Offshore Wind Farms: Foundations and influence on the Littoral Processes

Offshore wind farms are beginning to form part of coastal and marine landscapes located in dynamic surroundings. An integral management model must therefore be applied to achieve not only technical and economic viability of the project but also respect for the environment. Amongst other aspects, the latter calls for an analysis of the possible impact these facilities may have on littoral processes and this requires the differences between littoral processes prior and subsequent to the facility’s construction to be known. The maritime climate, the composition of the coast, lay-out distribution and characteristics of the facility’s components need to be known, particularly foundations as they are the main obstacles waves and currents meet. This article first addresses different aspects related to an offshore wind farm’s influence on the analysis of how it affects littoral dynamics and, because of their importance in this study, pays special attention to foundations. Coastal erosion due to this type of facility is then examined. The main conclusion of this article is that, whilst there are certain opinions claiming the coast is not affected by the presence of this kind of facility since the distance from location to coast and between wind turbine generators themselves is long, the impact must be analysed in each specific case, at least until experience proves otherwise and criteria are adopted in this respect.

Eco-entrepreneurship in developing countries: the case of renewable energy sector in Bolivia

The change towards a sustainable economic system represents a big challenge for the present as well as next generations. Such a process requires important long-term changes in technologies, lifestyle, infrastructures and institutions. In this scenario the innovation process is a crucial element for fostering sustainability as well as an egalitarian development in developing countries. For those reasons the concept of Eco-Innovation System is introduced and further considerations are provided for the case of less-developed countries. The paper illustrates that sustainable development is possible by exploiting local potential and traditional knowledge in order to achieve at the same time economic growth, social equality and environmental sustainability. In order to prove such an assumption a specific case study is described: The renewable energy sector in Bolivia. The case study summarizes many important dimensions of the innovation process in developing countries such as technological transfer, diffusion and adaptation, social dimension and development issues.

Organisational learning, strategic rigidity and technology adoption: Implications for electric utilities and renewable energy firms

This paper examines the implications of strategic rigidness for technology adoption behaviours among electric utilities. Such behaviours lead to heterogeneity in firm performance and consequently affect the electric utility industry. The paper's central aim is to identify and describe the implications of strategic rigidness for a utility firm's decision making in adopting newer renewable energy technologies. The findings indicate that not all utility firms are keen to adopt these new technologies, as these firms have traditionally been operating efficiently with a more conventional and mature technological arrangement that has become embedded in the organisational routine. Case studies of Iberdrola S.A. and Enel S.p.A. as major electric utilities are detailed to document mergers and acquisitions and technology adoption decisions. The results indicate that technology adoption behaviours vary widely across utility firms with different organisational learning processes and core capabilities.

Dimensionless wave height parameter for preliminary design of scour protection in offshore wind farms

This article describes the results of an investigation aimed at the analysis methods used in the design of the protections against scour phenomenon on offshore wind farms in transitional waters, using medium and large diameter monopile type deep foundations.

Potential of the renewable energy development in Jammu and Kashmir, India

The future economic growth for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated surge in energy demand, with expected shortages in terms of supply. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy conservation and energy efficiency can make an important contribution, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for providing enhanced energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low-carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time and the government both at center and state level has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within Jammu and Kashmir and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources.

Economic analysis of the renewable energy policies in the European Union

The European energy sector is undergoing a major transformation and is facing a series of difficult challenges. These include a high and increasing dependence on external energy resources; dramatically reduce the need for the emissions of greenhouse gases to meet environmental objectives and the difficulties related to the promotion of energy market effectively integrated and competitive. Some of the policies associated with the various objectives are sometimes in conflict with each other, while in other cases are mutually reinforcing.The aim of this paper is to do a scienti?c analysis of the developments so far and the expectations for the coming period focusing on the pillars of energy policy in the EU in terms of security of supply, environment, climate change and promoting a competitive and integrated market. The use of renewable energy sources is seen as a key element of European energy policy and should help to: reduce dependence on fuel from non-member countries; reduce emissions from carbon-based energy sources, and; decouple energy costs from oil prices.

Renewable energy infrastructure. A challenge for Venezuelan industrial construction

The relevance of renewable energy has grown significantly in our global society. Important efforts are oriented to sustain it. Renewable energy depends on different technical, financial environmental and social complex processes. From the point of view of industrial construction sector this research evaluates some of the current trends in energy generation and use in Venezuela as well as environmental consequences and risks that derive from these. Additionally, authors highlight the importance of infrastructure as key issue to sustain renewable energy generation and use. The study present references of some energy renewable projects in process in Venezuela and the main problems that constrain their performance. Conclusions evidence the complex nature of industrial construction and suggest the need to improve industrial construction competitivenes as a strategy oriented to enhance renewable energy offer in the country. Additionally it is proposed to all stakeholders to work toghether to correct the conditions that currently limit industrial construction development. This is part of ongoing research.

MultiPARTES: Multicore Virtualization for Mixed-Criticality Systems

Modern embedded applications typically integrate a multitude of functionalities with potentially different criticality levels into a single system. Without appropriate preconditions, the integration of mixed-criticality subsystems can lead to a significant and potentially unacceptable increase of engineering and certification costs. A promising solution is to incorporate mechanisms that establish multiple partitions with strict temporal and spatial separation between the individual partitions. In this approach, subsystems with different levels of criticality can be placed in different partitions and can be verified and validated in isolation. The MultiPARTES FP7 project aims at supporting mixed- criticality integration for embedded systems based on virtualization techniques for heterogeneous multicore processors. A major outcome of the project is the MultiPARTES XtratuM, an open source hypervisor designed as a generic virtualization layer for heterogeneous multicore. MultiPARTES evaluates the developed technology through selected use cases from the offshore wind power, space, visual surveillance, and automotive domains. The impact of MultiPARTES on the targeted domains will be also discussed. In a number of ongoing research initiatives (e.g., RECOMP, ARAMIS, MultiPARTES, CERTAINTY) mixed-criticality integration is considered in multicore processors. Key challenges are the combination of software virtualization and hardware segregation and the extension of partitioning mechanisms to jointly address significant non-functional requirements (e.g., time, energy and power budgets, adaptivity, reliability, safety, security, volume, weight, etc.) along with development and certification methodology.

