Luciano De Tommasi

Tyndall National Institute · International Energy Research Center

In this paper, we perform a comparative analysis of business models used by Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), suitable for the deployment of energy efficiency measures in the commercial rented sector across Europe. These models can effectively contribute to solving the split-incentive issue that arises in the rented building scenario. Some of them...

Across Europe, buildings account for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of carbon emissions. It is estimated that 75% of buildings in the European Union (EU) are inefficient, yet only 1% of buildings are renovated each year [1]. As part of the EU H2020 funded SmartSPIN (Smart Energy Services to solve the split incentive problem in the commercial ren...

This study is funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications (DECC) Research & Development (R&D) Programme and is prepared under International Energy Research Centre’s (IERC) Energy Policy Insights for Climate Action (EPICA) Project. This objective is aligned to the ambition of the National Climate Action Plan. This paper...

This paper analyses challenges and opportunities for improving energy efficiency in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by reviewing research design and results out of seven Euro-pean projects: SPEEDIER, SMEmPower Efficiency, E2Driver, Innoveas, Triple-A, DEESME and ICCEE. These projects aim to improve SMEs' awareness of energy efficiency and suppo...

In this study, the European-level regulations governing energy communities are reviewed. This is important as recognizing definitions, rights, and obligations in the regulatory world, for the energy community actors, such as citizen/renewable energy communities, active consumers, and renewables self-consumers, is vital to energy community developme...

Ireland's Climate Action Plan 2021 has set out ambitious targets for decarbonization across the energy, transport, heating and agriculture sectors. The Climate Action Plan followed the Climate Act 2021, which committed Ireland to a legally binding target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050, and a reduction of 51% by 2030. Green...

The report is a deliverable of the EU project: HEAT PUMPS SKILLS FOR NZEB CONSTRUCTION (HP4ALL)

In this paper, we perform a comparative analysis of business models used by Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), suitable for the deployment of energy efficiency measures in the commercial rented sector across Europe. These models can effectively contribute to solving the split-incentive issue that arises in the rented building scenario. Some of them...

Ireland is an interesting case for the integration of battery energy storage in the electricity market because of its ambitious renewable energy targets, the limited potential of strong interconnections to the neighboring power systems (with non-correlated wind resources), and a very limited potential to deploy large-scale mechanical energy storage...

This Special Issue will deal with all issues related to the integration of a large share of renewables into the power system, including wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, wood and wood waste, biogas, and green hydrogen. The focus is on technologies which allow a cost-effective integration of renewables while guaranteeing a reliable and s...

Presentation delivered at the workshop: "Service Integration and Smart Contracting" at Sustainable Places 2022 conference (online).

This paper introduces an enhanced energy auditing process including a ring-fencing mechanism for the selection of energy efficiency measures considering a multi-stage planning of the energy retrofitting project. The proposed ring-fencing approach enables SMEs to overcome the barrier of lack of capital for the implementation of energy efficiency mea...

This Special Issue deals with scalable optimization methodologies for electronic system design and control, including applications to integrated circuit design, signal integrity simulations, power electronic systems' design and control, and communication networks' design and automation. This issue welcomes novel contributions with respect to the me...

A system is provided that includes one or more processing resources operable to execute instructions to determine one or more base load profiles associated with one or more buildings and modify the one or more base load profiles based on a new set of building envelope parameter options that vary at least one building envelope feature. The one or mo...

Presentation at MathWorks, April 2020

A system is provided that includes one or more processing resources operable to execute instructions to determine one or more base load profiles associated with one or more buildings and modify the one or more base load profiles based on a new set of building envelope parameter options that vary at least one building envelope feature. The one or mo...

Designing energy retrofitting actions poses an elevated number of problems, as the definition of the baseline, selection of indicators to measure performance, modelling, setting objectives, etc. This is time-consuming and it can result in a number of inaccuracies, leading to inadequate decisions. While these problems are present at building level,...

