1.

Introduction
1. Introduction
The two major sources of energy is classified as: (i) Conventional Sources (ii) Non-Conventional
Sources.

1.1 Conventional Energy Resources

The conventional energy sources are also known as the non-renewable energy sources, which are
obtained from static stores of energy that remain underground unless released by human interaction It
is present in a limited quantity and are being consumed by human beings for many years now. These
energy sources are the decaying matters, which take over hundreds of years to form, for example, coal,
petroleum, etc. So, if they are depleted once, they can never be generated at a speed or pace, which could
sustain their rate of consumption. Such energy may also called as finite energy or Brown Energy.
The conventional energy sources can be further classified into two types, namely, the commercial energy
sources and the non-commercial energy sources.
Commercial energy sources are those energy sources for which the consumer needs to pay the price for
the consumption. For example coal, petroleum, oil, natural gas, and electricity.
Non-commercial energy sources are those energy sources that are freely available, and the consumers
don't need to pay the price for their consumption. A few examples are firewood, straw, dried dung, etc.
Firewood is obtained from the trees and plants, dung is obtained from animal wastes and straw is
obtained from the crop plants like wheat crops, rice crops etc.
Coal: Coal is the most important source of energy. The formation of coal takes place when dead plant
matter decays into peat (accumulation of partially decayed organic matter or vegetation) which is
converted into coal by pressure and heat over millions of years. Coal is mostly composed of Carbon. It
has variable amounts of other elements also, like Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Sulphur, and Oxygen.
Natural Gas and Oil: Natural gas is one of the most crucial sources of energy in the world whereas oil
is considered to be liquid gold. Oil is formed from a large number of tiny animals and plants, which
when die, get trapped at the bottom of the sea under multiple layers of sand and mud, and get exposed
to heat and pressure. It is widely used in trains, ships, automobiles, and planes. Natural gas is formed
when several layers of decomposing animal and plant matter are exposed to intense pressure and heat
over millions of years under the surface of Earth. It is used for various purposes, including cooking,
heating, and electricity generation.
Electricity: Electricity is a form of energy, in which there is a flow of electrons (electric charge) in one
direction. Electricity can be produced using fossil fuels (coal and petroleum), nuclear power, and
renewable energy (solar, wind, or hydropower). As a common source of energy, electricity is commonly
used for commercial and domestic purposes. The electricity is primarily utilized in electrical appliances,
including refrigerators, air conditioners (AC), TV, and washing machines.For all practical purposes
energy supplies can be divided into two classes:

1.2 Non-conventional Energy Resources

The non-conventional energy sources are also known as the renewable energy sources, which are
obtained from natural and continuous flows of energy occurring in the environment. It refers to those
energy sources, which are renewed by natural processes, that too continuously. It can not be exhausted
and can be generated at a constant rate for their use over and over again. Furthermore, these energy
sources do not pollute the environment and natural surroundings and require less expenditure. This type
of energy is already passing through the environment as a current or flow, irrespective of being a device
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1.2. Non-conventional Energy Resources
to intercept and harness this power. Such energy may also called as Green Energy or Sustainable Energy.
A few examples are wind energy, tidal energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and biomass energy.
Solar Energy: Solar energy is the energy produced or generated by sunlight. It is formed due to nuclear
fission and fusion inside the Sun. This energy travels in the form of radiation (electromagnetic waves).
Based on the form of energy that needs to be generated, the photovoltaic cells are exposed to sunlight.
Solar energy is present in abundance although it can be only trapped during the daytime, during the
hours of intense rays. It is widely utilized for lighting, heating, distillation of water, and cooking
purposes.
Wind Energy: Wind energy is the energy generated or produced by harnessing the power of the wind.
It has been used for many years for grinding grains in mills. Although, in recent years, it has been used
to generate electricity by harnessing the energy of winds by turbines attached to substantial capacity
generators. It is also utilized in the operation of water pumps for irrigation purposes. Usually, wind
farms are located near coastal areas or mountains with the high wind flow. In India, many desert regions,
like the outskirts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, have built substantial wind farms.
Tidal Energy: Tidal energy is the energy generated by exploiting the tidal waves of the sea. Tides are
nothing but the rise and fall of the water level in the ocean shores, which are created in the ocean due to
the rotation of the Earth and the attraction between Earth and Moon. The narrow dams are built near the
end of tides, where the turbines help to capture the energy during high tides and low tides. India has vast
tidal mill farms at the Gulf of Kachchh, while other countries include Russia and France. As a non-
conventional source of energy, tidal energy is still left to be tapped due to the lack of cost-effective
technology.
Geothermal Energy: The heat acquired within the earth has been used for generating the geothermal
energy. In many areas, hot springs and volcanoes are witnessed as part of geothermal energy. New
Zealand, Iceland, Central America, and the USA have the largest geothermal power plants. India also
has geothermal power plants located in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.
Biomass Energy: Biomass energy is extracted from biological materials, which are formed from living
organisms and plants. In the biomass power plant, biomass is burnt into a combustor in order to produce
heat, which will be further converted into mechanical energy in order to generate electricity. Biomass
can also be converted into other forms of energy like fuels used in transportation, biodiesel or methane
gas depending on the requirements.
Hydro Energy: This energy is generally available in flowing rivers. A dam is formed to store the water
of the river at some convenient location. This stored water contains the potential energy which can be
converted into kinetic energy by giving a narrow passage to the flow. Thus we get a water stream with
high-speed that drives large turbines to produce electricity.
Comparison of Conventional and Non-conventional Energy Resources

