CHP District Energy and Microgrids Development

Thursday, July 8, 2021

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

About the Event

Advances on CHP District Energy and Microgrids Development: Simplified Tool for Rapid Deploying Feasibility Analytics for Non-Technical Users

Communities are witnessing an increasing number of power outages due to the growing number of extreme weather events that adversely impact our power grid. It is imperative that critical infrastructure assets such as universities and hospital campuses have the tools available to identify options to improve power resilience. District Energy Systems (DES) with Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and CHP-based microgrids are found to be highly resilient to a variety of extreme weather events. At present, DES and multi-building microgrid planning processes are complex, time-consuming and subjective. This project develops an innovative, simple-to-use geographical information system (GIS)-based scenario tool for a layperson to develop a quick feasibility analysis of a CHP-based DES or microgrid. GIS-integrated models/tools have great potential to better inform urban energy planning and policy-making teams. The information in a GIS tool has been used to illustrate, analyze and draw conclusions about important features such as energy usage, capacity and potential.

About the Speaker

Driss Benhaddou, Ph.D., is a professor in the College of Technology at the University of Houston. His research includes the development of network-centric smart building, smart grids and smart cities. He has extensive experience developing event-driven modeling tools for network performance evaluation for scalable networks. He is currently spearheading the development of smart buildings as smart microgrids that integrate renewable energy at the University of Houston. In addition, Benhaddou has experience in developing optimization techniques using genetic algorithms for microgrid applications with a focus on renewable integration in smart buildings at the University of Houston. He is an expert in software development for system integration and modeling tools.

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