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European Union identified the battery value chain as strategic for achieving a sustainable and decarbonized economy. Focusing on the environmental sustainability of batteries, this paper presents an application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology to three flow-redox cells characterized by electrodes made by different materials. The results are referred to one kWh of energy supplied by the cell during its useful life and are calculated following a “from cradle to grave” approach. Negligible differences (lower than 1.5%) are observed in the energy and environmental impacts of the three types of cells, mainly due to the type of electrode and the use phase. A dominance analysis shows that the cell manufacturing (including the raw materials supply) is responsible of more than 58% of most of the impact categories examined

Fuel cells (FCs) are among the key technologies that Europe will have to rely on in order to comply with the most recent environmental targets inspired by decarbonization and circular economy. The assessment of the real advantages of using FCs for producing energy must include a reliable analysis of the energy and environmental impacts during the life cycle of these systems, including the raw materials supply, production, use, and disposal. In this context, the life cycle assessment (LCA) is a well-established methodology for assessing the eco-profile of products and services and for identifying the components and the life cycle steps having the largest contribution to energy and environmental impacts. In the chapter, authors focus on the analysis of two types of FCs: solid oxide FCs and polymer electrolyte membrane FCs. Authors describe the FC technology, the sectors of application, and the FC materials and components. A literature review of available LCA researches is also discussed to point out the environmental impacts of the FCs and the methodological issues that can arise in the study of a FC.

The market of electric storage systems is widely dominated by Lithium ion batteries, whose peculiarity is the need for a thermal management system, whose proper design is complicated by the interaction. among different design and operating parameters. A specific methodology for carrying out the task is still lacking. In this context, the present paper proposes a systematic framework for the design of passive and hybrid thermal management systems (TMSs) of Li-ion batteries. Thermal tests were carried out on Lithium-Titanate-Oxide cells under realistic operating conditions in a controlled environment to characterize the electrical and thermal behaviour. A thermofluid dynamics model of the battery was implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics. The experimentally validated model was used to evaluate the influence of different design and operating parameters (ambient temperature, charge/discharge current, phase change material thickness and melting temperature) using the Taguchi method (orthogonal arrays), and discussing inter-related effects of the studied parameters via interaction plots. Air temperature (45°C) and/or discharge current (69–92 A) were identified as critical operating conditions beyond which thermal runaway issues occur. Starting from the optimal design conditions for a passive TMS, the same methodology was used to assess a hybrid PCM-liquid cooling system as an alternative configuration. The results indicate that, compared to the baseline case of natural cooling, the optimal designs of standalone PCM and hybrid cooling system led to a reduction in maximum cell temperature of 11 and 22°C, respectively, showing the high potential of these TMSs.

To support the global transition towards a climate-neutral economy by 2050, countries all over the world are implementing low carbon and energy effi ciency policies. This is leading to a rapid increase in the installations of distributed generation technologies. A hybrid system consisting of two or more energy sources could provide a more reliable supply of energy and mitigate storage require ments. In this context, this paper develops an environmental early analysis by the employment of a simplified Life Cycle Assessment approach. The above mentioned approach is used to investigate the environmental performances of the hybrid energy system of the smart polygeneration micro-grid of the University Campus of Savona, which integrates photovoltaics and combined heat and power generators with an electricity storage system. Moreover, two further compari son scenarios are analyzed: electricity demand met by importing energy from the electricity grid (Scenario 1) and management of cogeneration plants to primarily satisfy thermal demand (Scenario 2). An early environmental assessment analysis shows that the cogeneration systems have a predominant weight on the majority of the environmental impact categories analyzed. On the other hand, the PV sys tems are the most responsible for the impacts on human toxicity cancer effects (35%), freshwater ecotoxicity (60%), and resource depletion (72%); while the energy imported from the grid has a predominant weight on freshwater eutrophi cation (55%). Finally, the results show that the alternative scenarios investigated are responsible for higher environmental impacts than the case study. The only exceptions are represented by the resource depletion for Scenario 1 and the global warming potential for Scenario 2. In fact, for these indicators, the base case shows higher environmental impacts than those of the alternative scenarios.

