A review on the pattern of electricity generation and emission in Iran from 1967 to 2008

The electricity consumption growth in Iran requires a rapid development of power plant construction. Like many other countries, most of the power plants in Iran are using fossil fuel. In the past decade, thermal power plants generated about 94% of electricity and about 6% was generated by renewable sources such as hydro-power. This study is to show a clear view of 42 years an evolutionary trend of Iran's electricity generation industry. The capacity of power generation installed and electricity generation from the years 1967 to 2008 has been gathered. The total pollutant emissions and emission per unit electricity generation for each type of power plants have also been calculated using emission factors and the pattern of electricity generation and emission has been presented. The results shown that encouraging of using renewable energy sources and increasing the contribution of the combined cycle as a best type of thermal power plants and use more natural gas is recommended to reduce emission.     

Study on electrical energy and prospective electricity generation from renewable sources in Australia

Nowadays renewable sources are being used as clean sources to generate electricity and to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. The uses of renewable sources are being increased in electricity generation and contributed to reduce the greenhouse gas emission. The function of any electrical power system is to connect everyone sufficiently, clean electric power anywhere and anytime of the country. This can be achieved through a modern power system by integrating electrical energy from clean renewable sources into the nation's electric grid to enhance reliability, efficiency and security of the power system. The paper on the status of review the driving force of the generation of renewable energy and proposing electrical energy generation from renewable sources to be ensured at least 20% of total energy of Australia. This paper has been studied the existing electricity generation capacity of Australia from renewable and non-renewable sources. Optimal electricity generation from renewable sources has been examined. The environmental impact of electricity generation from renewable sources has been considered. Under this paper the yearly average wind data of past 20 years and above for some meteorological stations of Australia have been used. The prospective electricity generation from wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels has been proposed in the paper that will increase electrical energy of the power grid of Australia. It was estimated the capital cost of prospective electricity generation farms from wind and solar PV sources.     

Hydropower–water and renewable energy in Turkey: Sources and policy

Turkey's energy consumption has been growing much faster than its production. It forces Turkey to make a rapid action to supply energy demand. From the viewpoint of primary energy sources (petroleum and natural gas), Turkey is not a rich country, but it has an abundant hydropower potential to be used for generation of electricity. Hydropower is the most important kind of renewable, sustainable energy and a proven technology for electricity generation. The aim of this paper is to discuss sources and policy of hydropower, water and renewable energy in Turkey and compares the hydropower application with Europe.     

Governmental policy and prospect in electricity production from renewables in Lithuania

In Lithuania, the generation of electricity is based on the nuclear energy and on the fossil fuels. After the decommissioning of Ignalina nuclear power plant in 2009, the Lithuanian Power Plant and other thermal plants will become the major sources of electricity. Consequently, the Lithuanian power sector must focus on the implementation of renewable energy projects, penetration of new technologies and on consideration of the future opportunities for renewables, and Government policy for promoting this kind of energy. Production of electricity from renewable energy is based on hydro, biomass and wind energy resources in Lithuania. Due to the typical climatic condition in Lithuania the solar photovoltaics and geothermal energy are not used for power sector. Moreover, the further development of hydropower plants is limited by environmental restrictions, therefore priority is given to wind energy development and installation of new biomass power plants. According to the requirements set out in the Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market [Official Journal L283, 33–40, 27 October 2001], 7% of gross consumption of electricity will be generated from renewable energy by 2010 in Lithuania. The aim of this paper is to show the estimation of the maximum renewable power penetration in the Lithuanian electricity sector and possible environmental impact.     

Power sector of Oman—Today and tomorrow

In December 1999 the council of Ministers of Sultanate of Oman approved policies for the wholesale restructuring and privatization of the sultanate's electricity and related water sectors. The government started carrying out unbundling of the sector and setting up independent companies on a commercial basis. The companies are now shaping up for future electricity market. Beside these evolving structural changes, there would be a need to change their generation mix. Oman relies 100% on fossil fuel resources (mainly gas) for its power generation. However, Oman's natural gas supplies are largely committed and the country may become a net natural gas importer in the near future. Today, there is a great incentive for Oman to exploit renewable energy in order to face the changing environment and to guard against future trends. The electricity companies should investigate the renewable potential and work with Omani government and Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER) to establish policy support for large-scale renewable energy plants. Beside there is a huge potential for demand-side management and energy conservation which should be exploited for the benefit of the country and of the environment.     

