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Lukas Samulevičius from Elgama-Elektronika
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Hello all, I am Lukas Samulevičius, junior engineer from Elgama-Elektronika. Our company specialises in development and production of smart electricity meters. Click here for the Elgama website.
My secondment at Technical University of Crete was from the 28th February until the 29th March. During the secondment, I worked on the innovative Power Line Carrier communication using smart electricity meters and data concentrator. We made very solid groundwork for our future works with this system. We analysed the TUC campus buildings' electricity grids and chose the best places to install our devices. Following this, we carried out some primary testings of the system. To sum up, the atmosphere and people in TUC were excellent and friendly, I really enjoyed everything there. I would definitely recommend this experience because it is simply very beneficial to have some work in real conditions.
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Vasillis Lontorfos from University of Athens
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Hi Guys, i am Vasillis from the University of Athens, the Group of Building Environmental Research (GRBES). GRBES operates under the frame of the Section of Applied Physics, Department of Physics of the University of Athens. Click here for the University Of Athens website.
My secondment at Exergy started on the 13th January and lasted for a duration of one month. During my secondment, I formed a business plan for an exciting, newly proposed service, regarding the demand response of facilities. I also prepared a financial analysis of the service at the extent of my knowledge as the project was still in the research and development stage. My time at Exergy all in all was great! I had all the assistance I needed regarding my work and everyone made me feel like a part of the team. The team was great and consisted of young professionals and scientists that excel in their fields. One of the highlights for me was taking part in one of the team's meetings, I got to know the projects that the team is involved in and their thoughts for future work. Everyone had a say in the meeting and collaborated in brainstorming, it was a very interesting experience. During my secondment, there were several challenges that I had to face, due to the WP that I was Included in, I selected a task that I could be trained to. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is thinking about trying this experience. It is very interesting and educational to live to a new country and work in a company like Exergy. Coming from a university the practical view of the theoretical knowledge I have is very rewarding and benefits me both in knowledge and practicality.
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Harry Varnevas from The Cyprus Institute
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My name is Harry and I come from the Cyprus Institute, I carried out my secondment at ExergyLtd. The Cyprus institute is a research institution that consists of three educational departments. Click here for the Cyprus Institute website.
My secondment at Exergy began on the 7th January and lasted for a duration of one month. My main task involved working on and examining materials and structures of spaces by running energy simulations for the modules created and applied on the Cyprus’ demo site. I also worked on preparing a universal wall module, which was in the process of construction in the project. Following this, I worked on the aesthetics of the external facade of the module. For example the planting finish/flowers etc of the exterior skin. My research task at Exergy was also focused on working on the Architectural BIM and Energy Simulations. Carrying out my secondment at exergy was very beneficial. This is due to the fact that I was able to work in an environment that consisted mainly of engineers, architects and scientists. This gave me the opportunity to learn different methods for running simulations on BIM projects. The team I worked with was great. They supported me with the software used and clarified the concept of SmartGems. A highlight and a challenge for me were when working on the simulations, ensuring that i applied the proper material characteristics on the building module and thus to have the correct outcome. This secondment helped me a lot on my knowledge on simulations in different software for building purposes and BIM projects. I would defiantly recommend this experience, as a secondment can help someone broaden their knowledge and see how various institutions or in my case companies work in different countries.
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Elli Tsirintoulaki from Technical University of Crete
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Hello everyone, I am Elli from the Technical University of Crete. I carried out my secondment at Exergy Ltd which lasted for a duration of 3 months. During my secondment I was entrusted with the complex task of dealing with smart meter data analysis, load prediction, PV system sizing and load matching. My work and training activities were presented to colleagues in Exergy and was followed by discussions and brainstorming about work in future secondments to and from Exergy. The whole experience was wonderful and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to meet and collaborate with an inspiring group of young professionals for 3 months.
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Miltiadis Samanis from The Cyprus University of Technology
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I am Miltiadis, I carried out my 2-month long secondment at Exergy Ltd. Click here for the Exergy Ltd website. Exergy is an engineering and technology provider with the expertise to provide services, across the globe, to develop, engineer, construct and operate projects that contribute to the goal of a low-carbon, sustainable future. During my time at Exergy I found that it was a very friendly environment. I became extremely motivated when working in an environment such as Exergy because it was full of happy people, who were all professionals and approachable. The team was very helpful and always answered the questions that I had, they gave me the necessary guide lines and they were able to work very efficiently as a team. The highlight of this experience for me was that I could recognise the efficient team working, and the chemistry that this team had. The challenge that I was tasked with, was the challenging work I had to do under this professional environment to deliver enough valuable results in this short period of time. I recommend this experience because everybody can gain something as is it a fantastic experience to work with professional teams when they are doing such essential job. This secondment motivated me and it also helped me to improve my skills and my team spirit.