Ventilated Façades integrated with photovoltaic panels have become a popular way to improve both the thermal-physical performances of the existing built environment. The increased usage of not-programmable renewable energy sources implies the adoption of energy storage systems to mitigate the mismatch between the power generation and the building’s demand. Aiming at properly integrates a photovoltaic panel and a battery (Lithium based) as a module of an active ventilated façade, the prototype design has been carried out in terms of thermo-fluid dynamics performance. Based on experimental setup, a numerical study of flow through the air cavity of the active ventilated façade has been carried out by the fluid-dynamics Finite Volume code-Ansys-Fluent. The calibrated model was lastly used to perform a wide range of parametric analyses on different climate and boundary conditions to explore the viability of the prototype.

The European Union is moving towards a sustainable, decarbonized, and circular economy. It has identified seven key value chains in which to intervene, with the battery and vehicle value chain being one of them. Thus, actions and strategies for the sustainability of batteries need to be developed. Since Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a strategic tool for evaluating environmental sustainability, this paper investigates its application to two configurations of a sodium–nickel chloride cell (planar and tubular), focusing on the active material and the anode, with the purpose of identifying the configuration characterized by the lowest environmental impacts. The results, based on a “from cradle to gate” approach, showed that the tubular cell performs better for all environmental impact categories measured except for particulate matter, acidification, and resource depletion. With nickel being the main contributor to these impact categories, future sustainable strategies need to be oriented towards the reduction/recovery of this material or the use of nickel coming from a more sustainable supply chain. The original contribution of the paper is twofold: (1) It enriches the number of case studies of LCAs applied to sodium/nickel chloride cells, adding to the few studies on these types of cells that can be found in the existing scientific literature. (2) The results identify the environmental hot spots (cell configuration and materials used) for improving the environmental footprint of batteries made from sodium/nickel chloride cells.

The transition to a sustainable society and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 requires extensive deployment of renewable energy sources that, due to the aleatority and non-programmability of most of them, may seriously affect the stability of existing power grids. In this context, buildings are increasingly being seen as a potential source of energy flexibility for the power grid. In literature, key performance indicators, allowing different aspects of the load management, are used to investigate buildings’ energy flexibility. The paper reviews existing indicators developed in the context of theoretical, experimental and numerical studies on flexible buildings, outlining the current status and the potential future perspective. Moreover, the paper briefly reviews the range of grid services that flexible buildings can provide to support the reliability of the electric power system which is potentially challenged by the increasing interconnection of distributed variable renewable generation.

Il concetto di “edificio a energia netta zero” è stato recentemente implementato in tutti i regolamenti dei paesi europei. Tuttavia, l’approccio dettato dall’Europa si concentra principalmente sulla scala dell’edificio singolo, tralasciando alcuni aspetti riguardanti ad esempio l’interazione di generazione e carico tra edifici e le interazioni energetiche tra edifici. L’obiettivo di questo studio consiste nell’applicazione della definizione di net zero energy building ad un gruppo di edifici ubicati nell’Italia meridionale e caratterizzati da una destinazione d’uso variegata. Lo status quo di una ventina di edifici è stato simulato in ambiente energy plus e sono state successivamente selezionate una serie di soluzioni di retrofit applicate sia sull’involucro sia sugli impianti. Per raggiungere il target di edificio a energia netta zero si è ipotizzato di generare energia da sistemi fotovoltaici a scala di distretto. Grazie alle soluzioni di retrofit il quartiere avrà un consumo complessivo annuo di circa 628 MWhe, con una riduzione di circa il 28% rispetto alla situazione precedente. Tutte le soluzioni di retrofit proposte hanno tempi di ritorno dell’investimento inferiori ai 13 anni. The concept of “net zero energy building” has been recently implemented in regulations throughout Europe: however, some aspects regarding e.g. the interaction of generation and load between buildings and the energy interactions of each building between each other are often overlooked by an approach that focuses mostly on the single building scale. The objective of the study is to evaluate the potential for reaching net zero energy target on a district level in a mixed-use community in southern Italy. The paper identifies a district case study, made of around twenty buildings having mixed uses. The buildings were modeled in Energy Plus environment and a set of retrofit solutions are identified, including HVAC and envelope components, as well as energy generation options from photovoltaic systems. The retrofitted neighbourhood shows an overall electricity yearly energy use of around 628 MWhe, with a reduction of around 28% if compared to the existing one. All retrofit solutions show payback times below 13 years.

