Biography
Willy Villasmil, Head of Research for District Heating and Cooling (DHC) and Program Head of the CAS Thermal Networks, focuses on the development of innovative methods for the optimization and decarbonization of DHC networks. The activities of his research group focus on the use of modeling and simulation methods to develop intelligent control strategies and adaptive energy supply systems that efficiently meet today’s energy demands while flexibly adapting to future climate change-related requirements. A central aspect of this work is the research and development of innovative topologies for low-temperature DHC networks, known in Switzerland as "anergy networks." Another focus lies on the integration of thermal energy storage systems to improve efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and alleviate hydraulic constraints of DHC networks.
Willy Villasmil studied mechanical engineering at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, graduating in 2006. He then went on to study at ETH Zurich, where he obtained his MSc in 2010 and later his PhD in the field of thermochemical energy storage. He then joined the Solar Technology Laboratory of the Paul Scherrer Institute as a postdoctoral researcher, specializing in high-temperature thermochemical processes for the production of liquid fuels from concentrated solar energy. In 2015, he joined Flow Products Ltd. in the UK as a senior development engineer, where he contributed to the development of micro-CHP systems.
Since 2017, he has been working at the Department of Engineering & Architecture at HSLU, initially as a senior researcher and research group leader at the Competence Center for Thermal Energy Storage. Since 2022, he has been a lecturer at the Institute for Building Technology and Energy and a board member of of Thermische Netze Schweiz (Swiss Association for District Heating and Cooling).
