Plenary
Lecture
Distributed Multi-Generation Systems - Interacting Fields of Knowledge Meet
the Research Challenges
![](Chicco.jpg)
Professor Gianfranco Chicco
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Politecnico di Torino
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino
Italy
E-mail: gianfranco.chicco@polito.it
Abstract: The recent evolution towards
designing and exploiting sustainable energy systems has given birth to a
broad set of studies addressing technical, economic and environmental
issues. In many cases, the related research has been carried out by setting
the main focus on one of these issues, while the other ones have been either
neglected or introduced in simplified forms, for instance as additional
constraints. Nowadays, a new trend is emerging towards an integrated study
of the multi-disciplinary aspects related to the energy sector. This trend
has the beneficial effect of enhancing the interactions among different
scientific areas and worlds. The sharing of concepts, problem formulations
and solution methods adopted in different fields of knowledge is increasing
on the one hand the complexity of the studies, but is providing on the other
hand significant inputs to handle various kinds of complexity in an
effective and coordinated way. The presentation addresses the emergent
interactions among energy, environmental and economic aspects in the design,
planning and operation of local systems for combined production of different
energy vectors (such as electricity, heat, cooling, and other products).
These systems are interconnected in different ways. Their interactions can
be represented through various layers, including a physical layer formed by
the network interconnections for exchanging different types of energy; an
information layer for data management, communications and control; an
economic layer dealing with markets, tariff systems, regulations, and
contract provisions; and, an environmental layer dedicated to emission
monitoring and trading, with the related regulation aimed at defending the
human health and other receptors from the effects of possible hazardous
pollutants produced by the energy systems.
The interconnected decentralized energy generation systems are analyzed
under the distributed multi-generation (DMG) paradigm. According to this
paradigm, a set of unifying approaches is developed to create a consistent
framework of analysis. Suitable performance indicators are defined under
this framework by exploiting the formal analogies obtained from
reformulating specific problems from different fields of research in a
consistent way. The DMG-related framework encompasses the already extensive
concepts of energy saving, exergy, life cycle assessment, and asset
management. Methodological aspects referred to setting up and solving
suitable multi-objective optimization problems related to the exploitation
of DMG solutions are pointed out. Finally, the perspectives for the
scientific community to meet the today’s challenges in the combined energy
production sector are outlined and discussed.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Gianfranco Chicco graduated in Electrical Engineering (honors) at the
Politecnico di Torino (PdT), Torino, Italy, in 1987 and received the Ph.D.
degree in electrotechnical engineering from the PdT School in 1992. In 1995
he joined the PdT, where he is currently an Associate Professor of
Distribution Systems. In 1999, he visited the Electrical and Computer
Engineering Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Urbana, IL. In 2003 he was Member of the Administration Board at the PdT. He
has been the scientific responsible or co-responsible of research projects
funded by public and private Institutions. He has been the Chairman of the
Sixth World Energy System Conference, Torino, Italy, 10-12 July 2006, and
the co-Chairman of the Seventh World Energy System Conference, Iasi,
Romania, 30 June – 2 July 2008. He is Senior Member of the IEEE PES (Power
and Energy Society), Member of the AEIT (the Italian Association of
Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineers), and a Registered
professional Engineer in the Province of Torino, Italy. He is the President
of the University Academic Planning Council in Electrical Engineering at the
PdT. He taughs lectures at the Master and Doctoral levels and is an academic
tutor of Doctoral students in Electrical Engineering at the PdT. He is
author or coauthor of over 150 publications appeared in national and
international journals or Conference Proceedings. He is a co-Guest Editor of
two Special Issues dedicated to a selection of scientific papers presented
to the Sixth World Energy System Conference, Torino, 10-12 July 2006, for
the Energy and the Electric Power Systems Research journals. He has carried
out various activities at IEEE Conferences, as Member of the Technical
Committee, Track co-Chair of the Technical Program Committee, Conference
Session Chairman, Tutorial Organizer and presenter, Member of the Best
Student Paper Award Committee, and Reviewer of groups of papers. His
research activities include power systems and distribution systems analysis,
energy efficiency, distributed multi-generation systems, load management,
competitive electricity markets, artificial intelligence applications to
electrical systems, and power quality.