Optimal configuration of power generating systems in isolated island with renewable energy

In isolated islands, usually diesel generators supply electric power. However, there are problems, e.g., a lack of fossil fuel, environmental pollution etc. So, isolated island, e.g. Miyako island, installs renewable energy power production plants. However, renewable energy power production plants are very costly. This paper presents an optimal configuration of power system in isolated island installing renewable energy power production plants. The generating system consists of diesel generators, wind turbine generators, PV system and batteries. Using the proposed method, operation cost can be reduced about 10% in comparison with diesel generators only from simulation results.     

Life-cycle assessment in the renewable energy sector

The Polish energy industry is facing challenges regarding energetic safety, competitiveness, improvement of domestic companies and environmental protection. Ecological guidelines concern the elimination of detrimental solutions, and effective energy management, which will form the basis for sustainable development. The Polish power industry is required to systematically increase the share of energy taken from renewable sources in the total energy sold to customers. Besides the economic issues, particular importance is assigned to environmental factors associated with the choice of energy source. That is where life-cycle assessment (LCA) is important. The main purpose of LCA is to identify the environmental impacts of goods and services during the whole life cycle of the product or service. Therefore LCA can be applied to assess the impact on the environment of electricity generation and will allow producers to make better decisions pertaining to environmental protection. The renewable energy sources analysed in this paper include the energy from photovoltaics, wind turbines and hydroelectric power. The goal and scope of the analysis comprise the assessment of environmental impacts of production of 1 GJ of energy from the sources mentioned above. The study will cover the construction, operation and waste disposal at each power plant. Analysis will cover the impact categories, where the environmental influence is the most significant, i.e. resource depletion, global warmth potential, acidification and eutrophication. The LCA results will be shown on the basis of European and Australian research. This analysis will be extended with a comparison between environmental impacts of energy from renewable and conventional sources. This report will conclude with an analysis of possibilities of application of the existing research results and LCA rules in the Polish energy industry with a focus on Poland's future accession to the European Union. Definitions of LCA fundamental concepts, its methodology and application are described in the ISO 14040-14049 series of standards. These standards have already been introduced in some countries, but in Poland they are still at the stage of translation into Polish. Nevertheless some companies in Poland try to assess how their products influence the environment and what are the possibilities of technology improvement in the existing production process reduce their environmental impact.     

Necessity of biodiesel utilization as a source of renewable energy in Malaysia

In recent decades, the energy crisis and environmental issues have become a crucial problem. The rapid industrialization has lead humankind to deplete the fossil fuels and consequently the pollutant emissions have increased in the world. Many investigations have been done to find an alternative fuel to fulfill increasing energy demand. Recently, biodiesel has been introduced as an economical renewable and sustainable fuel which is cited as an environment-friendly resource. Around 350 oil-bearing crops were analyzed and some of them were capable to be considered as potential alternative fuels for diesel engines. These include virgin vegetable oils and waste vegetable oils. Rapeseed, jatropha, soybean, and palm oil are mentioned as the most common sources of biodiesel. Many countries have invested in biodiesel as an acceptable source of energy not only in research area but also in production and export. It has been proven that the biodiesel combustion characteristics are similar as petroleum. Higher ignition pressure and temperature, shorter ignition delay and higher peak release were reported in experimental combustion of biodiesel blends. Also, the efficiency of biodiesel base catalysts is more than enzymes and acid catalysts. This article is a literature review on necessity of biodiesel production as alternative fuel recourse in Malaysia and tries to illustrate the combustion characteristics and pollutant formation in biodiesel application.     