Transient simulation and techno-economic assessment of a near-zero energy building using a hydrogen storage system and different backup fuels

Proposing a cost-effective off-grid Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) with hydrogen energy storage with a minimum CO2 emission is the main objective of the current study. The electricity demand of an office building is considered to be supplied by Photovoltaic Panels and wind turbines. The office building, modeled in Energy Plus and Open studio, has annual electricity consumption of 500 MWh electricity. 48.9% of the required electricity can be generated via renewable resources. Considering a system without energy storage, the remaining amount of electricity is generated from diesel generators. Hence, for reducing CO2 emission and fuel costs, a hydrogen energy storage system (ESS) is integrated into the system. Hydrogen ESS is responsible for supplying 38.6% of the demand electricity, which means that it can increase the energy supplying ability of the system from 48.9% to 87.5%. In addition to analyzing the application of the hydrogen storage system, the effect of four different kinds of fuel is considered as well. effects of Natural gas, Diesel, Propane, and LPG on the system's application are investigated in this study. Results indicate that natural gas emits less amount of CO2 compared to other fuels and also has a fuel cost of 3054 $/year, while hydrogen ESS is available. For the renewable system without ESS, the fuel cost rises to 10,266 $/year. However, liquid gas, Propane, and LPG have better performance in terms of CO2 emission and fuel cost, respectively.     

Sustainable development of Turkey: Deployment of geothermal resources for carbon capture,utilization, and storage

As a developing country, Turkey’s sustainable development objectives converge on robust and sustainable economic development. The increase in its energy and electricity demand is attributed to the growth of population, urbanization, and industrialization parallel to economic and social growth. Instead of fulfilling the obligation to protect the environment arising from international agreements and achieving desired sustainable development, the dependency on imported fossil fuel in electrical energy production and energy-intensive economic growth results in intensified CO₂ emission as well as ironically negative economic output. Therefore, Turkey is forced to exploit its indigenous sources such as coal (which unfortunately increases atmospheric Green House Gas “GHG” emissions) and renewable resources. However, high GHG emission – mainly CO_{2 –} of Turkey’s coal power plants impairs deployment of indigenous sources for power generation. Indeed, there is a necessity of technical approaches for higher heat extraction efficiencies and mitigation of high concentration of energy-related CO₂ emission. Admittedly, “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS)” employing conventional hydrothermal resources offers highly efficient heat extraction, geological CO₂ sequestration, and utilization of CO₂ for power generation rather than considering CO₂ as an effluent. Although there are research gaps and lack of field scale experiment, the economic and environmental viability of implementing CCUS in Turkey can be improved by pilot or field scale projects whereby the presence of these projects commences technological and experimental advances in capturing CO₂ either from geothermal power plants or indigenous coal power plants, transporting it to the proven geothermal geologic site, and generating power. Apart from this, the “CO_{2 –} Plume Geothermal Systems (CPG)” compared to unconventional and conventional geothermal systems would commit vigorous potential for continual improvement in economic feasibility of CCUS without a guaranteed return on power generation investments in Turkey. Hence, legislations concerning incentives in CCUS would foster further improvements in the deployment of geothermal resources to pursue sustainable development in Turkey.     

An analysis of long-term scenarios for the transition to renewable energy in the Korean electricity sector

This paper analyzes the energy, environmental and economic influences of three electricity scenarios in Korea by 2050 using the “Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system” (LEAP) model. The reference year was 2008. Scenarios include the baseline (BL), new governmental policy (GP) and sustainable society (SS) scenarios. The growth rate of electricity demand in the GP scenario was higher than that of the BL scenario while the growth rate in the SS scenario was lower than that of the BL scenario.Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in 2050 in the BL and GP scenarios were similar with current emissions. However, emissions in 2050 in the SS scenario were about 80% lower than emissions in 2008, because of the expansion of renewable electricity in spite of the phase-out of nuclear energy.While nuclear and coal-fired power plants accounted for most of the electricity generated in the BL and GP scenarios in 2050, the SS scenario projected that renewable energy would generate the most electricity in 2050. It was found that the discounted cumulative costs from 2009 to 2050 in the SS scenario would be 20 and 10% higher than that of the BL and GP scenarios, respectively.     

