Manuel Alcazar-Ortega

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Polytechnic University of Valencia

Reliable prediction of photovoltaic power generation is key to the efficient management of energy systems in response to the inherent uncertainty of renewable energy sources. Despite advances in weather forecasting, photovoltaic power prediction accuracy remains a challenge. This study presents a novel approach that combines genetic algorithms and...

This research provides a contribution to biomass gasification technology development and to its establishment into the market as mature and functional technology, competitive for large and medium-scale applications. In this article, an experimental analysis of Bubbling Fluidized Bed Reactors (BFBR) for power generation with different sand mixtures...

This research study explores the technology of biomass syngas production by using an experimental downdraft fixed-bed gasifier coupled to a two-cylinder engine, designed and implemented at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Furthermore, it deals with the study of the experimental and analytical relations between the driving thermodynami...

This chapter provides an overview on the outstanding production, distribution and storage technologies that will likely make the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and renewable BioLPG expand their utilization as a cleaner alternative to traditional fossil fuels. The growth of the Global LPG Market size will be presented, with a focus on US and the Euro...

Complex, non-linear systems with diverse consumption, generation, and storage technologies require advanced energy management by considering several factors: resource availability, energy efficiency, economic viability, consumption costs, and installation feasibility. To address these challenges, this paper integrates artificial intelligence into a...

Energy systems face a challenge characterized by the inherent uncertainty associated with accurate renewable power generation forecasts. Despite the availability of weather prediction methods, achieving precise predictions for photovoltaic (PV) power generation remains a critical necessity. In response to this challenge, this study presents a novel...

The calculation of the electricity bill components is not an easy task in Spain. Such calculation is even more complex when there is a renewable system in the equation consumer-producer (Prosumer). One of the skills that the student of the course on Generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, belonging to the master's in industrial e...

This work leads with the application of Learning Analytics (LA) methods in high education as data driven for making decision, where a real case study is presented. The LA method has been applied to a course on HVAC Facilities and Energetic Certification of the Master in Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain....

This work leads with the application of Learning Analytics (LA) methods in high education as data driven for making decision, where a real case study is presented. The LA method has been applied to a course on HVAC Facilities and Energetic Certification of the Master in Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain....

The calculation of the electricity bill components is not an easy task in Spain. Such calculation is even more complex when there is a renewable system in the equation consumer-producer (Prosumer). One of the skills that the student of the course on Generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, belonging to the master's in industrial e...

The Bologna Plan adopted by European universities ended the hegemony of an evaluation system exclusively based on the performance of traditional examinations. In this area, with a view to revitalizing grading models in university education, a wide range of evaluation mechanisms has been developed in recent years. Using them, teachers may evaluate t...

Local energy communities require tools to select their most fitting community members, power-sharing strategy and technologies for their goals. This work aims to develop a model and a methodology to optimise local energy communities. We evaluate the presence of a battery energy storage system with different capacities and ownership options. Besides...

En 2015, las Naciones Unidas aprobaron la Agenda 2030 sobre desarrollo sostenible, que cuenta con 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) en muy diversos ámbitos. Dentro de este contexto, las Universidades deberían incorporar los ODS en todos los ámbitos de su actividad, ya que éstas juegan un papel primordial como agentes transformadores de la...

This chapter discusses different aspects related to the operation of natural gas systems in the framework of the new configuration of energy systems based on the smart grid concept. First of all, different experiences performed worldwide regarding the application of demand response principles to increase the efficiency and operability of natural ga...

The liberalization of the gas market has deeply affected the structure of the gas system. The change from a vertically integrated utility structure to a liberalized architecture has resulted in a new network asset where aggregators could play a key role. To enable aggregators’ functionalities, the gas system has moved to a smart configuration. The...

The European Union advocates for legislative support to local energy communities. Measures include the promotion of dynamic energy allocation and discriminatory electricity tariffs such as the recent Spanish framework. However, the impact of these normative changes is not yet evaluated. This paper inquires into the impact of dynamic allocation coef...

The gradual increase in energy consumption that has been produced during the last years, together with the massive implementation of renewable generation technologies, has motivated a significant increment in the variability and unpredictability of power generation, along with the subsequent increment in the cost of grid management and higher proba...

During the last several decades, demand response programs have played a crucial role in the management of the electrical energy system worldwide. Thus, demand response programs, offered by either system operators or utilities, have contributed to solve different matters that appear in the habitual operation of the power grid. Currently, there are n...

Demand response is a key element of future power systems due to its capacity to defer grid investments, improve demand participation in the market, and absorb renewable energy source variations. In this regard, demand response can play an important role in delivering ancillary services to power systems. The lack of standardization and ancillary ser...

