The EMINENT tool is designed to help in the introduction of new energy technologies and new energy solutions into the market, in a faster way. The tool was created during the EMINENT project by Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in The Netherlands in 2005 [1], and it is still at development stage. Therefore, external users can have limited access, and be provided with a username and password, after contacting the EMINENT consortium. When completed, the model will be suitable for many institutions, namely technology financers, technology developers and promoters, universities, and research centres. To use the model, approximately one month of training will be required, but a cost has not been decided for the model.
The tool consists of a database and an assessment tool which provides the user with a general framework for the assessment and evaluation of new energy technologies and new energy solutions on national energy-systems. It evaluates the performance and potential impact of early stage technologies (ESTs) in a pre-defined energy supply chain, over a 1 year time-period. The tool is composed by two databases – a database of national energy infrastructures, which contains information of the number of consumers per sector, type of demand, typical quality of the energy required and the consumption and installed capacity per end-user; and a database with the EST and with other already commercial technologies. This data base contains key information on new thermal generation, heat, and renewable technologies that are currently under development. However, existing thermal generation, heat, and renewable technologies are also included, to enable the design of the most favourable energy chains. In addition, it is also possible to introduce a new EST within the software. The tool is able to assess a technology at financial, environmental, and energy level, comparing it with other technologies that already exist in the market over a one year period.
An overview of the EMINENT tool is provided in [2], typical case studies are presented in [3], and a comparison between EMINENT and five other models is presented in [4].
References
- Welcome to EMINENT, EMINENT2, 23rd April 2009, http://www.eminentproject.com
- Jansen, P., Koppejan, J., Hetland, J., Klemeš, J., Phuengphaeng, T. & Pipio, A., EMINENT accelerates market introduction of promising early stage technologies for transport and energy., Proc. of the CISAP1 – 1st Italian Convention on Safety & Environment in Process Industry, Palermo, Italy, 28-30 November.
- Klemes, J., Bulatov, I. & Koppejan, J., Novel energy saving technologies evaluation tool. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 33(3), pp. 751-758, 2009.
- Segurado, R., Pereira, S., Pipio, A. & Alves, L., Comparison between EMINENT and other energy technology assessment tools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(10), pp. 907-910, 2009.