Cost Of Renewable Energy Research Articles

Wind integration cost in China: A production simulation approach and case study

The integration cost of large-scale variable renewable energy (VRE) in China’s coal-dominated inflexible power systems is of significant concern when studying the generation cost of VRE. One key component of studies about integration cost is the question of how to estimate the impact of large-scale VRE integrated into power systems on the operation mode of conventional generators. It is intuitive to compare system-level costs with and without VRE under a benchmarked system. In this study, we employ a unit commitment (UC) model to simulate the output of various types of units based on minimizing the total power system cost. Then, we estimate the conventional generator operation cost change caused by the change of operation mode. Using the power system in Jilin province as a typical case, the integration cost will increase with increased VRE penetration, reaching 123.5 CNY/MWh at 40% penetration level. The idle cost of the coal-fired power units accounts for 69% of the integration cost at 40% VRE penetration, the highest proportion; wind curtailment cost ranks second for 26%, while the incremental operating cost of coal power accounts for 4.7%. With a long-term perspective, establishing a complete power market and adopting an appropriate pricing mechanism to incentivize system flexibility is the best solution for adopting VRE.

ЕКОНОМІЧНІ МЕХАНІЗМИ СТИМУЛЮВАННЯ РОЗВИТКУ ВІДНОВЛЮВАНОЇ ЕНЕРГЕТИКИ В ЄС ТА УКРАЇНІ

The experience of the EU and Ukraine in stimulating the development of renewable energy is analyzed. Economic instruments that have become widespread in the EU are considered, namely, Feedin-Tariff, Feed-in-Premium, as well as systems of quotas and "green" certificates. An analysis of the effectiveness of these support tools was performed. It was found that EU countries are gradually abandoning support for the development of renewable energy in the form of Feed-in-Tariff and moving to more market-based support mechanisms, i.e., Feed-in-Premium and holding auctions for the distribution of support quotas. The advantages of the support mechanism in the form of auctions are shown, at the same time, certain problematic issues that may arise in case of poor design of auctions are indicated. It is noted that in order to achieve the effectiveness of the auction model of support for producers of "green" energy, it is necessary to introduce auction ceiling prices and ensure a high level of competition at auctions. Appropriate requirements for the financial capacity of bidders should be introduced as well as the duration of the project implementation period should be carefully selected. The state of affairs regarding the stimulation of the development of renewable energy in Ukraine was considered. It is emphasized that the introduction of the "green" tariff in Ukraine caused an increase in the share of renewable energy in the energy balance of the country, at the same time, due to the rapid development of renewable energy, the debts of the State Enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" to the producers of "green" energy and problems with the balancing of the energy system arose. It is shown that in the near future it is planned, as in the EU member states, to more widely apply incentive tools that lead to competition between producers of "clean" energy and a reduction in the cost of renewable energy. It is noted that in Ukraine it is necessary to take into account modern global, in particular, European trends in stimulating the development of renewable energy and apply more diverse support mechanisms, for example, the spread of the practice of public-private partnership, flexible depreciation of capital investments in renewable energy, financial incentives for consumers to purchase equipment for generation of "green" energy, investment grants, etc.

Performance and efficiency of different types of solar cell material – A review

Owing to the rapid increase in industrialization and population, global energy demand is at an extreme, whereas traditional fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, etc. are quickly exhaust. It is predicted that in the next 200–300 years, fossil fuels, particularly oil, will be depleted. The alternative source of energy is renewable energy. Many households are converting to pure, renewable electricity sources as the cost of renewable energy begins to fall. Amongst which, residential solar is among the most accessible and abundant. Fossil fuels create toxic emissions that influence the quality of water, air and soil and are concerned about global warming, another justification for choosing solar energy. Solar energy has been produced from the sun and eliminates the hassle, confusion and cost of fueling a generator powered by gas or diesel. However some of the challenges that solar cells undergo are dependent on the nature of the materials and are especially susceptible, at even low concentrations, to chemical and structural deficiencies. Materials supply and production control to achieve low prices. Durability and material ageing at the level of solar cells and modules are also a concern, as this influences the technology’s reliability and ultimately the cost. This review paper discusses the recent production of cells in direct to build the efficiency of various types of conventional solar cells more effective and comparative.