Conventional Energy Resources Non-conventional Energy Resources

(Non-renewable Energy Sources) (Renewable Energy Sources)
Example: Fossil Fuel, CNG, Coal, Oil, Example: Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Bio Energy,
Natural gas Hydro Energy, Tidal Energy, Ocean Energy
Non-renewable Renewable
Available in limited quantity Freely available in nature

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 1. Introduction
Static store of energy Continuous flow of energy
Responsible for the cause of pollution Not responsible for the cause of pollution
Efficiency is low Efficiency is high
Not eco-friendly Eco-friendly in nature
Location for use is general and invariant Location for use is site- and society-specific
Steady energy source Fluctuating energy source
Available for both domestic and industrial use Majorly available for domestic purpose
1.2.1 Obstacle to the implementation of renewable energy
 High initial cost of installation
 Lack of infrastructure
 Power storage
 Non-renewable energy monopoly
 Lack of knowledge and awareness
 Lack of policies, subsidies, incentives, and regulations
 Resource location
 Power quality issues
 Intermittent nature of renewable
 Land use
 Less control over power sources
 Increased complexity
 Lack of technology
 Lack of skilled manpower
1.3 Renewable Energy Availability (Till 2021)

Geographical Grouping Wind Solar Hydro Other Renewables Total

Asia Pacific 779.2 581.5 1851.6 329.4 3541.7

Europe 503.0 195.6 649.7 247.9 1596.2
North America 439.6 182.4 673.3 92.1 1387.4
S. & Cent. America 108.2 37.2 660.1 84.0 889.4
CIS 4.6 4.1 266.3 0.9 275.9
Africa 24.4 16.5 153.4 8.0 202.4
Middle East 2.9 15.2 19.5 0.4 38.0
Total 1861.9 1032.5 4273.8 762.8 7931.1

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1.4. Brief Description of Renewable Energy Sources
Country Wind Solar Hydro Other Renewables Total
China 655.6 327.0 1300.0 169.9 2452.5
US 383.6 165.4 257.7 75.5 882.1
Brazil 72.3 16.8 362.8 55.0 506.8
Canada 35.1 5.2 380.8 9.7 430.8
India 68.1 68.3 160.3 35.5 332.2
Germany 117.7 49.0 19.1 50.9 236.7
Russian Federation 2.6 2.3 214.5 0.5 219.9
Japan 8.2 86.3 77.6 35.8 207.9
Norway 11.8 0.2 143.1 0.3 155.3
Spain 62.4 26.8 29.6 6.6 125.3
United Kingdom 64.5 12.4 5.0 40.0 121.9
France 37.0 14.6 58.0 11.2 120.7
Other Countries 343.2 258.4 1265.2 272.0 2138.7
Total 1861.9 1032.5 4273.8 762.8 7931.1
Note: All values are in Terawatt-hours

1.4 Brief Description of Renewable Energy Sources

1.4.1 Solar Energy
Solar energy is the cleanest
renewable energy source and it
can be used to meet the
electricity requirements such as
lighting systems, water heating
for domestic, commercial and
industrial applications, etc. The
essential component in solar
energy system is photovoltaic or
solar cell, by which sunlight
energy is converted into
electrical energy by the principle
of the photoelectric effect. This
electrical energy is stored in the
battery using a charge controller
circuit. The charge controller
directs the voltage and currents
from solar panel and also
protects the battery from over and under charging conditions. The DC power from battery is supplied to
DC loads and/or converted to AC using an inverter to power the AC loads. By this way solar system is
installed in homes and industries to power up the loads.
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 1. Introduction
1.4.2 Wind Energy
The main components of a wind energy system are shown in Figure. The rotor blades are connected to
the turbine rotor, which convert kinetic energy in wind to rotational mechanical energy on a low-speed
shaft (10 to 20 rpm). The low-speed shaft connects to the gearbox, which has a set of gears that increase
the output speed of the shaft to approximately 1,000 rpm or 1,500 rpm for an output frequency of 50
Hz. For this reason, the shaft from the gearbox is called the high-speed shaft. The high-speed shaft is
then connected to the generator, which converts the rotational mechanical energy to electrical energy.
The output of generator is either directly connected to the grid or through rotor side converter and grid
side converter. A step-up transformer is also used to step up the generated voltage before connecting the
wind energy to the grid.
The turbine controller takes data from a wind sensor to control the orientation of turbine blade and
turbine face, to optimize the energy extracted, and to prevent over-speeding in the event of high winds.
The converter controller controls the rotor speed, power, voltage, current, and frequency.

