment required for the installation of the three systems is proven by calculating the profitability index (PI), the internal rate of return (IRR), the payback period (PBP), and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). All the indicators show good profitabilities for the three technologies (the PI values range from 6.78 to 10.11, the IRR values range from 24% to 37%, and the PBPs are between 3 and 4 years), but the PVDS clearly offers important economic advantages: its PI and IRR are more than 40% higher, the PBP is 25% shorter, and the LCOE is between 40 and 47% lower than for the two other systems. The results of this analysis correspond to a particular base case but are obviously sensitive to geopolitical and economic changes: the ultimate strength of the PVDS configuration is its resilience against a possible rise in electricity and diesel prices, reducing the uncertainty for investors and policymakers. Full article

We examine the daily dependence and directional predictability between the returns of crude oil and the Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX). Unlike previous studies, we apply a battery of quantile-based techniques, namely the quantile unit root test, the causality-in-quantiles test, and the cross-quantilogram approach. Our main results show evidence of significant bi-directional predictability that is quantile-dependent and asymmetric. A significant positive Granger causality runs from oil (OVX) returns to OVX (oil) returns when both series are in similar lower (upper) quantiles, as well as in opposite quantiles. The Granger causality from OVX returns to oil returns is only significant during periods of high volatility, although it is not always positive. The findings imply that the forward-looking estimate of oil volatility, reflecting the sentiment of oil market participants, should be considered when studying price variations in the oil market, and that crude oil returns can be used to predict oil implied volatility during bearish market conditions. Therefore, the findings have implications regarding predictability under various conditions for oil market participants. Full article

This study aims to help managers develop a proper strategy and policy for their company’s future. After the global COVID-19 pandemic, developed countries decided to change their production and relocate and re-industrialize. The U.S.’s big electronics and automobile companies are not an exception to this rule. The lithium batteries are the main instrument of mobile phone and electric vehicles. The leading lithium battery supplier for the U.S mobile phone companies is China. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile (in South America) have some of the largest lithium mines in the world; these countries are known as the lithium triangle. Among the 86 million tonnes of lithium resources worldwide, 49.9 million tonnes exist in this area. The researchers in this study surveyed the best country for constructing a battery for companies in the U.S. Because of the growth of electric vehicles and their use of the lithium battery, the world is facing astronomical prices for lithium. To emphasize this issue and help managers create good policy, this study combined multiple methods. The improved suitability-feasibility-acceptability (SFA) strategy is integrated with the Bayesian best-worst method (BBWM) and measurement of alternatives and rankings according to compromise solution (MARCOS) multicriteria methods to determine the best destination. For comparison, based on the SFA strategy, seven criteria are introduced: commercially viable reserves, national minimum wage, corporate income tax, accessibility to mining companies, accessibility to the waterway, population, and political stability index. The Bayesian BWM analysis reveals that the foremost factor is corporate income tax, whereas MARCOS’s findings indicate that Chile is the best country to construct the lithium battery industry. To verify the proposed approach, a comparison analysis also is performed. Full article

This study aimed to conduct a techno-economic performance and optimisation analysis of grid-connected PV, wind turbines, and battery packs for Syiah Kuala University, situated at the tip of Sumatra island in the tsunami-affected region. The simulation software Hybrid Optimisation Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) was used to analyse and optimise the renewable energy required by the institution. The methodology began with the location specification, average electric load demand, daily radiation, clearness index, location daily temperature, and system architecture. The results revealed that the energy storage system was initially included in the simulation, but it was later removed in order to save money and optimise the share of renewable energy. Based on the optimisation results, two types of energy sources were chosen for the system, solar PV and wind turbine, which contributed 62% and 20%, respectively. Apart from the renewable energy faction, another reason for the system selection is cost of energy (CoE), which decreased to $0.0446/kWh from $0.060/kWh. In conclusion, the study found that by connecting solar PV and wind turbines to the local grid, this renewable energy system is able to contribute up to 82% of the electricity required. However, the obstacle to implementing renewable energy in Indonesia is the cheap electricity price that is mainly generated using cheap coal, which is abundantly available in the country. Full article

A novel stochastic strategy for solving the problem of optimal power management of multi-microgrid (MMG) systems is suggested in this paper. The considered objectives are minimizing the total cost and emission of the system. The suggested algorithm is applied on a MMG consisting of four microgrids (MG), each including fossil fuel-based generator units, wind turbine (WT), photovoltaic (PV) panel, battery, and local loads. The unscented transformation (UT) method is applied to deal with the inherent uncertainties of the renewable energy sources (RES) and forecasted values of the load demand and electricity price. The proposed algorithm is applied to solve the power management of a sample MMG system in both deterministic and probabilistic scenarios. It is justified through simulation results that the suggested algorithm is an efficient approach in satisfying the minimization of the cost and the environmental objective functions. When considering uncertainties, it is observed that the maximum achievable profit is about 23% less than that of the deterministic condition, while the minimum emission level increases 22%. It can be concluded that considering uncertainties has a significant effect on the economic index. Therefore, to present more accurate and realistic results it is essential to consider uncertainties in solving the optimal power management of MMG system. Full article