scholarly journals Analyzing the Impact of Renewable Energy Incentives and Parameter Uncertainties on Financial Feasibility of a Campus Microgrid

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vu Hau ◽  
Munir Husein ◽  
Il-Yop Chung ◽  
Dong-Jun Won ◽  
William Torre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Parameter Uncertainties ◽  
Project Investment ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Capital Costs ◽  
Financial Feasibility ◽  
The Impact

The popularity of microgrids is increasing considerably because of their environmental and technical advantages. However, the major challenge in microgrid integration is its financial feasibility due to high capital costs. To address this obstacle, renewable energy incentive programs, which are the motivation of this study, have been proposed in many countries. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the technical and financial feasibility of a campus microgrid based on a techno-economic analysis using the Microgrid Decision Support Tool, which was implemented to support decision-making in the context of microgrid project investment. A method for microgrid design aiming to maximize system profitability is presented. The optimal microgrid configuration is selected depending on financial indices of the project, which directly address the returns on an investment. Most importantly, this analysis captures all the benefits of financial incentives for microgrid projects in California, U.S., which presents a key difference between the California market and other markets. The impact of incentives and uncertain financial parameters on the project investment is verified by sensitivity analysis. The outcomes show that the optimal configuration generates significant electricity savings, and the incentives strongly determine the financial feasibility and the optimal design of a microgrid.

scholarly journals A Decision Support Tool for Long-Term Planning of Marine Operations in Ocean Energy Projects

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 810
Author(s):  
Francisco X. Correia da Fonseca ◽  
Luís Amaral ◽  
Paulo Chainho
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Ocean Energy ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Marine Renewable Energy ◽  
Marine Energy ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Selection Algorithms ◽  
Maritime Infrastructure

Ocean energy is a relevant source of clean renewable energy, and as it is still facing challenges related to its above grid-parity costs, tariffs intended to support in a structured and coherent way are of great relevance and potential impact. The logistics and marine operations required for installing and maintaining these systems are major cost drivers of marine renewable energy projects. Planning the logistics of marine energy projects is a highly complex and intertwined process, and to date, limited advances have been made in the development of decision support tools suitable for ocean energy farm design. The present paper describes the methodology of a novel, opensource, logistic and marine operation planning tool, integrated within DTOceanPlus suite of design tools, and responsible for producing logistic solutions comprised of optimal selections of vessels, port terminals, equipment, as well as operation plans, for ocean energy projects. Infrastructure selection logistic functions were developed to select vessels, ports, and equipment for specific projects. A statistical weather window model was developed to estimate operation delays due to weather. A vessel charter rate modeling approach, based on an in-house vessel database and industry experience, is described in detail. The overall operation assumptions and underlying operating principles of the statistical weather window model, maritime infrastructure selection algorithms, and cost modeling strategies are presented. Tests performed for a case study based a theoretical floating wave energy converter produced results in good agreement with reality.

scholarly journals Preliminary groundwater modelling by considering the interaction with superficial water: Aosta plain case (northern Italy)

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tullia Bonomi ◽  
Letizia Fumagalli ◽  
Valeria Benastini ◽  
Marco Rotiroti ◽  
Pietro Capodaglio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Kriging Interpolation ◽  
Public Water Supply ◽  
Scientific Cooperation ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Hydrogeological Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

The study is developed through scientific cooperation between the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) of the Valle d’Aosta Region. Its aim is to produce a decision-support tool to help the Public Administration’manage groundwater and public water supply. The study area is the plain of Aosta, between the cities of Aymavilles and Brissogne; in this area groundwater represents the main source of public water supply. The valley is oriented east-west, along the Baltea for a length of 13.1 km and a width of 4.6 km. The textural and hydrogeological properties of the deposits are strictly connected to glacial deposition and to the subsequent sedimentary processes which took place in glacial, lacustrine and fluvial systems. The study is based on available well information in the Aosta plain - including water wells (133) and piezometers (121) - which have been coded and stored in the well database TANGRAM,. The database facilitates interpretation of the well data, and it allows three-dimensional mapping of subsurface hydrogeological characteristics through database codification and ordinary kriging interpolation. The study is designed to achieve two objectives. The first is to provide the Aosta Public Authorities with a well database in order to simplify groundwater management. The second is to provide Public Authorities with a groundwater flow model of the local aquifer. The model integrates surface and subsurface flows in order to fully account for all important stresses, both natural and anthropogenic, on the groundwater system. It provides a tool for testing hypotheses (such as the impact of new wells) and thereby allows science-based management of the aquifer resource.

