Jorge Blanes

• PhD Electrical Engineering
• Researcher at University of Leon

This chapter analyses the benefits from both a business-related and energy resilience perspectives provided by a microgrid based on photovoltaic solar energy/electrochemical storage. We present a case study that demonstrates how a microgrid can be used to an office building not open to the general public (that is, for the exclusive use of office bu...

The number of electronic control units (ECU) installed in vehicles is increasingly high. Manufacturers must improve the software quality and reduce cost by proposing innovative techniques. This research proposes a technique being able to generate not only test-cases in real time but to decide the best means to run them (hardware-in-the-loop simulat...

Energy consumption in the transport sector and buildings are of great concern. This research aims to quantify how eco-routing, eco-driving and eco-charging can increase the amount of energy available for vehicle-to-building. To do this, the working population was broken into social groups (freelancers, local workers and commuters) who reside in two...

The impact assessment of energy strategies, more specifically those that promote an integrated approach on resource management in other sectors such as water and food, requires knowledge related to the evaluation of the quality and knowledge that may be estimated by quantitative means. The present paper makes inquiries into those knowledge requirem...

Innovative techniques to validate software are needed to reduce cost and increase software quality. This research aims to check if two rule‐based expert systems (EXs) combined with dynamic‐link libraries (dlls) perform better than other techniques widely employed in the automotive sector when validating the engine electronic control unit (ECU) soft...

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) energy generation will be one of the main energy generation technologies in the inner future thanks to the recent and significant reduction of involved costs. One of the most promising and lowest cost technologies is the thin-film PV modules technology. Their currently lower performance than single-Si PV modules is compensat...

The current EU 2020 reference framework has set a 20% goal for energy coming from non-exhaustive resources. In general, it can be said that the national action plans for renewable energy sources and the biennial control provided in Directive 2009/28/EC, regarding the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, have been adequate in encou...

This work describes a methodology to quantify the benefits from both a business-related and energy resilience perspectives provided by a microgrid based on photovoltaic solar energy and electrochemical energy storage integrated in large buildings, such as office buildings not open to the general public, which is presented as case study. First it ha...

The promotion of the development of co-digestion power plants will be intensified in many European Union member states as the main target of the Union concerning energy generation is complete decarbonisation by 2050. This potential expansion prompts the need for optimal resources allocation according to several techno-economical parameters, highlig...

Health Services building stock is usually the top energy consumer in the Administrative sector, by a considerable margin. Therefore, energy consumption supervision, prediction, and improvement should be carried out for this group in a preferential manner. Most prior studies in this field have characterized the energy consumption of buildings based...

Data from an existing combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant are used to create a computer simulation to allow efficiency and emission calculations, simulation and assessing improvements that apply partial regeneration with solar hybridization. The proposed amendments to this triple-pressure steam-reheat combined cycle (CCC3PR) with 400 MW o...

This paper develops an integrated model of multi megawatt PV plant with HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) or HVAC (High Voltage Alternating Current) network, using the specific software of power electronics PSIM. This model has been developed by functional blocks, including the photovoltaic field itself, the pertinent conversion units for the inte...

With the encouragement from renewable energies, elements of the electrical system are magnified which make possible a suitable connection to the electrical network. Among others, energy storage systems (ESSs) are emphasized because of their impact. This article discusses two essential aspects to take into account for an ESS, that is the regulatory...

Municipal waste management has a great impact on the sustainability of human processes and green policies, especially in urban sites. Although it could be achieved the full separation of the reusable and recyclable items and the complete elimination of the organic material present in it, many waste components must still be processed in waste treatm...

It is well known that working photovoltaic (PV) plants show several maintenance needs due to wiring and module degradation, mismatches, dust, and PV cell defects and faults. There are a wide range of theoretical studies as well as some laboratory tests that show how these circumstances may affect the PV production. Thus, it is mandatory to evaluate...

It is well known that working PV plants show several maintenance needs due to wiring and modules degradation, mismatches, dust and PV cells defects and faults. There are a wide range of studies that show the theoretical and some laboratory tests of how these circumstances may affect the PV production. Thus, it results mandatory to evaluate the whol...

Yearly, EU-28 conventional thermal generating plants reject a greater amount of energy than what ultimately is utilised by residential and commercial loads for heating and hot water. If this waste heat were to be used through district heating networks, given a previous energy valorisation, there would be a noticeable decrease in imported fossil fue...

The European Higher Education Framework makes mandatory the teaching of practical skills to university students at all competence levels. This implies a review of the traditional teaching methodologies and the adoption of active ones where the student plays the main role in the teaching-learning process. However, this is not an easy task and we req...

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are cutting edge technology with great potential to become an alternative to conventional wastewater treatments (anaerobic digestion, activated sludge, etc.). One of the main features of MECs is that they allow organic matter present in wastewater to be converted into hydrogen thus helping to offset the energy co...

Como profesores de enseñanzas técnicas en las ramas energética y eléctrica, hemos detectado un descenso del rendimiento del alumnado motivado principalmente por una falta de interés y compromiso con las asignaturas y sus contenidos. Además venimos observando que los alumnos no relacionan de forma adecuada los contenidos abordados en las diferentes...

This paper presents a self-designed simulator cabinet intended to analyse the electrical properties and various types of electrical faults in Very High Voltage AC Power Transmission Lines (400 kV) through a Low Voltage (400 V) Pi model. Three different lengths of aerial power line (46 km, 92 km and 138 km) are modelled and simulated by calculating...

SUMMARY Wind farms with fixed speed asynchronous generators generate periodic voltage fluctuations and flicker therefore mainly due to the so-called tower shadow effect. An analytical expression of the current supplied by the wind farm (and the voltage at the connection point) can be derived from a simplified model of the farm with a term that quan...

The proliferation of both, sensitive and pollutant loads at the users equipment has placed the power quality issue as an important challenge for facilities and utilities. Power system simulation programmes are powerful tools to study the generation and propagation of disturbances in order to establish a feed back with the measuring plans.The main d...

The connection of capacitor banks at the MV distribution network busbar feeder is a technique widely used by the Spanish utilities. It decreases the reactive power transit (diminishing the losses) and improves the voltage profile along the distribution lines. However, this technique has a negative influence over the Quality of Supply because the ca...

Different countries all around the world are modernizing their irrigation infrastructures to provide more effective and efficient solutions for irrigation. Modernized systems can save up to 50% of used water in traditional systems and improve harvest production. These systems work as pressurized systems requiring pumping stations for the operation....

Nowadays, the conditioning process of wastewater from domestic and industrial activities is in full modification and updating. In the case of the province of Leon many small WWTP have emerged, at a small village level, whose management is performed by the Public Administration. In this scenario several weaknesses have been identified in their opera...

This paper presents two techniques to obtain LV load models adapted for fast transient studies in MV networks. The first LV load model is based on CIGRE recommendations for harmonic impedance calculus while the second LV load model follows the analysis of the recorded waveforms in time and frequency domains. The results of the proposed models in AT...

The turbine synchronization phenomenon is of great interest in order to estimate the flicker produced by a wind farm. This paper proposes an initial approach to analyze the appearance of this phenomenon by the use of various image processing techniques: a method to automatically calculate the angular frequency of an unknown number of wind turbines...

Los cambios que estamos viviendo de forma continua en los departamentos universitarios, entre ellos los cambios en los planes de estudio, el aumento del número de docentes en los departamentos, la variación en los tipos de contratos de los profesores, los cambios en la organización, etc. son algunas de las causas que originan un aumento de la docum...