Price duration curve and cost of renewable energy for electricity generation for power development plan of Thailand (PDP 2018)

Price duration curve and cost of renewable energy for electricity generation for power development plan of Thailand (PDP 2018)

Towards a Balanced Assessment of the Viability of Nuclear Energy in the Philippines

Nuclear energy in the Philippines has been thrust into the spotlight by the administration of President Duterte. A committee created by Executive Order 116 was tasked to formulate a national position on a possible nuclear program. For nuclear energy to be a sustainable alternative, it must be accepted by society at large. Conventional wisdom surrounding the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has branded this project as a white elephant leading to rejection of nuclear energy among a significant number of Filipinos, particularly members of civil society. This study presents evidence that the BNPP was operational at the time the administration of President Corazon Aquino decided to shut it down. Moreover, the risks related to the BNPP’s location are largely inconsequential. The BNPP became a white elephant because of an ill-advised political decision. Evaluating the viability of nuclear energy in the Philippines should therefore be balanced and deal solely with underlying technical and scientific issues, which are well known. Meanwhile, the role of nuclear energy in promoting a low-carbon society must be re-evaluated because of the sharp decline in the cost of variable renewable energy (VRE). If nuclear energy will eventually be incorporated in the plans of the Department of Energy (DOE), building a new large reactor would be too expensive. Two options are more feasible: revive the BNPP and/or invest in small module reactors (SMRs). Even if the latter has not yet been mainstreamed in the global energy market, SMRs are already on the radar of the DOE

Indirect cost of renewable energy: Insights from dispatching

The rapidly falling costs of renewable energy has made them the focus of efforts in making a low-carbon transition. However, when cheap large-scale energy storage is not available, the variability of renewables implies that fossil-based technologies have to ramp up-and-down frequently to provide flexibility for matching electricity demand and supply. Here we provide a study on the indirect cost of renewable energy due to thermal efficiency loss of coal plants with such ramping requirements. Using monthly panel data for China, we show that higher renewable share is associated with fewer operating hours of coal-fired units (COHOUR). We use an instrumental variable depending on natural river flows to identify the causal effect of reduced COHOURs in raising the heat rate of coal-fired units. Specifically, a 1 percentage point increase in the share of renewables leads to a 6.4 h reduction per month, and a reduction of one COHOUR results in a 0.09 gce/kWh increase of gross heat rate (+0.03%). We estimate that the thermal efficiency loss indicates 4.77 billion US dollars of indirect cost of renewables in 2019, or 9.44 billion if we include the social cost of carbon emissions. These results indicate that we should consider the indirect impacts of renewables on total coal use and the importance of increasing flexibility of the system.

Process improvements and multi-objective optimization of compressed air energy storage (CAES) system

Intermittency and high cost were the main barriers to the large-scale commercialization of renewable energy decades ago. The cost of renewable energy has decreased dramatically in the last decade. The intermittency of renewable energy, however, remains a serious challenge to be overcome. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is widely considered to be a promising energy storage technology at utility-scale and receives increasing attention from both academic and industrial communities. In this study, two novel CAES systems are proposed and a thorough investigation and comparison of the thermodynamic performance of both conventional and novel CAES systems have been performed. The turbine inlet temperature and the maximum cavern storage pressure are identified as the bottlenecks of CAES plants. The round-trip efficiency and energy density are chosen as the conflicting objectives. Pareto fronts are obtained based on the simulation-based multi-objective optimization framework developed in this study. The energy density of a diabatic CAES plant is within the range between 4.24 and 11.58 kWh/m3, while that value becomes 1.28–7.96 kWh/m3 for a conventional adiabatic CAES system. The novel two-pressure level adiabatic CAES system can improve the round-trip efficiency by at least 3.5% compared with the conventional adiabatic CAES system. The novel indirect heating diabatic CAES system can improve the round-trip efficiency by at least 2%. The Pareto fronts can be a useful tool for the grassroot design or retrofit of a CAES plant. Solutions to improve the CAES system performance have been proposed based on the optimization results of this study.

Thermal energy grid storage: Liquid containment and pumping above 2000 °C

As the cost of renewable energy falls below fossil fuels, the key barrier to widespread sustainable electricity has become availability on demand. Energy storage can enable dispatchable renewables, but only with drastic cost reductions compared to current battery technologies. One electricity storage concept that could enable these cost reductions stores electricity as sensible heat in an extremely hot liquid (>2000 °C) and uses multi-junction photovoltaics (MPV) as a heat engine to convert it back to electricity on demand, hours or days, later. This paper reports the first containment and pumping of silicon in a multipart graphite tank above 2000 °C, using material grades that are affordable for energy storage at GWh scales. Low cost molded graphite with particle sizes as large as 10 μm successfully contained metallurgical grade silicon, even with as much as two-thirds iron by mass for up to 10 h and temperatures as high as 2300 °C, in tanks as large as two gallons.

Impact of declining renewable energy costs on electrification in low-emission scenarios

Impact of declining renewable energy costs on electrification in low-emission scenarios

Influence of high road labor policies and practices on renewable energy costs, decarbonization pathways, and labor outcomes

Achieving an economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal by mid-century in the United States entails transforming the energy workforce. In this study, we focus on the influence of increased labor compensation and domestic manufacturing shares on (a) renewable energy technology costs, (b) the costs of transitioning the U.S. economy to net-zero emissions, and (c) labor outcomes, including total employment and wage benefits, associated with the deployment of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) and land based and offshore wind power. We find that manufacturing and installation labor cost premiums as well as increases in domestic content shares across wind and utility-scale solar PV supply chains result in relatively modest increases in total capital and operating costs. These small increases in technology costs may be partially or fully offset by increases in labor productivity. We also show that solar and wind technology cost premiums associated with high road labor policies have a minimal effect on the pace and scale of renewable energy deployment and the total cost of transitioning to a net-zero emissions economy. Public policies such as tax credits, workforce development support, and other instruments can redistribute technology cost premiums associated with high road labor policies to support both firms and workers.

Forecasting and Market Design Advances: Supporting an Increasing Share of Renewable Energy

Electricity systems around the world are decarbonizing, driven by reductions in the cost of renewable energy and encouraged by supportive regulatory policy. Electricity market designs are increasingly being tested to ensure that the bulk power system can deliver reliable, cost-effective energy to all consumers.

Control Strategies for Energy Efficiency at PNU’s Metro System

It is broadly acknowledged that there is an urgent need to reduce carbon-based mobility systems and increase renewable energy alternatives. The automotive industry is one of the greatest consumers of energy in the world. It is fronted with many challenges that aim at reducing carbon emissions. Renewable energy costs are getting cheaper and more cost effective. However, well devised design and control strategies are also needed in order to optimize any systems that are adopted in this field. Previous research shows that the energy consumption for non-traction purposes may be of the same scale as the energy used to move rolling stock, and in some cases even larger. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very interested in the implementation of policies that aim at reducing energy consumption and encouraging renewable energy programs. Under its Vision 2030 development program, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking to produce 30% of its energy from renewables and other sources, with solar energy playing an important role. The work presented in this paper is aimed at an investigation of design and control strategies to reduce energy consumption and to propose a cleaner source of energy to power Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University’s Automated People Mover (PNU-APM). Two areas of applications have been investigated for adopting these types of technology. Firstly, a p-v solar energy option that could be adopted for implementation in potential applications since the metro system is already in full operation using electricity. Secondly, design and control strategies including exploiting solar energy for a metro operation are discussed and investigated. A number of strategies to reduce heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) load, which happens to be the biggest energy consumer, have been discussed. Results show great potential in energy savings with adopting p-v solar sources as well as implementation of few suggested control strategies. Some deliberations of some of the drawbacks of solar energy are also offered.

Online delay-guaranteed workload scheduling to minimize power cost in cloud data centers using renewable energy

More and more cloud data centers are turning to leverage on-site renewable energy to reduce power cost for sustainable development. But how to effectively coordinate the intermittent renewable energy with workload remains to be a great challenge. This paper investigates the problem of workload scheduling for power cost minimization under the constraints of different Service Level Agreements (SLAs) of delay tolerant workload and delay sensitive workload for green data centers in a smart grid. Different from the existing studies, we take into consideration of the impact of zero price in the smart grid and the cost of on-site renewable energy. To handle the randomness of workload, electricity price and renewable energy availability, we first formulate the problem as a constrained stochastic problem. Then we propose an efficient online control algorithm named ODGWS (Online Delay-Guaranteed Workload Scheduling) which makes online scheduling decisions achieve a bounded guarantee from the worst scheduling delay for delay tolerant workload. Compared with the existing solutions, our ODGWS decomposes the problem into that of solving a simple optimization problem within each time slot in O(1) time without needing any future information. The rigorous theoretical analysis demonstrates that our algorithm achieves a [O(1V),O(V)] cost-delay tradeoff, where V is a balance parameter between the cost optimality and service quality. Extensive simulations based on real-world traces are done to evaluate the performance of our algorithm. The results show that ODGWS saves about 5% average power cost compared with the baseline algorithms.

