Optimal design of zero-emissions energy systems: The role of energy storage by Paolo Gabrielli

The evidence that the anthropogenic alteration of the earth’s carbon balance is leading to climate change, together with the confirmation of its consequences, clearly indicates the necessity of finding new routes for energy provision. To mitigate climate change, and to keep global warming well below 2°C, we will likely need a large amount of variable renewable energy sources, and energy storage to compensate for their variability on multiple time scales.

In this seminar, I present strategies to design energy systems that comply with zero-emissions targets while minimizing total system costs. Design strategies are obtained by formulating mathematical optimization problems that determine the optimal selection, size, and operation of energy conversion and storage technologies that supply a given energy demand at the minimum cost. I focus on the role of energy storage, by providing insights on the competition of short- vs. long-term energy storage – here, batteries vs. hydrogen storage. The analysis covers multiple spatial scales, ranging from neighborhood-scale distributed energy systems to the national (Swiss) and European energy systems.

Speaker :

Paolo Gabrielli is a Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich, within the Institute of Energy and Process Engineering, and is currently a Visiting Investigator at Carnegie Science at Stanford University.

He studies the transition to net-zero energy systems, with a focus on the optimization and assessment of distributed energy systems, energy storage, hydrogen, and carbon supply chains. He also investigates strategies to achieve net-zero emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, with a focus on the chemical industry.

Paolo Gabrielli holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc., both in Energy and Nuclear Engineering, from the University of Bologna, and a Ph.D. from ETH Zurich, for which he was awarded the Hilti Prize 2021. He performed his M.Sc. program at UCLA with an Overseas Scholarship and his M.Sc. thesis at DTU with an Excellence Scholarship, both granted by the University of Bologna. Before joining ETH Zurich, he worked in the R&D division of General Electric Aviation and in the Renewable Energy Services practice of South Pole.