Area Of Energy Development Research Articles

Reference monopile designs for US East Coast sites supporting the IEA 15 MW reference turbine using a novel conceptual design methodology

A novel conceptual design methodology was developed and implemented to design twelve reference monopile foundations, compatible with the IEA 15 MW reference turbine. The designs are position-specific, corresponding to planned, US East Coast, wind energy development areas. The monopiles were designed considering the fatigue limit state (FLS), ultimate limit state (ULS), serviceability limit state (SLS), and natural frequency analysis (NFA), following an intentionally reduced subset of design load cases (DLCs) in IEC 61400-3-1. In 11 of 12 cases, the diameter and wall thicknesses of the monopile foundations were found to be determined by FLS criteria. The exception was one position subjected to a combination of breaking waves and a large significant wave height. For the 11 positions governed entirely by FLS, the maximum ULS utilization ratios varied between 0.63 and 0.81, indicating significant reserve capacity for the ultimate limit state. Fatigue damage during turbine idling was found to be an important contributor to lifetime fatigue damage, despite having a relatively small probability of occurrence. The novel design methodology described herein includes a preliminary FLS assessment step, which was found to be an efficient way to select an initial foundation geometry, while providing a 92% improvement in computational efficiency.

Gaussian mixture models for the optimal sparse sampling of offshore wind resource

Abstract. Wind resource assessment is a crucial step for the development of offshore wind energy. It relies on the installation of measurement devices, whose placement is an open challenge for developers. Indeed, the optimal sensor placement for field reconstruction is an open challenge in the field of sparse sampling. As for the application to offshore wind field reconstruction, no similar study was found, and standard strategies are based on semi-empirical choices. In this paper, a sparse sampling method using a Gaussian mixture model on numerical weather prediction data is developed for offshore wind reconstruction. It is applied to France's main offshore wind energy development areas: Normandy, southern Brittany and the Mediterranean Sea. The study is based on 3 years of Météo-France AROME's data, available through the MeteoNet data set. Using a Gaussian mixture model for data clustering, it leads to optimal sensor locations with regards to wind field reconstruction error. The proposed workflow is described and compared to state-of-the-art methods for sparse sampling. It constitutes a robust yet simple method for the definition of optimal sensor siting for offshore wind field reconstruction. The described method applied to the study area output sensor arrays of respectively seven, four and four sensors for Normandy, southern Brittany and the Mediterranean Sea. Those sensor arrays perform approximately 20 % better than the median Monte Carlo case and more than 30 % better than state-of-the-art methods with regards to wind field reconstruction error.

A utilization distribution for the global population of Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres) to guide wind energy development.

The rapid development of wind energy in southern Africa represents an additional threat to the already fragile populations of African vultures. The distribution of the vulnerable Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres overlaps considerably with wind energy development areas in South Africa, creating conflicts that can hinder both vulture conservation and sustainable energy development. To help address this conflict and aid in the safe placement of wind energy facilities, we map the utilization distribution (UD) of this species across its distributional range. Using tracking data from 68 Cape Vultures collected over the last 20 years, we develop a spatially explicit habitat use model to estimate the expected UDs around known colonies. Scaling the UDs by the number of vultures expected to use each of the colonies, we estimate the Cape Vulture population utilization distribution (PUD) and determine its exposure to wind farm impacts. To complement our results, we model the probability of a vulture flying within the rotor sweep area of a wind turbine throughout the species range and use this to identify areas that are particularly prone to collisions. Overall, our estimated PUD correlates well with reporting rates of the species from the Southern African Bird Atlas Project, currently used to assess potential overlap between Cape Vultures and wind energy developments, but it adds important benefits, such as providing a spatial gradient of activity estimates over the entire species range. We illustrate the application of our maps by analyzing the exposure of Cape Vultures in the Renewable Energy Development Zones (REDZs) in South Africa. This application is a scalable procedure that can be applied at different planning phases, from strategic, nationwide planning to project-level assessments.

Nanostructured Titanium Nitride and Its Composites as High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrode Material.