Despite being a renewable source, biomass as fuel for power generation is still not completely exploited. In biomass gasification plants, control operations are crucial for the proper management of the plant. This paper describes the results of a regulation control applied to an experimental biomass bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasification plant....

Despite being a renewable source, biomass as fuel for power generation is still not completely exploited. In biomass gasification plants, control operations are crucial for the proper management of the plant. This paper describes the results of a regulation control applied to an experimental biomass bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasification plant....

Natural gas systems, similarly to the rest of energy systems, are evolving towards a highly technified structure where high level of metering devices, monitoring and communication activities, are calling to play the starring role. EU countries started the replacement of the traditional gas meters with smart devices in 2012, but the massive rollout...

Nowadays, the new configuration of natural gas systems, according to the principles of smart grids, includes a high level of metering, monitoring and communication activities. However, there are still different technological barriers that hinder the interoperability of networks. In this framework, the different communication technologies that are c...

Flip Teaching, also called Flipped Classroom, is a new methodological form of development of teaching with an approach based on inverting the traditional scheme of the learning process and giving greater prominence to students. Flip Teaching has the objective of increasing student engagement and improving their conceptual understanding, combining d...

In the present paper, it is carried out the design of a photovoltaic installation connected to the utility grid with panels mounted on a floating structure at an irrigator's community. The objective is to determine the technical and economic feasibility of a floating photovoltaic installation to partially or totally cover the energy demand. The flo...

Due to the pandemic provoked by COVID-19 in March 2020, the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), following the Government's guidelines, changed the modality of the formal lectures from face-to-face to online teaching. Professors and students had the challenge of adapting to the new model to continue the semester. In this paper, the results of...

In the so-called society 4.0, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being widely used in many areas of life. Machine learning uses mathematical algorithms based on "training data", which are able to make predictions or take decisions with the ability to change their behavior through a self-training approach. Furthermore, thanks to AI, a large volume of d...

The serious situation caused by the coronavirus has forced Authorities to take drastic decisions that have affected the normal functioning of the entire society. One of the most impactful measures taken has been the self-discipline of the social distancing as the entire society has been obliged to stay at home. At the education level, restrictions...

Group tutorials are becoming an ever-increasing learning methodology in University education due to the continuous knowledge feedback among students. Despite the positive impact of such kind of sessions on students, their previous organization phase remains most of the times misleading. The traditional way of arranging a group tutorial through e-ma...

La docencia inversa, también llamada clase invertida, es una nueva forma metodológica de desarrollo de la actividad docente con un enfoque basado en invertir el esquema tradicional del proceso de aprendizaje y de dar mayor protagonismo al alumnado. La docencia inversa tiene el objetivo de incrementar el compromiso del estudiante y de mejorar su com...

En este paper se aplica la metodología de docencia inversa utilizada en la UPV, a la asignatura de Redes Eléctricas Inteligentes. Tiene especial interés dicha metodología debido a la pandemia producida por COVID-19 y el cambio de actividad académica de presencial a no presencial en la UPV. De acuerdo con el procedimiento, se realiza la presentación...

La educación universitaria está experimentando un proceso de cambio dinámico, desde un sistema de enseñanza tradicional hacia otro más flexible. En este contexto surge la metodología clase inversa, la cual comprende dos fases: conceptual y colaborativa. En la fase conceptual, desarrollada fuera del aula, el estudiante se prepara para la clase a par...

This article presents a methodology for calculating the energy needs to propose the electrification of a fleet of small boats. A technical, economic and environmental analysis of the transition to electric mobilityof thefleet of boats in the wetland of the AlbuferaNatural Park ofValencia(Spain)is presented and analysed. The environmental benefits o...

The educational innovation described in this paper has been applied during the 1st practical session of the subject Electrical Machines (2nd course of Electrical Engineering Degree). With this educational innovation, students can introduce the obtained results via on-line using a Google Sheet, since the end of the practical session until a few days...

Undestanding the functioning of electricity markets in lectures requires the use of software simulators. Due to the impossibility to participate in real markets, it becomes essential to adopt virtual environments to simulate what happens in actual markets. Nevertheless, once designing these simulators, it is common to eliminate scenarios that do no...

This paper illustrates the high potential of Microsoft EXCEL for the implementation of tools oriented to the visualization of fundamental principles in Electrical Engineering for a better students understanding. In particular, the application to the Ferraris’ Theorem, which bases the operation of rotating electric machines, is considered and put in...