Although nearly zero energy buildings have attracted growing research attention, literature analysis shows that only a limited number of researches try to couple load match/grid interaction issues and environmental impacts in early design stages. The study proposes a novel multidisciplinary design approach that allows to integrate these two conflicting aspects aiming to find trade-offs. The proposed approach has been applied to a building case study, equipped with a photovoltaics system without energy storage. The results show that even though on yearly basis the energy use (5,290 kWhe) is largely overcome by the on-site energy generation (8069 kWhe), an oversized PV system alone may not be the best solution for reducing the environmental impact of the building sector, besides not being very efficient in improving load match. Afterwards, a parametric analysis was carry out analysing three redesign scenarios, obtained varying the sizes of the PV system and installing different sizes of the storage systems. The results show that the use of storage systems, in addition to decrease the grid dependency, can increase the environmental benefits arising from the renewable energy sources (e.g. there is a decrease of global warming potential of 48%, compared to the base case, with 5.28 kWp PV system and 10 kWh storage system). Conflicting results are found according to specific impact categories and this suggests the need for a holistic approach, including different domains and indicators. In this context, the proposed approach can contribute to the transition toward low-carbon energy technologies, by supporting researches and designers to take environmentally sound considerations.

Fuel cells are considered one of the key technologies to reach the ambitious European goal of a low carbon economy, by reducing CO2 emissions and limiting the production of other pollutants. The manuscript presents an assessment of the life cycle energy and environmental performances of a solid oxide fuel cell system for household applications using primary data from the manufacturing phase and experimental data for the start-up and operation phases. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology is applied, based on a functional unit of 1 MJ of exergy and includes the life cycle steps from the raw materials extraction to the maintenance. The results show a particular relevance of the operation stage on the impacts (about 98% of cumulative energy demand and more than 63% of about half of the examined environmental impacts), mainly due to the fuel supply and, focusing on climate change, to the CO2 emissions during the conversion of chemical energy into electricity. Manufacturing step is the main responsible of the remaining half of the impacts, with a contribution higher than 38%, mainly imputable to the stacks production. For almost half of the examined impact, a contribution of 20–30% is caused by the maintenance step, with a relevant contribution of the stacks and DC/DC booster substitutions. The analysis highlights that eco-design solutions of the assessed system can be traced in the improvement of the energy system efficiency and reduction of emissions during the operation, and in the increase of the durability of the system components, thus reducing the number of their substitutions. The results of a sensitivity analysis on the selection of the functional unit also clarified the importance of the recovery of the thermal energy generated by the fuel cells, in order to avoid concurrent energy generation from conventional sources.

Climate Change is a priority, due to the large variety of implications and importance that it may cause in the next decades. In this context, the building sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, buildings should be designed in such a way that they are responsible for fewer GHG emissions. In this context, the paper analyses the potential impact of climate change on the energy performances of buildings, with and without onsite generation from renewable energy, using a prototype building located in Messina (Italy) as case study. The analysis is based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change RCP scenarios and the results confirm the already known overall increase in total energy consumption of a building due to climate change, with a relative decrease in heating demand and increase in cooling demand. The analysis highlights that an active building (including onsite renewable energy generation) responds better to climate change than a passive building in terms of Global Warming Potential. The use of local energy storage will greatly improve the flexibility of the building to load-match and at the same time it could reduce CO2eq emissions.

The present work describes the activities performed to develop the prototype of the electric energy storage system of the HYBUILD project. The final purpose of the work done was to choose, test, and assemble the electric energy storage system.

State of charge estimation and ageing evolution of lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries are key points for their massive applications in the market. However, the battery behavior is very complex to understand because many parameters act in determining their ageing evolution. Therefore, traditional analytical models employed for this purpose are often affected by inaccuracy. In this context, machine learning techniques can provide a viable alternative to traditional models and a useful tool to characterize the batteries behavior. In this work, different machine learning techniques were applied to model the impedance evolution over time of an aged cobalt based Li-Ion battery, cycled under a stationary frequency regulation profile for grid application. The different ML techniques were compared in terms of accuracy to determine the state of charge and the state of health over the battery ageing phenomena. Experimental results showed that ML based on Random Forest algorithm can be profitably used for this purpose.

