Congress on Research, Development, and Innovation in Renewable Energies

The 2023 Congress on Research, Development, and Innovation in Renewable Energies (CIDiER 2022) promotes international collaboration fostering ideas and dialogue around solutions to climate change through research and development that leads to clean energy innovation via renewable energies. These selected papers cover theoretical and applied research that will strengthen the implementation of renewable energy projects between universities, research centers, and private companies in Latin America.

Mayken Espinoza-Andaluz, Ph.D., is a full professor at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) and co-supervisor of Ph.D. students in Heat Transfer and Energy Systems at Lund University. He earned his Ph.D. in Heat Transfer from the Department of Energy Sciences at Lund University. His areas of research include renewable energy, fuel cells, proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), physical and chemical phenomena, energy efficiency, Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM), and computational modeling. He is a reviewer for several international journals, including the International Journal of Energy Research, the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, and Computers and Mathematics with Applications.

Ester Melo Vargas is a research assistant at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). Her research interests include data analysis and fault detection applied to fuel cells and quality analysis and lean manufacturing applied to productivity management. In addition, Ms. Melo is the author and co-author of scientific articles that have been presented at congresses, conferences, and scientific meetings. She received her bachelor’s degree in audit and management control ESPOL.

Jordy Santana-Villamar is a researcher with the Center of Renewable and Alternative Energy at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). His area of research is electrochemical tests to evaluate the performance in fuel cells and redox flow batteries applying EIS technique, sweep current, linear, and circular sweep voltammetry; expanded graphite-resin composite materials development with secondary fillers for bipolar plates; and modeling on transport phenomena. He has published several scientific papers in journals, including the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Journal of Electrochemical Society, and Energies. He has also participated in congresses, conferences, and meetings to present his research. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from ESPOL, obtaining a diploma of distinction in research.

Ángel Encalada-Dávila works as a software engineer at an Ecuadorian ATM company. He also collaborates as an external researcher (data scientist) at the Control, Modeling, Identification, and Applications Research Group (CoDAlab) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain. His research interests include structural health monitoring (SHM) and fault prognosis applied to wind turbines and computer modeling applied to fuel cells. In addition, Mr. Encalada is the author and co-author of several scientific articles published in the journals Sensors, Energies, and Processes. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechatronics engineering from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). 

Brayan Ordóñez-Saca is currently working as a research assistant in the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Sources at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). His research interests are focused on fuel cells, specifically proton exchange membrane fuel cells, and their performance in applying electrochemical tests. He is currently working on expanded graphite-resin composite materials development with secondary fillers for bipolar plates. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL).