An integrated renewable energy based plant with energy storage for a sustainable community

In recent years, many wind turbine generation systems (WTGSs) have been installed in many countries from a point of view of grobal environment due to CO2 emission. But wind turbine generator output and annual energy production are dependent on wind characteristic of each area and a kind of WTGS. Authors' previous paper presented the analyses about annual electrical energy production and capacity facotor of WTGS for each area with different wind data. This paper presents a method to calculate each cost of WTGS component such as drive train system, generator and other equipments, and also to evaluate generation cost obtained from WTGS cost and annual electrical energy production. Based on these results, the optimal kind of WTGS can be determined for each installation area from an economical point of view.

Development of an integrated solar and wind driven energy system for desalination and power generation

Economics, including all incentives, is the primary factor that drives the development of wind farms. Optimizing the wind turbine generator size-to-rotor size design based on an economic figure of merit shows that maximum wind turbine capacity factor does not yield the best economics for a given wind resource. A large rotor on a small generator will have a high capacity factor but a low annual output of electrical energy. For the same capital investment a different configuration would produce more electricity making the project more economically sound. This study varied rotor-to-generator size at a fixed capital cost and used a modified blade element momentum model to predict annual electrical energy production for each design at a given wind resource. Optimal design was the design that resulted in the highest annual electrical energy production. This was done at a series of fixed costs and a series of wind resources defined by the Weibull distribution parameters. The results indicated the following: At larger turbine sizes, (higher capital cost per turbine), the economics shifted toward a larger generator and smaller rotor (relatively). This exact relationship is dependent on the wind resource. At large turbine sizes, greater flexibility is shown in optimum generator sizing vs. rotor sizing. Having multiple generator size options for the same rotor size allows developers to more closely match and capitalize on the characteristics of their wind resource. The end result of the research is a set of diagrams developers can use to select the best turbine based on economics for their wind resource. This provides an additional tool they can use to make their projects more cost effective.

Performance evaluation of wind turbines (WT) for different heights of the rotor hub is made based on the wind speed and direction data obtained in 2009–2013 on-shore in the north of Latvia using a LOGGER 9200 Symphonie measurement system mounted on a 60 m mast. Based on the measurement analysis results, wind speed distribution curves have been modelled for heights of up to 200 m using power and logarithmic (log) law approximation methods. The curves for the modelled Weibull's parameters are plotted in dependence on height. The efficiency comparison is made for different WT types taking into account the distribution of the wind energy potential in height in the Latvian territory. The annual electric energy production was calculated for the WTs with different heights of rotor hubs. In the calculations the technical data on the following WT types were used: E-3120 (50 kW, hub height 20.5/30.5/36.5/42.7 m), E-33 (330 kW, hub height 37/44/49/50 m), E-48 (800 kW, hub height 50/60/75 m) and E-82 (2.3 MW, hub height of 78/85/98/108/138 m).

A novel configuration of a compressed air assisted wind energy conversion system is proposed to capture the mechanical spillage of a wind turbine and store it as the compressed air. The compressed air storage could be used to supplement electric power generation. The compact design utilizes the surplus capacities of blades and generator, and combines the compressor and expander into one machine. The compressed air subsystem serves as a buffer between the blade power and the electric output power. It mitigates the power discrepancy between them and gives another degree of freedom for energy management. The performance simulation shows that the joint design of compressed air and wind turbine system helps to increase the power generation by 12%. The discounted energy cost during one week is decreased by 15%, compared to a traditional wind turbine. The sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system in variable conditions.

