Biography

Academic Experience

Aoife is currently an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CCRP Research Fellow and her PI for this project is Dr Brian Ó Gallachóir. She has been appointed Lecturer in Energy Systems in the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Queen's University Belfast. Transport represents the largest source of non-emissions trading scheme (non-ETS) energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Ireland (36% in 2007). Ireland must reduce non-ETS emissions by 20% (relative to 2005 levels) by 2020. Two key policies to reduce emissions are the 10% electric vehicles (EVs) target and the 40% renewable electricity target. This EPA sponsored research will model the deployment of EVs to maximise the reduction of transport GHG emissions by 2020. 

The title of Aoife's PhD in Energy Engineering (2011) is the 'Challenges, Barriers and Opportunities for Integrating Wind Power in the All Island Grid using Energy Storage', which focussed on large scale utility pumped hydro energy storage.  As part of this research she examined battery energy storage systems. Dr. Foley has also studied other electrical energy technologies including electric vehicles as controllable loads, intelligent electric hot water heating as a demand side management tools to smoothen fluctuating wind power and compressed air energy storage. Aoife's particular areas of research interest and experience include energy and transportation systems.

Professional Experience

Aoife is a Chartered Engineer and has more than 13 year’s extensive commercial experience with ESB International, Siemens, Project Management Group and SWS, where she oversaw the day-to-day project and technical management of a variety of projects.  Her areas of industrial expertise include:

• Land use and transportation planning, e.g. Traffic and Transport Assessments, Traffic Studies including modelling,
• Public transport, Road Safety Audits, Mobility Management Plans for a variety of projects,
• Geometric and junction design to DMRB, Drainage design & Traffic calming,
• Environmental Impact Assessment,
• IPPC licensing,
• Waste licensing & permitting and annual environmental returns (AER),
• Planning and masterplanning for commercial lands,
• Energy projects e.g. wind farms, waste recovery, gas peakers, pumped hydro energy storage, high voltage power lines and substation design,
• Waste management including sludge treatment and waste recovery,
• Telecommunications e.g. Meteor mobile communications SDH network build, 
• Due diligence for sale and purchase of land and businesses.

She has taught at undergrad and masters levels. In addition, she has  supervised a number of final year projects and co-supervised a taught masters. Finally, Aoife has also prepared a FP6 funding application, an Enterprise Ireland I2E2 funding application, a EU KIC proposal and a SFI Energy Cluster application, as well as an SFI workshop grant application.

Third Level Education

• Doctorate (PhD) in Civil and Environmental Engineering, specialising in Energy Engineering, UCC, defended October 2010, graduated March 2011
• Diploma in Applied Project Management (IPM), IPMI & UCC, 2002
• Masters of Science (MSc) in Civil Engineering, specialising in Environmental & Transportation Engineering, TCD, 1999
• BE Bachelors of Engineering (BE) in Civil & Environmental Engineering, major in Structural & Geotechnical Engineering, UCC, 1996

Current Post

• EPA CCRP Research Fellow, SERG, Environmental Research Institute, UCC 
• Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCC
• Lecturer in the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, QUB

Affiliations

• Member of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, 1996
• Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers, 1996
• Chartered Member of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, 2001
• Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2009
• Associate Member of the Universities Transport Studies Group, 2010

Other Activities

• Volunteer on the IEEE Power Energy Society UK and Ireland Chapter Committee, 2011.

• Member of Engineers Ireland Conference Committee for the Annual Conference to be held in Belfast in 2012.

• Member of the Programme Committee for the IEEE 11^th International Conference on the Environment and Electrical Engineering (EEEIC2011), Rome, Italy, May 2011.

• Appointed to National Council of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, 2011.

• Member of Engineers Ireland Committee on Transition Year Projects and Mathematics, 2011.

• Irish Transport Research Network 2011 (ITRN2011) Conference Chair & Organiser, University College Cork- Theme: Energy & Transport.

