Virtual power players dealing with excessive wind power situations using real time pricing

The increasing importance given by environmental policies to the dissemination and use of wind power has led to its fast and large integration in power systems. In most cases, this integration has been done in an intensive way, causing several impacts and challenges in current and future power systems operation and planning. One of these challenges is dealing with the system conditions in which the available wind power is higher than the system demand. This is one of the possible applications of demand response, which is a very promising resource in the context of competitive environments that integrates even more amounts of distributed energy resources, as well as new players. The methodology proposed aims the maximization of the social welfare in a smart grid operated by a virtual power player that manages the available energy resources. When facing excessive wind power generation availability, real time pricing is applied in order to induce the increase of consumption so that wind curtailment is minimized. The proposed method is especially useful when actual and day-ahead wind forecast differ significantly. The proposed method has been computationally implemented in GAMS optimization tool and its application is illustrated in this paper using a real 937-bus distribution network with 20310 consumers and 548 distributed generators, some of them with must take contracts.

Virtual power producers market strategies

This paper presents MASCEM - a multi-agent based electricity market simulator. MASCEM uses game theory, machine learning techniques, scenario analysis and optimisation techniques to model market agents and to provide them with decision-support. This paper mainly focus on the MASCEM ability to provide the means to model and simulate Virtual Power Producers (VPP). VPPs are represented as a coalition of agents, with specific characteristics and goals. The paper detail some of the most important aspects considered in VPP formation and in the aggregation of new producers and includes a case study.

Multi-agent electricity market simulation with dynamic strategies & virtual power producers

Distributed energy resources will provide a significant amount of the electricity generation and will be a normal profitable business. In the new decentralized grid, customers will be among the many decentralized players and may even help to co-produce the required energy services such as demand-side management and load shedding. So, they will gain the opportunity to be more active market players. The aggregation of DG plants gives place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs can reinforce the importance of these generation technologies making them valuable in electricity markets. In this paper we propose the improvement of MASCEM, a multi-agent simulation tool to study negotiations in electricity spot markets based on different market mechanisms and behavior strategies, in order to take account of decentralized players such as VPP.

A colonoscopia virtual no rastreio do cancro colo rectal

O cancro colo - rectal (CCR) �� um problema de sa��de mundial, estando associadas elevadas taxas de mortalidade e morbilidade. A maioria de CCR deriva de p��lipos adenomatosos.. Um estudo retrospectivo, efectuado no servi��o de Radiologia, dos achados imagiol��gicos t��picos e at��picos, entre Janeiro de 2008 e Junho 2010. A Colonoscopia Virtual, apresenta uma sensibilidade elevada na detec����o de les��es, com dimens��o superior a 10mm, permitindo um diagn��stico precoce, �� um exame r��pido, pouco invasivo, n��o h�� necessidade de seda����o e �� efectuada em ambulat��rio.

LMP based bid formation for virtual power players operating in smart grids

Power system organization has gone through huge changes in the recent years. Significant increase in distributed generation (DG) and operation in the scope of liberalized markets are two relevant driving forces for these changes. More recently, the smart grid (SG) concept gained increased importance, and is being seen as a paradigm able to support power system requirements for the future. This paper proposes a computational architecture to support day-ahead Virtual Power Player (VPP) bid formation in the smart grid context. This architecture includes a forecasting module, a resource optimization and Locational Marginal Price (LMP) computation module, and a bid formation module. Due to the involved problems characteristics, the implementation of this architecture requires the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are used for resource and load forecasting and Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization (EPSO) is used for energy resource scheduling. The paper presents a case study that considers a 33 bus distribution network that includes 67 distributed generators, 32 loads and 9 storage units.