Detecting and characterising ramp events in wind power time series

In order to implement accurate models for wind power ramp forecasting, ramps need to be previously characterised. This issue has been typically addressed by performing binary ramp/non-ramp classifications based on ad-hoc assessed thresholds. However, recent works question this approach. This paper presents the ramp function, an innovative wavelet- based tool which detects and characterises ramp events in wind power time series. The underlying idea is to assess a continuous index related to the ramp intensity at each time step, which is obtained by considering large power output gradients evaluated under different time scales (up to typical ramp durations). The ramp function overcomes some of the drawbacks shown by the aforementioned binary classification and permits forecasters to easily reveal specific features of the ramp behaviour observed at a wind farm. As an example, the daily profile of the ramp-up and ramp-down intensities are obtained for the case of a wind farm located in Spain

The effect of scour protections in offshore wind farms

The installation of offshore scour protection systems in offshore wind farms allows avoid the effect of scour phenomenon around these structures. Up to date, numerous research projects have been carried out to justify the necessity of the scour protection systems and also to optimize their design. Protection systems based on riprap is frequently used due to its low cost and easy availability compared to other solutions such as geotextile bags or prefabricated concrete blocks. The sizing of these structures can be performed according to a series of recommendations that can optimize the costs associated with them, but there have been only few studies with real data up to now which have allowed identify the need for such protections. This investigation aims to assess the functionality of the scour protections adopted through the available data about their characteristics and the scour depth developed around the foundations. In this sense, this paper presents the results of a study that analyzes the functionality of scour protections in different European offshore wind farms.

Technology transfer of renewable energy for rural development: historical evolution and lessons of experience from the model WWP

Technology transfer (TT) in the area of renewable energy (RE) throughout history has been an important tool for rural development (RD). Initially, the TT has been conceptualized as the purchase or donation of machinery from first world countries - without any consideration of staff training and contextual conditions for the adaptation of technology to the needs of the country. Various researches have revealed the existence of different approaches to planning the TT of RE, demonstrating the high complexity of projects from the social and contextual dimension. This paper addresses the conceptual evolution of the TT of RE for RD, examining its different periods considered for three criteria: historical events occurred, the role of stakeholders and changing objectives for the TT of RE for RD. For the conceptual analysis of changes the model Working With People (WWP) is used for planning and project management of high social complexity in RD. The analysis defines the existence of four historical periods in the TT of RE and synthesizes the lessons of experience from the three dimensions (ethical-social, technical-entrepreneurial, and political-contextual) of the WWP model.

Synergies and trade-offs between renewable energy expansion and biodiversity conservation - a cross-national multifactor analysis

Peer reviewed

Global change synergies and trade-offs between renewable energy and biodiversity

Funded by Kone Foundation ERC-StG. Grant Number: 260393 Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence Programme 2012–2017

Nitrogen management and the future of food: Lessons from the management of energy and carbon

The food system dominates anthropogenic disruption of the nitrogen cycle by generating excess fixed nitrogen. Excess fixed nitrogen, in various guises, augments the greenhouse effect, diminishes stratospheric ozone, promotes smog, contaminates drinking water, acidifies rain, eutrophies bays and estuaries, and stresses ecosystems. Yet, to date, regulatory efforts to limit these disruptions largely ignore the food system. There are many parallels between food and energy. Food is to nitrogen as energy is to carbon. Nitrogen fertilizer is analogous to fossil fuel. Organic agriculture and agricultural biotechnology play roles analogous to renewable energy and nuclear power in political discourse. Nutrition research resembles energy end-use analysis. Meat is the electricity of food. As the agriculture and food system evolves to contain its impacts on the nitrogen cycle, several lessons can be extracted from energy and carbon: (i) set the goal of ecosystem stabilization; (ii) search the entire production and consumption system (grain, livestock, food distribution, and diet) for opportunities to improve efficiency; (iii) implement cap-and-trade systems for fixed nitrogen; (iv) expand research at the intersection of agriculture and ecology, and (v) focus on the food choices of the prosperous. There are important nitrogen-carbon links. The global increase in fixed nitrogen may be fertilizing the Earth, transferring significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere to the biosphere, and mitigating global warming. A modern biofuels industry someday may produce biofuels from crop residues or dedicated energy crops, reducing the rate of fossil fuel use, while losses of nitrogen and other nutrients are minimized.

Renewable Energies and Community Associations: Providing Homeowners with Renewable Energy Options

As energy costs increase in Colorado more homeowners will need renewable energies to provide electricity, heating and cooling for their homes. Renewable energy technology and energy efficient measures have been available for decades but Homeowner Associations (HOA) has not permitted this technology into communities primarily because of aesthetics. In April 2008, House Bill 1270 was signed into law that gives homeowners the right to make their homes more energy efficient and install renewable energy generation devices. The purpose of this capstone is to enable HOAs with information on available technology and design guideline options that can be integrated into communities and thus encourage, instead of hinder, the use of renewable energy and energy efficient measures.