Renewable energy sources in the Egyptian electricity market: A review

This review paper presents an appraisal of renewable energy RE options in Egypt. An appraisal review of different REs is presented. The study shows that electric energy produced from REs in Egypt are very poor compared with other energy sources. The utilization of the renewable energies can also be a good opportunity to fight the desertification and dryness in Egypt which is about 60% of Egypt territory. The rapid growth of energy production and consumption is strongly affecting and being affected by the Egyptian economy in many aspects. It is evident that energy will continue to play an important role in the development of Egypt's economy in coming years. The total installed electricity generating capacity had reached around 22025 MW with a generating capacity reached 22605 MW at the end of 2007. Hydropower and coal has no significant potential increase. During the period 1981/82-2004/05 electricity generation has increased by 500% from nearly 22 TWh for the year 1981/1982 to 108.4 TWh in the year 2004/2005 at an average annual growth rate of 6.9%. Consequently, oil and gas consumed by the electricity sector has jumped during the same period from around 3.7 MTOE to nearly 21 MTOE. The planned installed capacity for the year 2011/2012 is 28813 MW and the required fuel (oil and gas) for the electricity sector is estimated to reach about 29 MTOE by the same year. The renewable energy strategy targets to supply 3% of the electricity production from renewable resources by the year 2010. Electrical Coverage Electrical energy has been provided for around 99.3% of Egypt's population, representing a positive sign for the welfare of the Egyptian citizen due to electricity relation to all development components in all walks of life. The article discusses perspectives of wind energy in Egypt with projections to generate ∼ 3.5 GWe by 2022, representing ∼9% of the total installed power at that time (40.2 GW). Total renewables (hydro + wind + solar) are expected to provide ∼7.4 GWe by 2022 representing ∼ 19% of the total installed power. Such a share would reduce dependence on depleting oil and gas resources, and hence improve country's sustainable development.     

Offshore wind energy policy for India—Key factors to be considered

Indian Economy is growing at a healthy pace during the last few years. To sustain this growth, power sector needs to build additional generation capacity. However, continued dependence on fossil fuels to power the growth of electricity generation capacity, is hardly sustainable. Renewable Energy source forms a miniscule portion (25 GW,∼12%) of India's overall power generation today (202 GW). The share of wind energy (17 GW) is 67% of the total renewable energy basket. But the contribution from offshore wind farms is non-existent, as all the wind energy generated in India is only through onshore wind farms. India needs a policy framework to encourage the development of offshore wind farms. Several European countries have effective offshore wind energy policies that have helped them to accelerate the growth of their offshore wind energy sector. This paper does an exhaustive literature survey, to identify 21 building blocks of a successful offshore wind energy policy initiative adopted by select European countries, which have been classified under 5 broad categories—Government support, Fiscal and quota based incentives, Availability of local expertise, Capital for investments and Building an enabling ecosystem, which can be leveraged by India to articulate its own offshore wind energy policy.     

Offshore wind energy in the world context

The interest for the exploitation of the offshore wind energy is growing in Europe, where man land use is very high resulting in strong limitation to the installation of onshore wind farms. The today offshore operating wind power is 12 MW, with two wind farms in Denmark and one in Netherlands; it starts to be significant (0.6%) in terms of the onshore power, 2000 MW in Europe.In the world the onshore installed wind power is exceeding 4000 MW, but not so much up to now has been done on the offshore area outside Europe.The European four years experience on the prototypical offshore wind farms looks significantly promising and suggests to promote a similar approach in many densely populated coastal countries in the world with high electricity demand.Results of studies are presented on the offshore wind potential in the European countries and of the tentative evaluation for the Mediterranean basin, and the seas of USA and China. A review is made of the offshore applications, particularly for the Nothern European seas.Economy and environmental trends are illustrated in parallel to those of maturing offshore technology. It is suggested to prepare an action plan to promote the development of the offshore applications in the world context.     