Electrochemical supercapacitors as an energy storage device have become trademark in current electronic, medical and industrial applications, as they are sources of impressive power output. Supercapacitors supply fast power output, suitable to cover the energy demand of future electronic devices. Electrode material design is a subject of intense research in the area of energy development and advancement, due to its essential role in the electrochemical process of charge storage and the cost of capacitors. The nano-dimensions allow for more electroactive sites, different pore size distributions, and a large specific surface area, making nanostructured electrode materials more promising. Electrode materials based on metal oxides, metal nitrides, and metal carbides are considered ideal for highly efficient electrochemical supercapacitors. Recently, much effort has been devoted to metal nitride-based electrodes and their diverse compositions as they possess higher electrical conductivity and better corrosion resistance, electrochemical stability, and chemical reactivity. Among these, titanium nitride (TiN), possesses high electrochemical stability, outstanding electrical conductivity, and a unique electronic structure. Nanocomposites based on titanium nitrides are known to deliver higher electrochemical performance than pristine nanostructured TiNs due to potential synergetic effects from both the materials. In this paper, recent advancements made in the field of nanostructural TiN electrode materials for SCs are reviewed along with their challenges and future opportunities. Additionally, some of the major techniques involved in the synthesis process are discussed, along with some basic concepts.

Simulating the influences of bat curtailment on power production at wind energy facilities

AbstractThe development and expansion of wind energy is considered a key threat to bat populations in North America and globally. Several approaches to mitigating the impacts of wind energy development on bat populations have been developed, including curtailing wind turbine operation at night during lower wind speeds when bats are thought to be more active. Blanket curtailment approaches have shown substantial promise in reducing bat fatalities at wind energy facilities, but they also reduce the amount of energy extracted from the wind by turbines. A related approach, referred to as smart curtailment, uses bat activity and other variables to predict when bats will be at the greatest risk at a given wind facility. In some contexts, a smart curtailment approach might reduce bat fatalities while also reducing energy loss relative to blanket curtailment. However, it has not been clear how to compare blanket curtailment and smart curtailment approaches in terms of annual energy production at wind facilities. Here, we describe a new approach to simulating the influence of blanket and smart curtailment approaches on energy production at wind energy facilities, and demonstrate the approach using 6 wind energy development areas in the Canadian province of Alberta. We show how stakeholders involved can explore the potential influences of various kinds of bat activity on energy production. We present the results of our Alberta analysis and conclude with some caveats and recommendations for future work on simulating the influences of bat curtailment on energy production at wind energy facilities.

СТАН ВІДНОВЛЮВАЛЬНОЇ ЕНЕРГЕТИКИ УКРАЇНИ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВНІ НАПРЯМИ РОЗВИТКУ

Renewable energy has quickly become a global trend and is currently one of the most promising energy industries in the world. Today, all developed countries have focused on the promotion and development of renewable energy and Ukraine is not an exception. Today, Ukraine has significant potential in the field of renewable energy, as evidenced by the main indicators of capacity, production and consumption. It should be noted the significant inflow of investment into the industry. Investment activity is important in the development of alternative energy sources and using existing potential is not only domestic but also significant international importance as a significant factor which we can use to protect global warming. For Ukraine, the development of renewable energy is also a very important area of energy development due to its dependence on energy imports and very attractive conditions for the development of alternative energy. Renewable energy production technologies allow use such devices for energy systems and consumers, which can act as businesses and individuals, which in turn help to increase the number of investors and investment. That is why the assessment of the efficiency of renewable energy in Ukraine is an urgent and important task for all consumers and the energy system of our country as a whole. In 2019, Ukraine entered to the top-20 of the world ranking of countries in terms of investment in renewable energy sources, and the growth of investment flows into the Ukrainian energy sector remains relatively dynamic. However, it was found that the issue of reviving investment activity remains relevant. The article analyzes in detail the role of renewable energy in the energy balance of Ukraine, their segmentation and capacity analysis. Considerable attention is paid to the most powerful and promising sectors, as well as the main areas of renewable energy consumption are analyzed in percentage terms. The main prospects and directions of investment are analyzed, on the example of world experience, and the role of investments for the development of this industry is determined. An analysis of scientific forecasts for future capacity and consumption of renewable energy was also conducted.

