New research project contributes to digital urban planning in practice

Uppsala University has been tasked with coordinating two new centres of excellence for sustainable energy systems – one for solar power and one for nuclear technology. The Department for Civil and Industrial Engineering is a co-applicant and will participate in both centres between 2022 and 2026.

Our PhD student Reza Fachrizal, whose research is focused on the synergy between charging electric vehicles, solar cell production and electricity use in the built environment, through smart charging systems, won an award for best poster at SweGrid's annual conference.

Holger Ecke, manager at Vattenfall Research and Development (R&D) and adjunct professor at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, appreciates the synergy effects his employment provides:

- Being able to serve in both academia and business environments is very inspiring and motivating, says Holger Ecke.

How do you get to work in the mornings? Transport currently accounts for 25 per cent of GHG emissions in European cities. If we are to achieve our emissions targets, one of the things we need to do is change how we get to and from work. An EU project now hopes to influence these choices through nudging.  

Engineering students are carrying out real projects for companies and learning about different types of energy systems. Clients receive quality-assured calculations and ideas that provide food for thought. The Independent Project in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering – Energy Systems course generates positive results for everyone involved.

The project "Virtual test bed for strategic urban and energy planning through integrated digital models", which involves several researchers at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, is one of the projects that have received funding within the strategic innovation program Smart Built Environment's latest call. In the project, the researchers will develop a tool that will integrate digital models and data from several different sectors within urban and energy system planning.

The building sector grows and use of digital modelling technologies become more common. At the same time, such systems are criticized to be expensive and incomplete. According to Farshid Shadram, assistant professor  at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, these problems will be solved soon- and BIM technology will be used in future construction projects.

The popular and highly downloaded book Solar Radiation Theory by Joakim Widén and Joakim Munkhammar at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment has been translated to Arabic and is available open access through DiVA.

On 14 April, Âzeddine Frimane, PhD from Ibn Tofail University, Morocco, started his postdoctoral position in solar forecasting at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

Âzeddine Frimane, Joakim Munkhammar and Joakim Widén at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment have contributed to a new book on modeling of synthetic solar irradiance data published by AIP Publishing. The book covers state-of-the-art mathematical methods for generation of solar irradiance time series and their applications.

The students Olof Berggren and Linus Kjellberg on the Bachelor Programme in Construction Engineering, with subject reader Christel Isaksson at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, have been awarded a scholarship for best degree project of the year by Lean Forum Bygg.

On 9 April Umar Hanif Ramadhani at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment presented his licentiate thesis Uncertainty and correlation modeling for load flow analysis of future electricity distribution systems: Probabilistic modeling of low voltage networks with residential photovoltaic generation and electric vehicle charging. The thesis shows how improved uncertainty and correlation modeling can improve probabilistic simulation of electricity distribution grids.

On March 15, Joakim Munkhammar began his position as senior lecturer in Civil Engineering with specialization in Mathematical Energy Modeling in the Built Environment at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

On March 4, David Lingfors began his position as Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering with specialization in Solar Energy in the Built Environment at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

In January 2021, Uppsala University started a new interdisciplinary graduate school in sustainable development at Campus Gotland. Lukas Dahlström is one of the 12 new doctoral students in the graduate school and is admitted to the subject of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

Dennis van der Meer at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment defended his doctoral thesis on solar forecasting on 22 January. The thesis presents forecasting methods for solar power generation and how they can be applied to control energy systems in buildings and local electricity networks, which is important for managing future large amounts of solar power.

On 20 January Fatima Johari at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment presented her licentiate thesis Urban building energy modeling: A systematic evaluation of modeling and simulation approaches. The thesis is a detailed study of how buildings can be simulated with simplified but still accurate models, allowing efficient upscaling of building performance simulation to the city scale.

Herrljunga municipality in south-western Sweden has been part of a case study of so-called utility-scale solar guides together with the local electricity distribution system operator and the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment. On their website the municipality describe the collaboration with our thesis workers Oskar Lindberg, now postgraduate student at the division, and Alfred Birging.

In a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Energy, the forecasting model MCM has been proven to be a simple but accurate alternative to other so-called benchmark models. The model has been developed by Joakim Munkhammar at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

On 15 October, Reza Fachrizal at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment presented his licentiate thesis on how smart charging of electric vehicles connected to residential buildings can increase the buildings' self-consumption of photovoltaic (PV) power and at the same time enable increased connection of both charging infrastructure and PV systems to electricity networks.

On 1 October Farshid Shadram started his new position as Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering with specialization in building information modeling (BIM) at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment.

Mahmoud Shepero at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment defended his thesis on 22 September. The thesis shows the opportunities of charging electric vehicles with local building-applied photovoltaic power. 

Three new research projects focusing on photovoltaic (PV) technologies for buildings and transports, involving participants from the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, have recently received funding. The projects will result in better solar forecasts, inclusion of citizens in PV integration in cultural heritage areas, and solutions for PV on trucks.