Design Of Energy Infrastructure Research Articles

A novel approach for optimal energy resources mixing in nuclear-renewable microgrids using probabilistic energy modelling method

Zero-carbon energy infrastructure design has become one of the most consequential pivotal toward sustainable development. This article introduces a novel approach to energy infrastructure innovation that incorporates carbon-free energy generation resources- renewables and Micro Nuclear Reactors (MNRs). The integrated Nuclear-Renewable Microgrid (NRM) has minimal greenhouse gas emissions and the utmost reliability. However, the planning and modeling of NRMs may face challenges due to the variability and uncertainty of renewable resources. Therefore, the study proposes a probabilistic energy modeling approach for NRMs, which provides an outstanding estimation for energy system planning in terms of economics and resiliency. Multiple load-generation scenarios have been formulated based on the probability distribution functions. A recent nature-based optimization technique, Slime Mould Algorithm (SMA), is employed to minimize the total annual cost of the probabilistic model with reliability constraints. The statistical analyses reveal that the probabilistic energy modeling method perfectly evaluates how energy generation resources should be mixed to fulfill energy demand in an optimal manner. The key findings also demonstrate observations on finance, system resiliency, and system components before the commencement of the project. The results are validated by another recent metaheuristic optimization algorithm called Aquila Optimizer (AO).

A Systematic Methodology for Design of Sustainable Urban Neighborhood Energy Infrastructure

The growing share of global energy consumption by cities (currently over 65%) raises the requirements for a systematic holistic approach for designing urban energy infrastructure in order to ensure its sustainability. A literature review of state-of-the-art modeling of urban energy infrastructure design emphasized the incomprehensive sustainability of the performed evaluations, as they accounted for several aspects of sustainability but missed others. Omitting important aspects can have significant implications which can put the sustainability of the energy infrastructure at risk. In this study, we attempted to develop a comprehensive model for designing sustainable energy infrastructure for urban districts, which accounts for the four aspects of sustainability: social, technical, environmental, and economic. The model is based on a four-step methodology: district characterization, a technological survey for distributed generation and energy storage, selecting suitable technologies according to social and technical criteria, and simulations of different energy infrastructure configurations to find the most suitable configurations basing on economic and environmental criteria. The research includes a case study in which the model was implemented for the Technion campus in Haifa. The developed model proved to be a comprehensive, efficient, and versatile tool for designing urban energy infrastructure.

The Need for Teaching Place-Based Contextualization for Sustainable Power System Infrastructure Design

In this paper, we make the case for an increased focus on teaching an understanding of societal context and the integral role it plays in energy infrastructure design. Power system design education is inadequate in terms of holistic understanding of the non-technical aspects of a client-society in the development of energy infrastructure solutions. These are reflected in many failed designs, primarily designed by student engineers as part of capstone projects, senior design projects, or extra-curricular work through humanitarian-oriented programs administered by NGOs. We are developing coursework that introduces students to the complexities involved in the practice of engineering in rural communities at the international level.

Agent-based modelling of juvenile eel migration via selective tidal stream transport

Recruitment of temperate eel species Anguilla anguilla, A. rostrata &A. japonica has declined over the last few decades due to human activities, such as overfishing and construction of migratory barriers (e.g. dams, weirs and sluices) and hazardous energy infrastructure (e.g. turbines, intakes and outfalls). Numerical models, substantiated with data from field and laboratory studies, can potentially predict and quantify the relative impacts of such activities, thereby assisting in the sustainable management of eel populations. Here, we present an agent-based model (ABM) of juvenile eel migration up estuaries. The model includes relevant eel behaviours and environmental conditions that, according to the literature, influence upstream migration. Crucially, by assessing the local salinity gradient and relative flow direction, the modelled eels (agents) self-determine whether the tide is flooding or ebbing and orientate themselves for navigation, with no top-down instructions. This allows the agents to decide which particular behaviour to undertake as part of Selective Tidal Stream Transport (STST). The developed ABM is coupled to a hydrodynamic model of the Thames Estuary and the results substantiated by comparison against eel trap data. Combinations of the various STST behaviours are systematically tested and the influence they have on up-estuary migration is assessed in terms of relative energy expenditure. The parameterised model is then used predictively at Milford Haven Waterway to investigate potential impacts on the juvenile eel population due to entrainment in a power plant cooling water intake and outfall. Results from the Thames model case study indicate that including bed anchoring behaviour is essential for achieving a good comparison with the eel trap data and the choice of salinity detection threshold is also important. If daylight avoidance (diel) behaviour is not included, the most energy efficient migration is achieved using just two STST behaviours (ebb tide bed anchoring and upward migration during flood). With diel behaviour included, energy expenditure is greater, but some efficiency is regained by including all of the STST behaviours. For the Milford Haven case study, the model predicted a juvenile eel intake and outfall entrainment rate of 2.0% and 4.7%, respectively. It is concluded that the ABM is a valuable tool for assessing potential impacts on the recruitment of eels (extendable to other species) and could be used to assist in site-selection and low impact design of energy infrastructure in tidal environments.

The evolving Brazilian automotive-energy infrastructure: Entanglements of national developmentalism, sugar and ethanol production, automobility and gasoline

This paper addresses the dynamic sociotechnical construction of automotive-energy infrastructures, based on the case of ethanol fuel in Brazil in the 20th and early 21st centuries. Energy infrastructure projects are afforded but also constrained by technical and institutional “residues” of previous initiatives and achievements. The notion of “knots” is introduced to explore how sociotechnical entanglements interlinking elements from distinct levels of the societal fabric become stabilized and shape subsequent developments. This extension of the sociotechnical approach is shown to be fruitful to better understand the embedding of ethanol fuel in the process of evolution of the automotive-energy infrastructure in Brazil during the 20th century. This then offers building blocks for analysis and design of energy infrastructures in general.

