Renewable Energy Systems

Principles of Renewable Energy

Source: Twidell
Electrical Engineering
Muhammad Jafar
Personal Introduction
Academic
PhD electrical engineering, 2013, Norwegian University of Science & Technology
MSc electrical engineering, 2008, UET Taxila
BSc electrical engineering, 1998, NWFP UET Peshawar
Professional
2012 – 2018, DNV GL, A Norwegian multinational testing, inspection, certification, and
advisory company
2004 – 2008, CIIT Wah Cantt., Educational institution
1999 – 2004, Siemens Islamabad, A German multinational working in the electric power
products and projects business
Specialization
Electrical power engineering
Power electronics
HVDC, FACTS, renewable energy, microgrids
Course Information
Grading
8*Quiz, midterm?, and final
Absolute grading (means below 50% will fail)
Class rules
Mobiles switched off
Please be on time
Behavior
Please cooperate
Tolerate my tantrums! (I will try to be nice)
Provide feedback
Power engineering careers

Time/space Designer Supplier User

Pre-feasibility   
Feasibility   
Engineering   
Construction   
Operation   
De-commissioning   
Renewable energy sources and conventional sources

Additionally: tidal power

Introduction
Renewables vital for sustainability
Whatever renewable is considered, some questions need to be asked
Amount of energy and the resource type
Purpose of use
Environmental impact
Cost: Renewables quite expensive
Fossil fuel “costs” to the society are too high
Comparisons should be on an equal footing
Energy and sustainable development
Sustainable development
Living, producing, and consuming in a manner which will not affect the rights of future
generations to do so.
Buzzword everywhere in the world
Everyone agrees in principle, but application is much harder
Development means growth but it is quite uneven in terms of benefit of resource
use and who pays the price
The way we are handling the planet’s resources right now is catastrophic
according to some (some who should matter)
Energy and sustainable development
The case of energy
Source for all economy
What do we really do to do business
Manipulate energy to produce and sell
World energy use increased 10 times in the 20th century
The trend in energy consumption is set to continue
What about the availability
Fossil fuels formed millions of years ago
Not being produced at the rate at which they are being consumed
We will run out
Left with oil and gas reserves for a few decades
Coal for a few centuries
Energy and sustainable development
The other big problem with fossil fuels
 These are burned and produce greenhouse gases and pollutants
 Damaging health and the environment
Fossil fuels are indeed very costly if we take into account the cost of damage to the
environment
Doomsday predictions
 Excessive CO2 will trap so much heat, the average temperature of the globe will rise by more than 3C
leading to catastrophic climate change
 Climate change will fuel migrations and conflict
 Affect the global economy and living standards significantly
Renewables are more compatible with sustainable development
Government policies
 Increased renewables
 Efficiency enhancements
 Pollution reduction
 Reconsider lifestyles
Energy and sustainable development
Comparison
A simple numerical model
 About the need for energy

 total yearly energy requirement

 number of people
 energy requirement per person or per capita
 Energy per unit time
World average per capita
North America per capita
Europe per capita
Central Africa per capita
A simple numerical model
 Standard of living (gross domestic product GDP is one measure)

 GDP per capita

 energy requirement per person or per capita
 a nonlinear and complex function
 can be looked at as an efficiency factor with which energy is converted to wealth
The higher the efficiency the higher the wealth with the same energy
A simple numerical model
Put
in
We get