ПРИМЕНЕНИЕ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ МЕТАЛЛОГИДРИДОВ ДЛЯ ХРАНЕНИЯ И ТРАНСПОРТИРОВКИ ВОДОРОДА

One of the most important priority areas of energy development is the use of hydrogen as part of the decarbonization trend. Hydrogen is a universal energy carrier, ensuring environmental friendliness, flexibility, and efficiency of energy processes that involve it. However, the widespread introduction of hydrogen energy technologies requires solving a number of critical problems, among which we can highlight the creation of efficient and safe storage and transportation systems. Along with the traditional methods of hydrogen storage and transportation, we can highlight the metal-hydride, which provides the achievement of extremely high volumetric densities of hydrogen atoms in the metal matrix, a wide range of operating pressures and temperatures, selective absorption processes, reduced energy costs and safety.

GIS-based site suitability analysis and ecosystem services approach for supporting renewable energy development in south-central Chile

Renewable energy systems have a relevant land footprint, and their development can lead to land-use conflicts and trade-offs between energy supply and ecosystem services. Accordingly, this work identified the more suitable renewable energy development areas and discussed the potential trade-offs between energy supply and priority ecosystem services, combining the Geographic Information System-based suitability analysis and ecosystem service approach. The expert consultations were carried out to assess and identify the supply capacities of priority ecosystem services in South-Central Chile. The suitability maps for four renewable energy types were generated and spatially overlapped with priority ecosystem service maps to assess the trade-offs resulting from energy development. The results showed that suitable sites for solar, wind and biomass energy showed limited capacities to supply relevant provisioning and regulatory services and medium-to-low capacity to deliver cultural services. More than half of potential hydropower stations can be located on zones with a medium capacity to supply provisioning services and a high capacity for regulation and maintenance and cultural services. In most cases, sitting energy plants on areas of cultural relevance and other adverse impacts may cause social rejection toward their installation. This work provides valuable spatial information to support land-renewable energy planning, minimizing the environmental and social conflicts on ecosystem services.

Analysis of the influence of the current-voltage characteristics of the voltage rectifiers on the static characteristics of hydrogen electrolyzer load

Traditionally, the determination of static load characteristics is one of the main stages in the preparation of a design model of an electric power system. It is especially important to correctly take into account energy-intensive industries, which make a huge contribution to the formation of these characteristics. In particular, the increased interest in hydrogen technologies observed in the world as one of the most promising high-tech areas of energy development, and an increase in the share of the installed capacity of generation units based on renewable energy sources determine the prospects for the development of hydrogen production by water electrolysis. Accordingly, a significant increase in the scale of application of hydrogen technologies, in particular, in accordance with the “Hydrogen Strategy for Climatically Neutral Europe”, the European Commission for the production of “green” hydrogen, determines the task of forming correct mathematical models of these devices in terms planning of modes, analyzing their impact on the parameters of electric power systems. Determination of static load characteristics on the basis of a physical experiment will not allow obtaining a characteristic with a significant increase or decrease in voltage in the node of the electric power system, which occur only in emergency modes of operation of the power system. Therefore, it seems relevant to analyze and determine the electrical characteristics of consumers by mathematical modeling of the power circuit. This article presents the results of correcting the static load characteristic of a high-power electrolyzer used in the production of hydrogen. The analysis of these results obtained with the MATLAB software is carried out using least squares regression to procure polynomial functions of the static load characteristics. According to this analysis, the static characteristics of the considered electrolyzer, being close to linear within the control range, outside the control range acquire parabolic dependences of active and reactive power on voltage. The static load characteristics of the installation are determined by the parameters of the power circuit and the current-voltage characteristic of the rectifiers displacing the vertices of the parabolas from the origin, which should be taken into account to increase the reliability of the design scheme.

Анализ влияния вольт-амперной характеристикой выпрямителей на статические характеристики нагрузки водородного электролизера