Security of supply,energy spillage control and peaking options within a 100% renewable electricity system for New Zealand

In this paper, issues of security of supply, energy spillage control, and peaking options, within a fully renewable electricity system, are addressed. We show that a generation mix comprising 49% hydro, 23% wind, 13% geothermal, 14% pumped hydro energy storage peaking plant, and 1% biomass-fuelled generation on an installed capacity basis, was capable of ensuring security of supply over an historic 6-year period, which included the driest hydrological year on record in New Zealand since 1931. Hydro spillage was minimised, or eliminated, by curtailing a proportion of geothermal generation. Wind spillage was substantially reduced by utilising surplus generation for peaking purposes, resulting in up to 99.8% utilisation of wind energy. Peaking requirements were satisfied using 1550 MW of pumped hydro energy storage generation, with a capacity factor of 0.76% and an upper reservoir storage equivalent to 8% of existing hydro storage capacity. It is proposed that alternative peaking options, including biomass-fuelled gas turbines and demand-side measures, should be considered. As a transitional policy, the use of fossil-gas–fuelled gas turbines for peaking would result in a 99.8% renewable system on an energy basis. Further research into whether a market-based system is capable of delivering such a renewable electricity system is suggested.     

A thorough analysis of renewable hydrogen projects development in Uzbekistan using MCDM methods

The energy supply system of Uzbekistan is not well positioned to meet the rapidly rising domestic energy demand of this country. Uzbekistan's current energy supply system is outdated and has very low diversity, as most of its energy comes from natural gas. In addition to producing immense amounts of greenhouse gas and environmental pollution, this situation is untenable considering the eventual depletion of fossil fuel reserves of this country. Uzbekistan's renewable energy sector is highly undeveloped, a situation that can be attributed to the lack of coherent policies for the advancement of renewable power and the low price of natural gas. However, this country has significant untapped renewable potentials, especially wind energy, that can perform a significant performance in the country's power generation plans. Also, producing hydrogen from renewable power can provide a good alternative to fossil fuels and help meet the needs of the Uzbek industrial sector, especially oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. In this study, the suitability of 17 regions in Uzbekistan for wind-powered hydrogen production was analyzed in terms of 16 sub-criteria in four categories of technical, economic, social, and environmental factors. To obtain robust results, the ranking was performed using a hybrid of BWM and EDAS, as well as WASPAS, ARAS, and WSM techniques. The weighting results exhibited the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH), and Annual Energy Production (AEP) to be the most important sub-criteria for this evaluation. Nukus, Buhara, and Kungrad were introduced as the top three most appropriate locations for hydrogen development from wind plants. It was estimated that using 2000 kW turbines, a wind-powered hydrogen production plant built in the Nukus region can achieve an annual power output of 4432.7 MW and annual hydrogen output of 71.752 tons.     

Hybrid geothermal–fossil electricity generation from low enthalpy geothermal resources: geothermal feedwater preheating in conventional power plants

Hybrid steam power plants with geothermal feedwater preheating enable the conversion of geothermal energy into electricity in countries with low enthalpy geothermal resources. In order to estimate the potential of geothermal–fossil hybrid power plants with geothermal feedwater preheating, we examine the application of this concept using the examples of two modern coal fired power plants. In addition, energy output and economic efficiency calculations will be compiled for this concept utilising the thermal water data of an existing geothermal heating installation and an experimental facility for the hot dry rock technology. The process of geothermal feedwater preheating as a means of improving performance forms both an alternative and an extension to the existing electricity generation methods based on renewable energy. Photovoltaics or wind power, for example, tend to be expensive and also unreliable due to weather uncertainties. An electricity cost of around 85 EUR/MWh appears to be attainable through the geothermal preheating concept in Central Europe. In countries with the appropriate prerequisites, this concept heralds considerable benefits in terms of efficient electricity generation and environmental protection.     

Study on China's low carbon development in an Economy–Energy–Electricity–Environment framework

Emissions mitigation is a major challenge for China's sustainable development. We summarize China's successful experiences on energy efficiency in past 30 years as the contributions of Energy Usage Management and Integrated Resource Strategic Planning, which are essential for low-carbon economy. In an Economy–Energy–Electricity–Environment (E4) framework, the paper studies the low-carbon development of China and gives an outlook of China's economy growth, energy–electricity demand, renewable power generation and energy conservation and emissions mitigation until 2030. A business-as-usual scenario is projected as baseline for comparison while low carbon energy and electricity development path is studied. It is defined as low carbon energy/electricity when an economy body manages to realize its potential economic growth fueled by less energy/electricity consumption, which can be characterized by indexes of energy/electricity intensity and emissions per-unit of energy consumption (electricity generation). Results show that, with EUM, China, could save energy by 4.38 billion ton oil equivalences (toes) and reduce CO₂ emission by 16.55 billion tons; with IRSP, China, could save energy by 1.5 Btoes and reduce CO₂ emission by 5.7 Btons, during 2010–2030. To realize the massive potential, China has to reshape its economic structure and rely much on technology innovation in the future.     

