Congress on Research, Development and Innovation in Renewable Energies

This book explores international collaborations that promote ideas and discussions aimed at addressing climate change through research and development. It highlights clean energy innovations from renewable sources, including biomass, hydraulic, hydrogen, photovoltaic, and wind energy. The content includes chapters based on selected papers presented at the 2025 Congress on Research, Development, and Innovation in Renewable Energies (CIDiER 2025). These chapters contain both theoretical and practical research that will enhance the implementation of renewable energy projects among universities, research centers, and private companies in Ecuador and across the broader Latin American community.

Mayken Espinoza-Andaluz 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 Lund University. His research focuses on renewable energy, fuel cells (PEMFC and SOFC), physical and chemical transport phenomena, energy efficiency, Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM), and computational modeling. He serves as a reviewer for international journals including the International Journal of Energy Research, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, and Computers and Mathematics with Applications.

Julio Barzola-Monteses has been a full professor at the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Guayaquil, since 2016. He previously served as General Director of Research for more than four years. He obtained his degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from ESPOL (2007), a master’s in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources from Sapienza University of Rome (2014), and a Ph.D. in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Granada, Spain. He is a nationally accredited researcher (SENESCYT Agregado 2) with over 70 scientific publications. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Research Group in Artificial Intelligence at UG and serves as advisor to the Vice Rectorate for Research and Societal Engagement at Universidad Bolivariana del Ecuador. His research interests include energy efficiency in buildings, predictive time-series modeling, machine learning, optimization algorithms, renewable energy systems, fuel cell transport phenomena, and engineering education.

Jordy Santana-Villamar is a mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He completed a research stay at Instituto de Carboquímica (Zaragoza, Spain), working on vanadium redox flow batteries and hydrogen fuel cell stack operation. He currently leads experimental research on polymeric electrolyte fuel cells at ESPOL. His expertise includes composite materials—particularly epoxy/graphite composites for bipolar plates—and biodegradable chitosan-based materials for food packaging. He has published 15 scientific articles on PEM fuel cells and composite materials in high-impact journals.

Brayan Ordóñez-Saca is a research assistant at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Production Sciences at ESPOL. He holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Thermofluid Systems. His research focuses on polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), particularly performance evaluation through electrochemical characterization. He has reviewed ASME conference proceedings and participated in the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE). His current work involves numerical simulation of porous media using the Lattice Boltzmann Method, emphasizing mass and charge transport in complex structures.

Carlos Vallejo-Cervantes is a research assistant in the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Sources at ESPOL. He previously served as a teaching assistant in numerical calculus, physics, and vector mechanics. He has industry experience in mechanical design and system assembly. His research centers on fuel cells, particularly optimization of flow field plate design in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).