Title (in english)

CONTROL AND OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT OF HETEROGENEOUS RESOURCES IN AGROINDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DISTRICTS INTEGRATING RENEWABLE ENERGIES

Title (in spanish)

Control y gestión óptima de recursos heterogéneos en distritos productivos agroindustriales integrando energías renovables

Acronym

CHROMAE

Key Words

Multi-energy system control, optimal resource dispatch, agroindustrial districts, renewable energies.

Summary

Nowadays there is a growing concern over overexploitation of non-renewable energy and materials associated with climate change and the need to maintain the modern economy and quality of life. This proposal aims to contribute, from the discipline of automatic control, to the optimal management of these resources in a way that ensures equitable access, efficiency and sustainability in the areas of water, energy and others including renewable energies. Specifically, the project addresses the problem of optimal resources management in agro-industrial districts, consisting of agricultural exploitations, processing and input supply companies allocated around a territory. The industries comprising the cluster are heterogeneous and hence their needs of both energetic (electricity, heat/cold) and materials (water and CO₂) resources are different. In this framework, characterized by the heterogeneous nature of the demands, it is necessary to efficiently manage the use of the different resources in each of the plants. In addition, the flow of resources between the different systems must be properly coordinated, especially when renewable energy is used, with the aim of minimizing the environmental impact.

Flow of heterogeneous resources among the different elements of the agro-industrial district

Considering these concerns, the main objectives of this proposal are:

• Characterization and modeling of the resources flows and inter-relations between the plants conforming the district, considering their consumption, production and storage under the approach of distributed multi-generation and multi-energy systems. The main aim is to develop a simulation environment involving the consumption and production of heterogeneous resources in agro-food districts (easy to extrapolate to other activities) which allows us to analyze concrete use cases, test new management approaches and take decision aimed at maximizing their use.
• Development of new control strategies for the descriptive variables of plants comprising the district, so that their objectives may be accomplished optimizing, at the same time, the use of the resources by means of model predictive control techniques.
• Development of high-level control and optimal integrated management strategies for those resources required to operate the plants inside an agro-industrial district using control techniques such as centralized and distributed model predictive control, optimal control and rule-based control, among other. All these techniques consider both economic and environmental criteria, and their efficient use.

The fulfillment of these objectives represents a significant contribution with real impact in this kind of processes, as evidenced by the collaboration in the project of Insitutions such as Fundación Cajamar and IFAPA and the interest that has aroused in different companies interested in the medium term applicability of the obtained results. The proposal is a natural continuation of former activities which allowed us to acquire a vast knowledge in the field of energy systems control, leading to the publication of numerous papers in prestigious journals as well as increase the relations with research centers worldwide.

Project Data

Proyecto RETOS: Plan estatal de investigación científica, técnica y de innovación, Convocatoria de 2017

Duración: 3 años (enero 2018 – diciembre 2020)

Retos y tecnología facilitadora:

• Reto principal: 3º/ Energía segura, eficiente y limpia
• Implicaciones relevantes en otro reto: 2º/ Seguridad y calidad alimentarias; actividad agraria productiva y sostenible
• Tecnología facilitadora esencial: Tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones

Áreas temáticas:

• Área temática de gestión: Diseño y Producción industrial
• Subárea temática de: Diseño y Producción Industrial
• Área ANEP: Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y Automática
• Código NABS: 06060 Producción y tecnología industrial
• Clasificaciones Unesco:
  • 3310 TECNOLOGÍA INDUSTRIAL
  • 3311 TECNOLOGÍA DE LA INSTRUMENTACIÓN
• Actividad Económica: Actividades relacionadas con el medio ambiente y el cambio climático