Cost performance and risk in the construction of offshore and onshore wind farms

This article investigates the risk of cost overruns and underruns occurring in the construction of 51 onshore and offshore wind farms commissioned between 2000 and 2015 in 13 countries. In total, these projects required about $39 billion in investment and reached about 11 GW of installed capacity. We use this original dataset to test six hypotheses about construction cost overruns related to (i) technological learning, (ii) fiscal control, (iii) economies of scale, (iv) configuration, (v) regulation and markets and (vi) manufacturing experience. We find that across the entire dataset, the mean cost escalation per project is 6.5% or about $63 million per windfarm, although 20 projects within the sample (39%) did not exhibit cost overruns. The majority of onshore wind farms exhibit cost underruns while for offshore wind farms the results have a larger spread. Interestingly, no significant relationship exists between the size (in total MW or per individual turbine capacity) of a windfarm and the severity of a cost overrun. Nonetheless, there is an indication that the risk increases for larger wind farms at greater distances offshore using new types of turbines and foundations. Overall, the mean cost escalation for onshore projects is 1.7% and 9.6% for offshore projects, amounts much lower than those for other energy infrastructure. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Valuing the manufacturing externalities of wind energy: assessing the environmental profit and loss of wind turbines in Northern Europe

This study draws from a concept from green accounting, lifecycle assessment, and industrial ecology known as 'environmental profit and loss” (EP&L) to determine the extent of externalities across the manufacturing lifecycle of wind energy. So far, no EP&Ls have involved energy companies and none have involved wind energy or wind turbines. We perform an EP&L for three types of wind turbines sited and built in Northern Europe (Denmark and Norway) by a major manufacturer: a 3.2 MW onshore turbine with a mixed concrete steel foundation, a 3.0 MW offshore turbine with a steel foundation, and a 3.0 MW offshore turbine with a concrete foundation. For each of these three turbine types, we identify and monetize externalities related to carbon dioxide emissions, air pollution, and waste. We find that total environmental losses range from €1.1 million for the offshore turbine with concrete foundation to €740,000 for onshore turbines and about €500,000 for an offshore turbine with steel foundation—equivalent to almost one‐fifth of construction cost in some instances. We conclude that carbon dioxide emissions dominate the amount of environmental damages and that turbines need to work for 2.5 to 5.5 years to payback their carbon debts. Even though turbines are installed in Europe, China and South Korea accounted for about 80% of damages across each type of turbine. Lastly, two components, foundations and towers, account for about 90% of all damages. We conclude with six implications for wind energy analysts, suppliers, manufacturers, and planners. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind energy development policy and prospects in Lithuania

According to the EU Directive 2001/77/EC 7% of all electricity production is to be generated from renewable energy sources (RES) in Lithuania in 2010. Electricity production from RES is determined by hydro, biomass and wind energy resources in Lithuania. Further development of hydro power plants is limited by environmental restrictions, therefore priority is given to wind energy development. The aim of this paper is to show estimation of the maximum wind power penetration in the Lithuanian electricity system using such criteria as wind potential, possibilities of the existing electricity network, possible environmental impact, and social and economical aspects. Generalization of data from the meteorological stations and special measurements shows that the highest average wind speed in Lithuanian territory is in the coastal region and at 50 m above ground level reaches 6.4 m/s. In regard to wind resource distribution in this region, arrangement of electricity grid and environment protection requirements, six zones have been determined for wind power plant construction. Calculations have shown that the largest total installed capacity of wind farms, which could cause no significant increase in power transmission expenses, is 170 MW. The threshold, which cannot be passed without capital reconstruction of electricity network, is 500 MW of total capacity of wind farms.     

Feasibility study of offshore wind turbine installation in Iran compared with the world

Renewable energies have potential for supplying of relatively clean and mostly local energy. Wind energy generation is expected to increase in the near future and has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade in many countries. Offshore winds are generally stronger and more constant than onshore winds in many areas. The economic feasibility for utilization of offshore wind energy depends on the favorable wind conditions in the area. The present paper analyses offshore wind speed in global scale and also studies feasibility of introducing this technology for harnessing wind in Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, Urmia Lake and Gulf of Oman. Wind speed data were collected from different sources. The ocean surface winds at a 10 m height from satellite passes as processed by NOAA/NESDIS, from near real-time data collected by NASA/JPL's Sea Winds Scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT. Development of renewable energy is one of priority research goals in Iran. There are many installed wind turbines in suitable regions like Manjil and Binalood, but there has not been any offshore wind installation yet in Iran. It is suggested that policy makers to invest and pay more attentions toward harnessing renewable energy sources like offshore wind in Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern parts of Iran.     

