Dr Anita Ortega

Performance of Integrated renewable technologies

Her PhD project was part of a larger H2020 project ‘IDEAS’. The Integrated Design of Efficiency Approaches and Systems (IDEAS) project addresses this challenge by incorporating efficiency and scale improvements to solar PV, thermal and geothermal RES enabling more energy efficiency with less space. As a result, buildings will be able to meet more of their needs sustainably (IDEAS, 2023). Trinity College Dublin is leading the IDEAS research project, which is supported by EU Commissions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through grant agreement No. 815271. The aims in IDEAS research project are:

• Integrating PV with heat energy trapping coating into building facades
• Optimizing Heat Pump technologies with PV/PCM
• Novel integration and Demand-side Management

The subject of her thesis formed part of work package 1 on the development of novel solar technology “Integrating a concentrating CPC with PV with into the building façade with luminescent layers and thermal energy storage for enhanced efficiency”.   Two demo-sites were used in order to integrate these technologies and subsequent testing:

• Ferrara, Italy: University of Ferrara (UNIFE)
• Mayo, Ireland: Brackloon Drummin Community Centre

Project Funding: Horizon 2020

Project Supervisor: Professor Sarah McCormack

RevRenew: Revving up Renewable Integration: Standardizing Smart Connections for EVs and Renewables

This study explores the integration of renewable energy technologies into the smart home network with the aim of enhancing efficiency and streamlining the process of integrating renewable energy sources. As part of a recently completed H2020 project (IDEAS), an Irish demonstration community centre (in Westport), with geothermal and air source heat pumps, solar photovoltaic/thermal panels, and latent heat storage floors, will be used to provide baseline data for this study in terms of optimisation of multiple renewable sources. A citizen science approach will be taken where 50 members of the public will actively participate in the scientific process, enabling access to performance data from their renewable energy installations and/or EV charging regimes. This data along with the centre will be used for determinations of benefits of EV integration. From the IDEAS project, the state-of-the-art control system with predictive energy demand and renewable generation functionality will be deployed in the community centre and optimised for the home to include predictive energy demand and renewable generation using Machine learning and AI. within the home, including issues related to interoperability, security, and privacy for renewables, EV and home/grid integration. 

Project funding: SEAI

Project supervisor: Professor Sarah Mc Cormack