This document describes the validation activities of the OptEEmAL platform but in this case towards the achievement of a TRL7, that is, demonstration of the OptEEmAL platform in operational environments. With this aim three demonstration sites with different "district profile" are considered with a twofold objective: Demonstrate that the prototype...

The document describes the validation activities of the OptEEmAL platform at TRL6 “Platform prototype demonstration in relevant environment” and the associated results. The methodology implemented has consisted in applying the platform on already performed district retrofitting projects and comparing the obtained results with the results available...

An energy distribution system includes at least one electric energy load and at least one thermal energy load. A grid of the system selectively supplies electric energy in accordance with a grid tariff profile. The energy distribution system further includes electric and thermal energy sources along with an energy management system that includes a...

This paper presents work undertaken as part of the European H2020 project OptEEmAL (Optimized Energy Efficient Design Platform for Refurbishment at District Level), toward development of a decision-support platform for building and district refurbishment interventions. We describe a methodology for generation and evaluation of refurbishment scenari...

Overview of methodology, tools, interoperability and automation of retrofit scenario generation and evaluation developed in the H2020 project OptEEmAL.

We deal with the problem of identifying the parameters of an equivalent lumped RC multiport network from time domain tabulated data of a corresponding distributed real eigenvalues problem, as obtained from either measurements or accurate simulation tools. A novel step response matrix identification procedure is proposed, based on the combination of...

Advantages of Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategies for control of building energy systems have been widely reported. A key requirement for successful realisation of such approaches is that strategies are formulated in such a way as to be easily adapted to fit a wide range of buildings with little commissioning effort. This paper introduces an...

An energy distribution system includes at least one electric energy load and at least one thermal energy load. A grid of the system selectively supplies electric energy in accordance with a grid tariff profile. The energy distribution system further includes electric and thermal energy sources along with an energy management system that includes a...

As detailed in the EPN process of Chapter 3, the Neighborhood Energy Manager (NEM) and owner/owners select the potential business models for the Neighborhood and have available a number of energy services, such as optimization, real-time monitoring, and forecasting to select for deployment on their Neighborhood energy management platform. Having id...

This chapter focuses on the implementation of the energy services in two demo sites. It describes the energy use-cases developed in COOPERaTE and outlines the evaluation methodology. A significant portion of the chapter is devoted to the presentation of the main results and details the energy-saving estimations. Even if it was key to understand the...

Predictive control strategies for building heating and cooling systems have been proposed as an energy efficient alternative to traditional strategies. The performance of such strategies is highly dependent on the underlying system models used. In an effective strategy, these models used are required to be accurate enough for informative prediction...

As research in the area of model predictive control (MPC) for building energy systems intensifies, appropriate methods are required to model a building's thermodynamic properties. In this paper, building models are considered from two perspectives - simulation and optimisation. First, a methodology is devised for the development of complex simulati...

This report addresses the topic of how the District Performance Indicators defined in the OptEEmAL project, are to be computed within the optimization platform. The calculation of these DPIs is a key part of the process towards the identification of the best retrofitting scenarios according to stakeholders’ priorities. The unified multi-level distr...

The objective of OptEEmAL is to develop an Optimised Energy Efficient Design Platform for refurbishment at district level. The platform will deliver an optimised, integrated and systematic design based on an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach for building and district retrofitting projects. This will be achieved through the development of a...

The OptEEmAL Platform bases the formulation of candidate scenarios for energy efficiency improvement in an advanced catalogue of solutions (Energy Conservation Measures catalogue: ECMs). In this document it is presented how this ECMs catalogue affects to the different tasks in the project and how this ECMs catalogue will help to the development of...

This document describes the results of the COOPERaTE control and optimisation algorithms implemented in the test sites in terms of energy savings. After exposing methodology and use cases, an evaluation of relevant KPIs is presented. This evaluation enables to compare energy baseline and reporting period and highlights the savings.

Inefficient design and operation of building heating systems can have a large impact on global energy consumption. Traditional heuristic approaches often supply excess heat and cannot adapt to faults and changes in the building and heating system. Model Predictive Control (MPC) based strategies can incorporate future building usage and weather cond...