One of the ambitious objectives of the European Commission is the development of sustainable strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, from power conversion and energy-intensive industrial processes, to reaching climate neutrality by 2050. In this scenario, the conversion of the renewable electrical power into a high-value gaseous (Power to Gas) chemical storage medium such as the Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), through the hydrogenation of CO2 with renewable H2, represents an important tool to create new opportunities to reuse the captured CO2 as well as to manage the fluctuation of renewable energy. At ITAE in the framework of the RDS project, the activities have been focused on the development of novel conductive structured catalysts and compact Multi-tubular Heat Exchanger Reactor optimized for smaller plant sizes and intermittent or dynamic operation. The results show that structured catalysts based on heat conductive Silicon carbide (SiC) Open Cell Foam can contribute to enhances the methanation process maximizing the specific surface areas for reaction at a high flow rate (GHSV = 47000 h-1 ). Moreover the conductive nature of the foam support help to enhance the axial and the radial heat transport along the reactor allowing easier management of the heat generated by the exothermic reaction (figure 1 b). A CO2 conversion of 71.1% and a CH4 selectivity of 94,2% were achieved, while overall methanation productivity of 260 NL h-1 (11.1 NL h-1gcat.-1 ) was attained. Moreover, an operating pressure of 3 bar slightly improves the SiC based catalyst performances, a CO2 conversion of 77.1% and a CH4 selectivity of 95,6% were obtained while the overall CH4 productivity increase up to 285 NL h-1 (12.1 NL h-1 gcat.-1 ).

Methanation of carbon oxides (CO and CO2) was studied over Ni-based catalysts supported on CeO2, Al2O3, and Y2O3 oxides. Catalysts were synthesized by solution combustion synthesis and characterized by N2-physisorption, XRD, H2-TPR, TEM, CO-chemisorption, UV–vis DRS, XPS, and CO2-TPD. The effect of reaction temperature (250−500 °C) was investigated under atmospheric pressure, space velocity (GHSV) of 10,000 h−1, and stoichiometric reactants ratio of (H2-CO2)/(CO+CO2)=3. It can be concluded that the nature of Ni-support interactions played a crucial role in enhancing CO and CO2 hydrogenation at low reaction temperature. Ni/CeO2 catalyst deactivated rapidly due to coke deposition, while the formation of NiAl2O4 spinel explained the lower activity of the Al2O3-supported system. Activity data for Ni/Y2O3 catalysts were closely related to the degree of Ni dispersion as well as to the medium-strength basicity. Good anti-coking and anti-sintering ability were observed after 200 h of lifetime test.

Il presente documento racchiude la sintesi delle attività sperimentali condotte all'interno della I semestralità di progetto 2019 - "Sistemi di accumulo, compresi elettrochimico e power to gas, e relative interfacce con le reti". L'attività è stata rivolta alla sintesi di materiali e componenti per le diverse tecnologie di accumulo in studio e preliminari studi LCA finalizzati alla valutazione degli impatti in funzione delle scelte tecnologie attuate.

Resilient microgrids have been the subject of growing interest from information and communications technology (ICT) service providers to assure service availability (and therefore revenue) even in the case of grid fault due to bad weather conditions, as an internal storage capacity as uninterruptible power supply is used. However, such storage equipment represents an unavoidable cost in terms of initial investment, maintenance, and operational efficiency. In this work, starting from a previous development of a prototype supply system for a landline station, the control algorithm of the storage devices was investigated to optimize the cost/benefit ratio. A fuzzy logic system controller was developed to exploit the revenue opportunities offered by the energy market, converting a landline station into an active system that exchanges power through the grid. Besides this, a fuel cell generator was integrated to achieve further benefits (system resiliency and battery size reduction). The simulation results indicated a well-reactive behavior for energy price, battery state of charge, and grid fault probability variations.

La presente relazione tecnica costituisce il documento consuntivo relativo all'attività scientifica del I anno del PT 2019-21, svolta dagli Istituti di ricerca CNR ITAE ed ICCOM coinvolti nel progetto "Sistemi di accumulo, compresi elettrochimico e power to gas, e relative interfacce con le reti", svolta all'interno del PTR 2019-21 (Gennaio 2019-Dicembre 2019). Le attività sono relative allo sviluppo di materiali e componentistica, fino alla loro ingegnerizzazione, di dispositivi di accumulo avanzati e all'identificazione di processi di accumulo innovativi. L'attività scientifica coordinata dal CNR ITAE si articola in n°4 pacchi di lavoro o WP, così denominati: WP1-Accumulo Elettrochimico, WP2-Accumulo Termico, WP3-Power to Gas e WP4-Aspetti Ambientali. Ogni WP si sviluppa attraverso definite linee di attività (LA), descrittive della specifica tematica che verrà svolta durante la singola annualità. L'obiettivo generale del progetto è rivolto al miglioramento della qualità del servizio di fornitura dell'energia elettrica, attraverso il miglioramento delle tecnologie di accumulo elettrochimico (WP1), termico (WP2) e power to gas (WP3) puntando all'ottimizzazione dei materiali e componenti delle specifica tecnologia investigata all'interno di ogni WP, nell'ottica di una riduzione dei costi guardando ad una economia circolare attraverso studi di life cycle assessment (LCA) (WP4). Il dettaglio di ogni singola LA viene rimandato alle specifiche deliverable, prodotte separatamente dal presente documento.

