Investments In Energy Systems Research Articles

Prospects of Wind-Diesel Generator-Battery Hybrid Power System: A Feasibility Study in Algeria

The present work analyses the feasibility of a wind-diesel generator-battery hybrid system. The wind energy resource data are collected from the weather station at the Renewable Energy Development Center of Bouzareah in Algeria. The recorded values vary from 5.5 m/s to 7 m/s at 25 m. The hybrid system analysis has shown that for a household consuming 1,270 kWh/yr, the cost of energy is 1.205 USD/kWh and produces 2,493 kWh/yr in which 93% of electricity comes from wind energy. From this study, it is clear that the optimized hybrid system is more cost effective compared to the diesel generator system alone where the NPC and COE are equal, respectively, to 19,561 USD and 1.205 USD/kWh and 47,932 USD and 2.952 USD/kWh. The sensitivity analysis predicts that the grid extension distance varies from 1.25 to 1.85 km depending on wind speed and fuel price which indicate a positive result to implement a stand-alone hybrid power system as an alternative to grid extension. In addition to the feasibility of this system, it can reduce the emission of the CO2, SO2, and NOx, respectively, from 4758 to 147, from 9.45 to 0.294, and from 105 to 3.23 kg/yr. Investments in autonomous renewable energy systems should be considered particularly in remote areas. They can be financed in the framework of the National Energy Action Plan of Algeria.

Optimization of Korean energy planning for sustainability considering uncertainties in learning rates and external factors

During the last few decades, energy planning has focused on meeting domestic demand at lower total costs. However, global warming and the shared recognition of it have transformed the problem of energy planning into a more complex task with a greater number of issues to be considered. Since the key issue is to reduce greenhouse effects, governments around the world have begun to make investments in renewable energy systems (e.g., hydro, wind, solar, and/or biomass power). The relatively high costs of renewable energy systems and the uncertain outlook of their rate of diffusion in the market make it difficult to heavily rely on them. The uncertain variations in production cost over time are especially challenging. To handle uncertainties, the concept of the learning rate was adopted in this study so as to compute the costs of energy systems in the future and Monte Carlo simulation was performed.The aim of this study was to optimize plans of conventional and prospective renewable energy systems with respect to production cost. The production cost included capital, fixed, variable, and external costs. For the case study, the energy situation in South Korea was used. The results of the case study where the proposed methodology was applied could provide useful insights economically and strategies of sustainable energy management for ambiguous environments.

Which factors influence the expansion of bioenergy? An empirical study of the investment behaviours of German farmers

The German government is planning to increase the share of renewable energy sources. In this context, it is important to understand the decision-making behaviour of farmers regarding investments in renewable energy systems that generate energy from biomass and farmers' reactions to investment-support measures. To study this behaviour, we conduct a survey and confront farmers with a hypothetical opportunity to invest in a biogas plant. Our findings reveal that farmers have heterogeneous investment thresholds. Their investment decisions are mainly driven by capital costs and the subjective perception of the risk resulting from the investment. Other decision parameters like sustainability and non-monetary objectives that are also examined in this paper, play only minor roles. However, bounded rationality is an important factor. Moreover, the influence of an investment subsidy was analysed. Only about half of the amount of the subsidy — as expected according to normative forecast models — is reflected in an increased willingness to invest. Furthermore, farmers who have previously invested in bioenergy plants show lower investment thresholds and have stronger reactions to the subsidy. Regarding the expansion of renewable energies these findings are meaningful for policy impact analysis.

A Wider Horizon

U.S. energy system investment during the next 40 years is likely to exceed US S3 trillion plus the cost of transportation-related electrification. The magnitude of this cost and its importance to economic competitiveness and to climate change mitigation create the need for highly robust, rigorous, and informative energy system planning processes. We see a great need for new tools, an area that will require significant investment in associated research and development. Finally, we highlight the large amount of recent activity in the United States at the state and federal levels in regard to crafting production tax credits, investment tax credits, and renewable portfolio standards; future policies might also include emissions taxes or cap-and-trade mechanisms. Although such policies are intended to move society from a less desirable equilibrium to a more desirable one according to some particular set of criteria, the complexities of the energy systems they intend to influence make their actual effects unknown, and there are potential negative effects and unde sirable interactions with competing policies. Policy design and evaluation tools are needed to more completely assess and understand the full impacts of these complex issues. New analytic tools must be developed to accomplish this goal.

Efficient Grid Extension for Strongly Fluctuating Energy Sources

The statistical distribution function of the yield of a source of strongly varying output is usually presented as a ‘power-duration-curve’. We show that the decisive economic curve representing the marginal benefit of such fluctuating sources like wind energy can be derived directly from this distribution function. This may allow to determine the optimum investment in renewable energy systems.