In such a competitive scenario and continuous evolution of university education, it is essential to offer an adequate tool for the development and monitoring of the different competences that students acquire during their training. In this framework, vertical ERP systems, using educational software,, have favored in more than 350 institutions world...

Gamification techniques have demonstrated that students improve their learning process through mobile applications. However, every teacher creates his/her own questions for the game design, involving classroom response systems through a digital app such as Kahoot!, Socrative, Blicker, Clickers, Plickers, etc., without previous planning of the diffi...

According to the current tendencies in University education strategies, students should develop not just the specific competences related to the particular degree they pursue, but also a series of transversal competences (TCs, also called key competences). Such TCs may be transferable between different contexts (personal, social, academic, etc.) wh...

Las estrategias de aprendizaje de las enseñanzas técnicas están basadas, en gran medida, en la realización de problemas prácticos por parte de los alumnos. Sin embargo, la correcta utilización de estas estrategias conllevaría una corrección personalizada y un seguimiento que, cuando el volumen de alumnos es elevado, resulta prácticamente ingestiona...

La realización de prácticas de sistemas eléctricos de potencia requiere de la utilización de programas de simulación, dada la imposibilidad de realizar enmuchos casos prácticas de campo por la inviabilidad de experimentar consistemas eléctricos reales. Sin embargo, la utilización de dichos programasrequiere la compra de costosas licencias y el apre...

The complex task of evaluation of the demand flexibility applied to the industrial sector requires in-deep studies where the different production processes must be analyzed in detail, as well as the way in which they are linked, the amount of energy that is consumed in different periods or the parameters that drive how energy is consumed on each of...

This paper introduces a novel tool for industrial customers to perform a cost-benefit analysis regarding the implementation of Demand Response (DR) strategies in their facilities with the final goal of softening the impact of RES intermittency in the grid. The dynamic simulation tool focuses on assessing the participation of industries in reserve e...

El presente libro resume la metodología desarrollada durante la consultoría “Análisis para la implementación del programa de redes inteligentes en Ecuador” que ha permitido analizar todos los aspectos relativos a la implementación de Redes Eléctricas Inteligentes en Ecuador. Partiendo de la situación actual de las redes de distribución, el análisis...

Certification according to international standards brings many benefits to the society, including technical, economic and environmental aspects. In this context, this paper highlights the benefits of certification of Demand Response, including the additional credibility which provides to the trading of flexibility and higher confidence between diff...

The aim of this research is to contribute into the diffusion of biomass power systems by analyzing and testing the throat sizing influence on the operation of a gasification plant coupled with an internal combustion engine. In order to do this, the assessment of the proper operation range for some of the driving process parameters has been carried...

This paper presents a methodology for the identification, analysis and comparative assessment of the handicaps which nowadays prevent the higher implementation of Demand Response (DR) in the electricity market. Its application provides a hierarchical organization of handicaps from the most critical to the less critical and then, from the easiest to...

In bulk power systems, generating plants at the transmission ends are a major contributor of harmful greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. However, at present a bulk power system without giant carbon dioxide emitting plants is undoubtedly non-realistic. Reducing end-use energy demand simply through improved energy efficiency alone is hard...

This paper deals with how demand response can contribute to the better integration of renewable energy resources such as wind power, solar, small hydro, biomass and CHP. In particular, an economic evaluation performed by means of the micro-power optimization model HOMER Energy has been done, considering a micro-grid supplied by a biomass gasificati...

Wind is a clean, renewable and reliable energy source and analysis of the economics of wind farms in terms of the cost/MWh energy provided is a primer topic in electricity economics. This paper presents a novel evolutionary algorithm named as quantum evolutionary membrane algorithm, which combines the concept and theory of quantum-inspired evolutio...

The aim of this research resides in the development of an energy management and control system to control a micro-grid based on the use of renewable generation and demand resources to introduce the application of demand response concepts to the management of micro-grids in order to effectively integrate the demand side as an operation resource for...

This paper presents a novel approach to define and evaluate a flexibility strategy that is very promising in the meat processing industry: fan speed variation in drying chambers. The implementation of flexibility has not been commonly applied in the past as production processes in this sector have traditionally been considered in a very restricted way...

The aim of this book is to explain the basis electrical circuits and networks in order to describe further applications, both in small signal and power. The suitable analysis methodologies and theorems, and its connection with other subjects are described, as well as some typical industrial applications which enhance the electrical circuit theory s...

This book presents the practices bulletins of the course "Power Systems" for the specialty of electricity from the Industrial Engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. It aims to familiarize students with the systems of generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, taking into account the problems arising during th...