Traditionally, determination of static load characteristics is one of the main stages in the preparation of a design model of an electric power system. It is especially important to correctly take into account energy-intensive industries, which make a huge contribution to the formation of these characteristics. In particular, the increased interest in hydrogen technologies observed in the world, as one of the most promising high-tech areas of energy development, and an increase in the share of the installed capacity of generation facilities based on renewable energy sources determine the prospects for the development of hydrogen production by the electrolysis of water. Accordingly, a significant increase in the scale of application of hydrogen technologies, in particular in accordance with the EU Hydrogen Strategy for the production of green hydrogen, determines the problem of forming correct mathematical models of these devices in terms of planning modes, analyzing them influence on the parameters of electric power systems. Due to the complexity of the physical experiment, especially significant increase or decrease the voltage in a node of an electric power system, it seems relevant to simulate a part of the consumer in order to identify their electric power characteristics. In this paper the results of correction of the static load characteristic of electrolysis tank, which is widely used in the production of aluminum, are presented. Analysis of these results, obtained by MATLAB software, is carried out by using the least squares method to regress the data and to obtain a polynomial function of static load characteristics. According to this analysis, the static load characteristics of electrolysis tank have a parabolic dependences of active and reactive power, the position of which is determined by the parameters of the supply scheme and current-voltage characteristic of rectifiers. For instance, it shifts the vertex of the parabolas, which should be taken into account to improve the accuracy of the calculation scheme.

Wind energy development and protection of vulnerable species: an interdisciplinary study of ecological effects and legal instruments in the Netherlands

Offshore wind farms' impact on vulnerable species, such as birds and bats through mortality, habitat loss, and barrier effects, is receiving growing attention worldwide. Focus on the effects of wind energy on species is important since the European Union, as well as the international community, strive to halt biodiversity loss through the Nature Conversation Directives and the Sustainable Development Goals. We argue that it is necessary and possible to protect vulnerable species better by quantifying the impact of wind energy on populations, avoiding sensitive areas for species as wind energy development areas, and developing guidelines and measures to mitigate the impact of wind energy. The recognition of existing uncertainties requires more investments in (at least) nationally coordinated monitoring, reporting and adaptive management. This article uncovers barriers in the existing legal framework based on state-of-the-art ecological research. It provides several policy recommendations for improvement, such as a policy guideline, adaptive permitting, and prioritizing (cumulative effects in) environmental impact assessments in wind energy decision-making procedures.

The Use of Animal-Borne Biologging and Telemetry Data to Quantify Spatial Overlap of Wildlife with Marine Renewables

The growth of the marine renewable energy sector requires the potential effects on marine wildlife to be considered carefully. For this purpose, utilization distributions derived from animal-borne biologging and telemetry data provide accurate information on individual space use. The degree of spatial overlap between potentially vulnerable wildlife such as seabirds and development areas can subsequently be quantified and incorporated into impact assessments and siting decisions. While rich in information, processing and analyses of animal-borne tracking data are often not trivial. There is therefore a need for straightforward and reproducible workflows for this technique to be useful to marine renewables stakeholders. The aim of this study was to develop an analysis workflow to extract utilization distributions from animal-borne biologging and telemetry data explicitly for use in assessment of animal spatial overlap with marine renewable energy development areas. We applied the method to European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) in relation to tidal stream turbines. While shag occurrence in the tidal development area was high (99.4%), there was no overlap (0.14%) with the smaller tidal lease sites within the development area. The method can be applied to any animal-borne bio-tracking datasets and is relevant to stakeholders aiming to quantify environmental effects of marine renewables.

Heat Transfer Enhancement using Porous Materials as Receiver in Solar Parabolic Trough Collector

Research and new innovative technologies have started a new revolution in the area of energy development with storage capacity. One or other issues is that researchers are lacking with the conservation or storage of this energy. Porous Materials could be the concept which can be used to conserve energy in the solar sector. Metal foam or porous material which results in an increase in surface area can be taken as a source for energy conservation or storage received from the energy source. Solar Parabolic Trough Collector which is solar operated device can be an approach of the energy conversion. In this research article, performance and working of solar parabolic trough collector is been observed utilization of porous material as receiver of solar energy. The temperature of water flowing through the system was increased with the use of porous material in the solar parabolic trough collector. Finally, the efficiency of the system is improved.

Assessment of development effectiveness of solar energy in Russia

Non-renewable fossils are the main source of energy in modern conditions. This method of production and consumption of energy acts as one of the main anthropogenic factors that negatively impact the environment. Besides, limited energy reserves do not guarantee the sustainable development of world energy in the long term. The way out of this situation is using renewable energy sources (RES). Renewable energy sources are one of the promising and innovative areas of energy development. These energy sources allow moving to a new high-quality level of power supply and heat supply of the country and significantly improving the ecological state of settlements. The Russian Federation has all conditions for the implementation of such innovative projects aimed at using renewable energy sources. One of such promising projects is solar energy. The perspective of using solar energy is an almost inexhaustible resource, available everywhere, and also has another advantage high environmental safety. Besides, solar energy is characterized by low indicators in terms of capital and operating costs, a lower cost of electricity compared to traditional energy as well. In this study, the perspectives for the development of solar energy in the Russian Federation are identified. The existing solar capacities in Russia are analyzed, the main developments of solar energy in the country are determined. A model for assessing the economic efficiency of floating power plants is proposed in this paper. These plants make it possible to provide electricity to entire settlements. Having been the study, conclusions are drawn about the prospects of using such power plants as sources of cheap energy and environmental compatibility.