From where

Change in total energy requirement is proportional to

Economic growth
The number of people
The inverse of efficiency
A simple numerical model
GDP growth rate considered good between 2-5%
Population growth between 2-3%
At constant efficiency energy consumption growth will be between 4-8%
More and more resources need to be explored and consumed
More fossil fuel consumption means more greenhouse gases
Climate change
Pollution
The solution is to use renewable energy
Improving efficiency is another solution
Kardashev scale
Categorization of civilizations based on energy harnessing capacity
Global resources
Lets imagine an equal world
E= 2 kW
Renewable energy flux = 500 W per square meter (includes solar, wind and
others)
Harnessing this flux at 4% efficiency we get
2 kW from 10m x 10m area = 0.0001 sq. km
Suburban population densities at 500 per square km
Total energy demand per square kilometer = 1000 kW per sq. km
Land area required for 1000 kW = 0.0001*500 = 0.05 sq. km = 5% of 1 sq. km
Renewables are enough!
Provided we have the will to use them
And we can store this energy
Fundamentals
Definitions
Renewable energy
Energy obtained from natural and persistent flows of energy occurring in the immediate
environment
Examples are solar and wind
Also called green energy
Or sustainable energy
Non-renewable energy
Energy obtained from static stores of energy that remain underground unless released by
human interaction
Examples are nuclear and fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas)
Also called finite supplies
Or brown energy
Definitions
green vs brown energy
Energy sources
The sun (renewable, fossil fuel creation)
The motion and gravitational potential of the Sun, Moon, and Earth (renewable)
Geothermal energy from cooling, chemical reactions, and radioactive decay in
the Earth (renewable aquifers, hot rocks brown)
Human induced nuclear reactions (brown)
Chemical reactions from mineral sources (brown, important for batteries)
Environmental energy
Important number
Solar flux density 1000 W
per sq. m.
Not that easy to absorb all
this energy
Almost 20 MW per person
Location and resource
specific planning and
harvesting is required
Primary supply to end-use
Sankey diagram
Imagines energy flow through pipes
Also called spaghetti diagram
For Austria
Primary supply to end-use
Energy planning
Supply not to be considered separately from end-use
Risk of mismatch if supply and end-use are not considered together
Consequence: energy loss and uneconomic operation
Example
Suppose primary end-use is heating and hot water
We produce electricity with coal and throw away the waste heat
Spread electricity over lossy cables which dissipate losses as heat
Install electric water heaters in the end
Best solution in this case is combined heat and power
Energy planning
System efficiency is very important
Example for lighting
 Generation around 30%
 Transmission about 90%
 Incandescent lamp efficiency at 4-5%
 System efficiency between 1 and 1.5%
Contrasting example of co-generation
 Generation 85%
 Transmission 90%
 Fluorescent lamp efficiency at 22%
 System efficiency is 14-18%
 10 times the previous efficiency
Life cycle costs of efficient system will be lower even if the upfront capital investment is higher
 Less generation capacity and fuel is required
 Less per unit emission costs are charged
 Efficient lamps last longer
Energy planning
Energy management is necessary
Renewable exploitation is expensive
Efficiency should be kept at optimum level
Otherwise things will be expensive
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Availability of energy currents
Should be present in the immediate environment
For example, animals should not be farmed for biogas
Another example: biomass should be present where energy is required to avoid
transportation costs
Energy current measurements should be done over a long period
Dynamic characteristics
End-use requirements change over time
Example: electricity consumption peaks and troughs throughout the day
Fossil fuels can increase or decrease energy production based on requirement and stored
energy
Not renewables and renewable energy supply also varies
Some very variable (wind, solar)
Some predictable (tidal, solar!)
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Dynamic characteristics
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Quality of supply
Quality as a percentage of an energy source which can be converted to work
Electricity is high quality: motor efficiencies around 95%
Fossil fuel, nuclear, and biomass quality is around 33%
Combined cycle (gas turbine and steam plant) have a quality up to 50%
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Quality of supply
Mechanical supplies
Hydro, wind, wave, and tidal
Wind 35%
Hydro 70-90%
Wave 50%
Tidal 75%
Heat supplies
Biomass combustion, solar collectors
Maximum efficiency around 35%
Photon processes
Photosynthesis, photochemistry, photovoltaic conversion
Photovoltaic conversion efficiencies around 20-30%
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Dispersed versus centralized energy
Energy production density question
Renewable around 1 kW per sq. m.
Boiler around 100 kW per sq. m.
Nuclear heat exchanger several MW per sq. m.
Energy consumption density
Often quite small
Heavy industry is an exception: metal refining etc.
Finite energy is easy to produce centrally but distribution is expensive
Renewable energy is easily produced in a dispersed manner and costly to
concentrate
Dispersed nature favours rural economy and not urban economy
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Dispersed versus centralized energy
Renewable production is an interdisciplinary approach
Physics, chemistry, electrical engineering
Scientific principles of renewable energy
Situation dependence
One size does not fit all
Surveys required for local acceptance
Surveys required for end-use and matching with appropriate technology
Consequently plans cannot be copied from one country to the other
Every place is unique
Technical implications
Prospecting the environment
Monitoring required for several years before start-up of construction
Official measurement stations may not be at the same location
However local measurement and official measurements create a data set from
which several results can be inferred about the generation site
Only possible for renewables such as wind and solar
Not obviously for biogas
Technical implications
End-use requirements and efficiency
Improved efficiency will inhibit requirement for more generation
Storage technologies can enhance efficiency
Technical implications
Matching supply and demand
Maximize the consumption of available energy
It will reduce the size of generating plant
Technical implications
Matching supply and demand
Consider the scenario with negative feedback
Load dictates how much should be converted
The rest is wasted
Generating plant not utilized fully

Negative feedback beneficial for finite sources since it reduces the consumption
of fuel
Technical implications
Matching supply and demand
Variability in supply and demand may not match
Necessitates storage
Which is expensive
Technical implications
Matching supply and demand
This mismatch in stand-alone or islanded systems is too expensive to consider
Solution: connect to a grid

Storage is not necessary but improves utilization of renewables if included

Technical implications
Matching supply and demand
The most efficient way: demand side management
Increase consumption when more energy is available and vice versa
Technical implications
Control options
Three possibilities
Spill the excess
Storage
Load management

Spill the excess

Cheapest
Obvious reduction in efficiency
Cheapest option
Examples
• Hydro as shown in figure
• Shades and blinds for passive solar heating
• Wind turbine with adjustable blade pitch
Technical implications
Control options
Incorporate storage
Before transformation is best
Expensive 
Hydro storage in the form of water
Electrical storage is expensive
Dam construction is damaging to the
environment
Technical implications
Control options
Load control
Match load to generation
Load diversity on a larger scale can
help
No wastage of available energy if
we can add loads at maximum
availability and vice versa
Low priority loads can be
incentivized with low price so that
they can be switched off or turned
down
Thermal storage in buildings like
hot water and building space
conditioning
All achievable by electronic
controls suitably programmed
Technical implications
Control options
Example of load control with a wind turbine
Social implications
Dispersed living
Renewables can help relieve the pressure on large cities
Energy density is sufficiently large to support rural populations
Pollution and environmental impact
Emission types from energy sources
• Chemical (CO2 etc.)
• Physical (acoustic noise and radioactivity)
• Biological (pathogens)
Minimum with renewable sources
Future
Renewables may encourage rural living opposed to fossil fuels that did the opposite
Diversification of economy
Greater socio-economic stability