Abstract
This study investigates the current situation of electricity generation from non-conventional renewable energy sources in Colombia (NCRES). In general, it was shown that Colombia has potential in renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biomass. However, barriers such as lack of human capital, policies focused on conventional technologies and high investment costs have impeded their growth. Although the development of these sources has been encouraged through Law 1715 of 2014, more policies and developments are needed to promote this type of NCRES. The use of thermoelectric devices (TED) can become a potential NCRES alternative, while the political and technological conditions improve in Colombia. Around the world, TEDs have allowed the recovery of waste heat in a variety of industrial applications and the automotive sector. They are allowing in the latter, not only the generation of electric power, but also the reduction in engine emissions. Besides, its characteristics have allowed it to be used for the generation of electric power, both in developed and developing countries. In this document, an example presentation is developed that demonstrates the applications of the TED in the cases above to demonstrate the potential that the TED can have in almost any place that has a heat source. Keywords: Electricity Generation, Energy Policy, Energy Recovery, Non-conventional Renewable Energy, Thermoelectric Device JEL Classifications: L78, L90, O31, Q20 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.8038
Highlights
The environmental problems caused by global warming and the progressive depletion of fossil fuels have generated worldwide interest in investigating new renewable energy sources (RES) to guarantee energy security (Camargo et al, 2018; Gielen et al, 2019)
Source of data: Prepared by the authors based on data from (UPME, 2017a) regions in the departments of Arauca, Casanare, Vichada and Meta, among others, have radiation levels above the national average that can reach the order of 6.0 kWh/m2, which is one of the best indices in the world, which can be compared to regions such as the Atacama Desert in Chile or the states of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States (NREL, 2008)
Source of data: Prepared by the authors based on data from (Lee, 2013) Figure 4: Schematic view of p–n junctions in thermoelectric devices (TED)
Summary
The environmental problems caused by global warming and the progressive depletion of fossil fuels have generated worldwide interest in investigating new renewable energy sources (RES) to guarantee energy security (Camargo et al, 2018; Gielen et al, 2019). The National Energy Plan (UPME, 2015) promotes the use of NCRES to expand electricity generation supplies, and promotion and incentive mechanisms such as those established by law 1715 have been implemented, NCRES currently only represents 0.7 % of energy in Colombia (UPME, 2017). Among the advantages of the TED is its ability to directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy, its compact size, its absence of moving parts, its moderate performance and being environmentally friendly (Sahin and Yilbas, 2013; Champier, 2017) For this reason, TEDs are still being researched to improve their applications in processes such as the recovery of lost thermal energy, the production of energy in extreme environments, the generation of electrical energy in remote areas, among others. The objective is to demonstrate the potential and versatility that TEDs have as a source of renewable energy that can alleviate the great energy demand of our times
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