Andrea Micangeli

Sapienza University of Rome | la sapienza · Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Dataset of beyond 60 load profiles from microgrids in developing countries, including socio-economic, weather and geographical data and clustering analyses

When designing a microgrid, developers usually regard economic metrics, and occasionally consider reliability and environmental aspects. However, sociopolitical, supply chain, and geographical facets, among others, are often never included in project-design because they are really difficult to model, especially, in the context of developing countri...

As the renewable energy sources (RES) production is strongly influenced by multiple geographic factors and highly variable, the need for both energy storage integration and robust real-time power management strategies development is obvious. Wind power represents the largest generating capacity among RES, being at the same time the most fluctuant....

Achieving the maximum economic profitability is a priority for microgrid developers. However, although economic indicators usually dominate the business decision making, rarely numerical indicators are fully able to capture the entire sociopolitical, technical and geographical circumstances affecting the business environment, especially in rural ar...

Small Mediterranean islands are typically served by mini-grids based on inefficient, polluting and costly diesel generators that provide electricity and freshwater through desalination plants. The study focuses on the case study of the Italian island of Ustica, for which the actual consumption and generation load profiles for 2018 have been used to...

Reaching universal access to electricity by 2030 requires a massive deployment of mini-grids in rural areas of developing countries. Among the many challenges hindering this process, there are the high uncertainties in assessing demand patterns in rural communities, the costs of field survey campaigns, and the absence of ample and reliable datasets...

The lack of affordable, clean, and reliable energy in Africa’s rural areas forces people to resort to poor quality energy source, which is detrimental to the people’s health and prevents the economic development of communities. Moreover, access to safe water and food security are concerns closely linked to health issues and children malnourishment....

Achieving universal electrification is a challenging goal for governments in developing countries; the traditional approach of extending the national grid to rural areas has been usually pursued but since many communities are located far from the national grid, this approach may be sub-optimal. Hybrid microgrids, composed by renewables, batteries a...

The lack of electricity access is increasingly concentrated in rural areas of developing countries, in which mini-grids are often a suitable solution; however, given the high risks, it is crucial to minimize costs. This paper aims at analyzing existing methodologies for the optimal design of mini-grids combined with different operating strategies....

Hybrid microgrids, integrating renewable energy sources and energy storage, are key in extending energy access in the remote areas of developing countries, in a sustainably way and in providing a good quality of service. Their extensive development faces a financing gap, having a high capital expenditure (CAPEX) also due to high storage costs. In t...

Wind power fluctuations are typical of small size wind farms and may be a limiting factor in isolated small-size systems. An electric storage can be used to mitigate these fluctuations and enable the use of wind energy to provide energy to remote communities or microgrids. This study compares the performance of Li-Ion batteries and flywheels in aba...

Extended version: 10.3390/en13164214 Mini-grids are well known to be a suitable solution to foster rural electrification in developing countries, and yet risks and high costs are hampering their spreading. Even though effective tools can help developers to identify the optimal design and operation of a mini-grid, no standard approach have emerged...

In order to successfully deploy a large number of decentralized energy systems in developing countries, it is necessary to standardize effective methodologies and procedures to develop off-grid/mini-grid systems. Considering that the energy need assessment provides inputs and assumptions used in business modelling and mini-grid design, the accuracy...

This study analyses the performance of a battery storage system in abating the ramp rates of the power produced by a wind turbine. This approach can reduce the wind power fluctuations that are typical of small size wind farms and promote the wind energy integration in microgrids. Production data was generated from actual wind measurements over one...

This paper deals with the electrification of rural villages in developing countries using Sustainable Energy Systems. The rural electrification feasibility study is done using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable PRO (HOMER PRO). The HOMER PRO energy modelling software is an optimization software improved by U.S. National Renewable Ener...

The governments of developing countries struggle to guarantee the universal access to electricity on their territory and 1.2 billion people are still without any service, especially in remote areas. Hybrid mini-grids (hybrid power systems) can be an effective solution to rural electrification since they exploit local renewable resources integrated...

Rural electrification in remote areas of developing countries has several challenges which hinder energy access to the population. For instance, the extension of the national grid to provide electricity in these areas is largely not viable. The Kenyan Government has put a target to achieve universal energy access by the year 2020. To realize this o...

Rural electrification in remote areas of developing countries has several challenges which hinders energy access to the population. For instance the extension of the national grid to provide electricity in these areas is largely not viable. The Kenyan government has put a target to achieve universal energy access by the year 2020. In order to reali...

