Increasing the resilience of inland waterways logistics
Mohsen Bastani
Ph.D. candidate, University of Twente.
Inland waterways are an efficient mode of transportation within multimodal corridors, offering significant benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness and environmental impact. However, they are highly susceptible to the effects of climate change, which undermines their reliability and performance. To address this, the suggested approach involves developing a resilience toolbox that supports fundamental and industrial research. This toolbox encompasses metrics, interventions, and strategies that companies can use to improve their resilience to disruptions, particularly those affecting inland waterways. In this seminar, this toolbox will be elaborated upon. Notably, while the existing literature on supply chain and logistics has not thoroughly examined the resilience of inland waterways, this research seeks to innovate by generalizing and adapting effective metrics, interventions, and strategies from related domains, such as road and rail logistics, specifically tailored to inland waterway contexts.
Mohsen obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and his Master of Science in Structural Engineering in Iran. After completing his MSc and gaining work experience in structural retrofitting in Iran, he pursued an EngD in Construction Management and Engineering at the Engineering Technology faculty at the University of Twente. During his EngD project, he designed a monitoring system for the condition assessment of inland navigation locks. Following that project, he began his PhD in the IEBIS group, focusing on the resilience of inland waterways as part of the Dinalog project.
The Impact of Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Configurations on Investment Planning of Hybrid Systems with Renewables
Gülin Yurter
Ph.D. candidate, University of Twente.
The pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) systems can be installed in various configurations depending on the specific geographical and hydrological conditions. Closed-loop PHES systems are off-stream and have no natural inflow to the system. However, open-loop systems are on-stream and have natural inflows to the upper and/or lower reservoirs. In this study, we develop two-stage stochastic programming models for various PHES configurations to investigate how the choice of PHES configuration impacts the sizing decisions and costs of a hybrid system that includes a renewable power generator co-operated with PHES. Our numerical results show that using a PHES facility instead of a conventional hydropower system reduces the expected system cost and mismatched demand significantly. Open-loop PHES facilities perform better than closed-loop PHES and seawater-PHES facilities, dramatically lowering the need for fossil fuels in demand fulfillment. The most cost-efficient PHES configuration is when there is natural inflow to the upper reservoir. Using solar energy instead of wind as the renewable source significantly increases the requirement for larger upper reservoirs in on-stream open-loop PHES facilities, while reducing the expected system cost for all configurations.
Gülin joined the IEBIS department of the University of Twente in September 2024, after completing both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Bilkent University, Department of Industrial Engineering. With her Master’s thesis titled “Renewable Energy System Design and Operational Planning for Demand Fulfillment,” she investigated two problem settings that included various renewables along with various demand fulfillment options, leading to two academic publications. Now, she is working on a project regarding corporate renewable energy procurement strategies, addressing companies’ goals of meeting their energy demand from renewables on a timely basis.