Tidal current energy resource assessment in Ireland: Current status and future update

Interest in renewable energy in Ireland has increased continually over the past decade. This interest is due primarily to security of supply issues and the effects of climate change. Ireland imports over 90% of its primary energy consumption, mostly in the form of fossil fuels. The exploitation of Ireland's vast indigenous renewable energy resources is required in order to reduce this over-dependence on fossil fuel imports to meet energy demand. Various targets have been set by the Irish government to incorporate renewable energy technologies into Ireland's energy market. As a result of these targets, the development in wind energy has increased substantially over the past decade; however this method of energy extraction is intermittent and unpredictable. Ireland has an excellent tidal current energy resource and the use of this resource will assist in the development of a sustainable energy future. Energy extraction using tidal current energy technologies offers a vast and predictable energy resource. This paper reviews the currently accepted tidal current energy resource assessment for Ireland. This assessment was compiled by Sustainable Energy Ireland in a report in 2004. The assessment employed a 2-dimensional numerical model of the tidal current velocities around Ireland, and from this numerical model the theoretical tidal current energy resource was identified. With the introduction of constraints and limitations, the technical, practical, accessible and viable tidal current energy resources were obtained. The paper discusses why the assessment needs updating including the effect on the assessment of the current stage of development of tidal current turbines and their deployment technology.     

Renewable energy policy in Turkey with the new legal regulations

Since the energy crises in the 1970’s, public and private decision makers are considering how to achieve a sustainable transition from fossil fuel based energy to sustainable and clean energies - namely renewable energies. Combined with the improvement of energy efficiency and the rational use of energy, renewable energy can provide everything fossil fuels currently offer in terms of heating and cooling, electricity generation and transportation. Renewable energy technologies posses many long term benefits including energy security, job creation, business opportunities, sustainable development and prevention of global warming.Turkey’s population is growing at an annual rate of 1.04%. If Turkey uses only traditional energy sources, it simply will not have enough energy capacity for its population. Renewable energy sources have the potential to make a large contribution to Turkey’s sustainable and independent energy future.Turkey aims to utilize its energy potential, including from renewable sources in a cost-effective manner. Turkey targets the share of renewable resources in electricity generation to be at least 30% by 2023 has in its 2009 Electricity Market and Security of Supply Strategy. Positive achievements have been obtained in renewable energy development and manufacturing in Turkey over the past decade. The renewable energy related legislation has been intensified. To meet its 30% target, the current promotion mechanism for renewable sources of electricity relies on feed-in tariffs for different renewable energy sources. Large hydropower is already competitive to conventional fossil-based electricity, so feed-in tariffs in the new RE Law are set to facilitate expanding the deployment of other, less mature renewable energy technologies.     

On the wind energy in Turkey

Increase in negative effects of fossil fuels on the environment has forced many countries, including Turkey, to use renewable energy sources. Today, clean, domestic and renewable energy is commonly accepted as the key for future life, not only for Turkey but also for the world. As wind energy is an alternative clean energy source compared to the fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere, systems that convert wind energy to electricity have developed rapidly. Turkey is an energy importing country, more than half of the energy requirement has been supplied by imports. Turkey's domestic fossil fuel resources are extremely limited. In addition, Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of wind power. In this context, renewable energy resources appear to be one of the most efficient and effective solutions for sustainable energy development and environmental pollution prevention in Turkey. Since wind energy will be used more and more in the future, its current potential, usage, and assessment in Turkey is the focus of the present study. The paper not only presents a review of the potential and utilization of the wind power in Turkey but also provides some guidelines for policy makers.     

The first step towards a 100% renewable energy-system for Ireland

In 2007 Ireland supplied 96% of the total energy demand with fossil fuels (7% domestic and 89% imported) and 3% with renewable energy, even though there are enough renewable resources to supply all the energy required. As energy prices increase and the effects of global warming worsen, it is essential that Ireland begins to utilise its renewable resources more effectively. Therefore, this study presents the first step towards a 100% renewable energy-system for Ireland. The energy-system analysis tool used was EnergyPLAN, as it accounts for all sectors of the energy-system that need to be considered when integrating large penetrations of renewable energy: the electricity, heat, and transport sectors. Initially, a reference model of the existing Irish energy-system was constructed, and subsequently three different 100% renewable energy-systems were created with each focusing on a different resource: biomass, hydrogen, and electricity. These energy-systems were compared so that the benefits from each could be used to create an ‘optimum’ scenario called combination. Although the results illustrate a potential 100% renewable energy-system for Ireland, they have been obtained based on numerous assumptions. Therefore, these will need to be improved in the future before a serious roadmap can be defined for Ireland’s renewable energy transition.     

Co-benefit analysis of incentives for energy generation and storage systems; a multi-stakeholder perspective

In this work, we are analyzing the advantages of energy incentives for all the stakeholders in an energy system. The stakeholders include the government, the energy hub operator, and the energy consumer. Two streams of energy incentives were compared in this work: incentives for renewable energy generation technologies and incentives for energy storage technologies. The first type aims increasing the share of renewable energies in the electricity system while the second type aims development of systems which use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels in other sectors of an energy system such as the transportation, residential and industrial sector. In this work, we are analyzing the advantages of energy incentives for all the stakeholders in an energy system. The stakeholders include the government, the energy hub operator, and the energy consumer. Two streams of energy incentives were compared in this work: incentives for renewable energy generation technologies and incentives for energy storage technologies. The first type aims to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity system while the second type aims the development of systems which use clean electricity to replace fossil fuels in other sectors of an energy system such as the transportation, residential and industrial sector. The results of the analysis showed that replacing fossil fuel-based electricity generation with wind and solar power is a less expensive way for the energy consumer to reduce GHG emissions (60 and 92 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for wind and solar, respectively) compared to investing on energy storage technologies (225 and 317 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for Power-to-Gas and battery powered forklifts, respectively). However, considering the current Ontario's electricity mix, incentives for the Power-to-Gas and battery powered technologies are less expensive ways to reduce emissions compared to replacing the grid with wind and solar power technologies (1479 and 2418 CAD/ tonne CO_2e for wind and solar, respectively). Our analysis also shows that battery storage and hydrogen storage are complementary technologies for reducing GHG emissions in Ontario.     

Cost and benefit of renewable energy in the European Union

An assessment is made as to whether renewable energy use for electricity generation in the EU was beneficial throughout the cycle of high and low oil prices. Costs and benefits are calculated with the EU statistics for the period of low oil prices 1998–2002 and high oil prices 2003–2009. The share of renewable energy in electricity production was 21% of all energy resources in 2008, growing on average 5% a year during 2003–2008 compared to nil growth of the fossil fuels mix. Correlations show significant impacts of growing renewable energy use on changes in consumers' electricity prices during the high and rapidly increasing fossil fuel prices in the period 2005–2008. The growing use has contributed to price decrease in most countries that use more renewable energy and price increase in many countries that use little renewable energy. Costs and benefits are assessed through comparison between the observed consumers' electricity prices and simulated prices had they followed the costs of fossil fuel mix. A net benefit of 47 billion euro throughout the oil price cycle is attributable to the growing use of renewable energy, which is on average 8 billion euro a year. This net benefit is larger than the total public support for renewable energy. The net benefit would be larger had the EU anticipated high oil prices through more public support during low oil prices, as this would create productive capacity, but countries' interests increasingly differed. An anti-cyclic EU policy is recommended.     

Basic concepts for designing renewable electricity support aiming at a full-scale transition by 2050

Renewable electricity supply is a crucial factor in the realization of a low-carbon energy economy. The understanding is growing that a full turn-over of the electricity sectors by 2050 is an elementary condition for avoiding global average temperature increase beyond 2 °C. This article adopts such full transition as Europe's target when designing renewable energy policy. An immediate corollary is that phasing-in unprecedented energy efficiency and renewable generation must be paralleled by phasing-out non-sustainable fossil fuel and nuclear power technologies. The double phasing programme assigns novel meaning to nearby target settings for renewable power as share of total power consumption. It requires organizing in the medium term EU-wide markets for green power, a highly demanding task in the present context of poorly functional markets in brown power. The EU Commission's 2007/2008 proposals of expanding tradable certificates markets were not based on solid analysis of past experiences and future necessities. The keystone of sound policies on renewable electricity development is a detailed scientific differentiation and qualification of renewable electricity sources and technologies, for measuring the huge diversity in the field. We provide but structuring concepts about such qualification, because implementation requires extensive research resources.     

Pathways to a more sustainable production of energy: sustainable hydrogen—a research objective for Shell

Towards a sustainable energy supply is a clear direction for exploratory research in Shell. Examples of energy carriers, which should be delivered to the envisaged sustainable energy markets, are bio-fuels, produced from biomass residues, and hydrogen (or electricity), produced from renewable sources. In contrast to the readily available ancient sunlight stored in fossil fuels, the harvesting of incident sunlight will be intermittent, efficient electricity and hydrogen storage technologies need to be developed. Research to develop those energy chains is going on, but the actual transformation from current fossil fuel based to sustainable energy markets will take a considerable time. In the meantime the fossil fuel based energy markets have to be transformed to mitigate the impact of the use of fossil fuels. Some elements in this transformation are fuels for ultra-clean combustion (hydrocarbons and oxygenates), hydrogen from fossil fuels, fuels for processors for fuel cells, carbon sequestration.     