Since fossil fuels shortages are predicted for the forthcoming generations, the use of renewable energy sources is playing a key role and is strongly recommended worldwide by national and international regulations. In this scenario, solar collectors for hot water preparation, space heating and cooling are becoming an increasingly interesting altern...

Solar thermal collectors represent one of the most widely used technologies for heat production from renewable energy sources. To increase efficiency and to not increase too much cost different type of solar collectors, and in particular of evacuated tube collectors have been realized. In order to compare performance, tests at different conditions...

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) is novel technology for harvesting a fully sustainable zero emissions bioenergy that, by means of dedicated electronic circuits, suitably can be used for the proper functioning of a single Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) node. MFC is a bioreactor that transforms energy stored in chemical bonds of organic compounds into elect...

Solar thermoelectric, even for small sizes, is continuing to garner more attention, by virtue of maturation of small size organic Rankine cycle generators, and of small size absorption chiller even if cost and reliability are still not optimal. Indeed, solar thermal power technology improvement would consent to stimulate an ambit already present in...

Environmental considerations are an essential part of any energy conversion assessment: especially in the analysis of natural reservations and protected areas, the concept of “environmental impact” has substantially evolved in the last decade, from an ex-post “assessment of ecological damage” to a complex, omni-comprehensive, but also pro-active an...

This work aims at investigating the possibility of a wireless sensor network powered by an energy harvesting technology, such as a microbial fuel cell (MFC). An MFC is a bioreactor that transforms energy stored in chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy. This process takes place through catalytic reactions of microorganisms under...

This study develops a sustainable housing model for the Mosquitia region of Honduras, aimed at improving the living conditions of indigenous communities and reducing their vulnerability to the effects of climate change. The improved housing efficiency and resilience will contribute to strengthen sanitation and hygiene, improve the living comfort an...

The present paper proposes and describes a new method, called L2A (listen-to-apprise), conceived of in order to improve the commitment of all the participants involved in an educational process specifically dedicated to sustainability and the green economy. The first stage consists in listening to the students and, when possible, in listening to th...

Environmental considerations are an essential part of any energy conversion assessment especially in the analysis of natural reservations and protected areas, the concept of "environmental impact" has substantially evolved in the last decade, from an ex-post "assessment of ecological damage" to a complex, omni-comprehensive, but also pro-active and...

Among Renewable Energy Sources (RES), biomass represent one of the most common and suitable solution in order to contribute to the global energy supply and to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The disposal of some residual biomass, as pruning from pine trees, represent a problem for agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. But if the residu...

Among Renewable Energy Sources (RES), biomass represent one of the most common and suitable solution in order to contribute to the global energy supply and to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The disposal of some residual biomass, as pruning from pine trees, represent a problem for agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. But if the residu...

Recent natural and human-induced emergencies have highlighted the vulnerability of the built environment. In order to immediately answer to people's needs while managing an emergency, any intervention should be more proactive and take into account renewable technologies that can be applied in anemergency situation. Very few examples of renewable en...

The aim of this work was the evaluation of the catalytic steam reforming of a gaseous fuel obtained by steam biomass gasification to convert topping atmosphere residue (TAR) and CH4 and to produce pure H-2 by means of a CO2 sorbent. This experimental work deals with the demonstration of the practical feasibility of such concepts, using a real woodg...

The production of hypochlorite in an OSEC (On Site Electrochemical Chlorination) system occurs through electrolysis of a saline solution, with a hydrogen production that is usually discarded. The OSEC system described in this work – presently used in Gaza – has been optimised for use in Tanzania. The first approach focused on the possibility to use...

The production of hypochlorite in an OSEC (On Site Electrochemical Chlorination) system occurs through electrolysis of a saline solution, with a hydrogen production that is usually discarded. The OSEC system described in this work – presently used in Gaza – has been optimised for use in Tanzania. The first approach focused on the possibility to use...

The purpose of this study is to optimize the energy consumption during the production of sodium hypochlorite via electrolysis process (OSEC:On Site Electro Chlorination) and make the energy process independent. One of the main objective is to assess whether it is possible to recover the hydrogen produced, usually discarded, during the electrolysis...

In southern Iraq, the water shortage is an old problem and the Second Gulf War (2003) made the situation worse. The main problems affecting water provision are the salinity of the water and the lack of maintenance of the preexisting water treatment plants (WTP) and compact units (CU). The most common water treatment used consists in lowering the tu...