Renewable-based generation integration in electricity markets with virtual power producers

The development of renewable energy sources and Distributed Generation (DG) of electricity is of main importance in the way towards a sustainable development. However, the management, in large scale, of these technologies is complicated because of the intermittency of primary resources (wind, sunshine, etc.) and small scale of some plants. The aggregation of DG plants gives place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs can reinforce the importance of these generation technologies making them valuable in electricity markets. VPPs can ensure a secure, environmentally friendly generation and optimal management of heat, electricity and cold as well as optimal operation and maintenance of electrical equipment, including the sale of electricity in the energy market. For attaining these goals, there are important issues to deal with, such as reserve management strategies, strategies for bids formulation, the producers��� remuneration, and the producers��� characterization for coalition formation. This chapter presents the most important concepts related with renewable-based generation integration in electricity markets, using VPP paradigm. The presented case studies make use of two main computer applications:ViProd and MASCEM. ViProd simulates VPP operation, including the management of plants in operation. MASCEM is a multi-agent based electricity market simulator that supports the inclusion of VPPs in the players set.

Virtual power producers simulation - negotiating renewable distributed generation in competitive electricity markets

Sustainable development concerns made renewable energy sources to be increasingly used for electricity distributed generation. However, this is mainly due to incentives or mandatory targets determined by energy policies as in European Union. Assuring a sustainable future requires distributed generation to be able to participate in competitive electricity markets. To get more negotiation power in the market and to get advantages of scale economy, distributed generators can be aggregated giving place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs are multi-technology and multisite heterogeneous entities that should adopt organization and management methodologies so that they can make distributed generation a really profitable activity, able to participate in the market. This paper presents ViProd, a simulation tool that allows simulating VPPs operation, in the context of MASCEM, a multi-agent based eletricity market simulator.

Identifica����o de pessoas numa portaria virtual

Ao longo dos ��ltimos anos tem havido um crescimento elevado na utiliza����o de dispositivos de comunica����o sem fios existindo in��meras aplica����es nas mais diversas ��reas, sendo cada vez mais uma realidade no quotidiano das pessoas e da ind��stria. Neste trabalho �� proposto uma adapta����o para m��dulos baseados no protocolo 802.15.4 de forma a adaptar os mesmos com caracter��sticas distintas das que possuem. Nomeadamente s��o desenvolvidos diferentes tipos de antenas (antena impressa simples, agregado com 2 e 4 antenas) para serem incorporadas nos m��dulos por forma a permitir a sua utiliza����o num projecto de portaria virtual, que poder�� ser utilizado em escolas, hospitais, empresas, por forma a controlar o fluxo de movimentos. Para al��m do dimensionamento da antena e a sua adapta����o aos m��dulos s��o tamb��m efectuada altera����es no software nos m��dulos de transmiss��o e recep����o de modo a garantir que o controlo da passagem de utilizadores numa portaria virtual seja feita do modo mais eficiente poss��vel. O trabalho foi realizado em varias etapas, efectuando-se primeiro um estudo detalhado sobre as comunica����es sem fios e nomeadamente sobre o protocolo 802.15.4. Posteriormente foram projectadas as antenas e feita a sua integra����o nos m��dulos. Por ��ltimo foram efectuadas uma campanha de medidas com vista a avaliar o desempenho do sistema.

MASCEM - an electricity market simulator providing coalition support for virtual power players

This paper presents MASCEM - a multi-agent based electricity market simulator. MASCEM uses game theory, machine learning techniques, scenario analysis and optimization techniques to model market agents and to provide them with decision-support. This paper mainly focus on the MASCEM ability to provide the means to model and simulate Virtual Power Players (VPP). VPPs are represented as a coalition of agents, with specific characteristics and goals. The paper details some of the most important aspects considered in VPP formation and in the aggregation of new producers and includes a case study based on real data.

Dispachability improvement of wind generation by the virtual power producers

Nowadays, there is a growing environmental concern about were the energy that we use comes from, bringing the att ention on renewable energies. However, the use and trade of renewable e nergies in the market seem to be complicated because of the lack of guara ntees of generation, mainly in the wind farms. The lack of guarantees is usually addressed by using a reserve generation. The aggregation of DG p lants gives place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs can reinforce the importance of wind generation technologies, making them valuable in electricity markets. This paper presents some resul ts obtained with a simulation tool (ViProd) developed to support VPPs in the analysis of their operation and management methods and of their strat egies effects.

