Papers by Brian Gallachóir
2010 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, 2010
The international introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) will see a change in private passenger ... more The international introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) will see a change in private passenger car usage, operation and management. There are many stakeholders, but currently it appears that the automotive industry is focused on EV manufacture, governments and policy makers have highlighted the potential environmental and job creation opportunities while the electricity sector is preparing for an additional electrical load on the grid system. If the deployment of EVs is to be successful the introduction of international EV standards, universal charging hardware infrastructure, associated universal peripherals and user-friendly software on public and private property is necessary. The focus of this paper is to establish the state-of-the-art in EV charging infrastructure, which includes a review of existing and proposed international standards, best practice and guidelines under consideration or recommendation.
2010 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, 2010
h i g h l i g h t s " In 2008, the Irish government set a target that 10% of all vehicles be powe... more h i g h l i g h t s " In 2008, the Irish government set a target that 10% of all vehicles be powered by electricity by 2020. " The impact of EV charging in the single wholesale electricity market in Ireland is analysed. " EV charging under peak and off-peak charging scenarios is examined. " Results show that off-peak charging is more beneficial than peak charging. " Only 1.55% of the Non-ETS and 1.45% of the RES-T targets are achieved.
Energy Efficiency, 2010
This paper examines the effectiveness of ODEX in measuring energy efficiency improvements by comp... more This paper examines the effectiveness of ODEX in measuring energy efficiency improvements by comparing it to an alternative proxy for energy efficiency, namely an index of energy intensity with structural effects removed, calculated using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia (LMDI) decomposition technique. Both approaches are subjected to tests to determine their accuracy, using the industry sector in Ireland as a case study. While the LMDI performs better than ODEX, the results yielded by both in their chained forms are influenced by fluctuations in the data used to calculate them. A method is proposed to quantify the effects of fluctuations on the results. For Irish industry data, these effects are found to be significant. It is recommended that the effects of data fluctuations be evaluated when calculating a chained top-down indicator to measure energy efficiency.
Utilities Policy, 2012
In order to reach a goal of universal access to modern energy services in Africa by 2030, conside... more In order to reach a goal of universal access to modern energy services in Africa by 2030, consideration of various electricity sector pathways is required to help inform policy-makers and investors, and help guide power system design. To that end, and building on existing tools and analysis, we present several 'high-level', transparent, and economy-wide scenarios for the sub-Saharan African power sector to 2030. We construct these simple scenarios against the backdrop of historical trends and various interpretations of universal access. They are designed to provide the international community with an indication of the overall scale of the effort required. We find that most existing projections, using typical long-term forecasting methods for power planning, show roughly a threefold increase in installed generation capacity occurring by 2030, but more than a tenfold increase would likely be required to provide for full access -even at relatively modest levels of electricity consumption. This equates to approximately a 13% average annual growth rate, compared to a historical one (in the last two decades) of 1.7%.
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2011
... Impacts of an emission based private car taxation policy First year ex-post analysis. Fionn... more ... Impacts of an emission based private car taxation policy First year ex-post analysis. Fionn Rogan a , b , Emer Dennehy a , b , c , Hannah Daly a , b , Martin Howley c and Brian P. Ó Gallachóir a , b , Corresponding Author Contact Information , E-mail The Corresponding Author. ...
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2013
Over the last decade there has been a rapid global increase in wind power stimulated by energy an... more Over the last decade there has been a rapid global increase in wind power stimulated by energy and climate policies. However, as wind power is inherently variable and stochastic over a range of time scales, additional system balancing is required to ensure system reliability and stability. This paper reviews the technical, policy and market challenges to achieving ambitious wind power penetration targets in Ireland's All-Island Grid and examines a number of measures proposed to address these challenges. Current government policy in Ireland is to address these challenges with additional grid reinforcement, interconnection and open-cycle gas plant. More recently smart grid combined with demand side management and electric vehicles have also been presented as options to mitigate the variability of wind power. In addition, the transmission system operators have developed wind farm specific grid codes requiring improved turbine controls and wind power forecasting techniques.
International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2007
Energy Policy, 2007
The Irish Government is considering its future targets, policy and programmes for renewable energ... more The Irish Government is considering its future targets, policy and programmes for renewable energy for the period beyond 2005. This follows a review in 2003 of policy options that identified a number of different measures to stimulate increased deployment of renewable energy ...
Energy Policy, 2009
This paper examines peat power production in Ireland under the three pillars of energy policy -se... more This paper examines peat power production in Ireland under the three pillars of energy policy -security, competitiveness and environment. Peat contributes to energy securityas an indigenous fuel, it reduces dependency on imports. During a period of low capacity margins, the operation of the peat plants is useful from a system security perspective. Peat generation is being financially supported by consumers through an electricity levy. The fuel also has high carbon intensity. It is not politically viable to consider peat on equal economic criteria to other plant types because of history and location. This paper reviews electricity generation through combustion of peat in Ireland, and quantifies the costs of supporting peat utilising economic dispatch tools, finding the subsidy is not insignificant from a cost or carbon perspective. It shows that while peat is beneficial for one pillar of energy policy (security), the current usage of peat is not optimal from a competitiveness or environmental perspective. By switching from the current 'must-run' mode of operation for peat to the 'dispatched' mode used for the other generation, significant societal savings (in the range of €21m per annum) can be achieved, as well as reducing system emissions by approximately 5% per year.
Energy and Buildings, 2007
The services sector has the least amount of energy end use data available, which poses significan... more The services sector has the least amount of energy end use data available, which poses significant challenges to companies within the sector attempting to benchmark their energy performance and inform energy management decisions. This paper explores through a case study analysis the use of simple performance indicators and how additional data and new metrics can greatly enhance the understanding of energy trends and in particular the assessment of building energy performance. The country chosen for the analysis is Ireland, where the services sector has experienced high energy demand growth since 1990 (4.1% annually) compared with the EU-15 (1.5% annually). Despite this growth, the available energy data is poor, in particular for the public service sub-sectors. The case study chosen is an institution within the education sub-sector, University College Cork. The paper presents some simple energy performance indicators that have been used to date to inform energy policy. The paper then introduces new approaches and tools for assessing energy performance in buildings and how these may be utilised to improve the energy policy decision making and energy management. It discusses how these approaches are been implemented for buildings with separate functions, presents some initial results and discusses future planned work.
The introduction of EU directives 2002/91/EC and 2003/87/EC both prompt a reduction in energy con... more The introduction of EU directives 2002/91/EC and 2003/87/EC both prompt a reduction in energy consumption from European buildings. Buildings account for 50% of European energy use. Traditional prescriptive based approaches to building energy performance have not yielded desired energy savings. In addition, energy consumption is seldom compared with design intent. A whole building life cycle performance based approach is ultimately required.This paper introduces and demonstrates Environmental Effectiveness Ratios. These ratios are based upon data from sensors, a calibrated simulation model and a threshold simulation model. The ratios help identify areas of energy waste from whole building though to system or component level. Design professionals and building managers alike may reduce building life cycle energy consumption by analysing these ratios in the software tool BuildingPI and acting accordingly.
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Papers by Brian Gallachóir