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In the context of the imperative global shift towards renewable energy to mitigate climate change, Latin America (LATAM) emerges as a region of immense untapped potential. However, there is no formal quantification of the effects of developing this potential. This study analyzes the economic and climate impacts of developing renewable energy in LATAM and the Asia–Pacific region using an integrated economic and climate assessment model (IAM). The key findings are as follows. First, exporting renewable energy from LATAM and the Asia–Pacific region yields economic benefits across all regions. However, this surge in renewable energy exacerbates rather than alleviates global warming. Second, the implementation of policy measures accompanying renewable energy exports, aimed at discouraging the use of polluting energy sources, proves effective in mitigating global warming while sustaining significant economic gains globally. Third, LATAM stands to gain substantially from this development. Fourth, due to the gradual process of capital accumulation, any delays in initiating the development of renewable energy exports not only diminish economic gains during the postponement but also in the years following the commencement of exports. These results are robust to several additional simulations and sensitivity analyses. The results align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In microgrids (MGs), energy management systems (EMSs) have been using increasingly detailed models of generation units, loads, and networks to make decisions on the power/energy contribution of each available unit to meet the electrical energy demand. This work aims to investigate the use of digital twins (DT) of small productive processes (SPPs) to regulate endogenous process variables to ensure final product quality, while the expected power consumption is estimated and communicated to the EMS so that it can make its decisions on the participation of each power source in meeting the electrical energy demand. The literature review reveals that this is one of the first attempts, in the context of MGs, to generate DT for SPPs that combine not only the electrical energy consumption, but also link it with the energy/mass balances taking place in the SPPs, highlighting the complexity that SPPs have as electrical loads. The results demonstrate that environmental conditions significantly influence the final electrical consumption of the SPPs. Additionally, the MG exhibits better economic performance when the SPP DT supports EMS decision-making, which is of great importance in MGs due to the special conditions they have for electric power generation, being more challenging in isolated MGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a proper protection system is essential for the secure and reliable operation of microgrids. In this paper, a novel adaptive protection system for microgrids is presented. The protection scheme is based on a protective device that includes two directional elements which are operating in an interleaved manner, namely overcurrent and undervoltage elements. The proposed protection scheme can be implemented in microprocessor-based relays. To define the settings of the protective device, a robust programming approach was proposed considering a finite set of fault scenarios. The scenarios are generated based on the predictions about the available energy and the demand. For each decision step, a robust optimization problem is solved online, which is based on forecasting with a confidence band to represent the uncertainty. The system is tested and compared using real data sets from an existing microgrid in northern Chile. To assess the performance of the proposed protection system, fault scenarios not considered in the optimization were taken into account. The results obtained show that the proposed protective device is able to manage those failure scenarios, as well as those included in the tuning of the settings. Practical considerations are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyse the economy-wide implications of a carbon tax applied on the Chilean electricity generation sector. In order to analyse the macroeconomic impacts, both an energy sectorial model and a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model have been used. During the year 2014 a carbon tax of 5 US$/tCO2e was approved in Chile. This tax and its increases (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 US$/tCO2e) are evaluated in this article. The results show that the effectiveness of this policy depends on some variables which are not controlled by policy makers, for example, non-conventional renewable energy investment cost projections, natural gas prices, and the feasibility of exploiting hydroelectric resources. For a carbon tax of 20 US$/tCO2e, the average annual emission reduction would be between 1.1 and 9.1 million tCO2e. However, the price of the electricity would increase between 8.3 and 9.6 US$/MWh. This price shock would decrease the annual GDP growth rate by a maximum amount of 0.13%. This article compares this energy policy with others such as the introduction of non-conventional renewable energy sources and a sectorial cap. The results show that the same global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction can be obtained with these policies, but the impact on the electricity price and GDP are lower than that of the carbon tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing interest in Energy Storage Systems (ESS), quantification of their technical and economical benefits remains a challenge. To assess the use of ESS, a simulation approach for ESS optimal sizing is presented. The algorithm is based on an adapted Unit Commitment, including ESS operational constraints, and the use of high performance computing (HPC). Multiple short-term simulations are carried out within a multiple year horizon. Evaluation is performed for Chile's Northern Interconnected Power System (SING). The authors show that a single year evaluation could lead to sub-optimal results when evaluating optimal ESS size. Hence, it is advisable to perform long-term evaluations of ESS. Additionally, the importance of detailed simulation for adequate assessment of ESS contributions and to fully capture storage value is also discussed. Furthermore, the robustness of the optimal sizing approach is evaluated by means of a sensitivity analyses. The results suggest that regulatory frameworks should recognize multiple value streams from storage in order to encourage greater ESS integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel optimization methodology consisting of finding the near optimal location of wind turbines (WTs) on a planned transmission network in a secure and cost-effective way is presented on this paper. While minimizing the investment costs of WTs, the algorithm allocates the turbines so that a desired wind power energy-penetration level is reached. The optimization considers both transmission security and power system stability constraints. The results of the optimization provide regulators with a support instrument to give proper signals to WT investors, in order to achieve secure and cost effective wind power network integration. The proposal is especially aimed at countries in the initial stage of wind power development, where the WT network integration process can still be influenced by policy-makers. The proposed methodology is validated with a real power system. Obtained results are compared with those generated from a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, in which the WT network allocation is made according to existing WT projects. The proposed WT network allocation scheme not only reduces the total investment costs associated with a determined wind power energy target, but also improves power system stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile has set itself to achieve Greenhouse Gas emission neutrality, with at least 70% of electricity coming from renewable