New Approaches for Energy Efficiency Market Penetration

ABSTRACT Penetrating the energy efficiency market is a challenge anywhere in the world. Many business models have been designed and implemented. Despite the fact that energy prices are continuously on the rise, industries in most countries have maintained the practice of investing in expanding production rather than in making operations more energy efficient. The higher cost of operations is simply transferred to the consumers in the form of increased prices for services and products. To date, investments in production expansion always win over investments in reducing operating costs through improving the efficiency of energy use. However, with oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel, the benefits of energy efficiency—reduced costs, increased productivity and competitiveness, economic development, and improved environment—are becoming increasingly attractive and feasible. Yet investment in energy efficient technologies and systems lags behind the potential for benefits. Investors are still reluctant to implement energy efficiency projects for several reasons. This article examines a new business model in energy efficiency market penetration. The new business approach adds energy consulting services and training to the traditional energy project services. The ESCO's consulting services establish energy programs with the host organization. The program aims to increase awareness and makes the client's staff feel that the project is its own. This helps success and sustainability. It builds confidence in the client for high investment energy efficiency projects. In any energy efficiency market, sustainability of ESCOs is very difficult. Project contracts are relatively large, and their timing is usually uneven. A high business development cost is associated with winning project contracts. The new business model creates a steady stream of smaller income to support the ESCO staff and office between projects. Examples of the implementation of new market penetration models are presented in this article.

Strategic analysis methodology for energy systems with remote island case study

A strategic analysis methodology is presented for adaptive energy systems engineering to realize an optimal level of service in the context of a community's social, economic, and environmental position. The groundwork stage involves characterizing the social context, assessing available energy resources, identifying environmental issues, setting eco-resource limits, and quantifying socio-economic constraints for a given region. A spectrum of development options is then constructed according to the range of energy service levels identified for the sector under study. A spectrum of conceptual energy systems is generated and infrastructure investments and resource use are modeled. The outcome is a matrix of energy system investment possibilities for the range of energy demand levels reflecting the values, ideas, and expectations expressed by the community. These models are then used to assess technical feasibility and economic, environmental and social risk. The result is an easily understood graphical depiction of local aspirations, investment options, and risks which clearly differentiates development opportunities from non-viable concepts. The approach was applied to a case study on Rotuma, an isolated Pacific Island. The case study results show a clear development opportunity space for Rotuma where desired energy services are in balance with investment sources, resource availability, and environmental constraints.

温室暖房用燃焼燃料の代替方法の検討

The challenge now is to find alternative energy sources that can provide a significant portion of the requirement for modern greenhouses already adopting the best available conservation practices. Simulation modeling, even with relatively simplistic modeling techniques, can provide a preliminary analysis of the expected contribution of various proposed alternative energy scenarios. The results for cogeneration fuel cells, heat pumps and industrial waste heat sources were reviewed here. The cases presented indicate the potential for a relatively simple approach for making a first level evaluation of possible energy management scenarios. The cases examined all indicate the importance of thermal storage as a management tool to increase the utilization of investments in alternative energy systems, where the energy to be delivered is not stored in the form of fossil fuel. The cases also indicate, in cases where CO2 is being supplemented, that the additional hours of greenhouse closure provide benefits in addition to the provision of heating and cooling.

04/02181 Optimal supply and demand investments in municipal energy systems: Rolfsman, B. Energy Conversion and Management, 2004, 45, (4), 595–611

As temperatures across the globe hit record highs and extreme climate events multiply, interest in least-cost CO2 mitigation pathways is growing. This paper examines the pros and cons of strengthening demand-side options in strategies to reduce carbon emissions from the U.S. electricity sector. To date, demand-side management in the U.S. power sector has received overly simplistic treatment in energy models. To help fill this gap, we develop a customized version of the National Energy Modeling System to assess a range of demand- and supply-side policy scenarios. This enables four research hypotheses to be tested, related to mitigation costs, investment in new natural gas plants, carbon leakage, and local air pollution.We conclude that the clean power transformation can be made more affordable by improving the efficiency of energy utilization. By downscaling the expansion of natural gas plants, energy efficiency can also avoid legacy impacts. While strong energy-efficiency policies lower overall CO2 emissions, coal plant retirements can be delayed, postponing associated local air quality benefits. Thus, we illustrate a limitation of single-pollutant policies while also demonstrating the value of co-optimizing demand- and supply-side carbon mitigation options.