CALL FOR EMERGENCY ACTION TO LIMIT GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASES, RESTORE BIODIVERSITY, AND PROTECT HEALTH

CALL FOR EMERGENCY ACTION TO LIMIT GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASES, RESTORE BIODIVERSITY, AND PROTECT HEALTH

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

Renewable Energy Zones in Australia: Integrated System Planning

The energy landscape in australia is undergoing a rapid and disruptive change. An aging fleet of coalfired power stations, coupled with the declining costs of renewable energy and storage, has culminated in strong investor interest in renewable resources. The establishment of renewable energy zones (REZs) and their robust integration into the existing transmission network have the potential to align this investor interest with government policy and consumer values. In this article, we show how REZs can be optimally established in Australia to maximize value across the energy supply chain.

Assessment of wind and solar PV local complementarity for the hybridization of the wind power plants installed in Portugal

To decarbonize electrical power systems, it is essential to incorporate a high share of variable renewable energy sources while minimizing their costs. An important step towards this goal includes exploring the potential for the so-called hybrid renewable power plants through the combination of (existing) wind and solar power parks. Although that is not the usual approach in their design, hybrid power plants should take advantage of existing synergies, as generation complementarity among the renewable generation technologies, and benefit from using existing infrastructures and the same grid connection point.This investigation assesses the potential of existing Portuguese wind parks for hybridization with solar power photovoltaic generation. Correlation and energy metrics for assessing the complementarity at hourly and daily periods are applied to quantify existing synergies.Results show a high potential for hybrid power plants: levels of complementarity between wind and solar resources are globally high thus allowing to increase the share of variable renewable energy sources with minimal energy curtailment, when compared with scenarios of overplanting additional wind power capacity. The highest and most consistent levels of complementarity are found in the interior regions of central and northern Portugal.The research shows that Portugal has privileged weather conditions that allow the concept of hybrid power plants to be largely explored and extended on a large and efficient scale. This outcome, which may be replicated for other countries, is an important contribution to increasing the penetration of renewable energy in electrical power systems while minimizing the overall costs of renewable energy.

How Engineers Can Disrupt Climate Change

Seven years ago, we published an article in IEEE Spectrum titled “What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change.” We described what we had learned as Google engineers who worked on a well-intentioned but ultimately failed effort to cut the cost of renewable energy. We argued that incremental improvements to existing energy technologies weren't enough to reverse climate change, and we advocated for a portfolio of conventional, cutting-edge, and might-seem-crazy R&D to find truly disruptive solutions. We wrote: “While humanity is currently on a trajectory to severe climate change, this disaster can be averted if researchers aim for goals that seem nearly impossible. We're hopeful, because sometimes engineers and scientists do achieve the impossible.”

Unsymmetrical zinc phthalocyanines containing thiophene and amine groups as donor for bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Photovoltaic technology is an alternative resource for renewable and sustainable energy and low costs organic photovoltaic devices such as bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells, which are selective candidates for the effective conversion of solar energy into electricity. Asymmetric phthalocyanines containing electron acceptor and donor groups create high photovoltaic conversion efficiency in dye sensitized solar cells. In this study, a new unsymmetrical zinc phthalocyanine was designed and synthesized including thiophene and amine groups at peripherally positions for BHJ solar cell. The structure of the targeted compound (4) was characterized comprehensively by FT-IR, UV–Vis, 1H-NMR, and MALDI-TOF MS spectroscopies. The potential of this compound in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic devices as donor was also researched as function of blend ratio (blend ratio was varied from 0.5 to 4). For this purpose, a series of BHJ devices with the structure of fluorine doped indium tin oxide (FTO)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)/ ZnPc:[6,6]- phenyl-C61- butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blend/Al with identical thickness of ZnPc:PCBM layer were fabricated and characterized. Photo current measurements in 4 revealed that the observed photo current maximum is consistent with UV-vis spectra of the compound of 4. Preliminary studies showed that the blend ratio has a critical effect on the BHJ device performance parameters. Photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 6.14% was achieved with 4 based BHJ device.