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The reduction of water losses is a crucial aspect to be addressed in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) since they account for almost 50% of the water supply globally. To have a better figure of the involved water volumes, the District Metered Area (DMA) approach has been used in a WDN of a town located in the center of Italy (Osimo). In particular, a complete methodology for calculating and then detecting the water losses is described and applied using the end-users' water volumes consumptions obtained by inspecting water bills and the supplied water through on-field measurements. These values have been subsequently used to develop and calibrate a hydraulic model of the district under investigation through EPANET, thus allowing the WDN management to estimate both flow rates and pressures to assess the zones where smart meters have to be installed. Water losses have been controlled by monitoring the flow rates through smart meters with an innovative 868 MHz remote reading infrastructure, thus leading to 5,558.8 m3 of avoided water losses (12.5% less than the initial case) that corresponds to an energy reduction and an economic saving of 7,332 kWh and 1,857 € in the last three-month period of the year 2020, respectively. • The district metered area approach was used to reduce water leakages in WDNs. • On-field measurements of a WDN in Italy were performed to validate the method. • A numerical model was also built in EPANET® in order to resemble the analysed WDN. • Smart meters and a fixed infrastructure were used in the selected water district. • Energy (7.3 MWh) and (2 k€) economic savings in the last three month-period of 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

So far, energy planning methods faced several challenges in achieving a proper assessment due to the extreme variability of input conditions. To considerably decrease the computational efforts in achieving solutions, most of the analyses reported in the scientific literature assume constant costs and demand over the entire planning horizon in a typical year. However, results might not be perfectly aligned with real ones because of the incapability of some models to address several aspects like energy demand/production variability, energy and technology costs, efficiency degradation, and use of different energy carriers. This paper proposes a novel methodology that optimises both the long-term planning and short-term scheduling decisions in the management of a multi-energy carries community by means of a Mixed Integer Linear Programming model that also considers the modular design of technologies (e.g., technological devices selection from a discrete set of variants). Such a model has been applied to the case study of a University campus in Italy, whose historical demand data were used for its energy planning with a time horizon of 30 years. Three scenarios have been analysed: (i) the Business As Usual, (ii) the Sector-coupling scenario, and, finally, (iii) the Hydrogen deployment one. The results are obtained under different energy scenarios, showing the effectiveness of the methodology in dealing with multi-investment stages at different planning levels in a reasonable computational time. In particular, they showed that deploying more sustainable technologies would increase the cost of the electricity (between 43%–89%), while reducing other energy carriers' cost (about 60%) and lowering all energy carriers' carbon footprint (between 50%–80%). From a long-term perspective, (i) the use of sector-coupling technologies is beneficial from both economic and environmental points of view, and ii) dynamic variations of some parameters can strongly affect the deployment of high-cost technologies to be installed beyond 2030. • A novel multi-investment stage approach for multi-energy-carriers community is proposed. • Methodology validated on different energy-policy-driven scenarios with up to five energy-carries. • Manufacturer's datasheet-based size enables realistic modular design. • Automatic energy systems expansion aligned with fluctuating parameters. • Electricity cost increment (40%–80%) for the economic and environmental benefit of the other carriers (50%–90%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy transition is pushing towards a considerable diffusion of local energy communities based on renewable energy systems and coupled with energy storage systems or energy vectors to provide independence from fossil fuels and limit carbon emissions. Indeed, the variable and intermittent nature of renewables make them inadequate to satisfy the end-users' electricity demand throughout the whole day; thus, the study of energy storage systems, considering their seasonal storage behaviour (e.g., energy-power coupling, self-discharge loss, and minimum state of charge) is fundamental to guarantee the proper energy coverage. This work aims at identifying the off-grid operation of a local energy community powered by a 220 kW small-scale hydropower plant in the center of Italy using either a battery energy storage system or a hydrogen one with the Calliope framework. Results show that, whereas the hydrogen storage system is composed of a 137 kW electrolyser, a 41 kW fuel cell, and a storage of 5247 kg H 2 , a battery system storage system would have a capacity of 280 MWh. Even though the battery storage has a better round-trip efficiency, its self-discharge loss and minimum state of charge limitation involve a discharging phase with a steeper slope, thus requiring considerable economic investments because of the high energy-to-power ratio. • Energy Storage Systems coupled to a 220 kW hydropower plant are analysed. • Electric battery & integrated hydrogen system are studied. • 280 MWh of battery capacity cover the 220-kW hydropower plant off-time. • Batteries' investment is lower than 40 €/kWh for the short-term storage scenario. • Batteries' Levelized Cost Of Storage could be 10 times higher than hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Medium-term energy planning in an academic end-user is performed. • 20 solutions are studied to get the environmental goal of 50% emissions reduction. • At least, 3.3 MW of Photovoltaic panels and 7 MWh of battery capacity are required. • Hydrogen integration implies a lower size of most of the energy systems. • Battery capacity is connected to both heat pump and thermal energy storage sizes. The European Union defined the ambitious carbon-neutrality goal for 2050. Such a transition must be done gradually to avoid huge investments; therefore, medium-term energy planning of energy supply systems must be performed properly considering both economic and environmental aspects. Sector coupling measures aid to achieve this ambitious target, although they require a remarkable financial investment. This paper presents an innovative methodology for the medium-term energy planning of the university campus "Marche Polytechnic University" located in Italy towards the carbon neutrality, i.e., 50 % of carbon emissions reduction by considering financial investment aspects. The university campus is a multi-carrier local energy community with multiple technologies such as photovoltaic, combined heat and power, gas-fired boilers, absorption, and electric chillers that satisfy the end-users' energy demand. A different mix of installed and new technologies (e.g., energy storage or hydrogen) are investigated through the Calliope framework. The case studies present the economic-based optimal scenario of a typical year planning, guaranteeing the same 50 % carbon emissions reduction. Results underline the importance of exploiting synergies among multiple carriers and the essential role of i) renewables (e.g., additional 3.3 MW of photovoltaic to be installed), ii) batteries with a capacity of 7 MWh, and (iii) sector coupling technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]