Il funzionamento di moderni dispositivi, circuiti e sistemi elettronici si può descrivere correttamente solo con una simulazione elettrotermica (ET), ovvero la soluzione accoppiata ed autoconsistente del problema elettrico e di quello termico. L'interesse, nato inizialmente per circuiti di potenza, si è esteso anche ai circuiti digitali ed a radiof...

Deliverable D6.4 of the CAMPUS 21 project – entitled Validated and Adapted Load balancing Algorithms & Tools – presents the evaluation of the new control schemes for the use case descriptions Ucd UCC 6.1 and Ucd HSG 6.1m. The document D6.4 accompanies the latest version of the prototypes for either of the use cases with the experiment descriptions,...

This paper describes a low-energy test-bed installed in a building that integrates an electrical microgrid and a thermal system. The test-bed is controlled by following a hierarchical control strategy ranging from local controllers of subsystems to power system coordination and energy optimization. Experimental results of the test-bed operation (bo...

In this paper a novel time-domain identification procedure for passive RC multiport networks is introduced, based on convex optimization and allowing the straightforward enforcement of basic physical constraints, specifically tailored to thermal impedances. The identification is performed in two steps. First, the time constants are identified for e...

In transmission and distribution grids with a large share of renewable and distributed resources, the potential instabilities (and possible control actions) related to large power fluctuations can be investigated by means of simulation models. In this scenario, suitable methods of aggregation have to be considered to lower the computational cost of...

The paper presents a new algorithm for the identification of a positive real rational transfer matrix of a multi-input–multi-output system from frequency domain data samples. It is based on the combination of least-squares pole identification by the Vector Fitting algorithm and residue identification based on frequency-independent passivity constra...

Multi-objective optimization techniques can be categorized globally into deterministic and evolutionary methods. Examples of such methods are the Normal Boundary Intersection (NBI) method and the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algo-rithm (SPEA2), respectively. With both methods one explores trade-offs between conflicting performances. Surrogate model...

Forward and reverse modeling of RF circuit blocks are useful approaches in design space exploration. The underlying idea of forward modeling is the creation of accurate surrogate models, which can be used to predict the circuit performances replacing (expensive) circuit simulations. On the other hand, reverse modeling concerns multiobjective optimi...

The study introduces an enhanced version of the magnitude vector fitting (magVF) algorithm, a robust procedure for the identification of a transfer function from magnitude frequency domain data. The approach is based on the rational approximation of the magnitude square function with enforcement of symmetric poles and zeros, followed by the elimina...

The paper deals with the numerical validation, performance evaluation and robustness assessment of a procedure for the direct identification of passive transfer matrices based on convex programming. Validation is pursued by producing data sets from lumped multiport systems with random parameters (passive, non passive, and possibly affected by rando...

An important aspect related to wind energy integration into the electrical power system is the fluctuation of the generated power due to the stochastic variations of the wind speed across the area where wind turbines are installed. Simulation models are useful tools to evaluate the impact of the wind power on the power system stability and on the p...

Surrogate models are a cost-effective replacement for expensive computer simulations in design space exploration. Literature has already demonstrated the feasibility of accurate surrogate models for single radio frequency (RF) and microwave devices. Within the European Marie Curie project O-MOORE-NICE! (Operational Model Order Reduction for Nanosca...

Although the behavior of several RF circuit blocks can be accurately evaluated via transistor-level simulations, the design space exploration is limited by the high computational cost of such simulations. Therefore, cheap-to-evaluate surrogate models of the circuit simulator are introduced. This paper presents some results of a feasibility study co...

An important aspect related to wind energy integration into the electrical power system is the fluctuation of the generated power due to the stochastic variations of the wind speed across the area where wind turbines are installed. Simulation models are useful tools to evaluate the impact of the wind power on the power system stability and on the p...