1.4.3 Hydro Energy

Hydro electric power stations are generally located in hilly areas where dams can be built conveniently
and large water reservoirs can be obtained. In a hydro electric power station, water head is created by
constructing a dam across a river or lake. From the dam, water is led to a water turbine. The potential
energy of the stored water is converted into kinetic energy by first passing it through the penstock pipe.
The kinetic energy of the water is then converted into mechanical energy in a hydraulic turbine. The
turbine is coupled to the electric generator. The mechanical energy available at the shaft of the turbine
is converted into electrical energy by means of the generator.
Block diagram of hydro power plant shows that, the measured synchronous speed is fed back to compare
with the reference speed signal. The speed deviation produced by comparing reference and synchronous
generator speed is used as an input for PID based speed governor. The governor produces the control
signal, causing a change in the gate opening by servomotor. The turbine then produces the torque,
driving the synchronous machine generating the electrical power output. The speed governor
continuously checks speed deviation to take action. The function of excitation system is to maintain the
generator terminal output voltage at constant level.
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1.4. Brief Description of Renewable Energy Sources

1.4.4 Tidal Energy

Tidal Energy is another form of hydro power that utilizes the vast energy source of the oceans tides to
generate electricity. As the Earth, its Moon and the Sun rotate around each other in space, the
gravitational forces of both the moon and the sun with respect to the earth, causes millions of gallons of
water to flow around the Earth’s oceans creating periodic shifts in these moving bodies of water. These
vertical shifts of water are called tides.
When the moon is in perfect alignment with the earth and the sun, the gravitational pull of the moon and
sun together becomes much stronger than normal. It causes millions of gallons of water to move or flow
towards the shore creating much larger differences between the high and low tides thereby producing
very high tides during each tidal cycle. Such tides are known as spring tides (maximum), which occur
during the full or new moon phase.
The other tidal situation arises during neap tides (minimum) when the gravitational pull of the moon
and the sun are against 90 to each other, thus cancelling their effects. The net result is a weaker pulling
action on the sea and the water flows away from the shore creating much smaller differences between
the high and low tides thereby producing very weak tides during each tidal cycle.
Tidal Energy Generation
Since the position of the earth and the moon with respect to the sun changes throughout the year, we can
utilise the potential energy of the water contained in the daily movement of the rising and falling sea
levels to generate electricity.
The generation of electricity from tides is similar in many ways to hydro power generations. The
difference is that the water flows in and out of the turbines in both directions instead of in just one
forward direction. Therefore, tidal generators are designed to produce power when the rotor blades are
turning in either direction. However, the cost of reversible electrical generators are more expensive than
single direction generators.
Tidal power generation involves the construction of a
fairly low dam wall, known as a “barrage”, across the
entrance of a tidal inlet or basin creating a tidal reservoir.
The bottom of this barrage dam is located on the sea
floor with the top of the tidal barrage being just above
the highest level that the water can get during the highest
annual tide. A tidal barrage generates electricity using
the difference in the vertical height between the
incoming high tides and the outgoing low tides. The
barrage has a one way underwater tunnel system cut into its width allowing sea water to flow in or out
of the reservoir through tunnel in a controlled way using “sluice gates” on their entrance and exit points.