• Invited Lecture on transport electrification, wind power variability and wind power integration using pumped hydro, compressed air energy storage and controlled smart loads to the Institute of Energy at the School of Electrical Engineering, Cardiff University, June 2010.

• Recently recommended by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) to the European Commission as an expert in 'renewable energy, wind power, energy storage, environmental engineering' research field to assist in evaluating Framework Seven calls.

• Invited Lunch Time Lecture to Professor Biswajit Basu and Dr Brian Caulfield's postgraduate students at Trinity College Dublin on the Challenges of High Wind Power Integration in the All Island Grid, November 2010.

• Committee member, 10th IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering 2011, Rome, Italy.

• Official Irish Delegate to EU COST Action TU0902: Integrated Assessment Technologies to Support the Sustainable Development of Urban Areas.

• Referee for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Power Systems and Transactions on Sustainable Energy, as well as Elsevier’s Energy.

• Country representative for the IEEE Vehicular Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC2010) Lille, France.

• Committee member & Treasurer of the Irish Transport Research Network (ITRN), 2009/10.

• Co-organiser of the SFI Ireland-Taiwan ICT Energy Workshop with Professor Chen-Ching Liu, held end August 2010 in University College Dublin.

• Session 6 Chair, Active Demand Side Management at the IEEE PES/IAS Conference on Sustainable Alternative Energy at the Instituto de Ingenieria Energetica, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain on 29th September 2009.

International & National Peer Reviewed Conference Articles

• Foley, A. , O’Gallachoir, B. and Winning, I., 2010. State-of the Art in Electric Vehicles Charging Infrastructure. In: Proceedings of the 6^th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC2010), Lille, France.
• Foley, A. , Leahy, P. McKeogh, E. and O’Gallachoir, B., 2010. Electric Vehicle’s and Displaced Gaseous Emissions. In: Proceedings of the 6^th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC2010), Lille, France.
• Foley, A. , Winning, I. and O’Gallachoir, B., 2010. Electric Vehicle: Infrastructure Regulatory Requirements. In: Proceedings of the Inaugural Irish Transport Research Network 2010 (ITRN2010), University College Dublin.
• Bacci, F., O’Reilly, S., Morgan, G., Heffron, J.J., O’Halloran, J.J. and Foley, A.M., 2010. Abatement Technologies for Road Surface Run-off. In: Proceedings of the Inaugural Irish Transport Research Network 2010 (ITRN2010), University College Dublin.
• Foley, A.M. , Leahy, P.G., McKeogh, E.J. and Ó Gallachóir, B.P., 2010. Quantifying Displaced Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electric Vehicles in Ireland. In: Proceedings of the Inaugural Irish Transport Research Network 2010 (ITRN2010), University College Dublin.
• Leahy, P.G., Foley, A.M., 2010. Wind generation and electricity demand during the severe winter of 2009/10 in Ireland. In: Proceedings of the 4^th International Conference on Sustainable Energy & Environmental Protection Conference (SEEP2010), Bari, Italy.
• Foley, A. , Connolly, D., Leahy, P., Vad Mathiesen, B., Lund, H., Leahy, M. and McKeogh, E., 2010. Electrical Energy Storage & Smart Grid Technologies to Integrate the next generation of Renewable Power Systems. In: Proceedings of the 4^th International Conference on Sustainable Energy & Environmental Protection Conference (SEEP2010), Bari, Italy.
• Foley, A.M. and Leahy P.G., 2010. The Role of the Professional Engineer in the 21st Century. In: Proceedings of the 3^rd International Symposium for Engineering Education, International Symposium on Engineering Education (ISSE2010), University College Cork.
• Foley, A. , Daly, H. and Ó Gallachóir, B., 2010. Quantifying the Energy & Carbon Emissions Implications of a 10% Electric Vehicles Target. In: Proceedings of the 2010 International Energy Workshop (IEW), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Foley, A.M., Leahy P.G. and E.J. McKeogh, 2010. Wind Power Forecasting & Prediction Methods. In: Proceedings of the 9^th IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Foley, A.M. , O’Gallachoir, B.P., Leahy P.G. and McKeogh, E.J., 2009. Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage. In: Proceedings of the 5^th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC2009), Dearborn, Michigan 48128, USA.
• Foley, A.M. , Leahy, P.G. and McKeogh, E.J., 2009. Wind Energy Variability, the Wales-Ireland Interconnector and Storage. In: Proceedings of the IEEE PES/IAS Conference on Sustainable Alternative Energy at the Instituto de Ingeniería Energetica, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.
• Foley, A. , Ó Gallachóir, B., Hur, J., Baldick, R. and McKeogh, E., 2009. A Strategic Assessment of Electricity Systems Models. In: Proceedings of the 3^rd International Conference on Sustainable Energy & Environmental Protection (SEEP2009), Dublin City University.
•  

International Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

• Foley A.M., Hur J., Baldick R., Ó’ Gallachóir B.P. and McKeogh E.J., 2010. A Strategic Review of Electricity Systems Models, Energy, 35(12), 4522-4530.

• Paul G. Leahy, Aoife M. Foley, 2011. Wind generation output during cold weather-driven electricity demand peaks in Ireland. Energy. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 18 August.

• Foley A.M., Murguvlia A., Leahy P.G. and McKeogh E.J., 2012. A Review of Current Methods and Advances in Wind Power Prediction & Forecasting. Renewable Energy, 37(1), 1-8.

• Foley A.M., Connolly D., Leahy P.G., Vad Mathiesen D., Leahy M.V., Lund H. and McKeogh E.J., 2010. State-of-the-Art in Energy Storage and Smart Grid Technologies to integrate Renewable Power. Applied Energy. Accepted subject to revision.

• Foley A.M., Leahy P.G., Milborrow D., Ó’ Gallachóir B.P. and McKeogh E.J., 2010. Technical and Market Challenges to High Wind Power Integration in Ireland. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews. Submitted and in review. 

Selected Poster Presentations

• UCC/ETSAP Joint Conference 2010 on Energy Systems Modelling Addressing Energy Security and Climate Change - Electric Vehicles and impacts on Energy Demand & Carbon Emissions in Ireland
• EPA Climate Change Conference 2010 - Quantifying the Energy & Carbon Emissions Implications of a 10% Electric Vehicle Target.

Awards & Funding 

• Co-awardee with Professor Chen-Ching Liu, University College Dublin of a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Grant for the Ireland-Taiwan ICT Energy Workshop, 2010
• Awarded an EPA CCRP Research Fellowship, 2010
• Finalist of the Science for All Competition at UCC organised by the Faculty of Science, Professor William Reville Public Lecture Series, 2009
• Prepared the successful Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCC I2E2 application to Enterprise Ireland, 2008
• Awarded an ERASMUS Scholarship to undertake a ‘stage’ in France in conjunction with University College Cork and l’Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat, Lyon at SERALP Infrastructure, 1994

List of Courses, Certificates & Diplomas

• Road Safety Audit (Team Leader), Course, NRA & TMS, 2008
• Designing Safely in Construction, Institute Structural Engineers, 2005
• Certificate in Waste Management Licensing, FAS & EPA, 2004
• Road Safety Audit (Team Member) Course, NRA & TMS, 2003
• Certificate in Composting, CRE, 2003
• Fibre Optic Installation, Dublin Institute of Technology, 2002
• Diploma in Managing Safely in Construction, CIF & ISOH, 2001
• EMF Safety in Telecommunications, Dublin Institute of Technology, 2001
• Microstation Course, ESBI, 2000
• Woodpole Reliability in High Voltage Design, Cigre, 2000
• Certificate in Autocad R12 & Lt., London & City Guilds, 1997

Languages

• English (fluent)
• French (intermediate)
• German (intermediate)