This paper presents a methodology, which is applied to the meat industry, for the evaluation and assessment of the economical impact of customers participating in operation markets by using the flexibility they may have, as well as the amount of CO2 avoided to be emitted into the atmosphere.The particular market conditions in the Spanish context ha...

Demand response has proven to be a useful mechanism that produces important benefits for both the customer and the power system. In the context of an increasingly competitive electricity market, where prices are constantly rising and the presence of renewable energy resources is gaining prominence, this paper analyzes the flexibility potential of c...

Due to the current high energy prices it is essential to find ways to take advantage of new energy resources and enable consumers to better understand their load curve. This understanding will help to improve customer flexibility and their ability to respond to price or other signals from the electricity market. In this scenario, one of the most im...

The aim of this research resides in the development of an energy management and control systems (EMCS) to control a micro-grid based on the use of renewable generation and demand resources to introduce the application of demand response concepts to the management of micro-grids in order to effectively integrate the demand side as an operation resou...

Demand response resources management is one of the most investigated solutions oriented to improve the efficiency in electricity markets. In this paper, the capability of customers to participate in short term markets is analyzed. An available methodology to analyze the daily and monthly energy consumptions of large customers is used to create ener...

This paper is focused on the evaluation and assessment of different energy efficiency strategies applied to electrical appliances related to cool production and ventilation in industrial facilities which manufacture different types of meat products. Two strategies have been analyzed. Firstly, speed variation of fans in drying chambers, which implie...

The importance of renewable energy increases in activities relating to new forms of managing and operating electrical power: especially wind power. Wind generation is increasing its share in the electricity generation portfolios of many countries. Wind power production in Spain has doubled over the past four years and has reached 20GW. One of the g...

In the context of an increasingly competitive electricity market, where prices are constantly rising and the presence of renewable energy resources is gaining prominence, this dissertation deals with an innovative approach to the participation of demand resources in operation markets, paying special attention to energy intensive industrial segments...

The authors present a methodology, which is demonstrated with some applications to the commercial sector, in order to validate a Demand Response (DR) evaluation method previously developed and applied to a wide range of industrial and commercial segments, whose flexibility was evaluated by modeling. DR is playing a more and more important role in t...

The significant and continuous increment in the global electricity consumption is asking for energy saving strategies. Efficient control for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC) is the most cost-effective way to minimize the use of energy in buildings. In this framework, an energy management and control system (EMCS) has been de...

Demand Response (DR) is becoming more and more important in the framework of electricity systems management for the effective integration of other Distributed Energy Resources. To achieve this DR capability, customers must identify what they are using the energy for in order to use their flexible loads for management purposes. Modeling tools are us...

The important and continuous increment in the global electricity consumption is doing that energy saving strategies have turned into a crucial solution. Efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls are generally the most cost-effective ways to minimize the use of energy in buildings. In this framework, an energy management and contr...

The authors present a methodology to evaluate and quantify the economic parameters (costs and benefits) attached to customer electricity consumption by analyzing the service provided by the different “pieces” of absorbed electricity. The first step of this methodology is to perform a process oriented market segmentation to identify segments accordi...

Demand Response Resources Management is one of the most investigated solutions oriented to improve the efficiency in electricity markets. In this paper, the capability of customers to participate in short term markets is analyzed. An available methodology to analyze the daily and monthly energy consumptions of large customers is used to create ener...

A new methodology for modeling and characterization of in-home electric loads is developed based on their harmonics series composition. Two main modules compose this framework: the characterization of one isolated load and the study of different loads connected at the same time. For the characterization of one simple load empiric data from real tim...

One of the best ways to improve the energy efficiency in any system is by using more properly the energy resources in different facilities. Using them only when they are necessary is one of the most promising strategies. The aim of this paper resides on presenting a new Integral Management System (IMS) which is being installed in the Campus of the...

The lack of demand resources participation is one of the main problems currently investigated in deregulated electricity markets. In this paper, an existing methodology for creating offers and bids of large customers is applied to analyse their daily and monthly energy consumptions. This analysis allows their participation in both energy and ancilla...

Active Demand Side participation in electricity markets can decrease the market power of supply-side agents, and increase the overal market performance based on demand flexibility of customers. However, demand participation in electricity markets is very limited as accurate flexibility evaluation and management tools for this purpose are not so ava...

A massive implementation of distributed energy resources (DER) requires the development of innovative approaches to identify, based on the energy market requirements, fast track options for such implementation. These approaches should assess the potential for DER of the different customer segments and simulate DER adoption for those with highest po...