Targeting existing power plants: EPA emission reduction with wind and demand response

Electricity generation accounts for 40% of CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the United States. Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) allows for greenhouse gas emission regulation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In June 2014, EPA issued the Clean Power Plan that proposes regulation of existing power plants via a “best system of emission reduction” or BSER. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions caused by electricity generation is one of the main motivations for increasing wind power and other renewable energy use, and this option is included in the BSER. This paper applies Monte Carlo simulation with a two-stage power flow optimization framework to analyze the potential CO₂ emission reduction with 10% and 20% wind penetration using the proposed BSER. The results show that EPA's BSER does achieve significant emission reduction, but an increase in cost of electricity and load curtailment can result if significant wind is installed without other measures. These concerns are eliminated by including recourse to real-time demand response along with EPA's BSER, suggesting that the proposed BSER, implemented alone, could be insufficient for reaching EPA's target CO₂ reductions while also safeguarding power system reliability and cost.     

Turkey's Renewable Energy Facilities in the Near Future

In this work, renewable energy facilities of Turkey were investigated. Electricity is mainly produced by thermal power plants, consuming coal, lignite, natural gas, fuel oil and geothermal energy, and hydro power plants in Turkey. Turkey has no large oil and gas reserves. The main indigenous energy resources are lignite, hydro and biomass. Turkey has to adopt new, long-term energy strategies to reduce the share of fossil fuels in primary energy consumption. For these reasons, the development and use of renewable energy sources and technologies are increasingly becoming vital for sustainable economic development of Turkey. The most significant developments in renewable production are observed hydropower and geothermal energy production. Renewable electricity facilities mainly include electricity from biomass, hydropower, geothermal, and wind and solar energy sources. Biomass cogeneration is a promising method for production bioelectricity.     

Assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies

The non-combustion based renewable electricity generation technologies were assessed against a range of sustainability indicators and using data obtained from the literature. The indicators used to assess each technology were price of generated electricity, greenhouse gas emissions during full life cycle of the technology, availability of renewable sources, efficiency of energy conversion, land requirements, water consumption and social impacts. The cost of electricity, greenhouse gas emissions and the efficiency of electricity generation were found to have a very wide range for each technology, mainly due to variations in technological options as well as geographical dependence of each renewable energy source. The social impacts were assessed qualitatively based on the major individual impacts discussed in literature. Renewable energy technologies were then ranked against each indicator assuming that indicators have equal importance for sustainable development. It was found that wind power is the most sustainable, followed by hydropower, photovoltaic and then geothermal. Wind power was identified with the lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and with the most favourable social impacts comparing to other technologies, but requires larger land and has high relative capital costs.     

Exploring the hypothetical limits to a nuclear and renewable electricity future

This article evaluates whether the world can transition to a future global electricity system powered entirely by nuclear power plants, wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal facilities, hydroelectric stations, and biomass generators by 2030. It begins by explaining the scenario method employed for predicting future electricity generation, drawn mostly from tools used by the International Energy Agency. The article projects that the world would need to build about 7744 Gigawatts (GW) of installed electricity capacity by 2030 to provide 37.2 thousand terawatt‐hours (TWh). Synthesizing data from the primary literature, the article argues that meeting such a projection with nuclear and renewable power stations will be difficult. If constructed using commercially available and state‐of‐the‐art nuclear and renewable power stations today, the capital cost would exceed $40 trillion, anticipated negative externalities would exceed $1 trillion per year, and immense strain would be placed on land, water, material, and human resources. Even if nuclear and renewable power technologies were much improved, trillions of dollars of investment would still be needed, millions of hectares of land set aside, quadrillions of gallons of water used, and material supplies of aluminum, concrete, silicon, and steel heavily utilized or exhausted. Because of these constraints, the only true path towards a more sustainable electricity system appears to be reducing demand for electricity and consuming less of it. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of hydropower in meeting Turkey's electric energy demand

The inherent technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power, make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries. These countries, such as Turkey, have a great and ever-intensifying need for power and water supplies and they also have the greatest remaining hydro potential. From the viewpoint of energy sources such as petroleum and natural gas, Turkey is not a rich country; but it has an abundant hydropower potential to be used for generation of electricity and must increase hydropower production in the near future. This paper deals with policies to meet the increasing electricity demand for Turkey. Hydropower and especially small hydropower are emphasized as Turkey's renewable energy sources. The results of two case studies, whose results were not taken into consideration in calculating Turkey's hydro electric potential, are presented. Turkey's small hydro power potential is found to be an important energy source, especially in the Eastern Black Sea Region. The results of a study in which Turkey's long-term demand has been predicted are also presented. According to the results of this paper, Turkey's hydro electric potential can meet 33–46% of its electric energy demand in 2020 and this potential may easily and economically be developed.     