scholarly journals Decision Support Tool for Offshore Wind Farm Vessel Routing under Uncertainty

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Dawid ◽  
David McMillan ◽  
Matthew Revie
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Farm ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

This paper for the first time captures the impact of uncertain maintenance action times on vessel routing for realistic offshore wind farm problems. A novel methodology is presented to incorporate uncertainties, e.g., on the expected maintenance duration, into the decision-making process. Users specify the extent to which these unknown elements impact the suggested vessel routing strategy. If uncertainties are present, the tool outputs multiple vessel routing policies with varying likelihoods of success. To demonstrate the tool’s capabilities, two case studies were presented. Firstly, simulations based on synthetic data illustrate that in a scenario with uncertainties, the cost-optimal solution is not necessarily the best choice for operators. Including uncertainties when calculating the vessel routing policy led to a 14% increase in the number of wind turbines maintained at the end of the day. Secondly, the tool was applied to a real-life scenario based on an offshore wind farm in collaboration with a United Kingdom (UK) operator. The results showed that the assignment of vessels to turbines generated by the tool matched the policy chosen by wind farm operators. By producing a range of policies for consideration, this tool provided operators with a structured and transparent method to assess trade-offs and justify decisions.

scholarly journals Technical and Financial Feasibility Study for Installation of Solar Panels at IDOT-owned Facilities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Rusk ◽  
◽  
Ryan Siegel ◽  
Linda Larsen ◽  
Tim Lindsey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Solar Systems ◽  
Site Development ◽  
Financial Feasibility ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Utility Scale

The Smart Energy Design Assistance Center assessed the administrative, technical, and economic aspects of feasibility related to the procurement and installation of photovoltaic solar systems on IDOT-owned buildings and lands. To address administrative feasibility, we explored three main ways in which IDOT could procure solar projects: power purchase agreement (PPA), direct purchase, and land lease development. Of the three methods, PPA and direct purchase are most applicable for IDOT. While solar development is not free of obstacles for IDOT, it is administratively feasible, and regulatory hurdles can be adequately met given suitable planning and implementation. To evaluate IDOT assets for solar feasibility, more than 1,000 IDOT sites were screened and narrowed using spatial analytic tools. A stakeholder feedback process was used to select five case study sites that allowed for a range of solar development types, from large utility-scale projects to small rooftop systems. To evaluate financial feasibility, discussions with developers and datapoints from the literature were used to create financial models. A large solar project request by IDOT can be expected to generate considerable attention from developers and potentially attractive PPA pricing that would generate immediate cash flow savings for IDOT. Procurement partnerships with other state agencies will create opportunities for even larger projects with better pricing. However, in the near term, it may be difficult for IDOT to identify small rooftop or other small on-site solar projects that are financially feasible. This project identified two especially promising solar sites so that IDOT can evaluate other solar site development opportunities in the future. This project also developed a web-based decision-support tool so IDOT can identify potential sites and develop preliminary indications of feasibility. We recommend that IDOT begin the process of developing at least one of their large sites to support solar electric power generation.

Using a decision support tool to screen for pro-poor policies: Application of Extrapolate to smallholder dairy systems in East Africa

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 ◽  
pp. 28-28
Author(s):  
P. K. Thornton ◽  
P. J. Thorne ◽  
C. Quiros ◽  
D. Sheikh ◽  
R. L. Kruska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Intervention Mapping ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Impact

Extrapolate (EX-ante Tool for RAnking POLicy AlTErnatives) is a decision support tool to assess the impact of policy measures on different target groups. It is designed to serve as a “filter” that, given the broad characteristics of the population, allows the user to sift through different policy measures to assess ex ante the broad potential impacts of these before deciding to look at particular policy options in more detail. Extrapolate models, in a very simple way, the impact of changes on constraints facing potential beneficiary groups, and how these may affect outcomes and their livelihood status. Extrapolate now makes use of mapping facilities from another decision-support tool, PRIMAS (Poverty Reduction Intervention Mapping in Agricultural Systems), that allows the user to match characteristics of particular technological options and constraints with the spatial characteristics of particular target groups in the landscape.