The problems of the european union film industry: an evolution from "subsidy trap" to the advent of "virtual print fee" model

Disserta����o de Mestrado, Gest��o de Empresa (MBA), 16 de Julho de 2013, Universidade dos A��ores.

Serial experiments lain's body: o corpo enquanto fronteira entre o f��sico e o virtual

Disserta����o apresentada �� Escola Superior de Comunica����o Social como parte dos requisitos para obten����o de grau de mestre em Audiovisual e Multim��dia.

O desenvolvimento de um modelo de ensino virtual num contexto de investimento incipiente em e-learning : progressos e desafios

Este artigo relata o desenvolvimento de um modelo de ensino virtual em curso na Universidade dos A��ores. Depois de ter sido adotado na leciona����o de disciplinas da ��rea da Teoria e Desenvolvimento Curricular em regime de e-learning e b-learning, o modelo foi, no ano acad��mico de 2014/15, estendido �� leciona����o de outras disciplinas. Al��m de descrever o modelo e explicar a sua evolu����o, o artigo destaca a sua ado����o no contexto particular de uma disciplina cuja componente online foi lecionada em circunst��ncias especialmente desafiadoras. Neste sentido, explica o processo de avalia����o da experi��ncia, discute os seus resultados e sugere pistas de melhoria. Essa avalia����o enquadra-se num processo de investiga����o do design curricular ��� a metodologia que tem sido usada para estudar o desenvolvimento do modelo.

Reasserting curriculum design through virtual learning environments : The case of MAPE

II European Conference on Curriculum Studies. "Curriculum studies: Policies, perspectives and practices���. Porto, FPCEUP, October 16th - 17th.

A realidade virtual como factor de atrac����o para a engenharia

O objectivo da Realidade Virtual �� simples de entender mas muito dif��cil de implementar: criar ambientes completamente indiferenci��veis do mundo real com os quais se possa interagir de um modo natural. Desde a cria����o do Sensorama por Morton Heiling em 1962, passando pela difus��o do conceito pelo p��blico geral na d��cada de 90 at�� os dias de hoje, a evolu����o da Realidade Virtual tem sido constante. Este conjunto de tecnologias tem estado envolvido por uma certa descren��a por parte da sociedade, motivada pelas grandes expectativas que lhe foram atribu��das e pelo estado de desenvolvimento do hardware aquando do seu auge. No entanto, actualmente assiste-se a um ressurgimento do seu interesse no p��blico geral com a introdu����o de imagem estereosc��pica no cinema ou o sucesso dos controladores da consola Nintendo Wii. Hoje em dia as suas aplica����es s��o muito variadas: desde o treino de pilotos de avi��o ao tratamento de fobias, passando pela industria do entretenimento e a visita virtual de locais com interesse hist��rico ou tur��stico. O objectivo desta tese de mestrado �� explorar uma ��rea que ainda n��o tem sido muito abrangida pela Realidade Virtual e que cobre tamb��m aspectos educacionais e l��dicos de modo a ser um factor de atrac����o para os estudantes do ensino secund��rio: a simula����o de instrumentos musicais. Para tal foi implementado um sistema capaz de simular instrumentos musicais de percuss��o (uma bateria) utilizando imagem estereosc��pica, som posicional e interfaces com o utilizador realistas. Os resultados obtidos nas sess��es de avalia����o efectuadas por alunos recentemente ingressados no ensino superior demonstram que o sistema desenvolvido, bem como a inova����o em interfaces do utilizador com os dispositivos electr��nicos de uma forma geral, constituem um meio efectivo na sua motiva����o para a escolha de um curso na ��rea da engenharia.