Scheduling of energy storage systems of distributed generation is a key element for optimal renewable energy sources (RES) exploitation in smart grids, demand side response strategies implementation and prosumers interaction with Distribution System Operators (DSOs). In this context, this paper presents the implementation of a management system for energy storage scheduling, which allows taking appropriate account of the storage system behavior in real cases. To properly consider the real system operation, the employed battery model is modified, in order to include also the hysteresis phenomena in state of charge estimation in both charging and discharging operation. The validation of the proposed methodology is supported by experimental tests which allow comparing two different battery models. The obtained results show that better results can be obtained with the model including the hysteresis effect.

The telecommunications sector has grown exponentially in recent years due to mobile communications and internet diffusion. This trend seems to continue in near future driven by both further increase of mobile communications in less developed areas and likely diffusion of IoT (Internet of Things). Radio base stations (RBS) need a power grid that is stable and reliable. The approach of the project presented in this work is to replace the UPS and stabilizers with a hybrid fuel cell (SOFC) - Na/NiCl2 batteries capable of high quality energy performances. This kind of system can ensure power delivering where the electric grid is absent or weak or provide a wide range of power and energy services if installed where the grid is present. In particular, the system developed is able to supply both on-grid and off-grid RBS (1-10 kW) and medium sized data centers (+50 kW), integrated with RES (e.g. solar PV, wind), minimizing their unpredictability, and is consistent with future smart grids/smart cities infrastructures. The hybrid approach guarantees energy and power supply while the fuel cell works at a fixed power set point, so that the batteries follow rapid load variations. SOFC systems have too slow dynamics to follow the load power variations without compromising its own lifetime. The integration of this hybrid system in the RBS has been studied and designed by using customized power electronics converters. A modelling tool has been developed in MATLAB environment to help in evaluating size, performance, and operative algorithms of this type of hybridization. The real system has been assembled and tested at the CNR ITAE Laboratories. Then it has been moved to a real telecommunication site, in Palermo, to work directly coupled to an operating load.

The methanation of CO2 via the Sabatier process is gaining interest for power-to-gas (P2G) application. In this work, CO2 methanation activity and stability were investigated over Ni/GDC (gadolinium-doped-ceria) catalysts at atmospheric pressure varying reaction temperature (TSET = 300–600 °C) and space velocity (GHSV = 10,000–50,000 h−1). Powder catalysts with different Ni content (15–50 wt.%) were synthesized by the solution combustion synthesis (SCS). The same method was adopted to in situ deposit the Ni/GDC (50 wt.%Ni) coating layer on the cordierite monolith (500 cpsi). The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), H2 temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), CO2 temperature programmed desorption (CO2-TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Temperature profiles along the structured catalytic bed were discussed to interpret the experimental results. Catalytic performance increased by increasing the Ni content due to enhanced metal-to-support interaction, basicity and oxygen vacancies. Uniform, thin and high-resistance catalytic layers were in situ deposited on the cordierite monoliths by the fully reproducible SCS method. Structured catalysts showed high methane productivity per unit weight of catalyst due to simultaneous low catalytic loading and high flow rate. Excellent stability was observed over 200 h of time-on-stream. The results reported in this manuscript pinpointed on the important aspects of realizing CO2 methanation on structured catalysts, providing a platform for further optimization studies.

This paper reports about the combined experimental and numerical investigation of a novel small size multi-generation system, for electric (i.e.

Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used for the power network stabilization since renewable energy sources are massively exploited. Since the operating load profile has a strong impact on the degradation of lithium-ion cells, dedicated experimental tests can provide important information in this regard. Herein, a commercial high power 18,650-type LiCoO2-LiNiCoMnO2/Graphite cell was aged according to a standardized endurance test from IEC 61,427–2), which profile is formulated to simulate the primary frequency regulation service. In addition, accelerated ageing was obtained by increasing the ambient temperature to 45 °C. Then, a deep investigation was performed to assess the main degradation phenomena induced by the operating profile. For this purpose, incremental capacity (IC) and differential voltage (DV) analysis as well as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were performed at different state of health (SoH) of the cell. Moreover, in order to estimate the effects induced by the frequency regulation profile in comparison to the degradation phenomena caused by a typical full charge/discharge profile, an identical cell was also aged under this condition. Experimental evidences indicate that the operation under primary frequency regulation is less detrimental for the cell by capacity loss point of view, while larger internal impedance increase was observed in comparison to the typical full charge/discharge profile. Finally, a thermal acceleration coefficient was extrapolated to describe the cell capacity loss at room temperature under frequency regulation profile.

This work aims at the development of a simulation tool to optimize the design of a hybrid fuel cell/battery system to supply ICT equipment. In the framework of the ONSITE European project, which deals with a hybrid (fuel cell and batteries) RBS (Radio Base Stations) supply system, a modeling activity is carried out to optimize the system operations. The developed algorithms separately implement a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell system and a high temperature Sodium Nickel Chloride battery for design purpose and collect them in a unique model for devices interaction (i.e. power production, storage, and control). Moreover, a Computational Fluid Dynamics battery model is developed to analyse the heat transfer while the SOFC stack generates excessive heat during operation and outlet hot gases can be effectively used. Since the SNC batteries need heat during charging process (to maintain their operating temperature) and, conversely, the reactions are exothermic in discharge mode, the described approach aims at combining SNC batteries with micro-CHP unit to optimize the energy flows. The implementation requires several alternative designs and variant analysis to secure proper operation of battery and power generation unit. The model developed and shown in this paper is a dedicated tool for the simulation of the hybrid system proposed and for the optimal designing of each main sub component.

In this study the integration of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) prime mover and a high temperature electrochemical Sodium Nickel Chloride (SNC) battery as storage has been investigated. The aim is to fulfil a domestic user energy demand and to reduce the primary energy consumption in comparison with a reference conventional scenario, thereby, to enhance the total efficiency in mu-CHP (Combined Heat and Power) application on a yearly basis. A realistic operational sequence of the SOFC-battery integration has been calculated using simple logic conditions. Both thermal and electric integration have been considered, where the innovative thermal integration has been proposed in order to exploit the SOFC residual heat for the battery stand-by feeding. The key advantage of this system architecture is that the SOFC is operated without major load variations close to constant load, resulting in longer lifetime and thus reducing total costs of operation. The thermal integration provides additional advantages, as calculated in this study. Eventually, a comparison with alternative mu-CHP technologies has been carried out, highlighting the potential of the system based on the SOFC. Benefits are mainly shown in terms of primary energy savings and admissible costs. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The integration of distributed storage systems (DSSs) at users and prosumers level can significantly contribute to energy efficiency and increase profits from renewable energy exploitation, thanks to suitable scheduling of charging and discharging periods. On the other hand, to preserve network stability and secure operation, Distribution Systems Operators (DSOs) are interested in DSSs control and cooperation with the grid. In this framework this work proposes a simple monitoring and management system for DSSs scheduling and its integration in a distributed measurement and control system architecture for smart grids. In the paper the proposed algorithm is tested on a simple case study at home level; the obtained results show its feasibility in addressing both users/prosumers economic interests and DSOs needs for grid secure operation.

Nowadays, resilient grids meet growing interest for their capability of let survive critical load even in case of power fault coming from grid disturbance and disasters. In particular, telecommunications infrastructures (point-to-point and cell infrastructure) have distributed systems (RBS, DCs) equipped with storage devices used to guarantee continuous operation of the supplied equipment. Since high value services are provided to a wide set of customers, unexpected service unavailability is source of economic losses. This embedded UPS function, despite avoiding service interruption and contract penalties to the service providers, requires batteries whose unused capacity could be fruitfully exploited to provide the grid with valuable and paid energy services (frequency regulation - power and/or energy regulation in time slots - peak smoothing). For this reason, the supply systems of such plants, beside the internal energy storage devices, had better to have redundancy of energy sources (e.g. electrical grid and natural gas network) and tailored power flows control strategies to optimize the equipment utilization and costs, even in the case of external energy shortage. In this work, a combined approach with Fuel Cell (FC) and Fuzzy Logic (FL) is investigated to determine a good compromise between equipment installation, control logic, and availability of the service (downtime probability), even accounting for weather forecast, energy price and storage system exploitation (depth of discharge). For the implemented case studies of the simulation, a landline station located in Italy is analyzed by simulating different functions and power equipment to assess the benefits achievable the presented approach.