Optimal supply and demand investments in municipal energy systems

In many municipalities, there are district heating networks, which are quite commonly supplied by combined heat and power plants (CHP). A district heating network contains buildings of different types. In this paper, one such municipal energy system is analysed. In order to provide space heating and domestic hot water, investments could be made on the supply side in power plants, or on the demand side in the buildings, for example in the form of extra wall insulation. The electricity from the CHP plants is supplied to the municipality but can also be sold to the electricity market, and electricity can, of course, also be bought from the market. The variation in price on the spot market over any given day is significant. The need for district heat in the building stock also varies, for example due to climatic conditions. The energy system in the case study is analysed with a mixed integer linear programming model. The model has 3 h time steps in order to reflect diurnal variations, and an entire year is analysed. A case study is presented for the city of Linköping in Sweden. On the demand side, the options are: extra wall insulation, extra attic insulation and better types of windows. The building stock is divided into nine categories.

Impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act on investments in wood biomass energy systems

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 drastically altered the business tax structure of the United States. This paper examines the magnitude and scope of these tax changes and their impact on three basic types of investment in biomass energy systems: (1) a replacement facility, (2) a retrofit, and (3) the addition of a cogeneration turbine. The paper examines the economic feasibility of these three biomass projects (adapted from real case studies) before and after implementation of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 using the effects on net present value and internal rate of return criteria. Individual changes in the tax code applicable to biomass energy systems are reviewed and the impact of each on the net present value and internal rate of return of the three projects is quantified. The results indicate that the Tax Reform Act was not as devastating to biomass projects as originally perceived and that some projects capable of generating large annual savings may actually benefit from the tax law changes.

Financing Canadian Energy Projects

Summary Canada's energy resources are enormous by world standards. It is well known, for example, that Canada's Athabasca tar sands contain over one-third of the world's potential supply of these resources. However, having energy in the ground on the one hand, and getting it financed and delivered to the market at an acceptable price on the other hand, is the issue that Canada faces today. Although estimates vary, it is quite likely that by the year 2000, conventional supplies of Canadian crude oil will account for only 10% of Canadian oil production. The other 90 % will derive from costly nonconventional and frontier sources of energy. These must be developed more quickly to fill the shortfall from conventional sources of supply. To curb our growing trade deficit in crude oil and to improve our energy efficiency, the adoption of much higher energy prices in Canada is required. It is also likely that to achieve energy self-sufficiency in Canada, massive investments in other energy systems, most notably electric utilities and natural gas pipelines, will also have to be undertaken. Over the next 20 years, our forecasts indicate that roughly $1.5 trillion* of new energy investment capital will be needed to develop Canada's conventional and nonconventional sources of energy supply. About $530 million of this total will represent conventional and frontier petroleum development. In the decade ahead the annual investment in energy will be ten times as large as in the pre-1973 era. Extensive use of offshore capital markets will be required to develop Canada's energy resources. Innovative and nonrecourse financing methods will have to be used for large-scale projects. Increased government involvement in high-risk projects seems likely. Some $350 billion in offshore capital is needed over the next 20 years. Although capital will be available to credit-worthy borrowers, higher financial spreads will be required to compensate lenders for increased risk. Completion risk, capital cost overruns, and market risks are the principal project-related risk factors. Canada's Energy Potential Oil and gas currently provide nearly two-thirds of Canada's primary energy. Coal provides about 9%, while nuclear and hydroelectric systems provide the remaining 26 %.** There are unquestionably many energy projects and developments that we must get on with to fulfill Canada's policy of energy self-sufficiency. Although official government policy announcements have not been made, a reasonable time frame for energy self-sufficiency, especially with respect to crude oil, would be the mid-1990's. Major oil indications in Canada in the Beaufort Sea and off the east coast on the Labrador and Atlantic shelves have made promising new discoveries (Fig. 1). But this will be expensive and technically difficult to develop, requiring large sums of capital and long lead times. Natural gas discoveries off the east coast and in the Arctic Archipelago have also significantly enriched our energy, Potential (Fig. 2). Pipelines in the high arctic and extensions to the U.S. east coast are currently being planned to develop these resources. At current production rates, the life-index for Canadian crude oil from conventional sources is about 10 years. For natural gas, our position is somewhat stronger, at 26 1/2 years (Table 1).1 The largest potential new sources of supply are located in western Canada, the Arctic, and the Beaufort Sea. Although Canada's proved oil and gas reserves are modest compared with those in the Middle East (Fig. 3 and Table 2), Canada's potential for development is exceedingly large. Athabasca tar sands arid heavy oils in the Lloydminster region of Alberta have nearly 1 trillion bbl [0.16×1012m3] of oil in place (DIP). Although reserves and recovery factors vary (Table 3), estimated recoverable reserves could be on the order of 100 billion to 250 billion bbl [159×109 to 397×109 m3] (Fig. 4). However, the cost of even one synthetic tar sands plant has escalated from Syncrude Canada's $2.5 billion in 1976 (129,000 BID [20 509 m3/d)) to $7 billion for the proposed Alsands project (140,000 B/D [22258 m3)) today.***