Magnetic Materials and Devices for the 21st Century: Stronger, Lighter, and More Energy Efficient

Deep reinforcement learning optimization framework for a power generation plant considering performance and environmental issues

Over the last few years, the electric energy demand in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has increased many folds due to several factors including increased population, industrialization, economic activities, and urbanization. The main source of electric power generation in KSA is the burning of petroleum products. Almost one third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are contributed from the electric power generation sector, mainly, by burning diesel and natural gas. As a result, it makes it necessary to consider alternate forms of electricity generation in order to cut down emissions and to keep sustainable growth alive. The government has planned to diversify energy sources and suppliers. In recent years, energy generation from renewable sources including solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, concentrated solar power (CSP), biomass, geothermal, and tidal, has been given more importance. The ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 targets of 58.7 GW of power generation from renewable energy sources will cause a significant reduction in GHG emissions from the energy sector. This article systematically reviews the impact of renewable energy generation on GHG emissions. The detailed breakdown of GHG emission is discussed. Then, the status of renewable energy generation is investigated, focusing on the technical and economic potentials. The correlation of renewable energy generation and GHG emissions is then explained. The most distinguishing feature of this review is that it provides a comprehensive list of recommendations to reduce GHG emissions. The discussions and recommendations of this article will support decision makers, system planners, industry personnel, researchers, and academics to develop sustainable energy pathways for the Kingdom.

Policies to promote energy efficiency and air emissions reductions in China's electric power generation sector during the 11th and 12th five-year plan periods: Achievements, remaining challenges, and opportunities

This study examines the dynamic connections between electricity generation and agricultural development, utilizing dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques and annual time series data spanning from 2000 to 2020. The findings offer valuable insights into the impact of electricity generation on agricultural progress. Firstly, both electric power generation and energy generation capacity were negatively and significantly linked to agricultural development in Africa. This suggests that despite increases in electric power and energy generation, agricultural development may not improve due to inefficiencies in the energy infrastructure, including inadequate transmission and distribution networks, unreliable grid connectivity, energy losses, and distribution issues that prevent electricity from reaching rural areas where agriculture is predominantly concentrated. Second, further analysis reveals a significant and positive association between electricity consumption, access to electricity, and agricultural development in Africa. This indicates that expanding electricity access and increasing its consumption in agricultural activities can significantly enhance agricultural productivity and growth across the continent. These results emphasize the importance of improving infrastructure and optimizing capacity utilization to ensure that the growth in electricity generation capacity translates into tangible benefits for agricultural development in Africa. Thus, the study underscores the pivotal role of electricity generation, consumption, and access in promoting agricultural development, while highlighting the need to address infrastructure inefficiencies to achieve sustainable growth.

Additive manufacturing of magnetic materials

This study presents the implementation of a micro-generation system and its operation procedure, based on a dual fuel diesel engine using natural gas as the primary fuel and conventional diesel as the pilot fuel. On the other hand, the evaluation and validation results by experimental testing of a model according to International Energy Agency—IEA—Annex 42, applied to dual fuel diesel micro-cogeneration system, are also presented. The control procedure for experimental operation depends of both inputs’ electric power generation demand and desired substitution level due a given natural gas availability. The heat recovery system of the micro-generation system uses a gas–liquid compact heat exchanger that was selected and implemented, where wasted heat from exhaust gases was transferred to liquid water as a cool fluid. Effective operation engine performance was determined by measurement of masses’ flow rate such as inlet air, diesel and natural gas, and also operation parameters such as electric power generation and recovered thermal power were measured. Electric power was generated by using an electric generator and then dissipated as heat by using an electric resistors bank with a dissipation capacity of 18kW. Natural gas fuel was supplied and measured by using a sonic nozzle flowmeter; in addition, natural gas composition was close to 84.7% CH4, 0.74% CO2 and 1.58% N2, with the rest of them as higher hydrocarbons. The highest overall efficiency (electric efficiency plus heat recovery efficiency) was 52.3% at 14.4 kW of electric power generation and 0% of substitution level. Several substitution levels were tested at each engine electric power generation, obtaining the maximum substitution level of 61% at 17.7 kW of electric power generation. Finally, model prediction results were closed to experimental results, both stationary and transient. The maximum error presented was close to 20% associated to thermal efficiency. However, errors for all other variables were lower than 10% for most of micro-cogeneration system operation points.

Predictive modelling and adaptive long-term performance optimization of an HT-PEM fuel cell based micro combined heat and power (CHP) plant

Clean and low-carbon energy sources and technologies have emerged as a critical driver in delivering the energy transition and achieving net zero-carbon emissions. All energy sources and power systems produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) and hence they contribute to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and resultant climate change besides contributing to other negative environmental impacts. Energy sustainability remains a major challenge globally due to current heavy reliance on depletable and polluting fossil fuels for most of global energy needs. This study examines the energy transition strategies and proposes a roadmap for sustainable energy transition for sustainable energy planning and grid electricity generation and supply in wake of commitments made by the world community to the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the rise in global average temperature to 2oC and preferably 1.5oC above the preindustrial level and realisation of the sustainable development goal of the United Nations. The sustainable transition strategies typically consist of three major technological changes namely, energy savings on the demand side, generation efficiency at production level and fossil fuel substitution by various renewable energy sources and low carbon non-renewable sources like nuclear power and carbon emission reduction strategies like carbon capture and sequestration and a conversion from high carbon fossil fuels like coal and oil to natural gas which remains the cleanest fossil fuel. The study demonstrated that decentralised generation with application of both demand side management and behind the meter management (BTM) strategies are effective measures to increase the use of renewable energy resources which are often locally available leading to higher uptake of renewable energy sources and conversion of consumers to prosumers making the transition economically sustainable. Waste to energy options have a significant potential to contribute to the energy transition e.g. use of biowaste for biogas production, slaughterhouse waste biodigestion for biogas and electricity generation and waste treatment and disposal, waste heat recovery from used geothermal for extra power generation and reinjection to improve the reservoir sustainability and use of bagasse and sugarcane trash for grid-based power production in sugar factories. Therefore, domestic, and industrial scale waste to energy conversion can enhance the economic sustainability of waste management process by offering useful energy substitutes for fossil fuels and enhanced energy security through decentralisation of generation. Whereas sustainable development has social, economic, and environmental pillars, energy sustainability is best analysed by five-dimensional approach consisting of environmental, economic, social, technical, and institutional/political sustainability to determine energy resource sustainability. The study recommends the adoption of sustainability-based planning for energy development and optimisation of electricity generation and supply where energy sources are analysed and ranked based on the five dimensions of energy sustainability instead of Least Cost Development Planning (LCDP) often applied by many countries. On this basis, the sustainable energy transition and optimisation of power generation will rely on both renewable and non-renewable energy since both have an important role in the realisation of the energy transition plans even though the desire is to shift entirely to renewable energy sources by the year 2050. The sustainability of various energy sources was assessed with hydrogen, wind, solar, sugarcane bagasse and cane trash, biogas and ocean energy technologies proving to be among the most sustainable renewable energy and sustainable sources. The study also examined various power plants and energy conversion systems for electricity generation in terms of their specific role and potential in grid-based power generation with hydro power plants, geothermal, nuclear, fuel cells, raking high on performance indicators like load and capacity factors making them ideal for base load power supply. Diesel engines and gas turbines using cogeneration and dual cycle systems powered by cleaner fuels like natural gas, hydrogen and biomethane will play an important role in supplying intermediate and peak load power. The study highlighted enabling technologies and concepts in the energy transition which include decentralisation of generation, cogeneration and trigeneration, demand side and behind the meter management microgrids and smart grid technologies, energy and generation planning and optimisation models, energy storage, electrification of transport and use of electric cars as decentralised electricity sources through the V2X technologies like the G2V and V2G, and carbon capture and sequestration for emissions reduction in fossil fuel power plants making them more sustainable. The study classifies electric vehicles as distributed power plants and variable loads with extensive use of energy storage while sugar cane bagasse is noted as a sustainable energy resource for power generation by cane sugar factories by application of more efficient grid connected cogeneration power plants. The study identified long project gestation period as the main factor limiting nuclear and geothermal energy deployment and recommends the adoption of modularised wellhead generators and small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as a solution to enhance exploitation of these sustainable energy and technologies through faster deployment with high degree of flexibility. Biogas and biomethane demonstrated significant potential as renewable energy sources for power generation and substitute fuels in all applications of fossil natural gas. The study recommends sustainability-based planning for the energy sector and power generation and use of both renewable and non-renewable but sustainable sources of energy, adoption of smart energy concept by all sectors and investment in energy technology and infrastructure development for hydrogen and other promising energy sources like ocean thermal, wave and tidal energy and the conversion of the transition from the traditional to smart grid systems and a shift from centralised to decentralised power generation. Since the transport sector accounts for a significant portion of the global greenhouse gas emissions, electrification of the transport sector and coupling with the power sector is a key strategy recommended for the transition with the smart grid and microgrids playing an enabling role. Since energy sources and generation technologies have associated emissions occurring at different sections of the lifecycle, the use of lifecycle costs and emissions are helpful in long term energy and generation planning which demonstrate that renewable sources and nuclear are the most sustainable when analysed within the five dimensions of energy sustainability, but with the non-renewable sources playing a critical role as dispatchable sources for sustainable grid power generation, while the smart grids and use of energy storage can increase the uptake of variable renewables to as high as 95% to 100% up from a low of 20-25% uptake of variable renewables with the traditional grid. This will significantly help the world in achieving the global emissions and climate targets as. stipulated in the Paris Agreement as well as the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Graphical Abstract The overall objective of the study was to provide solutions to build global energy systems based on renewable and sustainable energy resources and optimise power generation and consumption by use of sustainable energy resources and generation technologies based on the five dimensions of energy sustainability. A sustainable energy system should intergrade electricity and other sectors through smart electricity grids, smart gas grids and smart heat grids as demonstrated below.

Magnetic Refrigeration: An Environment-friendly Cooling Technology

Turkish government agencies support capital investments in electricity generation from renewable energy sources. When making support decisions related with renewable electrical energy sources, the government agencies should consider various issues such as renewability, cleanliness, origin of the source, supply security, cost per kilowatt hour (kWh), and total electricity generation capacity. The tariff mechanism being used in Turkey provides constant rates per kWh of electricity generated from renewable energy sources. The levels of the rates are determined to stimulate renewable energy sources’ usage. In this paper, instead of a constant rate, a feed-in tariff is calculated for each individual electricity generation project using renewable energy source and its level is increased according to the source’s desirability with respect to other renewable energy sources. Various criteria are taken into account in determination of electrical energy sources’ desirability. Furthermore, a combination of two multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches (the fuzzy versions of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)) is used in obtaining a ranking among alternative renewable electrical energy sources. The developed support model’s applicability is illustrated in this paper. The new model developed in this paper has many key benefits. For example, for an individual renewable electrical energy project, final cost per kWh can be calculated and multiplied by new Support Constant to calculate feed-in tariff purchase price per kWh. In another key benefit of the developed model, only local instead of state-wide renewable electrical energy projects can be compared within the AHP-TOPSIS decision hierarchy.

Distributed electric power generation technologies typically use little or no water per unit of electrical energy produced; in particular, renewable energy sources such as solar PV systems do not require cooling systems and present an opportunity to reduce water usage for power generation. Within the US, the fuel mix used for power generation varies regionally, and certain areas use more water for power generation than others. The need to reduce water usage for power generation is even more urgent in view of climate change uncertainties. In this paper, we present an example case within the state of Tennessee, one of the top four states in water consumption for power generation and one of the states with little or no potential for developing centralized renewable energy generations. The potential for developing PV generation within Knox County, Tennessee, is studied, along with the potential for reducing water withdrawal and consumption within the Tennessee Valley stream region. Electric power generation plants in the region are quantified for their electricity production and expected water withdrawal and consumption over one year, where electrical generation data is provided over one year and water usage is modeled based on the cooling system(s) in use. Potential solar PV electrical production is modeled based on LiDAR data and weather data for the same year. Our proposed methodology can be summarized as follows: First, the potential solar generation is compared against the local grid demand. Next, electrical generation reductions are specified that would result in a given reduction in water withdrawal and a given reduction in water consumption, and compared with the current water withdrawal and consumption rates for the existing fuel mix. The increase in solar PV development that would produce an equivalent amount of power, is determined. In this way, we consider how targeted local actions may affect the larger stream region through thoughtful energy development. This model can be applied to other regions, other types of distributed generation, and used as a framework for modeling alternative growth scenarios in power production capacity in addition to modeling adjustments to existing capacity.

3 - Current status of electricity generation in the world and future of nuclear power industry