The Competition Between ISPs in Presence of the Net Neutrality

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Mohamed El Amrani ◽  
Hamid Garmani ◽  
Mohamed Baslam ◽  
Rachid El Ayachi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Neutral Network ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Content Provider ◽  
The Impact

<p>In this work, we present an economic model of computer networks that describes the in-teraction between Internet Service Providers (ISP ), customers and content provider. The competition between ISP s may be translated by the prices they require and the qualities of service (QoS) they offer. The customer demand for service from an ISP does not only de-pend on the price and quality of service (QoS) of the ISP , but it is influenced by all those offered by its competitors. This behavior has been extensively analyzed using game the-ory as a decision support tool. We interpret a non-neutral network when a content provider privileges ISP s by offering them more bandwidth to ensure proper QoS to support ap-plications that require more data transport capacity (voice over internet protocol (V OIP ) the live video streaming, online gaming). In addition, our work focuses on the price game analysis and QoS between ISP s in two cases: neutral network and non-neutral network. After showing the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium in terms of quality of service, we analyzed the impact of net neutrality on competition between ISP s. We also validated our theoretical study with numerical results, which show that the game has an equilibrium point which depends on all the parameters of the system.</p>

scholarly journals Clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics via a health system-wide research biobank: the University of Colorado experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 375-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L Aquilante ◽  
David P Kao ◽  
Katy E Trinkley ◽  
Chen-Tan Lin ◽  
Kristy R Crooks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Health System ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Clinical Implementation ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
University Of Colorado ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, the genomics community has witnessed the growth of large research biobanks, which collect DNA samples for research purposes. Depending on how and where the samples are genotyped, biobanks also offer the potential opportunity to return actionable genomic results to the clinical setting. We developed a preemptive clinical pharmacogenomic implementation initiative via a health system-wide research biobank at the University of Colorado. Here, we describe how preemptive return of clinical pharmacogenomic results via a research biobank is feasible, particularly when coupled with strong institutional support to maximize the impact and efficiency of biobank resources, a multidisciplinary implementation team, automated clinical decision support tools, and proactive strategies to engage stakeholders early in the clinical decision support tool development process.

scholarly journals BEETSOIL: a decision support tool for forecasting the impact of soil conditions on sugar beet harvest

2019 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 131-141
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Gabarron-Galeote ◽  
Jacqueline A. Hannam ◽  
Thomas Mayr ◽  
Patrick J. Jarvis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Towards Designing Tools for Universities’ R&D Performance Measurement on Mobile Platform

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Mohd Faizal Omar ◽  
Siti Rasifah Ahmad Roshidi ◽  
Jastini Mohd. Jamil ◽  
Fazillah Mohmad Kamal ◽  
Mohd Nasrun Mohd Nawi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Mobile Platform ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Prototype Development ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

<p class="Abstract">At the moment, there is a great interest in most universities to achieve higher ranking for better international standings and visibility. With shrinking resources such as financial and infrastructures, there is also a huge demand for the university to move forward and perform better in Research and Development (R&amp;D) in each evaluation year. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is an excellent tool to enculturate research in a Higher Education Institution (HEI). The culture must be built upon HEI’s strength and weaknesses. Hence, the right decision making tool must be develop to priorities different agendas such as QSWUR, THE, etc. Mobile platform provide an efficient way to engage with stakeholders particularly to measure HEI performance on R&amp;D. There are three main activities involves for developing a decision support tool for measuring R&amp;D impact in HEIs i.e. development of decision model using multi criteria decision making, dashboard prototype development including and UI/UX for mobile platform. This paper describe the importance of measuring the impact of R&amp;D, prioritization technique and the process of prototype development. It is anticipates that our work could mitigate the gaps and improve the research ecosystem in HEIs.</p>

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