A Metocean Reference Station for Offshore Wind Energy Research in the U.S.

There is an acute need for a long-term metocean reference site that will aid the near-term development of the offshore wind energy industry in the United States. High quality, multi-year observations of the wind resource at hub height in areas relevant to offshore wind energy are a requirement for reducing uncertainties in wind resource assessment, improving the fidelity of numerical models, assimilated products of the resource, and forecasts of near-term operational conditions and wind energy power production. Yet, few long-term data sets exist over the U.S. outer continental shelf that can provide accurate guidance for developers, turbine manufacturers, and utility operators. Thus, there is a critical need for robust, long-term data collection at a site having conditions representative of wind energy development areas. Additionally, an efficient and effective location for validating existing measurement systems and testing and verifying the accuracy of new sensors will play a key role in reducing uncertainty of estimates of the wind resource and reducing the cost and risk associated with offshore development.

A scoping review on global climate change vulnerability, adaptation, and resiliency

Abstract Introduction: Climate change affects people, not only through environmental exposures and health outcomes, but how they live their lives. Consequences will affect various sectors, ranging from tourism to water to energy development—areas where people live, work, and enjoy. Because of these forced changes, people must adapt. Methods: A scoping review was created to understand climate change vulnerability alongside adaption and resiliency measures that are being implemented in each continent of the world; this review is a subset of information from Zolnikov, T. R. (2019). Global Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change. In: T. R. Zolnikov (Ed.). Cham, Switzerland; Springer International Publishing. Results: It was determined that adaptive capacity differs worldwide. This is likely because the capacity to adapt and change is linked to both social and economic development; some regions in the world may not be sufficiently equipped and thus, may not be able to mitigate or adapt to changes. Such was the case in Australia, Europe, and North and South America, where economic resources were more available, and the general culture of climate change appeared to be more developed through various policies. Whereas, for example, Asia and Africa were less economically developed and focused less on individual changes, but joined larger climate change agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Conclusions: The objective of this review was to understand the differences that may help or hinder progress under the new world set forth by climate change. The information provided evidence that a “one size fits all” approach does not work to promote climate change resiliency. In fact, each continent in the world suffers from some barriers to change, while also offering elements of success that can be shared. It is these types of lessons learned that can help pull the world together to learn from each other and promote the effectiveness of measures as well as the capacity for populations to adapt. Keywords: Climate Change, Environmental Health, Global Health

Features of Studying Atomic Hydrogen – Metal Systems

All the main areas of energy development suggest or are already implementing the use of metal-hydrogen systems. For nuclear energy, this is associated with the creation of thermostable moderators and special-purpose construction materials, for thermonuclear energy, with the behavior of the so-called first wall of fusion reactors, for hydrogen energy — storage, transportation and extraction of hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most effective moderator of fast and thermal neutrons, especially at high volumetric concentrations of hydrogen atoms in the material, i.e. at a high value of the ratio of the number of hydrogen atoms to the number of metal atoms, taking into account the heat resistance of the hydride. This paper discusses the modern methods of experimental studies of heterogeneous reactions, the topochemistry of metal – hydrogen reactions, the dependence of the interaction rate on pressure and temperature, models of surface processes occurring during the interaction of hydrogen with metal. Methods for determining the probability of adsorption of hydrogen on a metal surface, methods for measuring the activation energy of dissociation of a hydrogen molecule on a surface are also discussed. The paper describes the fea-tures of the preparation of the reactor, experimental samples and the method of their study in the study of atomic hydrogen-metal systems, the method of plasma-chemical thermogravimetry used to study heterogeneous reactions occurring in a hydrogen plasma electrodeless discharge. In order to study the mechanism of interaction of hydrogen with hydride-forming metals, a kinetic method of research is proposed. The essence of the kinetic method is that the elimination of the limiting influence of surface and diffusion processes on the rate of hydride formation using atomic hydrogen and metal foil makes it possible to directly record the formation of the corresponding phases using hydro-gen-metal kinetic curves, and also study the effect of various parameters on the rate of interaction and the formation of hydride phases.