L'attività è stata finalizzata alla preparazione, caratterizzazione e test di nuove formulazioni catalitiche a base di Ni e/o Ni-Ru supportate su ossidi a base di CeO2, Y2O3, MgO e Al2O3 per il processo di metanazione a bassa temperatura. Il catalizzatore con la formulazione più promettente in termini di conversione della CO2, del CO e della produzione di metano è stato utilizzato per la preparazione di catalizzatori strutturati (diametro= 1cm, lunghezza 1.5cm). In tale configurazione, la fase catalitica è stata depositata su un monolite ceramico con un metodo alternativo al "wash-coating" basato sulla "Solution Combustion Synthesis (SCS). Parallelamente, sulla base delle informazioni ottenute durante una precedente sperimentazione in micro-scala (PAR-2015) è stato fatto lo scale-up del catalizzatore strutturato per il processo di metanazione ad alta temperatura. E' stata ottimizzata la metodologia di coating per preparare catalizzatori strutturati di dimensioni superiori (diametro= 2cm, lunghezza 15cm) a quelli utilizzati in microscala. Il catalizzatore sviluppato è stato provato con successo in un reattore realizzato per test catalitici in "bench-scale".

Ventilated Façades integrating photovoltaic panels are a promising way to improve efficiency and the thermal-physical performances of buildings. Due the inherent intermittence of the non-programmable renewable energy sources, their increasing usage implies the use of energy storage systems to mitigate the mismatch between power generation and the buildings’ load demand. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the thermo-fluid dynamic performances of a prototype integrating a photovoltaic cell and a battery as a module of an active ventilated façade. Based on an experimental setup, a numerical study in steady state conditions of flow through the air cavity of the module has been carried out and implemented in a fluid-dynamics Finite Volume code. In order to assess the viability of the prototype, the calibrated model was lastly used to predict thermal performance of the prototype on different climate conditions supporting its further improvement.

Performance of an innovative storage system for renewable energy, based on the Power-to-Gas concept are numerically predicted. The investigated system is composed by a high temperature co-electrolyzer of Solid Oxide Electrolyte Cell technology and an experimental methanation section, based on structured catalyst, suitable for high temperature operation. With the aim to thermally integrate high temperature co-electrolysis and methanation, a parametric thermodynamic analysis of the Power-to-Gas system is carried-out with a lumped-parameters approach, including all the thermal and electric energy consumptions. In particular, in order to optimize the system thermal balance of plant, various configurations involving internal heat recovery and pressurization of components are also considered. Numerical results are provided in terms of different performance indicators, such as electric-to-fuel conversion index, first law efficiency and second law efficiency and output-fuel quality indicators. The study demonstrates the possibility to thermally integrate the co-electrolyzer and the high-temperature methanation section achieving significant energy savings. Moreover, the calculated results show that the system set-up providing higher quality of the produced synthetic natural gas do not always lead to larger values in energy conversion efficiency. Eventually, advanced configurations of the Power-to-Gas system including heat recovery allow to achieve first-law efficiency up to values around 80–85% and second-law efficiency around 70–78%; a second methanation section based on conventional low-temperature reactors is included in the system and pressurization of the methanation section, or pressurization of the co-electrolysis section, is mandatory, in order to achieve large fraction of methane (up to 95–99%) in the produced synthetic fuel.

The study proposes a tool developed within the TRNSYS environment aimed at integrating its building simulation features during the use phase with a Life Cycle Assessment approach. The tool can be used to investigate the relevance of each life-cycle step of the building on the primary energy consumption and global warming potential. The Life Cycle stages can be modelled with different approaches: direct input of the embodied energy and global warming potential values for each life cycle step as defined in the EN 15978, use of an internal database of embodied energy and global warming potential of construction materials and energy systems, direct connections of building simulation outputs to the tool for the use phase. The proposed component is able to model correctly the LCA of a case study, obtaining negligible deviations from the results of a LCA study performed with a state of the art LCA software (lower than 0.05% for all impacts).