Analysis of a controversial decision process: the case of the pumped hydro storage power plant Atdorf in Germany

Based on the report for the unit “Métodos Interactivos de Participação e Decisão A” (Interactive methods of participation and decision A), coordinated by Prof. Lia Maldonado Teles de Vasconcelos and Prof. Nuno Miguel Ribeiro Videira Costa. This unit was provided for the PhD Program in Technology Assessment in 2015/2016.

Historic and potential technology transition paths of grid battery storage: Co-evolution of energy grid, electric mobility and batteries

Scarcity of fuels, changes in environmental policy and in society increased the interest in generating electric energy from renewable energy sources (RES) for a sustainable energy supply in the future. The main problem of RES as solar and wind energy, which represent a main pillar of this transition, is that they cannot supply constant power output. This results inter alia in an increased demand of backup technologies as batteries to assure electricity system safety. The diffusion of energy storage technologies is highly dependent on the energy system and transport transition pathways which might lead to a replacement or reconfiguration of embedded socio-technical practices and regimes (by creating new standards or dominant designs, changing regulations, infrastructure and user patterns). The success of this technology is dependent on hardly predictable future technical advances, actor preferences, development of competing technologies and designs, diverging interests of actors, future cost efficiencies, environmental performance, the evolution of market demand and design and evolution of our society.

A green future for European electricity? :Energy sources, policies and further determinants of the household price of electricity

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Renewable energy systems the theme for the PACITA summer school on TA, Liège, Belgium, 25 28 June 2012

The summer school “Renewable Energy Systems: Role and Use of Parliamentary Technology Assessment” was the first European Summer School with a pure focus on technology assessment. The aim of the three-day long summer school of the European project Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment (PACITA) was to create awareness of the potential of technology groups in Europe. Therefore, the summer school involved keynotes, practical exercises, mutual reflection, cutting edge training and networking to deal with the theme of renewable energy systems out of the perspective of Technology Assessment (TA), to meet transition objectives or to critically assess energy technologies.

Clearing the cloudy crystal balls: Hybrid modelling for energy and climate change mitigation scenarios – A case study for Portugal

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ambiente

Technology transition towards electric mobility - technology assessment as a tool for policy design

Paper presented at the Colloquium Gerpisa 2013, Paris (http://gerpisa.org/node/2085), Session n°: 19 New kinds of mobility: old and new business models

40 K Liquid Neon Energy Storage Unit

A thermal Energy Storage Unit (ESU) could be used to attenuate inherent temperature fluctuations of a cold finger, either from a cryocooler working or due to sudden income heat bursts. An ESU directly coupled to the cold source acts as a thermal buffer temporarily increasing its cooling capacity and providing a better thermal stability of the cold finger (“Power Booster mode”). The energy storage units presented here use an enthalpy reservoir based on the high latent heat of the liquid-vapour transition of neon in the temperature range 38 - 44 K to store up to 900 J, and that uses a 6 liters expansion volume at RT in order to work as a closed system. Experimental results in the power booster mode will be described: in this case, the liquid neon cell was directly coupled to the cold finger of the working cryocooler, its volume (12 cm3) allowing it to store 450 J at around 40 K. 10 W heat bursts were applied, leading to liquid evaporation, with quite reduced temperature changes. The liquid neon reservoir can also work as a temporary cold source to be used after stopping the cryocooler, allowing for a vibration-free environment. In this case the enthalpy reservoir implemented (24 cm3) was linked to the cryocooler cold finger through a gas gap heat switch for thermal coupling/decoupling of the cold finger. We will show that, by controlling the enthalpy reservoir’s pressure, 900 J can be stored at a constant temperature of 40 K as in a triple-point ESU.