The project purpose was the development of a 50kW Micro Hydro plant and a 150 liter per day On Site Electro Chlorination (OSEC) System at "La Realidad", a little village in Chiapas, a conflict geographic area in Mexico. The local people involvement was a key aspect of the project; the objectives has been reached also by applying the Matching Person...

The purpose of this study is to optimize the energy consumption during the production of sodium hypochlorite via electrolysis process (OSEC:On Site Electro Chlorination) and make the energy process independent. One of the main objective is to assess whether it is possible to recover the hydrogen produced, usually discarded, during the electrolysis...

After the devastating earthquake of 8 October 2005 in Kashmir, international organizations provided the Pakistani government with relief and reconstruction assistance. Under the oft-cited motto 'rebuild better', many of these efforts targeted the rural areas. The emergency period was followed by a development phase, during which all actors sought t...

This paper examines the process of privatization of electrical utilities for the country members of CILLS (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Senegal).These Sahelian countries, the majority of whom rank at the bottom positions of the HDI and present extremely low access rates to modern energy serv...

A combined objective-oriented and subjective-oriented method for evaluating accessibility and usability of web pages for students with disability was tested. The objective-oriented approach is devoted to verifying the conformity of interfaces to standard rules stated by national and international organizations responsible for web technology standar...

The water sector in Iraq and particularly in the south of the country is one of the priorities of the United Nations action plan. The water shortage is an old problem of the area, but the recent conflict has made the situation worse. Currently many NGOs are working in the rehabilitation of water treatment plants in the District of Basra. The system...

This paper describes part of the emergency rehabilitation works in water sector in Southern Iraq, immediately after the Second Gulf War. The first section is a survey on surface water availability in Iraq, while the second section is focused on water resources in Basrah Govemorate. The third one describes the main working principles of compact unit...

An accessibility and usability evaluation of the help desk web page for student with disability, included in the University of Rome “La Sapienza” web site, has been carried out on a design based on integration between the top-down and the bottom-up approach to the accessibility and usability criteria. The top-down method is devoted to verify the co...

The main hypothesis of this work is that the disability selfrepresentation could be related to individual coping strategies and to assistive technology predisposition. The WHODASII, Endler and Parker’s CISS, and Scherer’s MPT-SOTU were administered to two samples of 100 University students with disability in Italy and U.S.A., in order to allow a cr...

Of the 22,5 million people in Afghanistan about 800,000 are disabled (28%) mainly because of preventable diseases and mine accidents. Although these impressive data are supplied by surveys supported by the UN, the new Afghan Government does not have a clear population census. Italian Cooperation experts with the supervision of a team of the Univers...

A survey on user satisfaction of 30 disabled Afghans with technology devices was performed by the group on cross-cultural disability study of University of Rome “La Sapienza”. According to the new perspectives of ICF (WHO, 2001) the biopsychosocial model of disability was adopted in order to assess the interaction among body, personal, and environm...

New ICT Technologies offer a wide range of opportunities to people with disability, in both educational and employment fields. Following the concepts of mainstreaming and appropriate technology, at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” a course implementing a synchronous Distance Learning model was offered to 100 disabled and not-disabled graduated...

Alla luce degli studi condotti da M. T. Bozzo nella scuola dell’obbligo con particolare riferimento alle problematiche connesse alla modalità e qualità dell’inserimento scolastico di studenti disabili, in questo lavoro si ripercorre l’evolversi della problematica sociale italiana relativa alla persona con disabilità che, dalle leggi dell’inseriment...

A Research Project, entitled “Disabled people’ access to educational, academic, and work environments”, was carried out in order to train students and members of school staff to become “Enabling Manager”(EM). The EM is a vocational and educational guidance for disabled high school students who have acquired competence to point out accessible paths...

The SIMEA (Social Impact Method of Energy Analysis) and SENECA (Social and ENErgetic Change Analysis) are new methodologies to evaluate social impact, considering as environment not only the natural world, but also the economy structure, social organisation end cultural and historical aspects of a site. The aim of SIMEA is to consider in integrated...

Alla luce del dibattito intorno a ‘disability studies’ di cui la nuova Classificazione internazionale delle disabilità (ICIDH-2) è espressione autorevole, la disabilità, al pari di ogni forma di marginalità, è al contempo indice di una dialettica delle differenze e prodotto socio-culturale di politiche disabilitanti. Il superamento della visione in...

The article suggests an experimental method for supporting evaluations of social consequences due to energetic projects in developing countries. It attempts to forecast possible side effects in the social-cultural texture of small rural communities