IREC - Catalonia Institute for Energy Research

 

The Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) was created to contribute to the objective of creating a more sustainable future for energy usage and consumption, keeping in mind the economic competitivity and providing society with the maximum level of energy security.

This contribution will be done through scientific and technological development. The research requires a long-term vision which allows the identification of future challenges in energy. The Institute also works with practical research which allows businesses to implement innovative solutions immediately.

The project is framed in the Catalan, Spanish and global economic systems, and for that reason the institutional and business patrons have singularly and significantly joined forces for one common objective: the creation of value by means of scientific knowledge and technological development in the energy sector, a sector with global consequences with brings the IREC to an international arena, and becoming a point of reference in several of these areas.

The IREC is a project in which there are people participating who know that through the Institute they can contribute to a more sustainable future of energy production and consumption, in an environment of excellence.

As is already well known, it is necessary to find the equilibrium between sustainable energy development, economic competitivity and safe and secure energy supply. Each country and each situation requires a different point of equilibrium, but there are common objectives: reduce carbon emissions below 500 ppm before the year 2050.

In any case, the Institute was born within the framework of energy policies and technological research in Catalonia, Spain and the European Union, which design their strategies for a long term basis.

The IREC must help to develop and put into action the new opportunities of the energy sector, while still engaging the present and future social reality.

For more information visit the webpage

Recent Submissions

  • Conductores de alta capacidad y cables, alternativas a las líneas aéreas convencionales 

    Lloret Gallego, Pau; Villafafila Robles, Roberto; Rosario Calaf, Gerard del; Sumper, Andreas (Grupo Tecnipublicaciones, 2008-10)
    Article
    Restricted access - publisher's policy
    Hasta el momento, prácticamente la única opción disponible para aumentar la capacidad de transmisión del sistema eléctrico era añadir nuevas líneas aéreas de alta tensión en corriente alterna a la red de transporte. Sin ...

  • Reliability assessment of a fault-tolerant PV multistring inverter 

    Renaudineau, Hugues Jean-Marie; Paradell-Solà, Pol; Trilla Romero, Lluís; Filbà Martínez, Àlber; Cardoner, David; Domínguez García, José Luis (2020-12-10)
    Article
    Open Access
    In photovoltaic (PV) systems, the reliability of the system components, especially the power converters, is a major concern in obtaining cost effective solutions. In order to guarantee service continuity in the case of ...

  • Partial substitution of the CdS buffer layer with interplay of fullerenes in kesterite solar cells 

    Sánchez González, Yudania; Giraldo, Sergio; Saucedo Silva, Edgardo Ademar; Ahmad, Shahid (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2020-07-27)
    Article
    Restricted access - publisher's policy
    ver the last few decades, significant progress has been made with inorganic materials to enable them as next generation photovoltaic materials that can fulfil the demands of green energy. Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4stands out as a ...

  • Influence of the ligand stripping on the transport properties of nanoparticle-based PbSe nanomaterials 

    Cadavid, Doris; Ortega Torres, Silvia; Illera Robles, Sergio; López Martínez, Antonio Miguel (2020-01-07)
    Article
    Open Access
    Nanomaterials produced from the bottom-up assembly of nanocrystals may incorporate ~1020–1021 cm–3 not fully coordinated surface atoms, i.e., ~1020–1021 cm–3 potential donor or acceptor states that can strongly affect ...

  • Critical evaluation of European balancing markets to enable the participation of Demand Aggregators 

    Barbero, Mattia; Corchero García, Cristina; Canals Casals, Lluc; Igualada González, Lucía; Heredia, F.-Javier (Francisco Javier) (2020-04-15)
    Article
    Restricted access - publisher's policy
    European Directives are incentivizing consumers to play an active role in the electricity system and to collaborate to maintain its stability, which has been historically provided by large generation power plants. However, ...