Assessing Renewable Energy Use in Ghana: The Case of the Electricity Sector

For years, renewable energy access and usage have played significant roles in the development of many nations in the Sub Saharan African (SSA) region. Currently, energy access continues to be the economic engine driving growth in Ghana and its various regions where energy sources, including hydroelectricity power and the generation of electricity form the backbone of the nation’s energy sources. However in the face of changing demographics and development activities sweeping across the country, the demand for renewable energy has grown so much that it is exceeding supply due to rapid population growth, industrial development, and domestic usage among households and others. Meeting the growing needs for electricity in these settings require more energy infrastructure in order to raise current capacity and with that, has come concerns about power outages and limited access to electricity in the country often compounded by physical, environmental and socio-economic factors. Despite ongoing efforts through different initiatives, the problems persist with rising tariffs. At the same time, very little exists in the literature to analyze renewable energy trends in Ghana from a temporal spatial perspective using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and descriptive statistics under mix scale methodology. In the absence of such an approach, formalizing an effective policy with the right support tools for improved access becomes a daunting task. In light of these challenges, this paper will focus on the analysis of renewable energy trends in Ghana with emphasis on the issues, trends, environmental analysis, impacts, factors and efforts in the electricity sector. Regarding methods, the research adopts mix scale techniques of descriptive statistics connected to GIS to map the spatial dimensions of renewable energy use, distribution and the potentials. The results show growing changes in the form of gains and declines in the renewable energy variables from electricity demands to capacity generated while the GIS mappings reveal a gradual dispersion of renewable energy elements spread across the country over time. Added to that, the changes in renewable energy use in Ghana seem not farfetched; they ranged from policy, socio-economic forces and environmental and physical elements. To address these challenges, the paper offered several recommendations; they include the need for more design of energy infrastructure, improved policy, effective monitoring, and regular use of spatial information systems and the design of a national energy information system. The expectation is that this will strengthen current measures towards energy security with improved access.

Towards the Comprehensive Design of Energy Infrastructures

Energy infrastructures are increasingly perceived as complex, adaptive socio-technical systems. Their design has not kept up; it is still fragmented between an engineering and economic dimension. While economists focus on a market design that addresses potential market failures and imperfections, opportunistic behavior, and social objectives, engineers pay attention to infrastructure assets, a robust network topology, and control system design to handle flows and eventualities. These two logics may be complementary, but may also be at odds. Moreover, it is generally unclear what design choices in one dimension imply for the other. As such, we are ill-equipped to identify, interpret, and address the challenges stemming from technical innovations, e.g., the integration of renewable energy technologies, and institutional changes, e.g., liberalization or new forms of organization like cooperatives, which often have interrelated operational and market implications. In response, this paper proposes a more comprehensive design framework that bridges the engineering and economic perspectives on energy infrastructure design. To this end, it elaborates the different design perspectives and develops the means to relate design variables of both perspectives along several layers of abstraction: the form of infrastructure access of actors, the division of responsibilities among actors, and type of coordination between actors. The intention is that this way system and market design efforts can be better attuned to each other and we further our understanding and conceptualization of the interrelationship between the techno-operational and economic-institutional dimensions of energy infrastructures. The framework also aids in overseeing the broader institutional implications of technical developments (and vice versa) and stimulates awareness of lock-ins and path-dependencies in this regard.

Toward Resilient, Inclusive and Vital Technological Infrastructures for the Energies of the Landscape

Today, the implementation of energy infrastructure needs a complex â"dialogue" between two apparently different aspects: technical aspects that characterize the processes of production and transformation of energy for the territory, and socio-ecological aspects related to the biological, organizational, and economic variables for cultural, creative, and productive energies of the territory. This new dimension of designing and building the energy infrastructures replaces to the classic esthetical idea of the landscape an integrated vision of human habitat in which innovations play a key role for the redefinition of relationships between téchne, bios and oikos. On these subjects, this article proposes a reflection on a methodological approach to re-think energy infrastructures as technological-environmental interfaces between land resources, energy needs, living dynamics, and inhabiting practices of territories and cities. Four possible scenarios are presented starting from some research experiences developed on Italian Abruzzo region. Through these experiences, emerges a new strategic, tactic and operational framework for the design of energy infrastructures. A new design framework in which energy infrastructures can contribute to re-build relations and connections between the acceptance/correlation of technological innovations and resilience, inclusiveness and vitality of the landscape.

Carbon constrained design of energy infrastructure for new build schemes

The carbon constrained design of energy supply infrastructure for new build schemes was investigated. This was considered as an optimization problem with the objective of finding the mix of on-site energy supply technologies that meet green house gas emissions targets at a minimum build cost to the developer. An integrated design tool was developed by combining a social cognitive optimisation solver, an infrastructure model and a set of analysis modules to provide the technical design, the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and the financial appraisal for the scheme. The integrated design tool was applied to a new build scheme in the UK with a 60% target reduction of regulated emissions. It was shown that the optimal design and corresponding cost was sensitive to the year of build completion and to the assumptions applied when determining the emissions intensity of the marginal central generators.

A preliminary infrastructure design to use fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage and renewable energy systems

Abstract This paper proposes a design methodology for energy infrastructure to address the recent economic and environmental challenges. The proposed energy infrastructure was based on the recognition that fossil fuels will be used for some time with renewable energy sources because renewables are currently unable to replace fossil fuels entirely. A two-fold strategy for the energy infrastructure design is proposed. One is to minimize the negative impact of fossil fuel systems by installing carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The other is to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy systems in their place. The design of integrated energy infrastructure is transformed as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. Cases of installing CCS and H 2 as a renewable energy source in Korea are illustrated with a discussion of the systematic design of energy infrastructure.