Green hydrogen for heating and its impact on the power system

With a relatively high energy density, hydrogen is attracting increasing attention in research, commercial and political spheres, specifically as a fuel for residential heating, which is proving to be a difficult sector to decarbonise in some circumstances. Hydrogen production is dependent on the power system so any scale use of hydrogen for residential heating will impact various aspects of the power system, including electricity prices and renewable generation curtailment (i.e. wind, solar). Using a linearised optimal power flow model and the power infrastructure on the island of Ireland this paper examines least cost optimal investment in electrolysers in the presence of Ireland's 70% renewable electricity target by 2030. The introduction of electrolysers in the power system leads to an increase in emissions from power generation, which is inconsistent with some definitions of green hydrogen. Electricity prices are marginally higher with electrolysers whereas the optimal location of electrolysers is driven by a combination of residential heating demand and potential surplus power supplies at electricity nodes.     

The Benefits of Renewables in Turkey

Renewable energy is proving to be commercially viable for a growing list of consumers and uses. Renewable energy technologies provide many benefits that go well beyond energy alone. More and more, renewable energies are contributing to the three pillars of sustainable development not only in IEA countries, but globally. Turkey is an energy-importing country; more than half of the energy requirement has been supplied by imports. Domestic oil and lignite reserves are limited and lignites are characterized by high ash, sulfur, and moisture content. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear to be one of the most efficient and effective solutions for sustainable energy development in Turkey. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for the extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Because of this and the fact that it has limited fossil fuel resources, a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewables seems to be serious and the sole alternative for Turkey. This article presents the role of the renewables in future directions in IEA countries with Turkey. At present the share of hydropower and biomass is high as 30% in the primary energy production of Turkey. In the case of solar, geothermal, and wind energy, there is an important potential for domestic heating and electricity generation.     

The transition to renewables: Can PV provide an answer to the peak oil and climate change challenges?

This paper explores energy and physical resource limitations to transitioning from fossil fuels to the large-scale generation of electricity with photovoltaic arrays. The model finds that business as usual models, which involve growth rates in world electricity demand of between 2% and 3.2% p.a., exhibit severe material difficulties before the end of this century. If the growth rate is lowered to 1% p.a., then it may be possible to reach the year 2100 before such difficulties, but it is likely that material constraints will occur early the next century. Steady state scenarios show that silicon based photovoltaic panels could, however, displace fossil fuels before the middle of the century, providing around the same order of magnitude as present (2010) world electricity demand. Scenarios also show that outcomes will be highly dependent upon the rate of improvement of photovoltaic technologies. The analysis does not contend that silicon PV technology is the only technology that will or can be adopted, but as the embodied energy content per kWh generated of this technology is similar to other renewable technologies, such as other solar technologies and wind, it can provide a baseline for examining a transition to a mixture of renewable energy sources.     

Appropriate technologies for large-scale production of electricity and hydrogen fuel

Appropriate technology for energy supply requires the use of the most effective energy resources and conversion technologies that will also result in the minimum acceptable impact upon the environment. A useful parameter for evaluation of energy resources for large-scale production of electricity and hydrogen fuel is the specific energy of the appropriate energy resources. Available resources for such large-scale applications must come from some mixture of renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy. Analysis is made of the appropriate use of solar energy, chemical combustion fuels, and nuclear energy on the basis of their specific energy. The results show that the most appropriate resources for large-scale production of electricity and hydrogen are low-specific solar photovoltaic and wind turbine energy for large numbers of distributed small-scale applications and high-specific nuclear energy for smaller numbers of large-scale applications.     

Renewable and sustainable energy use in Turkey: a review

Turkey is an energy importing nation with more than half of our energy requirements met by imported fuels. Air pollution is becoming a significant environmental concern in the country. In this regard, renewable energy resources are becoming attractive for sustainable energy development and environmental pollution mitigation in Turkey. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Because of this and our limited fossil fuel resources, a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewables seems to be a serious alternative for Turkey's energy future. This article presents a review of the present energy situation and assesses sustainability, technical, and economical potential of renewable energy sources, and future policies for the energy sector in Turkey. Throughout the paper, problems relating to renewable energy sources, environment, and sustainable development are discussed for both current and future energy investments. The renewable energy potential of the country and its present status are evaluated.     

