The Center for Energy Transition (CENTRA) at the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez conducts and transfers interdisciplinary research that enables society to advance in an energy transition toward economical, environmentally friendly, socially acceptable, and secure energy supply and usage systems.
Noticias Recientes
Three pillars to help industry advance in building circular economy strategies
March 25, 2025 Pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss form the triple planetary crisis, threatening humanity’s chances of a sustainable future. In this context, manufacturing industries urgently need to transform their production processes, abandoning the linear approach of extracting resources to make products that typically end up as waste. Unfortunately, this ideal is far from reality: according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),…
Energy security: How is Chile preparing for blackouts?
March 24, 2025 Regarding the massive blackout that left 95% of the population without power for several hours on Tuesday, February 25, Rodrigo Barraza, an expert in microgrid systems and energy management, spoke about the causes and possible solutions to a phenomenon of such magnitude. See interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHqX0YyI_hI
The boom in energy storage projects in the area
March 17, 2025 Chile is experiencing remarkable growth in energy storage projects, mainly through BESS (lithium-ion battery) systems, both in operation and at various stages of development. As of the end of January 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Energy, the total net installed capacity reached 886 MW/3,318 MWh, distributed across 21 projects, mainly concentrated in the Antofagasta Region. These projects include…
Proyectos CENTRA
Integration of predictive and prescriptive approaches in stochastic optimization
The use of data science tools for decision making in organizations has grown significantly in recent years. The usual practice is to first use the data to create a forecast model for uncertain elements, such as demand, and then use this model as input in an optimization scheme that chooses the best course of action from a set of alternatives. The objective of this project…
Adapting to the uncertainties and risks of climate change: Advanced methods and models for energy systems and markets
The aim of the project is to develop new mathematical models and computational methods that help the private and public sector to adapt energy systems and markets to high uncertainties and risks derived from climate change. To achieve this goal, the research addresses three research objectives: (1) Model and classify the different types of uncertainties and risks associated with climate change; (2) Develop energy planning…
GEMA: Improving energy management in micro grids with storage via stochastic optimization and machine learning
The overall aim of this project is to improve and implement an optimal energy management system for generation systems based on photovoltaic panels and with storage units. These systems can be both on-grid (connected to the network) and off-grid (isolated systems, generally in remote locations), and connected to a small number of users, such as a home or a small business. Specifically, the management system…