Ana Rita Lopes
“The SAL would like to nominate Ana Rita Lopes for the successful conclusion of a major licensing process in the Power and Energy domain; for confidentiality reasons, we cannot disclose more details”.
– Service Manager of the Technology Licensing Office
You recently concluded a Licensing process in the Power and Energy domain; can you tell us a little bit more about your work during this period?
During this process, I’ve interacted with all stakeholders, to meet and comply with expectations, clarify and define vital contract-related details in terms of technology transfer, and strengthen the relationship between INESC TEC and industrial partners.
What were the main challenges during this process?
The negotiation process is time-consuming, with many challenges, due to the significant number of parties involved – all of them with their outlook and expectations, most of them divergent. Finding the commitment and balance elements that contribute to the negotiation’s success was the main challenge.
Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
To establish bridges and address the gap between the technology development at R&D institutes like INESC TEC and the industry entities that introduce technologies to the market and society, i.e., meeting INESC TEC’s mission.
I also enjoy facilitating and promoting the valorisation of technologies developed at INESC TEC, towards improving the “products”, teams and technologies’ value/visibility.
How do you comment on this nomination?
I’m proud to be nominated; it’s great to know that people acknowledge our work. But it’s important to mention that the positive results stem from the close collaboration between SAL, AJ and CPES.
Ehsan Kazemi-Robati
“Ehsan Kazemi-Robati has been performing high-quality work in the sizing optimisation and implementation of hybrid offshore renewable energy, within the scope of the EU-SCORES project. Recently, he was responsible for ensuring INESC TEC’s contribution to the deliverable on energy management and optimisation in offshore hybrid farms. Simultaneously, he developed a computational tool for stochastic optimisation for the sizing of multi-technology offshore farms – based on geographical location, and the availability of wind, wave, and solar resources. This work featured in the scientific journal Journal of Cleaner Production, in May. He deserves recognition, not only for the objectives achieved, but also for his extraordinary dedication, perseverance, scientific thoroughness, and team spirit”.
– CPES coordinators
You have been involved in the EU-SCORES project – recently, in the energy management and optimisation of offshore hybrid farms; can you briefly tell us more about this project (main goal, results, INESC TEC’s role and contributions, etc.) and your activities thus far?
European Scalable Offshore Renewable Energy Sources (EU-SCORES) project aims to pave the path towards implementation of multi-source offshore renewable energy parks that integrate wave energy and floating solar photovoltaic systems alongside offshore wind turbines. Muti-source offshore parks offer several advantages over the existing single-source ones; the more efficient energy generation for the occupied marine area, better utilisation of the electrical infrastructure, reduced power output variation, and the less capacity of needed storage system are some of the advantages of these multi-source parks over the single-source ones.
As a member of the consortium in this European project, INESC TEC is involved in various tasks and work packages of EU-SCORES, including operation and maintenance management, grid integration, electrical system design, sizing and energy management, pilot demonstration, etc. During the time that I have been working at INESC TEC, I have mostly collaborated in the tasks of EU-SCORES related to sizing optimisation and energy management of multi-source parks. Recently, I have also been involved in the studies on grid integration and layout design, which relate to the other tasks of project.
The Journal of Cleaner Production decided to feature your work last month; can you tell us a little bit more about it, and how you feel about earning this recognition? How does it impact your career and research path?
As a part of our studies in EU-SCORES project, we developed a framework for the sizing optimisation of renewable energy sources to hybridise existing offshore wind parks. Considering the uncertainty of energy generation by the renewable sources, the sizing optimisation strategy is developed within a stochastic framework. Additionally, focusing on the implementation of multi-source offshore parks at the existing single-source sites, the limitations in the existing electrical system are also taken into account.
It was a pleasure to publish this part of our studies as a paper prepared in collaboration with colleagues at INESC TEC. Receiving constructive comments and heart-warming feedback regarding the impact of our work from the reviewers and editors of this well-known journal, we can now make further progress and improve our ongoing and future studies in EU-SCORES in an effective way.
How do you rate your experience at INESC TEC so far? Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most? How do you comment on this nomination?
Working at INESC TEC has been a great experience for me, especially in researching renewable energies in contact with experienced researchers and professors in this field. Being surrounded by inspiring colleagues and friends, engaging in discussions on findings and research outputs of various ongoing cutting-edge projects at INESC TEC, and sharing a passion for further contributing towards reaching carbon-neutrality goals are some of the significant positive aspects of INESC TEC for me. Finally, I am honoured to be selected for this nomination and appreciate it.
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