Hybrid systems to address seasonal mismatches between electricity production and demand in nuclear renewable electrical grids

A strategy to enable zero-carbon variable electricity production with full utilization of renewable and nuclear energy sources has been developed. Wind and solar systems send electricity to the grid. Nuclear plants operate at full capacity with variable steam to turbines to match electricity demand with production (renewables and nuclear). Excess steam at times of low electricity prices and electricity demand go to hybrid fuel production and storage systems. The characteristic of these hybrid technologies is that the economic penalties for variable nuclear steam inputs are small. Three hybrid systems were identified that could be deployed at the required scale. The first option is the gigawatt-year hourly-to-seasonal heat storage system where excess steam from the nuclear plant is used to heat rock a kilometer underground to create an artificial geothermal heat source. The heat source produces electricity on demand using geothermal technology. The second option uses steam from the nuclear plant and electricity from the grid with high-temperature electrolysis (HTR) cells to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is primarily for industrial applications; however, the HTE can be operated in reverse using hydrogen for peak electricity production. The third option uses variable steam and electricity for shale oil production.     

Potential of renewable energy in electrical energy production and sustainable energy development of Turkey: Performance and policies

Generating electricity, from renewable energy sources has become a high priority in the energy policy strategies at a national level as well as on a global scale. Although Turkey has many energy resources only coal and hydropower are significant at present, and as demand had risen, it has been necessary to import fuels to meet the total energy demand. The fossil resources, both indigenous and imported, have become expensive and also have undesirably high emissions. Turkey has an extensive shoreline and mountains and is rich in renewable energy potential. The share of renewables on total electricity generation is 35% while that of thermal power is 65% for the year 2010. Turkey is one of those countries that are considered rich and abundant in renewable energy resources.Turkey is facing serious challenges in satisfying its growing energy demand. To fuel a rapidly growing economy, the country’s electricity consumption is increasing by an average of 8–9% every year, and significant investments are needed in generation, transmission and distribution facilities to balance the power system’s supply and demand. With very limited oil and gas reserves, Turkey is increasingly turning to renewable energy sources as a means to improve its energy security and curb dependence on imported gas from Russia and Iran. This paper investigates the potential of renewable energy resources in Turkey at present and the magnitude of their present and future contributions to the national energy consumption. Energy politics are also considered.     

The lignite electricity‐generating sector in Greece: Current status and future prospects

Lignite plays an important role in Greece's energy sector as it satisfies over 70% of country's needs in electric power. The extraction of lignite takes place mainly in three regions of Greece, namely Ptolemais‐Amyndeon, Megalopolis and Florina. The annual production of lignite is around 60 million tons, out of which 48 million tons derive from the coal fields of northern Greece (Ptolemais‐Amyndeon and Florina). Almost the entire lignite production is consumed for electricity generation, while small amounts of lignite are used for briquettes and other applications. The Greek coal‐fired power plants, which are about 4500 MW, use conventional technology and they are old (an average of 30 years). In the coming years new coal fields will be exploited in Florina—another 2.5 million tons of coal—in order to satisfy the currently under construction 365 MW plant located at Meliti, Florina, Northern Greece. Even though the lignite reserves are widespread in Greece and other areas such as Elassona and Drama could possibly host power plants, it is expected that the Florina power plant will be the last coal‐fired plant to be build in the country. Lignite has to compete with natural gas—the construction of the main gas pipeline network has been completed—imported oil and renewable energy sources. The new EU regulations on power plant emissions raise obstacles for the firing of lignite, although it is low in sulphur. It must be shown that lignite produces low cost electricity in a environmentally friendly manner. The utilization of fly ash and land reclamation can improve the situation in lignite mining. In particular, specific attention was paid to further research and potential use of fly ash in road construction, the production of bricks and concrete, and the production of zeolites from lignitic fly ash. The use of clean coal technologies in power plants can solve many emission problems. Specific measures to increase the efficiency of lignite‐fired power units might include: identification of the loss sources of every unit, improvement of the cold end of the steam turbines, optimization of the beater wheel mills operation, and the combination of natural gas‐fired turbines with the existing boilers. The liberalization of the electricity market needs to be considered seriously from the lignite industry, since the potential electricity producers can freely choose from all kinds of fuels, such as imported coal, oil, gas and renewables. However, Greek lignite meets the requirements for the security of supply, as indicated in the EU's Green Paper. It needs only to be competitive in the new energy sector by improving mining and combustion conditions. Further research on these topics, through the European Commission's ECSC and Framework Programmes, as well as the national programmes, is required. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.