An econometric study on long-term energy outlook and the implications of renewable energy utilization in Malaysia

We developed a comprehensive econometric model to study the long-term outlook of Malaysia's economy, energy and environment to 2030. Our projections under the reference scenario indicated that Malaysia's gross domestic production (GDP) is expected to average 4.6% from 2004 to 2030, and total primary energy consumption will triple by 2030. Coal import will increase following governmental policy of intensifying its use for power generation. Oil import is predicted to take place by 2013 and reach 45 Mtoe in 2030. Hence, in the near future, Malaysia's energy import dependency will rise. Carbon emissions will triple by 2030. On the other hand, our projections under an alternative renewable energy (RE) scenario showed that the utilization of RE is a strategic option to improve the long-term energy security and environmental performance of Malaysia. However, substantial governmental involvements and support, as well as the establishment of a regulatory framework are necessary.     

Optimal investment portfolio in renewable energy: The Spanish case

This article presents a model for investing in renewable energies in the framework of the Spanish electricity market in a way that risk is minimised for the investor while returns are maximised. The model outlined here is based on an economic model for calculating cash flows intended to obtain the internal rate of return (IRR) of the different energies being studied: wind, photovoltaic, mini hydro and thermo electrical. The IRRs obtained are considered the returns on investments, while their standard deviations are considered associated risks. In order to minimise risk, a comprehensive portfolio of investments is created that includes all of the available energies by means of a system of linear equations. The solution of the linear system is graphically checked using the efficient frontier method for the different financing options. Several case studies within the Renewable Energies Plan (PER is its Spanish abbreviation) that is in force in Spain in the period 2005–2010 are analysed in order to illustrate the method, as are other case studies using different types of financing, helping us to reach the pertinent conclusions.     

适应可再生能源消纳的储能技术经济性分析

低成本储能技术是碳中和目标下高渗透率可再生能源系统的重要支撑技术.现有储能技术经济性研究一般基于储能产品技术参数评估平准化充放电成本(LCOS),缺少结合具体应用工况的储能技术路线对比分析.在未来以新能源为主体的新型电力系统中,储能的运行工况将发生明显变化,技术经济性定量预测研究是储能技术路线选择和激励政策设计的重要参...     

Multi-criteria assessment of new and renewable energy power plants

The multi-criteria evaluation of new and renewable technologies demonstrates the potential analysis of complex systems. Every energy system under consideration is an entity by itself, defined by the respective number of parameters which are deterministically interrelated according to the physical laws. Sustainability indicators take into account the economic and environmental resources parameters. This paper presents selection of criteria and options for the new and renewable energy technologies assessment based on the analysis and synthesis of parameters under the information deficiency method. In order to present an evaluation of the new energy technologies, a number of options featuring some of the characteristics measured by the selected sustainability indicators are taken into consideration. For each option under consideration, the sustainability indicators are defined in order to verify their rating under the specific constraints and to obtain the generalised index of sustainability rating of all options. The aim of this paper is to define energy indicators used in the assessment of energy systems which meet the sustainability criterion. In this respect, the following indicators are taken into consideration: energy resources, environment capacity, social indicators and economic indicators.     

Algerian renewable energy assessment: The challenge of sustainability

Algeria plays a very important role in world energy markets, both as a significant hydrocarbon producer and as an exporter, as well as a key participant in the renewable energy market. Due to its geographical location, Algeria holds one of the highest solar potentials in the world. This paper presents a review of the present renewable energy situation and assesses present and future potential of renewable energy sources (RESs) in Algeria. This paper also discusses the trends and expectation in solar systems applications and the aspects of future implementation of renewable energies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region status. The problem related to the use of RES and polices to enhance the use of these sources are also analysed in this paper. In addition the available capacity building, the technical know-how for each RES technology and localizing manufacturing of renewable energy equipments are defined. The co-importance of both policy and technology investments for the future Algerian markets of RES and competitiveness of the solar/wind approach is emphasized. Some examples of policy significantly impacting Algerian markets are reviewed, and the intention of the new Algerian RES initiative is discussed.     