对我国风电发展战略的冷思考

我国风电发展迅速,计划2010年风电装机容量要达到3500×10^4kW,2020年达到1.5×10^8kW。据IEA预测,2030年世界能源供应仍以化石能源为主,其比重由2006年的80.8%下降到80.4%;2030年世界发电能源结构也以化石能源发电为主,其比重由2006年的74%下降到73%。中国到21世纪中叶传统化石能源仍将居绝对优势地位。因此在可再生能源和新能源的开发过程中,不要急于求成,片面追求能源和电源结构优化不可取。我国未来要依靠核电和新能源发电,但需要通过对其技术经济的进一步研究,才能确定主要靠核电还是风电、太阳能发电或生物质能发电。目前我国风电发展的主要问题是对风电的技术要求起点低,技术路线不对,从国外引进了落后的风电技术。为了我国风电的健康发展,必须加快风电合理利用的研究,包括风电储能和风电直接利用的研究。     

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.     

The potential of water power in the fight against global warming in the US

The leading cause of climate change today is the burning of fossil fuels related to energy production. One approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, therefore, is to more actively switch to renewable technologies in the production of electricity, and reduce the use of fossil fuels in electricity production. This is the goal of renewable portfolio standard (RPS) legislation, currently in effect in 28 states across the country. In this paper we discuss the potential for water power development as one method to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions. We look at the potential from (1) new small/micro hydropower dams, (2) uprating facilities at existing large hydropower dams, (3) new generating facilities at existing non-hydropower dams, and (4) hydrokinetics. We analyze this potential by type, by state, and by its ability to satisfy current RPS goals. Finally, we consider the cost-effectiveness of developing these sources of water-based energy. We find that while water power will never be the complete answer to emissions-free energy production, a strong case can be made that it can be a useful part of the answer.     

Current utilization and future prospects of emerging renewable energy applications in Canada

Canada has vast renewable energy resources due to its extensive geography and traditionally they have played an important role, particularly prior to the turn of the 20th century. Public interest in new renewable energy technologies (RETs) emerged and grew during the oil shocks of the 1970s and early 1980s. Even though many Canadian provinces had been deriving most of their electricity from hydroelectric power, the first oil crises of the 1970s ignited a strong interest in all forms of renewable energy. Though Canada has huge prospects for low-impact RETs, it is falling behind most industrialized nations in the expansion of these technologies due to a lack of supporting market structures and the absence of appropriate government policies and initiatives. This review focuses on only applications of low-impact emerging RETs that refer to wind, solar, small hydro, geothermal, marine and modern biomass energy. Today, these technologies are mostly in the dissemination, demonstration and early stage of commercialization phase in Canada and currently they contribute less than 1% of the total primary energy consumption. It is evident from the past experience of Europe and Japan that environmentally benign RETs can contribute significantly toward Canada’s Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of conventional fossil fuels, and help Canada take an essential step toward a sustainable energy future. In this paper, the current energy utilization scenario of Canada has been analyzed and an array of emerging RET applications has been presented under the category of: (i) green power technologies; (ii) green heat technologies; and (iii) green fuel technologies.     

Lignocellulosic biomass gasification technology in China

With the critical worldwide energy shortage and global environment concern, lignocellulosic biomass is regarded as one of the potential renewable energy resources to substitute conventional fossil fuels. Among various thermo-chemical conversion technologies, gasification is now regarded as an advanced and efficient method. Based on the mechanism of biomass gasification, this paper outlines different types of gasifiers that have been developed in China. Air gasification technology has been employed in the rural areas or forestry/agricultural processing entities. Obviously, the product gas for cooking and heating can significantly upgrade the living standard of rural residents. The product gas for heating boiler and generating electricity benefits the forest or agricultural processing enterprises. For China’s sustainable development of energy and environment, multi-cogeneration of heat, electricity and liquid fuels together with chemical feedstock will be a potential direction for efficiently utilizing product gas from lignocellulosic biomass. This means oxygen (including oxygen-enriched air) gasification and steam gasification should be taken into more consideration.     

Progress of renewable electricity replacing fossil fuels

Dramatic fall in costs of renewable energy in the last 24 months has not only accelerated the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy in electricity generation. The low cost renewable electricity is now starting to replace fossil fuels in other sectors.One reason is that renewable electricity is now cheaper per unit energy than oil, about the same price as fossil methan but, still, more expensive than coal. Another reason is that electricity often offer other opportunities, such as cheaper transport, better control, higher energy efficiency in final production of energy services and lower local environmental costs.