Review of recent offshore wind power developments in china

Rapid wind power development in China has attracted worldwide attention. The huge market potential and fast development of wind turbine manufacturing capacity are making China a world leader in wind power development. In 2010, with the newly installed wind power capacity and the cumulative installed capacity, China was ranked first in the world. In 2009, China also constructed and commissioned its first large offshore wind farm near Shanghai. Following earlier papers reviewing the state of China's onshore wind industry, this paper presents a broader perspective and up‐to‐date survey of China's offshore wind power development, making comparisons between the developments in the rest of the world and China, to draw out similarities and differences and lessons for the China offshore wind industry. The paper highlights six important aspects for China's offshore wind development: economics, location, Grid connection, technological development, environmental adaptation and national policies. The authors make recommendations for mitigating some outstanding issues in these six aspects for the future development of China's offshore wind resource. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中欧海上风电产业发展比较

相对于陆地风能,海上风能资源丰富,发电产能大,海上风电将是最有可能大规模发展的能源资源之一。欧洲是世界发展海上风力发电的先驱,从1991年至2009年,欧洲建设完成并投入运营的共有38个海上风电场,装机容量达到2056MW,其中一半以上的海上风电场是近5年建成的。欧洲海上风电产业拥有先进的核心技术,海上风电场正朝着大规模、深水化、离岸化方向发展,目前正处于示范阶段向商业扩展阶段的过渡时期。而我国虽然拥有丰富的海上风能资源,但海上风电产业的发展却比较缓慢,目前还处于研发阶段和示范阶段的过渡期,海上风电技术仍然面临着核心技术缺失、行业标准混乱、研发能力不足等问题。我国海上风电产业发展面临的主要问题包括:缺乏统筹;产能过剩、质量不高;难以盈利;缺少标准、无法推广等。为促进我国海上风电产业的发展,政府应进一步细化海上风能开发的有关规定,完善政策体系,统筹产业发展,采取多种措施推进政策具体落实;充分发挥市场作用,构建海上风电产品认证检测体系;提升核心技术含量,提高产品技术水平和工艺水平;加快培养专业人才。     

Wind energy and assessment of wind energy potential in Turkey

In this study, the potential of wind energy and assessment of wind energy systems in Turkey were studied. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the wind energy potential and future wind conversion systems project in Turkey. The wind energy potential of various regions was investigated; and the exploitation of the wind energy in Turkey was discussed. Various regions were analyzed taking into account the wind data measured as hourly time series in the windy locations. The wind data used in this study were taken from Electrical Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EIEI) for the year 2010. This paper reviews the assessment of wind energy in Turkey as of the end of May 2010 including wind energy applications. Turkey's total theoretically available potential for wind power is around 131,756.40 MW and sea wind power 17,393.20 MW annually, according to TUREB (TWEA). When Turkey has 1.5 MW nominal installed wind energy capacity in 1998, then this capacity has increased to 1522.20 MW in 2010. Wind power plant with a total capacity of 1522.20 MW will be commissioned 2166.65 MW in December 2011.     

Wind energy status in India: A short review

Renewable energy represents an area of tremendous opportunity for India. Energy is considered a prime agent in the generation of wealth and a significant factor in economic development. Energy is also essential for improving the quality of life. Development of conventional forms of energy for meeting the growing energy needs of society at a reasonable cost is the responsibility of the Government. Limited fossil resources and associated environmental problems have emphasized the need for new sustainable energy supply options. India depends heavily on coal and oil for meeting its energy demand which contributes to smog, acid rain and greenhouse gases’ emission. Last 25 years has been a period of intense activities related to research, development, production and distribution of energy in India.Though major energy sources for electrical power are coal and natural gas, development and promotion of non-conventional sources of energy such as solar, wind and bio-energy, are also getting sustained attention. The use of electricity has grown since it can be used in variety of applications as well as it can be easily transmitted, the uses of renewable energy like wind and solar is rising. Wind energy is a clean, eco-friendly, renewable resource and is nonpolluting. The gross wind power potential is estimated at around 48,561 MW in the country; a capacity of 14,989.89 MW up to 31st August 2011 has so far been added through wind, which places India in the fifth position globally. This paper discusses the ways in which India has already supported the growth of renewable energy technologies i.e. wind energy and its potential to expand their contribution to world growth in a way that is consistent with world's developmental and environmental goals. The paper presents current status, major achievements and future aspects of wind energy in India.     

