Sustainability of integrated technologies for energy transition

The present PhD thesis addresses the critical challenge of climate change and the pressing need for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Despite the efforts to limit climate change, including key international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to rise, contributing to a global temperature increase of 1.2°C between 1900 and 2024. Renewable energy technologies are crucial components to facilitate the energy transition. However, they pose challenges such as intermittency in power supply, grid stability concerns and the need for energy storage solutions. This work presents a comprehensive sustainability assessment tool designed to optimize the integration of renewable energy production systems and energy storage systems, considering technical, economic, and environmental factors. The developed tool simulates a wide range of configurations to identify optimal solutions for renewable energy systems at different scales, from local to grid-level. The thesis also explores the challenges of transporting renewable energy from remote production sites, addressing the need for efficient energy vectors and transmission infrastructure. The environmental impacts of energy transmission systems (such as HVDC and HVAC) are assessed, proposing an automated methodology for their evaluation. Additionally, the environmental, technical, and economic aspects of transmission systems are integrated into the design and decision-making processes to ensure the most sustainable solutions. By comparing different transmission systems the study identifies breakeven points and optimal configurations based on these sustainability criteria. Case studies, including offshore renewable energy production and transmission, demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodologies. In conclusion, this thesis provides novel tools and methodologies for the sustainability-driven optimization of renewable energy production and transmission. It emphasizes the importance of integrating environmental assessments with technical and economic analyses to guide the energy transition towards a more sustainable future.