In the renewable energy sector, power generation from solar photovoltaic and wind turbine systems are the most popular. The electricity production has to be increased day-by-day for meeting the ever-increasing demand for electricity. Large-scale wind and solar photovoltaic power plants require a large size of land. In the combined system, both solar photovoltaic modules and wind turbines are installed at the same site. It thus reduces the cost of separate land and transmission lines. In this regard, the paper presents power performance improvement by the integration of a wind power plant with a solar PV power plant in the available installation area. The wind power plants at four sites namely Pratapgarh in Rajasthan (45 MW), Davangere in Karnataka (29.70 MW), Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu (33 MW), and Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh (50.40 MW) are considered for study and analysis. These sites are having enormous solar photovoltaic and wind energy potential. Wind farm array is considered of 5D × 7D configuration and the possibility of installing solar photovoltaic power plant is analyzed. The electricity generated by solar photovoltaic systems at wind farms sites is estimated by using PVsyst software. Six cases of wind farm area such as 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% are taken into consideration for the installation of solar photovoltaic power plants. The annual average performance ratio and annual average capacity utilization factor of solar photovoltaic power plants are varying from 77%–79% to 18%–20%, respectively, for the four locations. The annual solar electricity generation is estimated the highest at Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) and annual wind electricity generation is estimated highest at Davangere (Karnataka). The combined annual electricity generation is estimated highest at Davangere (Karnataka) and is followed by Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu), Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh), and Pratapgarh (Rajasthan).

A renewable energy-based integrated system is proposed for baseload power generation. Wind, solar, and biomass options are considered. The electric power produced by wind turbines, a photovoltaic (PV) system, and fuel cells is fed to the power grid. The surplus electricity produced by the integrated energy system is stored in forms of compressed air and hydrogen. When required, the compressed air is heated in a combustion process and expanded in a gas turbine for further power generation. The hydrogen produced by the electrolysis process is fed to a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system for electricity generation. The system is analyzed with energy and exergy methods, and results are presented for monthly power generation, compressed air energy storage (CAES) and compression, and hydrogen production and consumption rates. Moreover, exergoeconomic analyses are performed based on the unit exergy cost of the electricity produced by the integrated system. The round-trip efficiency of the CAES system is 60 % without considering heat recovery potentials. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the integrated system are 37.0 and 31.9 %, respectively. Results of the exergoeconomic analyses show that the unit cost of electricity generated by the Wind-CAES system is 7 ¢/kWh, while it is 89 and 17 ¢/kWh for the photovoltaic-hydrogen-solid oxide fuel cell and the biomass-solid oxide fuel cell-gas turbine systems, respectively.

The integrated energy system (IES) is an efficient method for improving the utilization of renewable energy. This paper proposes an IES based on fuel, wind and solar energies, following an optimization study focused on determining optimal device capacities. The study included gas turbines, wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels, ground source heat pumps, absorption chillers/heaters, batteries, and thermal storage. Objectives were incorporated into the optimization model for the overall performance of the IES; these included the primary energy saving rate, annual cost-saving rate, and carbon dioxide emission reduction. Then, the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II was employed to solve the optimization problem for multiple objectives. Ultimately, the verification and sensitivity analyses of the optimization method were achieved by a case study of hospital buildings in Harbin. The optimization results indicated a primary energy saving rate, annual cost saving rate, and carbon dioxide emission reduction rate of 17.3%, 39.8%, and 53.8%, respectively. The total installed capacity for renewable energy generation accounted for 64.5% of performance optimization. Moreover, the price of natural gas affected the economic indicators of the IES–but failed to impact energy consumption indicators.

Bifacial PV modules are increasingly used in commercial solar PV projects. With the use of the solar energy available at the module’s rear surface, the correct estimation of the albedo during the pre-construction phase of commercial projects becomes more important. The intention of the study is to determine the impact of the duration of a short-term albedo measurement campaign to reduce the uncertainty with respect to satellite albedo, thus providing a ‘beneficial campaign’. Albedo measurements from seven sites in the USA have been used to estimate the impact of 1-day and 7-day measurements (short-term measurements) on the simulated annual electrical energy production. Simulations based on monthly albedo data obtained from a recognised satellite provider have been compared with simulations where the albedo has been corrected based on short-term measurements. The study found that a 1-day campaign is often not beneficial, causing an increase in uncertainty with respect to satellite albedo. Measurement campaigns in winter do not generally reduce the error of the annual electrical energy production simulation, however, a 7-day campaign undertaken in summer appears to often reduce the uncertainty. It should be noted that the climate conditions, ground vegetation and measurement setup of the analysed seven sites in the USA may not be representative for other sites in the rest of the world.