energy sources by 2050. To this end, institutional and regulatory frameworks have been improved, resulting in significant progress in medium and large-scale projects. However, solar energy production at residential level and its surplus injection to all distribution networks has been very limited. This paper analyzes the evolution of the regulatory energy policies in Chile in order to contrast it with an economic evaluation of residential projects. The analysis focuses on the city of Arica, one of the highest potential regions in terms of solar energy within the country. There, a particularly low penetration of residential solar energy usage has been observed. Based on the current situation, projections are made for Arica in 2050, through the identification of barriers and opportunities on a residential scale development. According to some recommendations, there is the need to design policies that take into account the particular characteristics of each region within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small productive processes (SPPs) are promising drivers that promote the economic use of energy in microgrids (MGs). Both the complex nature of the SPPs and voltage variations make the operation of MGs challenging, since the quality of an energy management system's (EMS) decisions depend on its characterization. The aim of this work is to propose a methodology for SPPs modeling, and to consider the influence of voltage on load consumption, which has general validity, and can be efficiently integrated into different MG EMS approaches. For this purpose, a novel extended multi-zone ZIP approach for the characterization of SPP loads and sensitivity to voltage changes is proposed. The associated framework herein presented was assessed using actual data collected from SPPs installed near the city of Arica, in northern Chile. The results showed that the proposed methodology was capable of representing the complex load behavior of the SPPs, properly considering the voltage influence. These results were compared with those obtained through common approaches found in the literature. The effectiveness of the proposed approach in representing SPP loads and their sensitivity to voltage changes was verified. The proposed scheme can be efficiently integrated into a wide range of EMS for MGs that include SPPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atacama Desert receives the highest levels of solar irradiance in the world with an annual average of 2500 kWh/m2 for the global horizontal irradiance and 3500 kWh/m2 for the direct normal irradiance. One of the challenges is the large portion of ultraviolet light. This part of the spectrum be detrimental for the encapsulant materials, reducing their lifetime. To develop a module adapted to the Atacama Desert conditions, it is imperative to have standardized information from first-hand about the typical faults experienced by photovoltaic modules operating in the desert. This work reports on the design and implementation of the Inspection Data Collection Tool to evaluate crystalline silicon-based moules operating in desert climates. The tool brings together novel features of compatibility with current standards, efficient mobile-type instrumentation (equipment and tools), clear procedures/protocols for non-expert users and low development costs. A total of 95 modules were inspected to characterize failure/degradation issues. Three components of the solar modules were assessed: front cover glass, ethylene-vinyl acetate encapsulant and solar cells. Seven abnormalities were analyzed: Soiling, front cover glass discoloration, encapsulant delamination, hotspots, partial shading, cell fracture and faulty soldering. Soiling was the most common issue, showing correlation between dust deposition and location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents both an extensive literature review and a qualitative and quantitative study conducted on nearly 200 publications from the last six years (based on international experience and a top-down analysis framework with five classification levels) to establish the main trends in the field of centralized energy management systems (EMS) for microgrids. No systematic trend analyses have been observed in this field in previous literature reviews. EMS attributes for several features such as objective functions, resolution techniques, operating models, integration of uncertainties, optimization horizons, and modeling detail levels are considered for main trend identification. The main contribution of this study is the identification of four specific existing research trends: (i) dealing with uncertainties (comprises 33% of the references), (ii) multi-objective strategy (29%), (iii) traditional paradigm (21%), and (iv) P-Q challenge (17%). Each trend is described and analyzed based on the main drive of these separate research fields. The key challenges and the way to cope with them are described based on the rationality of each trend, the results of previous reviews, and the previous experience of the authors. Overall, finding these main trends, together with a complete paper database and their features, serve as a useful outcome for a better understanding of the current research-specific challenges, opportunities, potential barriers, and open questions regarding the creation of future centralized EMS developments. The traditional numerical analysis is insufficient to identify research trends. Therefore, the need of further analyses based on the clustering approach is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focused on the estimation of the state of charge (SoC) of a Li-con Cell by carrying out a series of experimental tests at various operating temperatures and SoC. The cell was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests, from which the impedance frequency spectrum for different SoC and temperatures was obtained. Indeed, the cell model consisted of a modified Randles circuit type that included a constant phase element so-called Warburg impedance. Each circuit parameter was obtained from the EIS tests. The obtained were been used to develop two numerical models for each parameter, i.e., one based on numerical correlations and the other based on the artificial neural network (ANN) method. A genetic algorithm was used to solve and optimize the numerical models. The accuracy of the models was examined and the results showed that the ANN-based model was more accurate than the correlations-based model. The root mean square relative error (RMSRE) of the parameters Rs, R1, C1 and W for the ANN-based model were: 4.63%, 13.65%, 10.96% and 4.4%, respectively, compared to 7.09%, 27.45%, 34.36% and 7.07% for the correlations-based model, respectively. The SoC was estimated using the extended Kalman filter based on a Randles model, with an estimation RMSRE of about 1.19%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a set of indicators to quantify the impact of conventional thermal generating unit cycling on its non-fuel variable costs (NFVC) due to generation mix changes in the system. A novel iterative cost adjustment framework is developed to evaluate the proposed indicators in order to assess the impacts of increasing installation of renewable resources on operation costs of the thermal units. The proposed framework allows private investors to estimate NFVC using a minimum level of information without a full knowledge of the system parameters. Additionally, the proposed framework is kept generic, which supports the NFVC adjustment for the conventional thermal units in a changing market environment. The impact of accelerated solar photovoltaic penetration on cycling and operational costs of existing thermal power plants in the Chilean power system is assessed using the indicators and methodology developed. The results suggest that natural gas driven peaking power plants are more susceptible to experiencing increased NFVC from solar photovoltaic growth than coal fired base load power plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]