Paolo Cherubini

Heriot-Watt University · International Centre for Island Technology

The dominant transport mode for school journeys is safe, comfortable and affordable private automobiles. The transport system consists of well-engineered roads. Carers know that the car is usually the safest and most convenient option for the school run. Traffic congestion, air pollution, loss of exercise and increased risk to pedestrians and cycli...

The pressure to accelerate just transitions to Net Zero is felt across all disciplines. Moreover, researchers face challenges of developing research aims directed at wicked problems that arise in engineering transitions. Engineering research groups in particular face the challenge of incumbency, following their vested disciplinary inquiries when th...

Wicked problem refers to a situation with general agreement that change is needed, but with no apparent solutions. Housing affordability, energy poverty, air travel, GDP as a measure of economic prosperity, urban sprawl, landfilling municipal solid waste, fossil fuel and economic growth are wicked problems in most countries. Wicked problems are oft...

This paper proposes a business model based on the Water Energy Food (WEF) nexus that could benefit from advanced optimal planning tools based on techniques of multi-year optimization under uncertainties. The authors highlight the potential impact of WEF nexus in the mini-grid sector and suggest that appropriate forecasts and optimization tools are...

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....

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....

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

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...