Landsat Time Series Analysis of Vegetation Changes in Solar Energy Development Areas of the Lower Colorado Desert, Southern California

Land cover change from renewable energy development in southern California is receiving increasing attention due to potential impacts on protected area conservation, endangered species, and greenhouse gas emissions. This study was designed to quantify and map, for the first time, variations desert vegetation canopy density and related growth rates using 30 consecutive years of Landsat satellite image data across the Lower Colorado Desert. The time-series for mean normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values sampled from each of the three major land cover types (shrubland, barren sand dune, and developed urban) showed no significant positive or negative trend in vegetation canopy density. Three periods of significant decrease in NDVI were detected during the drought periods of 1989-1990, 2002-2003, and 2013-2015, indicating that annual precipitation has been the main controller of shrubland canopy growth and green cover. Shrubland canopy cover has been relatively stable in renewable energy development zones since the mid-2000s. NDVI change in the period after nearly all southern California solar energy developments were initiated (post-2010) could be attributed largely to topographic water flow pathways through canyons and desert washes, both in and around all solar energy development zones.

Large-scale control site selection for population monitoring: An example assessing sage-grouse trends

Human impacts on wildlife populations are widespread and prolific and understanding wildlife responses to human impacts is a fundamental component of wildlife management. The first step to understanding wildlife responses is the documentation of changes in wildlife population parameters, such as population size. Meaningful assessment of population changes in potentially impacted sites requires the establishment of monitoring at similar, nonimpacted, control sites. However, it is often difficult to identify appropriate control sites in wildlife populations. We demonstrated use of Geographic Information System (GIS) data across large spatial scales to select biologically relevant control sites for population monitoring. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hearafter, sage-grouse) are negatively affected by energy development, and monitoring of sage-grouse population within energy development areas is necessary to detect population-level responses. We used population data (1995–2012) from an energy development area in Wyoming, USA, the Atlantic Rim Project Area (ARPA), and GIS data to identify control sites that were not impacted by energy development for population monitoring. Control sites were surrounded by similar habitat and were within similar climate areas to the ARPA. We developed nonlinear trend models for both the ARPA and control sites and compared long-term trends from the 2 areas. We found little difference between the ARPA and control sites trends over time. This research demonstrated an approach for control site selection across large landscapes and can be used as a template for similar impact-monitoring studies. It is important to note that identification of changes in population parameters between control and treatment sites is only the first step in understanding the mechanisms that underlie those changes. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Obstacles and Way Forward in Promoting Renewable Energy in Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the world’s leading producers of crude oil and yet it is a net importer of refined oil. Its average daily premium motor spirit (PMS) consumption is 30 million liters. At 100% capacity the nation’s refineries will produce 17.74 million liters of premium motor spirit daily. A shortfall of over 10 million liters per day exists. Recent estimates stipulate that Nigeria requires 20,000 MW of electricity per annum. The projected electricity supply from all sources (conventional and renewable) in Nigeria in the short (2007), medium (2015) and long term (2025) is estimated to be 7000 MW, 14000 MW and 29,000 MW respectively. Annual peak electricity demand in Nigeria will increase from 4,558 MW to 45,755 MW in 2050 at high growth rate and 4,558 to 19,599 MW for low growth. Nigeria’s electricity per capita of 27 W/person is not enough to light an electric incandescent bulb of 30 W. These provide enough justification for the use of renewable energy in Nigeria. The use of renewable energy in Nigeria is hindered by the lack of regulation, financial incentives, energy infrastructures, framework for sustainability and technical expertise. Overcoming these obstacles will require invigorating research and development in renewable energy technologies, training and education to build local technical capacity, diversification of energy mix and scaling up of renewable energy utilization, aggressive capacity building in all areas of energy development and creation of enabling environment that will attract investment in energy infrastructure. This paper discusses the obstacles and way forward in promoting renewable energy in Nigeria.