“Leonardo is in the top 1% of the best students I’ve had during my long teaching career,” says Rui Castro, a professor at Técnico. His student, Leonardo Vidas, won first place in the 2024 Portuguese Renewable Energy Association (APREN) Award, with a thesis on green hydrogen, as part of the Master’s Programme in Energy Engineering and Management. The winners were announced at a ceremony held at the EPIC SANA Marquês hotel, on February 23.
“It’s an honour to receive this prestigious award, which naturally makes me very pleased and proud of the research and work I’ve done,” says Leonardo, author of ‘Optimal sizing of solar/wind-to-hydrogen systems in a suitable selection geospatial framework – the case of Italy and Portugal’. The Técnico alumnus got a maximum score of 20 points on his master’s thesis that aimed to identify eligible sites for the installation of renewable energy systems dedicated to producing green hydrogen, in the onshore and offshore territories of Italy and Portugal. It also sought to identify the optimal configurations of these systems which, according to the study, can minimise the cost of production by 70%, resulting in annual savings of millions of euros.
According to Rui Castro, one of the reasons for awarding the prize was “the scientific depth and rigour of the analysis, the use of sophisticated models of systems behavior and the achievement of results of indisputable utility for the entities involved in the energy sector, on a par with the best in the academic and business world”. According to the criteria listed by APREN, the work was chosen considering the potential and relevance of the topic, the technical and scientific robustness, the quality of the document, and the oral presentation made at the final stage of the process.
“Técnico challenged me countless times in various ways, which contributed to the development of a curious but critical, exploratory but resilient mindset”, says Leonardo, currently a Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen Specialist at a large energy company. “The versatility and modernity of the Master’s programme in Energy Engineering and Management caught my attention”, he adds, noting that he wrote his thesis abroad, during an Erasmus period in Milan. After an academic journey that he describes as “non-linear and unusual”, which led him to attend a degree in naval architecture and marine engineering and a degree in mechanical engineering, the student stresses “I am grateful to all my colleagues, mentors and professors who supported me throughout this journey”.
The APREN Award aims to distinguish the best master’s and doctoral theses whose subject relates to direct and indirect electrification from renewable resources, namely in the areas of its production, distribution, management and regulation, market and consumption, covering scientific, technological, financial, economic and other aspects that promote decarbonisation in a sustainable way.