Sustainable application of renewable sources in water pumping systems: Optimized energy system configuration

Eighteen years ago, in Portugal, the expenses in a water supply system associated with energy consumption were quite low. However, with the successive crises of energy fuel and the increase of the energy tariff as well as the water demand, the energy consumption is becoming a larger and a more important part of the total budget of water supply pumping systems. Also, new governmental policies, essentially in developed countries, are trying to implement renewable energies. For these reasons, a case-study in Portugal of a water pumping system was analysed to operate connected to solar and wind energy sources.     

Optimal management of microgrids including renewable energy scources using GPSO-GM algorithm

Environmentally friendly energy sources with high power quality or reliability and low costs are regarded as an effective solution for energy supply problems arising from use of conventional methods. Presented in this paper, gives an optimal management strategy of PV/wind/diesel independent hybrid systems for supplying required energy in autonomous microgrids. A new optimization problem is formulated for minimizing the capital investment and fuel costs of the system. To solve the proposed optimization problem a novel algorithm, named Guaranteed convergence Particle Swarm Optimization with Gaussian Mutation (GPSO-GM), is developed. Two operators, namely mutation and guaranteed convergence, are added to PSO in order to help finding more accurate results and increasing the speed of calculations. The performance of the proposed strategy is evaluated in two case studies.     

Optimal sizing of renewable hybrids energy systems: A review of methodologies

Taking into account oil depletion, increasing population, and increasing energy demand, electrical power generation has entered into a new phase of evolution, which can be characterized mainly by increasing concerns about climate change, by a transition from a hydrocarbon-based economy, and by an efficient utilization of energy. In this sense, it seems that alternative energies have gathered considerable momentum since 1970s oil crisis. Moreover, Earth seems to have enough power to cover World’s electrical power demand but not by a single source; for this reason, recent researches have been carried out in order to design in an optimal way system’s configuration. Nevertheless, because of the randomized nature of alternative energy sources, electrical load profile, as well as the non-linear response of system components, to mention a few, is not an easy to assess the hybrid energy system performance; therefore, hybrid energy system designing has been a complex task. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to present a brief review about the sizing methodologies developed in the recent years.     

An opinion survey based assessment of renewable energy technology development in India

India has a very large potential for harnessing renewable energy sources. However, there is a large gap between the estimated potential and the cumulative achievements made so far. A variety of reasons are attributed to the current low levels of dissemination of renewable energy technologies in India as against their respective estimated potentials. Several of these attributes could, one way or the other, be related to the current status of development of the technology, its appropriateness and dissemination strategies adopted for their diffusion and deployment. Results of an attempt to assess the current status of some renewable energy technologies in India are briefly presented in this paper. The main findings of a structured questionnaire based survey undertaken for eliciting views of different categories of stakeholders on various issues affecting dissemination of renewable energy technologies in India are presented in this paper.     

Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies

Before new technologies enter the market, their environmental superiority over competing options must be asserted based on a life cycle approach. However, when applying the prevailing status-quo Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to future renewable energy systems, one does not distinguish between impacts which are ‘imported’ into the system due to the ‘background system’ (e.g. due to supply of materials or final energy for the production of the energy system), and what is the improvement potential of these technologies compared to competitors (e.g. due to process and system innovations or diffusion effects). This paper investigates a dynamic approach towards the LCA of renewable energy technologies and proves that for all renewable energy chains, the inputs of finite energy resources and emissions of greenhouse gases are extremely low compared with the conventional system. With regard to the other environmental impacts the findings do not reveal any clear verdict for or against renewable energies.Future development will enable a further reduction of environmental impacts of renewable energy systems. Different factors are responsible for this development, such as progress with respect to technical parameters of energy converters, in particular, improved efficiency; emissions characteristics; increased lifetime, etc.; advances with regard to the production process of energy converters and fuels; and advances with regard to ‘external’ services originating from conventional energy and transport systems, for instance, improved electricity or process heat supply for system production and ecologically optimized transport systems for fuel transportation.The application of renewable energy sources might modify not only the background system, but also further downstream aspects, such as consumer behavior. This effect is, however, strongly context and technology dependent.     