This paper introduces an improved procedure for the identification of a transfer function from phase angle data with prescribed frequency variation. It is shown how a transfer function can be identified from phase response data samples, by fitting a normalized function with constant magnitude using the vector fitting algorithm. The presented approa...

Article in ECMI Newsletter

In mathematical/statistical modeling of complex systems, the locations of the data points are essential to the success of the algorithm. Sequential design methods are iterative algorithms that use data acquired from previous iterations to guide future sample selection. They are often used to improve an initial design such as a Latin hypercube or a...

The use of global surrogate models has become commonplace as a cost effective alternative for performing complex high fidelity computer simulations. Due to their compact formulation and negligible evaluation time, global surrogate models are very useful tools for exploring the design space, what-if analysis, optimization, prototyping, visualization...

When modeling complex systems, the locations of the data points are essential to the success of the algorithm. Sequential design methods are iterative algorithms that use data acquired from previous iterations to guide future sample selection. They are often used to improve an initial design such as a Latin hypercube or a simple grid, in order to f...

Many complex, real world phenomena are difficult to study directly using controlled experiments. Instead, the use of computer simulations has become commonplace as a cost effective alternative. However, regardless of Moorepsilas law, performing high fidelity simulations still requires a great investment of time and money. Surrogate modeling (metamo...

The use of replacement metamodels (global surrogate models) has become commonplace as a cost effective alternative for performing complex high fidelity computer simulations. Due to their compact formulation and negligible evaluation time, global surrogate models are very useful tools for exploring the design space, what-if analysis, optimization, a...

The paper introduces an approach for rational macromodeling based on magnitude frequency data. This is achieved by fitting the magnitude square function using vector fitting (VF) with symmetrical basis functions. The procedure is demonstrated to be more robust than a direct application of VF to the magnitude square function.

This paper introduces a constrained vector fitting algorithm which can directly identify a passive driving point function (impedance or admittance) from frequency domain data. The proposed positive fractions vector fitting (PFVF) algorithm formulates the residue identification step as a convex programming problem, while the pole identification step...

The paper deals with the problem of identification of guaranteed passive rational models for linear distributes structures. The identification is pursued in two separate steps: in the first step the Vector Fitting algorithm is used for the identification of the poles; then the identification of residues is formulated as a convex programming problem...

This paper deals with the identification of low-order accurate macromodels describing electrically long lossy multiconductor transmission lines. The formulation is based on the generalized method of characteristics, whose key feature is the extraction of delays from the propagation operators. We describe and compare different delay extraction appro...

Frequency dependent transmission line modeling by the Method of Characteristics requires to calculate a rational approximation of the characteristic admittance Y c and the propagation function, H. Most models rely on fitting the modal components of H in order to handle the delay terms of the line. This paper compares various techniques for delay ex...

Purpose – The paper aims to present an overview of techniques for the identification in the frequency domain of reduced order models for distributed passive electromagnetic structures. Design/methodology/approach – Most known approaches proposed in different application contexts are described within a unified framework. Findings – A passive reduc...

Frequency dependent transmission line models of the traveling wave type are usually implemented via rational approximation of the characteristic admittance and the propagation function. For the propagation function, a delay needs first to be compensated before proceeding with the rational approximation. It has been shown that assumption of a lossle...

The efficient simulation of high-speed interconnects demands compact macro-models. For interconnects operating in non-TEM conditions, the accurate identification of such passive macro-models is still a challenge. We consider the application of Vector Fitting and of a suitable passivity enforcement procedure for the identification of macro-models of...

The paper investigates some crucial aspects in the derivation of efficient time-domain equivalent circuits of lossy multiconductor transmission lines. We firstly highlight the possibility to achieve an exact extraction of the delays from the propagation operators in the Multi Transmission Line model. This provides best properties for defining regul...

We consider the problem of the identification of describing functions for the reduced time domain modeling of interconnects. In particular we identify the rational approximation of regular parts, once delays are exactly extracted, with a combination of vector fitting algorithm with a post-processing procedure based on a non linear least square refi...