The impacts of the U.S. transportation and electricity generation sectors include air emissions and water consumption. Information and communication technologies (ICT) such as advanced video teleconferencing have the potential to displace some activities that have historically required transportation. While ICT can reduce environmental impacts compared to transportation options in many cases, there are non-obvious environmental trade-offs associated with replacing transportation with ICT. These tradeoffs are the consequence of many factors, including the particular local electricity mix, meeting duration, number of meeting participants, travel distances, travel modes, motive transport conversion technologies, and transport fuels. Identifying and quantifying these trade-offs is the focus of this research. For this study, a nomenclature and methodology were developed to compare environmental trade-offs associated with transportation and ICT. The nomenclature was designed to facilitate side-by-side comparison of the environmental impacts of travel and ICT and to allow expansion of the nomenclature for future study. The methodology considered a variety of conversion technologies for motive transport including spark-ignition, compression-ignition, fuel cells, and electric motors. Both conventional and developing fuels were considered including gasoline, ethanol, diesel, biodiesel, natural gas, hydrogen, and electricity. Likewise, electricity consumption for ICT included both traditional and developing electricity generation technologies. Carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption for ICT were assessed for comparison with transportation in a case study that demonstrated use of this methodology by considering three distinct scenarios for a particular business meeting: 1. Two meeting attendees travel to the meeting by diesel city bus while two travel in a private vehicle. 2. All four meeting attendees travel by private vehicle powered by compressed natural gas. 3. The four meeting attendees do not travel, but instead meet their clients virtually via ICT. The case study analyzed in this manuscript considers only the water and carbon dioxide impacts, but the nomenclature developed allows future expansion for analysis of other greenhouse gases. The three scenarios revealed that, compared to short travel distances, use of ICT does not always generate fewer carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on the mode of electricity generation, travel proved to be preferable from an emissions standpoint for scenarios in which travel distances were small. However, in cases that required long distances to travel, ICT often allowed businesses and individuals to reduce their environmental impacts, especially if electric power generation in that location utilized large amounts of relatively low-emissions technologies such as hydroelectric dams, wind, solar, and nuclear. Finally, it should be noted that, in addition to comparing ICT and travel impacts, this methodology can be used to calculate the environmental tradeoffs of various transportation options when travel is a necessity.

Implementing China’s national energy conservation policies at state-owned electric power generation plants

Currently, the demand for electricity is increasing from time to time. While the existence of fossil fuels to generate electricity is depleted. This condition resulted in the use of renewable energy source in electrical power generation. Since the electricity generated from renewable energy sources is not constant because it is depending on the climatic conditions, a controller of the charging and discharging mechanism on a battery is necessary for it to work optimally for storing electricity. To overcome this problem, one of the solutions is by applying hybrid power generation technology. One the important equipment related to this technology is the application of a charge controller. The charge controller here is used to control the charging and discharging mechanism to store electricity in a battery. The charge controller is found mainly in a standalone mechanism where the controller only has one input from one renewable energy source. If we have more than one renewable sources, therefore we need a charge controller with multiple input terminals. This study examines and compares the design of a standalone charge controller and a multiple input charge controller. The result shows that it is more efficient to use a multiple input charge controller rather than to use two single input charge controller.