This class will present technologies for energy conversion, energy transport and energy storage for various energy vectors (electricity, heat, fuels). It will cover:
- Definitions: primary energy, final energy, energy conversion, power/discharge diagrams, energy density, conversion between energy vectors, etc.
- For each technology: the technology working principle, its efficiency range, the plant/network/device design (components, architecture, fluxes in/out, orders of magnitude), the necessary resources and siting constraints (eg a connection to a water network or other infrastructures), the size, construction time and lifetime of the plants/networks/devices, technology costs in terms of CAPEX and OPEX, the potential evolutions of the technology and in some cases, externalities and scalability potential
- Electricity generation: thermal power plants; nuclear plants; hydroelectricity; wind farms; concentrating solar power plants; photovoltaics farms
- Electricity transport and distributions: electrical grids, their evolutions in terms of sizing, physical capacity and management (smart, micro, mini grids)
- Heat generation and management: co-generation, solar thermal, heat pumps, heat networks, geothermal power, waste heat
- Fuels: biomass, oil, gas and alternative gases, including hydrogen (production, distribution, storage, fuel cells)
- Energy storage: hydrostorage, electrochemical storage (batteries, supercapacitors), mechanical storage (compressed air, inertia), thermal storage (phase change, thermochemical), power2gas, buildings and vehicles as storage devices
Learning objectives:
- Explain the notion of energy vectors and conversion between vectors
- For each technology:
- explain the technology working principle and its efficiency range
- describe the plant, network or device design (components, architecture, fluxes in/out, scale)
- identify the necessary resources and siting constraints (eg a connection to a water network or other infrastructures)
- estimate the size and lifetime of projects
- know the technology costs in terms of CAPEX and OPEX
- anticipate the potential evolutions of the technology
- Explain how energy can be transported at various scales
- Understand constraints from and on the electrical grid and the evolutions thereof
- Compare technologies or portfolios of technologies:
- Understand the differences between the various technologies in terms of orders of magnitude of energy production, efficiencies and costs
- Understand the technical criteria to choose a production/transport/storage technology to fulfil an energy need
- Determine the adequacy of a production/transport/storage technology to a specific site or region based on technical criteria
- Be aware of the potential impacts of technological evolutions (with regards for example to the life cycles, business models, etc.)
- Identify reliable sources of information on energy technology
Assessment: online quizzes and reports, self-assessments and peer assessments