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 1. Introduction
A huge tidal turbine generator is fixed within the tunnel that spin as the tidal water rushes past them
either to fill or empty the tidal reservoir thereby generating electricity on both the incoming and the
outgoing tides.
1.4.5 Wave Energy
Ocean wave energy, or just simply Wave Energy, is another type of ocean based renewable energy
source that uses the power of the ocean waves to generate electricity. Unlike tidal energy which uses the
ebb and flow of the tides, wave energy uses the vertical movement of the surface water that produce
ocean waves.
Wave Energy is an indirect form of wind energy. As the wind passes over the surface of the oceans, a
portion of the winds kinetic energy causes movement of the water on the surface of ocean, thereby
generating waves. By capturing this energy the motion of the waves is converted to mechanical energy
and used to drive an electricity generator. In many respects, the technology used for capturing this wave
energy is similar to tidal energy or hydro power.
In its simplest terms, an ocean wave is the up-and-down vertical movement of the sea water which varies
sinusoidally with time. This sinusoidal wave has high points called crests and low points called troughs.
The difference in height of a wave between the crest and the trough is called the peak-to-peak amplitude,
then the wave amplitude or height is the centre of these two points and corresponds to the actual sea
level when there is no movement of the water, in other words, a calm sea.
The two main factors which affect the size of the wave energy are the winds strength and the
uninterrupted distance over the sea that the wind can blow. The amplitude of an ocean wave depends on
the weather conditions at that time, as the amplitude of a smooth wave, or swell, will be small in calm
weather but much larger in stormy weather with strong gales as the sea water moves up and down.
Another important characteristic is the distance between each successive crest or trough, known as the
wave period. This wave period is the time in seconds between each crest of the wave. Then for a gentle
swell this time period may be very long, but for a stormy sea this time period may be very short as each
wave crashes onto the one in front.

There are many types of technology used to convert wave energy into electricity. One of these methods
is oscillating bodies that use floating buoys or platforms rising and falling with the swell. They are fixed
to the seafloor via a hydraulic pump. The buoy moves up and down along ocean swell crests and troughs,
activating the hydraulic pump which pushes water or air through a turbine, which in turn rotates a
generator to produce electricity.

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1.4. Brief Description of Renewable Energy Sources
1.4.6 Ocean Thermal Energy
Ocean thermal energy conversion, (OTEC) is another form of ocean based energy production. OTEC
works by using the temperature difference (of at least 20° Celsius or 36° Fahrenheit) between warm
surface seawater and deep seawater (taken from depths of 600 to 1000 meters) to generate electricity.
An OTEC system is comprised of components such as an evaporator, condenser, turbine, generator, and
pump. This is done using a working fluid with the low boiling point that vaporizes as the result of heat
transfer from the warm surface seawater in the evaporator. The vapour drives the turbine, which in turn
drives a generator to produce electricity. The vapour then is passed through the condenser, where the
transfer of heat energy to the cold seawater returns the vapour to a liquid state.

1.4.7 Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy is the thermal energy generated
and stored in the earth. It originates from the original
formation of the planet (20%) and from radioactive
decay of materials (80%). The thermal energy is
contained in the rocks and fluids beneath earth’s
crust. It can be found from shallow ground to several
miles below the surface, and even farther down to
the extremely hot molten rock called magma. The
geothermal gradient, which is the temperature
difference between the core of the planet and its
surface, drives a continuous conduction of thermal
energy in the form of heat from the core to the
surface.
The high pressure hot water from the reservoir flows
up through the production well due to its own
pressure. The pressure decreases as the water flows upwards and, hence, some of it gets converted into
steam. The steam is separated from the water by steam separator and sent to drive the steam turbine,
which is connected to a generator that produces electricity. The unused water as well as the condensed
steam are injected back through the injection well.

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 1. Introduction
1.4.8 Biomass Energy
Biomass is used for facility heating, electric power generation, and combined heat and power. The term
biomass comprises a large variety of materials, including wood from various sources, agricultural
residues, animal and human waste.
Biomass can be converted into electric power through several methods. The most common is direct
combustion of biomass material, such as agricultural waste or woody materials. Other options include
gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion. Gasification produces a synthesis gas with usable
energy content by heating the biomass with less oxygen than needed for complete combustion. Pyrolysis
yields bio-oil by rapidly heating the biomass in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic digestion produces a
renewable natural gas when organic matter is decomposed by bacteria in the absence of oxygen.
Different methods work with different types of biomass. Typically, woody biomass such as wood chips,
pellets, and sawdust are combusted or gasified to generate electricity. Corn stover and wheat straw
residues are baled for combustion or converted into a gas using an anaerobic digester. Very wet wastes,
like animal and human wastes, are converted into a medium energy content gas in an anaerobic digester.
In addition, most other types of biomass can be converted into bio-oil through pyrolysis, which can then
be used in boilers and furnaces.
Most bio-power plants use direct combustion systems. They burn biomass directly to produce high-
pressure steam that drives a turbine generator to make electricity. In some biomass industries, the
extracted or spent steam from the power plant is also used for manufacturing processes or to heat
buildings. These combined heat and power (CHP) systems greatly increase overall energy efficiency to
approximately 80%, from the standard biomass electricity-only systems with efficiencies of
approximately 20%. Seasonal heating requirements will impact the CHP system efficiency.

Direct combustion systems feed a biomass feedstock into a combustor or furnace, where the biomass is
burned with excess air to heat water in a boiler to create steam. Steam from the boiler is then expanded
through a steam turbine, which spins to run a generator and produce electricity.