Offshore transmission for wind: Comparing the economic benefits of different offshore network configurations

It has been argued that increasing transmission network capacity is vital to ensuring the full utilisation of renewables in Europe. The significant wind generation capacity proposed for the North Sea combined with high penetrations of other intermittent renewables across Europe has raised interest in different approaches to connecting offshore wind that might also increase interconnectivity between regions in a cost effective way. These analyses to assess a number of putative North Sea networks confirm that greater interconnection capacity between regions increases the utilisation of offshore wind energy, reducing curtailed wind energy by up to 9 TWh in 2030 based on 61 GW of installed capacity, and facilitating a reduction in annual generation costs of more than €0.5bn. However, at 2013 fuel and carbon prices, such additional network capacity allows cheaper high carbon generation to displace more expensive lower carbon plant, increasing coal generation by as much as 24 TWh and thereby increasing CO₂ emissions. The results are sensitive to the generation “merit order” and a sufficiently high carbon price would yield up to a 28% decrease in emissions depending on the network case. It is inferred that carbon pricing may impact not only generation investment but also the benefits associated with network development.     

可再生能源等比补贴系数及投资估值模型研究

  目的  随着我国“碳中和、碳达峰”目标的提出,可再生能源发电企业面临着快速扩大装机规模,大力发展投资并购的诉求,在我国存量补贴资金缺口逐步增大的背景下,如何确定可再生能源项目的补贴收入,并采用合理方法对项目估值,一直是并购决策的难点。  方法  重点关注了2020年发布的补贴新政,测算了可再生能源存量补贴的兑付系数,基于多情景假设补贴现金流入的规模及时间。  结果  通过等比补贴系数测算及投资估值模型,明确了我国补贴缺口的收口时间及各年度的等比补贴系数,并基于可再生能源项目特点,研究选定最佳估值方法。  结论  通过估值模型对部分地区的海上风电和陆上风电项目进行了估值,为企业投资及并购提供了重要决策支撑。     

Willingness to pay for reduced visual disamenities from offshore wind farms in Denmark

Expansion of offshore wind power plays a significant role in the energy policies of many EU countries. However, offshore wind farms create visual disamenities. These disamenities can be reduced by siting wind farms at larger distances from the coast—and accepting higher costs per kWh produced. In this paper willingness to pay for reducing the visual disamenities from future offshore wind farms is elicited using the economic valuation method Choice Experiments. The valuation scenario comprises the location of 720 offshore wind turbines (equivalent to 3600 MW) in farms at distances equal to: 12, 18 or 50 km from the shore, relative to an 8 km baseline. Using a fixed effect logit model average willingness to pay amounts were estimated as: 46, 96 and 122 Euros/household/year for having the wind farms located at 12, 18 and 50 km from the coast as opposed to 8 km. The results also reveal that WTP deviates significantly depending on the age of respondents and their experiences with offshore wind farms.     

世界风力发电现状与前景预测

全球可再生能源发电装机容量中风电占有压倒性优势,今后可望成为欧洲、亚洲、北美的主要电力来源.2011年中国以62GW的累计装机容量蝉联世界第一,按照我国“十二五”规划目标,预计到2015年风电装机容量将达到1×108kW,年发电量1900×108kW·h.GWEC和Greenpeace预测,今后20年风力发电将成为世界主力电源,2030年装机容量有可能达到23×108kW,可供应世界电力需求的22％.欧美正大力开发海上风电产业.欧洲是世界海上风电发展的先驱和产业中心,欧洲企业不仅拥有自己的核心技术,而且还向世界各地输出技术,今后欧洲海上风力发电将急速增长.美国采取与英国、德国等欧洲厂家相同的战略,大力发展海上风力发电.我国海上风电产业刚刚起步,预计2015年海上风电装机500×104kW.日本学者大岛教授推算了不同电源的发电成本:包括政府财政补贴,运行年限30年的核电站发电成本为12.06日元/(kW·h);按标准设备利用率,风力发电成本11.30日元/(kW·h),与核电相比已经有竞争力.假设风况好时设备利用率达到35％,发电成本为7.95日元/(kW·h),比核电低得多.     