Sustainable and renewable energy from biomass wastes in palm oil industry: A case study in Malaysia

Palm oil is one of the most important oils in the world and huge amounts of palm biomass wastes are generated through palm oil extracting process which could endanger the environment. Meanwhile, electricity shortage is getting worse due to lack of fossil fuel. To convert biomasses from palm oil industry for power generation is a beneficial approach for both power shortage and environmental degradation. In order to investigate and optimize the generation process of power and heat from the waste biomass in palm oil industry, an analytic study of a combined heat and power plant in a palm oil mill fuelled with sustainable and renewable biomass wastes was conducted using ECLIPSE software through a case study in Malaysia. The resources of the biomass wastes in the mill were identified and the samples were collected on site. The waste samples were analysed in laboratory and their calorific value, chemical composition and biomethane potential were found. A simulation model was then set up using ECLIPSE software and the model was validated using the practical data of the CHP plant. Three different combinations of the biomass wastes, including EFB and Shell as fuel for power generation, MF co-firing with Biogas, and power generation using KS, EFB and Biogas with preheaters, were used in the simulation. It was found that all of the three combinations were able to produce enough electrical power and heat (steam) to meet the power and heat demand for the production process. The simulation results indicated that the palm solid biomass wastes and the biogas produced by mill effluent were able to provide enough sustainable and renewable fuel for the palm oil production process; and it is possible to provide extra electricity for the nearby area, which is one of the best option for utilization of palm oil biomass wastes.     

Australia's mandatory renewable energy target (MRET): an assessment

In June 2004, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, released the long-awaited government blueprint for the favoured policy direction for the country's energy sector, Securing Australia's Energy Future. In part this document was a response to a review of the operation of Australia's mandatory renewable energy target (MRET), a regime that started in April 2001. MRET was put under detailed scrutiny from March 2003 onwards by a four-person panel (the Tambling Committee), appointed by the Howard coalition (conservative) government, that received 248 detailed submissions and finally released its findings to the public in January 2004. This paper presents an overview of (i) the range of opinions on MRET presented to the Tambling Inquiry; (ii) the recommendations of that Committee; (iii) the final judgement on MRET enunciated in Securing Australia's Energy Future; and (iv) the response of the States.     

基于双层规划模型的用户侧混合储能优化配置

利用用户侧峰谷电价差,优化配置储能系统并合理调度可降低用电成本.本文提出一种铅酸电池-超级电容混合储能系统的双层规划模型,以储能投资年回报率为外层目标函数,在目标函数中考虑了储能削峰填谷收益、需量防守收益、全生命周期成本等因素;以储能日调度收益为内层目标函数,研究了储能各时段最优充放电功率.在构建混合储能系统模型时,考...     

国际可再生能源新闻

综合类 德发明“电转气”法解决可再生能源储电难问题 众所周知,我们可以利用天然气等气态化石燃料发电,但德国研究人员却“倒行逆施”,发明了一种“电转气”的方法,目的是解决风能、太阳能等可再生能源发电在短时间过剩而产生的储电难问题。     

国内可再生能源新闻

太阳能北京首批电动出租车亮相延庆3月1日,北京首批电动出租车试点运营启动仪式在延庆县举行。北京市首批50台迷迪纯电动出租车交付北京妫川出租汽车有限公司使用,这将使延庆成为目前全国一次性投放规模最大的使用纯电动出租车的地区。据生产商北汽福田的专家介绍,纯电动出租车与传统燃油汽车最大的不同在于心脏,即用     

新能源2008年年报大盘充分释放系统风险 川投能源顺利做大水电

在前期指数翻番之后,新能源表现平平,尤其是本周,随着两会闭幕,市场诸多情绪开始释放.目前,表现最好的是前期超跌的有色板块,另外,黄金、煤炭等资源类个股股价上窜得非常快.