Optimization of renewable energy plant locations

Renewable energies amount for an ever-increasing share of the total energy production in most European countries. To choose the best location for new renewable energy plants, a number of factors needs to be considered, including the climate conditions on the proposed location, its distance to consumption centers (cities, industry), and the prior existence of energy infrastructure. Besides, it is advantageous to plan the location of several energy plants at once, so that the energy production can be evenly distributed.

In this project we aim to optimize the location of new renewable energy plants, focusing in particular on solar and/or wind power. We will use real climate and population data, as well as a cost model that covers the most interesting factors outlined above. Various optimization approaches can be used to tackle this problem, from linear programming to unbalanced optimal transport. Experience with scientific computing and visualization in Python, Julia or Matlab are expected.

Keywords: renewable energies, optimization, optimal transport, numerical simulations

Instructor: Ismael Medina & Olga Minevich (University of Göttingen, DE)

Participants:

  • Davide Adamo, University of Verona
  • Wioletta Szykula, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
  • Andrzej Puć, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
  • Guilherme Varela, Instituto Superior Técnico
  • Marco Quanilli, Università degli studi di Verona

Where:

Room S.9, Veronetta – Polo didattico Zanotto, Viale Università 4, 37129 Verona VR, G-map: https://goo.gl/maps/wu2cHiFCTYaAs3Ze7