TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES
PRODUCTION
PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
- Photovoltaic reconfigurable systems for energy
- Modular power conversion architectures
- Grid-connected photovoltaic systems
- Modelling and control of PV inverters and converters
- Refrigeration and thermal management of PVpanels
- Hybridization of PV power facilities with other energy sources
WIND ENERGY
- Transmission systems for offshore wind power plants
- Analysis and design of advanced controllers for wind turbines
- Analysis of harmonics flow in wind power plants and design of mitigation measures
- Analysis of the performance of wind power plants
- Design of mini-wind generators
- Wind turbine blade virtual wind tunnel
HYDROPOWER
- Vibration analysis and diagnostics in machinery
- Predictive maintenance
- Advanced monitoring and damage detection
- Structural dynamics, effects of fluid on structural response
- Experimental and numerical investigation of cavitating flows
- Numerical simulation in turbulent flows
- Hydropower plant performance
- Production analysis of mini hydropower plants
BIOENERGY & BIOFUELS
- Microbial fuel cells in constructed wetlands
- Biofuel production from algal biomass
- Low-cost anaerobic digesters
- Hydrogen production from biomass
SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY
- Integration of solar ponds: energy storage and energy production
- Solar collectors using transparent insulation materials (TIM)
- Receivers in concentrating solar power plants
- Thermal storage in concentrating solar power plants
- Grid integration of solar power
OCEAN ENERGY
- Wave energy resource assessment
- Wave energy balance in wave models
- Testing of wave energy capture devices
- Optimization of buoy geometry design
- Fluid–structure interaction for buoys and waves
- Overtopping devices
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
- Very low enthalpy geothermal energy (up to 30ºC)
- Low enthalpy geothermal energy (from 30ºC to 90ºC)
- Medium enthalpy geothermal energy (from 90ºC to 150ºC)
NUCLEAR ENERGY & SAFETY
- Nuclear safety. Probabilistic risk assessment
- Nuclear instrumentation
- Nuclear power plants
- Nuclear fusion reactors
- Nuclear waste characterization
APPLICATION SECTORS
AERONAUTICS
AUTOMOTION
INFRASTRUCTURES
HEALTH
MANUFACTURING
TEXTILES
RELATED PROJECTS
- The energy transition is reshaping the foundations of the power grid, driven by the massive deployment of renewable generation based on power electronics and the gradual disconnection of conventional fossil-based generation. In this context, grid operators will require support systems to provide flexibility, as renewable generation is highly variable.
- An international research team led by the UPC has created a hybrid device that combines, for the first time ever, molecular solar thermal energy storage with silicon-based photovoltaic energy. It achieves a record energy storage efficiency of 2.3% and up to 14.9% total solar energy utilisation.
- Energy consumption in training and inference of artificial intelligence (AI) models, such as large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, has become a critical challenge due to its environmental impact and the costs associated with high-performance computing (HPC). The energy required to train these models and interact with them increases significantly as the models grow in size and complexity.
