SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, May 30. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Argelio Mauro González Morales, who is 71 years old, has presented his doctoral thesis at the University of La Laguna last Friday with a highly relevant work on the implementation of renewable energy systems in Canary Islands ports and in certain types of vessels.
The thesis, entitled ‘The electric mobility of internal traffic in the Canary Islands ports’, obtained an Outstanding Cum Laude rating from the court chaired by the professor of the University of La Laguna Juan Albino Méndez Pérez, accompanied by the members Jesús García Rubiano , from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Catalina Rus Casas, from the University of Jaén.
The reading act took place in the degree room of the Physics and Mathematics building, which was full of family and friends of González Morales and also by the co-directors of his thesis, Manuel Rodríguez Valido and María de la Peña Fabiani Bendicho, both from Department of Industrial Engineering.
In addition to the stoppage of work resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, Argelio González himself had to undergo surgery that further delayed his investigation. However, he has finally been able to develop a job that stems from his professional interest, since he, with a degree in Naval Radioelectronics, spent more than ten years working at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Port Authority and, later, teaching classes on matters related to Engineering in Secondary Education.
How do I explain after knowing his qualification, when his working life ceased, he soon discovered that he was bored with the activities that retirees are supposed to do and he missed some intellectual challenge. Argelio González had been a sports partner of Professor Rodríguez Valido, who would eventually become one of the co-directors of his thesis and who encouraged him to take this academic step in order to continue developing the engineering-related activities that followed him so much. interesting.
In his thesis, González Morales has carried out an exhaustive study of the possibilities of using renewable energies and eliminating polluting fuels in local maritime transport. In his preliminary study of the state of the art (the starting point of any thesis), he pointed out as the most promising way to date to generate clean energy the use of drop-in fuel (green biofuels), biomethane or methanol, hydrogen and fully electric motors. .
He focused his work on the study of the pilot boats that operate in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, collecting data for two years on their routes, duration of the trips and mooring periods, and energy expenditure, among other parameters. In this way, cross-checking these data with those provided by official sources on the generation of alternative energies, he has been able to calculate that this type of port traffic could very well be carried out with vessels equipped with electric motors and batteries. It is true that the autonomy of these routes would be less, but with proper organization, some vessels could navigate while others take advantage of the docking time to recharge batteries without affecting the overall service.
Obviously, the generation of this electrical energy would have to be produced through alternative sources to be sustainable, which is why the doctoral thesis details, in the chaos of wind energy and photovoltaic solar energy, what type of devices, in what quantity and arranged accordingly. what way would be necessary to supply that consumption.
After these calculations, in his conclusions, Dr. González Morales concludes that the use of renewable energies in the facilities of the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife could generate an estimated annual energy of 185 gigawatts per hour, much higher than the 3.3 consumed in 2020. The surplus energy could be sold to cover the industrial needs associated with the port, injected into the electricity grid or stored, as is the case in other European ports. In this way, the annual emission of some 43,000 tons of CO2 equivalent to the atmosphere could be avoided.