The objective of this article was to investigate the impacts of climate change on photovoltaic systems among renewable energies by the end of the 21st century. One hypothesis posited that due to decreased cloud cover as a result of changing climate, the geographical region under examination would receive more solar irradiation—usable by photovoltaic panels—which would in turn increase the annual electrical energy production of these systems. Another hypothesis suggested that the average temperature increase, associated with changing climate conditions, would detrimentally affect the efficiency of electricity production in photovoltaic systems. The study was based on the simulation of a household-scale photovoltaic model. This simulation calculated the system's performance on an hourly basis depending on inputs and summed these to produce an annual value. Input values were derived from climate scenario databases. These variables included global horizontal irradiance, direct horizontal irradiance, temperature, and wind speed. The output was the aforementioned quantity of annual electrical energy production. An analysis occurred between the annual average global horizontal irradiance and the annual average air temperature in relation to the quantities of annual electrical energy production. Pearson and partial correlation examinations among the variables demonstrated that unfavorable scenarios resulted in reduced efficiency of photovoltaic electrical energy production, primarily due to rising temperatures. Among other contributions, this article can support research into the active cooling of photovoltaic systems and the examination of their viability to mitigate efficiency losses caused by current and future temperature increases. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2024-05-01-01 Full Text: PDF

A pneumatic vehicle is an innovative transportation system that operates using compressed air as its primary energy source. Unlike conventional vehicles that rely on fossil fuels, pneumatic vehicles utilize stored air to drive pistons or turbines, generating motion. This eco-friendly alternative reduces greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution, and dependence on non-renewable energy sources. The key components of a pneumatic vehicle include air tanks, compressors, and pneumatic motors, which work together to efficiently convert air pressure into mechanical energy. Although challenges such as limited energy storage and refueling infrastructure exist, advancements in air compression technology and hybrid pneumatic-electric systems continue to improve their feasibility. With applications in urban transportation, industrial vehicles, and hybrid energy systems, pneumatic vehicles represent a promising step toward sustainable mobility. Keywords: Pneumatic vehicle, compressed air engine, eco-friendly transportation, sustainable mobility, air-powered car, renewable energy, green technology, alternative fuels, air compression, zero-emission vehicle.

Traditional horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) have limited efficiency in low-wind speed regions. In this paper, an integrated energy system (IES) incorporating vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) is proposed; this IES is located in an oilfield management area, which can utilize the low-wind speed resources more efficiently and improve renewable energy consumption, and it also introduces a demand response model based on thermal inertia (TI), thus smoothing out the volatility caused by the VAWT. Typical output scenarios are obtained through stochastic optimization to deal with wind turbine and photovoltaic output uncertainties, and an optimal scheduling model is proposed to minimize the system operating cost. Finally, a simulation study was conducted in a micro-oilfield management area in Shandong Province, China, to demonstrate the performance of the proposed system. The results show that the IES using a VAWT and TI can increase the renewable energy consumption capacity by 87% over the conventional HAWT system, change the user behavior, increase the economic efficiency by 12%, and achieve the smoothing of load-side fluctuation of electric and thermal loads, peak shaving, and valley filling. This paper provides a feasible solution for an IES in low-wind speed areas.

Guest Editorial: Situational awareness of integrated energy systems

Distributed robust cooperative scheduling of multi-region integrated energy system considering dynamic characteristics of networks

Believe it or not, using compressed air to power vehicles is a real thing. This innovative concept, known as the "pneumatic vehicle," has captured the interest of researchers worldwide. It is hailed for its zero emissions and suitability for city driving. MDI is a company that holds the international patents for this technology. While it may appear to be an eco-friendly solution, the energy needed to compress air must be factored in when assessing its overall efficiency. Despite this, pneumatic vehicles offer promise in reducing urban air pollution over time. These vehicles, also referred to as air-powered or compressed air vehicles, represent a cutting-edge mode of transportation.