EEPS students from Universidade Lusófona Porto become finalists of the SIEMENS challenge

For the first time, a group from Universidade Lusófona reaches the finals of the "Accelerate Challenge 2023" contest, a Siemens student challenge that invites young Portuguese people to reflect on the energy transition. A good experience for students Pedro Alves da Conceição and Rui Filipe da Silva from the degree course in Electrotechnical Engineering of Power Systems (EEPS) at the Lusófona University - Porto University Centre.

In addition to being a great incentive for new projects, the competition provided participants with the opportunity to visit SIEMENS Alfragide and present a comprehensive work on the design of an electrical installation, including: medium voltage networks, low voltage networks, generators, batteries capacitors, UPS, layout of electrical switchboards, photovoltaic solar production, automation of energy systems, among others.

The Accelerate Challenge had the participation of 17 teams from 10 educational institutions and aimed to make students aware of some of Siemens' technological solutions that support the initiative and help to decarbonize the economy. In addition to the sustainability aspect, this competition also intended to better prepare students for the job market.

The challenge consisted of creating an electrical energy infrastructure project, using all the capabilities of the SIMARIS1 application - which allows the calculation and dimensioning of electrical networks -, as well as other Siemens tools that were made available within the scope of the tender. The highlight goes to Blueplanet PV design, a software for sizing the production of electricity from a renewable source, based on photovoltaic solar panels, and SICAM A8000, for sizing the network microcontroller system.