Onshore wind power development in China: Challenges behind a successful story

Wind energy utilization, especially onshore grid-connected wind power generation, has a history of 30 years in China. With the increasing attention to renewable energy development in recent years, wind energy has become the focus of academic research and policy-making. While the potential and advantages of wind energy are widely recognized, many questions regarding the effectiveness of policies and performances of current practices remain unanswered. This paper takes Inner Mongolia, the province that has the most abundant wind energy resources in China, as a case to assess the performance of Chinese onshore wind power projects, focusing on the institutional setting, economic and technological performance, as well as environmental and social impacts. Results show that China is experiencing a rapid growth in wind power generation, which brings China great environmental, energy security and social benefits. However, for a full development of wind energy in China a number of barriers need to be removed: high generation cost, low on-grid price, and stagnating development of domestic manufacture. These findings lead to three policy recommendations.     

A framework for reviewing the trade-offs between, renewable energy, food, feed and wood production at a local level

High fuel prices and concerns about energy security and anthropogenic climate change are encouraging a transition towards a low carbon economy. Although energy policy is typically set at a national level, tools are needed for people to engage with energy policy at regional and local levels, and to guide decisions regarding land use, distributed generation and energy supply and demand. The aim of this paper is to develop a per-capita approach to renewable energy demand and supply within a landscape and to illustrate the key trade-offs between renewable energy, food, (animal) feed and wood production. The chosen case study area (16,000 ha) of Marston Vale, England is anticipated to have a population density midway between that for England and the UK. The daily per capita demand for energy for heat (31 kWh), transport (34 kWh) and electricity (15 kWh) when combined (80 kWh) was seven-fold higher than the combined demand for food (2 kWh), animal feed (6 kWh), and wood (4 kWh). Using described algorithms, the combined potential energy supply from domestic wind and photovoltaic panels, solar heating, ground-source heat, and municipal waste was limited (<10 kWh p⁻¹ d⁻¹). Additional electricity could be generated from landfill gas and commercial wind turbines, but these have temporal implications. Using a geographical information system and the Yield-SAFE tree and crop yield model, the capacity to supply bioethanol, biodiesel, and biomass, food, feed and wood was calculated and illustrated for three land-use scenarios. These scenarios highlight the limits on meeting energy demands for transport (33%) and heat (53%), even if all of the arable and grassland area was planted to a high yielding crop like wheat. The described framework therefore highlights the major constraints faced in meeting current UK energy demands from land-based renewable energy and the stark choices faced by decision makers.     

Investigation of wind energy potentials in Brunei Darussalam

Conventional power generation mainly depends on natural gas and diesel oil in Brunei Darussalam. The power utility company is now thinking of power generation using natural wind. In this paper, wind energy, being one of the most readily available renewable energy sources, was studied. The wind characteristic, velocity and directions were studied using Weibull distribution based on the measurement of wind speed at two different locations in Brunei Darussalam. These wind speed distributions were modeled using the Wind Power program. The wind rose graph was obtained for the wind direction to analyze the wind power density onshore and offshore. Based on this analysis, it has been found that the wind speed of 3 to 5 m/s has a probability of occurrence of 40%. Besides, the annual energy production at a wind speed of 5 m/s has been found to be in the range between 1000 and 1500 kWh for both the locations in Brunei Darussalam.     

A macro-level decision analysis of wind power as a solution for sustainable energy in the USA

This study aims to quantify the socio-economic and environmental impacts of producing electricity by wind power plants for the US electricity mix. To accomplish this goal, all direct and supply chain-related impacts of different onshore and offshore wind turbines are quantified using a hybrid economic input-output-based triple bottom line (TBL) life cycle assessment model. Furthermore, considering TBL sustainability implications of each onshore and offshore wind energy technology, a multi-criteria decision-making tool which is coupled with Monte Carlo simulation is utilised to find the optimal choice of onshore and offshore wind energy. The analysis results indicate that V90-3.0 MW wind turbines have lower impacts than V80-3.0 MW for both socio-economic and environmental indicators. The Monte Carlo simulation results reveal that when environmental issues are more important than socio-economic impacts, V90-3.0 MW offshore is selected among the alternatives.     

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.