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Marina Laskari from The University of Athens
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Greetings! My name is Marina and I carried out my secondment at IDEA. Click here for the IDEA website. Idea have expertise in various innovative projects that incorporate thermodynamic CSP in polygenerative energy districts, emerging CPV technologies based upon multijunction cells, small scale CSP systems, BIPV and Solar VAC systems design, etc. At my secondment I was very comfortable and felt like I was part of the team from the first day. The team I worked with were very knowledgeable, professional, kind and hospitable. I was grateful to be given the opportunity to visit a solar lab (ARCA solar lab) and learn how the solar systems work. Another highlight for me was being given the opportunity to visit Madonie, the case study of my secondment, a beautiful rural area outside Palermo. I would definitely recommend this experience. The working environment was very inspiring. The people were very knowledgeable in what they do, very friendly and were always willing to help at any moment. In addition, it is good to leave the academic environment for a while and learn new things.
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Secondments at Loccioni Group
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Aggeliki Mavrigiannaki from TUC
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Hello all! I am Angeliki and I come from Technical University of Crete. My one-month secondment was at Loccioni Group (Click here for the Loccioni Website). My secondment here was a wonderful and fulfilling experience. The work fell under WP4 on smart grids and I had to work on 24hr forecasting of overproduction of the Loccioni micro-grid. The aim was to use overproduction prediction so as to schedule charging of the thermal storage during weekends. I really enjoyed working among a group of young and knowledgeable professionals who were always willing to help with any questions I had. This secondment helped to broaden my knowledge and I am looking forward to going back for another secondment in the future.
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Secondments at Elgama-Elektronika
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I am Konstantinos from Cyl and i carried out my secondment at Elgama-elektronika. Click here for the Elgama website. The Cyprus Institute is a novel internationally recognised research and technology institution. During this secondment, I worked with the R&D department. The aim of the secondment was my familiarisation with the complex DLMS (Device Language Message Specification) protocol. DLMS protocol provides a common language for all kinds of communication applications of the Energy industry. It is the most popular communication protocol used in metering arena across the world. The R&D members helped me to become familiar with algorithms and codes developed in Python for the implementation of the communication with the metering devices. Without hesitation, I would recommend this experience to somebody who is willing to learn something new. This secondment earned me a lot of knowledge on the new field of research and manufacturing of metering devices.
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Secondments at University of Singapore
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Margarita-Niki Assimakopoulos from University of Athens
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Hello all! My name is Margarita and my secondment started on 9th January 2017 which lasted for a duration of 2 months. I come from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The group carries out specific research and development programs in the field of environmental quality of the built environment. During my secondment I was encouraged to provide the data collected from the demo buildings for overall analysis and to introduce suitable analysis methods. This task required analysing the data collected from the buildings and integrate those sections of analysis that are of use to the building owner in identifying the potential savings they might achieve. I also had to integrate the identification of possible Energy Conservation Opportunities where applicable in order to achieve zero energy concept. This task required the identifying of any Energy Conservation Opportunities through the data collected from the buildings under investigation. When I arrived at the National University of Singapore I was greeted warmly and was expected. The team consists of well-known and accomplished scientists who showed a great interest in me and my work and ensured they made me feel welcome. The projects in this department were very interesting and I was immediately involved in one of them. The main challenge was that the time of the secondment was limited and along with the ongoing tasks and commitments back home it was difficult to focus only on the work of the secondment. It was also very interesting to work in such a different climate zone to that of Europe (especially Greece). I would recommend this experience not only because of the working environment and the fields of research one can work on but also getting to know a completely different culture and the way this society is operating. It opens a new window of potential career pathways and gives the opportunity to participate in a coherent research team and benefit from the interaction with researchers in order to exchange knowledge and establish long lasting relations with the host.
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The SmartGems project has seen a great number of achievements and are expected to have lots more to come. Ongoing dissemination in seminars, conferences and journals covers a wide spectrum of issues including:
- Advanced building controls and energy efficiency
- Indoor thermal comfort evaluation
- Smart metering, advanced metering infrastructure & interoperability
- Advanced district energy management and control
- Renewable generation and demand power forecasting
- Energy storage
- Demand Response
Strong links and synergies are becoming more and more fruitful and the upcoming period is expected to be full of intense innovative activities driving smart grid research and state of the art practice to a next level. Ensure you keep connected (via our social media channels below) to stay up to date with all the up and coming SmartGems activities.
Thank you for reading and have a peaceful, relaxing Easter holiday.
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