André Luiz Veiga Gimenes

Integrated Energy Resources Planning for the Electricity Sector: Targeting Sustainable Development

Technology advancement and population pressures demand that development planning be conducted not only with the techno-economic paradigm in mind but also taking into consideration environmental, political, and social sustainability factors. Projections considering current energy policies demonstrate that global electricity consumption will grow by 84% in the next 25 years. The portion of electricity consumption from fossil fuels is estimated at 63%, still representing a major ?challenge to the energy sector in the coming decades [1]. Estimating supply alternatives for increasing electricity consumption is integral to the development expansion plans of developing nations. The selected countries in this work are part of different social, environmental, political, and economic scenarios. Although the sample of countries is small, it represents a very heterogeneous and comprehensive group. The implications from the review here aim to provide an overview of energy planning around the world.

Solar energy analysis supported on hydropower modelling for taking advantage of photovoltaic power plants

The aim of this study is to conceptualize the formatting process of primary energy for power systems using photovoltaic plants, based on the systemic handling of hydropower knowledge defined over the years in a country-level interconnected power system. The main premise adopted is the installation of photovoltaic systems in areas occupied by large hydroelectric dams. The results show that the climatic behavior is specific in each region. Therefore, it has not been possible to find any evidence of standardized correlations between the sunshine and the other climatic and hydrological variables analyzed. Finally, a flow chart that illustrates a consistency in the definition of the distinguishing elements of the inventory process is presented. The purpose of this flow chart is to enable the same inventory process for PV plants in existing hydropower plants, using a comparison method. Thus, this study provides a new way to systematize the solar resource based on a dominated formulation of the water resource.

Energy management service layer for cloud computing costs reduction

Reducing the energy-related costs is a significant concern for Cloud Computing providers. Although many efficiency techniques had been evaluated, incentives for demand management according to energy sector information is not usual. The energy prices and availability vary according to daytime and geographical position, which implies in different prices for the resources in distinct periods. The higher flexibility of the Cloud Computing capacity regarding energy provider enables the adaptation of the infrastructure to take advantage of the energy prices fluctuation and the different sources availability. This work defines an infrastructure layer that allows negotiation and management of computing resources based on energy information for various time intervals. The proposed solution sets processing plans and establishes scheduling conditions to seize the most efficient usage of energy. A model that translates the customer contract information, searches for the lowest energy prices, and allocates the services based on these searches, is presented to reinforce our approach. Our results point out financial savings of almost 20% in comparison to non-energy management techniques.