  • Transition metal oxides for kesterite solar cells developed on transparent substrates 

    Becerril Romero, Ignacio; Sylla, Dioulde; Placidi, Marcel Jose; Sánchez González, Yudania; Andrade Arvizu, Jacob; Izquierdo Roca, Víctor; Guc, Maxim; Pérez Rodríguez, Alejandro; Grini, Sigbjørn; Vines, Lasse; Pusay Villarroel, Benjamín Andrés; Almache Hernández, Rosa Estefanía; Puigdollers i González, Joaquim; Pistor, Jan Paul; Saucedo Silva, Edgardo Ademar; Espindola Rodríguez, Moisés (2020-07-01)
    Article
    Restricted access - publisher's policy
    Fabrication on transparent soda-lime glass/fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates opens the way to advanced applications for kesterite solar cells such as semitransparent, bifacial, and tandem devices, which are key to ...

  • How building and district algorithms enhance renewable energy integration in energy markets 

    Canals Casals, Lluc; Corchero García, Cristina; Ortiz, Joana; Salom, Jaume; Cardoner, David; Igualada González, Lucía; Carrillo, Rafael E.; Stauffer, Yves (2019)
    Conference report
    Open Access
    This study shows the results of the SABINA H2020 project, which analyzes the effect of two level optimization algorithms to increase the consumption of renewable power sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. First, ...

  • Optimal energy management system for V2G chargers combined with PV and ESS in a real environment 

    Corchero García, Cristina; Farré, Jordi; Igualada González, Lucía; Pons, Xavier; Sanmartí Cardona, Manel (2019)
    Conference report
    Open Access
    The integration of Electric Vehicles in electricity grids is very likely to pose several challenges to the electrical grid operation and expansion. The potential flexibility of the load associated to the ...

  • A Pd/Al2O3-based micro-reformer unit fully integrated in silicon technology for H-rich gas production 

    Bianchini, Marco; Alayo, Nerea; Soler Turu, Lluís; Salleras, M.; Fonseca Chácharo, Luis; Llorca Piqué, Jordi; Tarancón Rubio, Albert (Institute of Physics (IOP), 2019-11-01)
    Article
    Open Access
    This work reports the design, manufacturing and catalytic activity characterization of a micro-reformer for hydrogen-rich gas generation integrated in portable-solid oxide fuel cells (µ-SOFCs). The reformer has been designed ...

  • Multilayered hematite nanowires with thin-film silicon photovoltaics in an all-Earth-abundant hybrid tandem device for solar water splitting 

    Urbain, Félix; Tang, Pengyi; Smirnov, Vladimir; Welter, Katharina; Andreu, Teresa; Finger, Friedhelm; Arbiol, Jordi; Morante Lleonart, Joan Ramon (2019-04-05)
    Article
    Open Access
    The concept of hybrid tandem device structures that combine metal oxides with thin-film semiconducting photoabsorbers holds great promise for large-scale, robust, and cost-effective bias-free photoelectrochemical water ...

  • Modelling of solid oxide electrolizer and hydrogen leak estimation 

    Cifuentes López, Alejandro; Husar, Attila Peter; Roda Serrat, Vicente; Morales Comas, Miguel; Bernadet, Lucile; Torrell Faro, Marc; Serra, Maria (2019)
    Conference report
    Open Access
    Solid Oxide Elecyrolizers (SOEC) are electrochemical devises that produce hydrogen from water using the energy of an electric power source. SOEC operate at high temperatures (around 800ºC) and have efficiencies around 53% ...

  • Impedance-Based Modelling of Hybrid AC/DC Grids With Synchronous Generator for Interaction Study and Dynamic Improvement 

    Agbemuko, Adedotun J.; Domínguez García, José Luis; Gomis Bellmunt, Oriol (Elsevier, 2020)
    Article
    Restricted access - publisher's policy
    Hybrid AC/DC grids are increasingly been seen as the most important network structure for future transmission infrastructures. An emerging challenge to such grids is the constant interaction between various components in ...

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