Local Renewable Energy Resources Research Articles

Roadmap for Renewable Energy Development

The article examines the priorities and prospects of the road map for the development of renewable energy using the example of Turkmenistan. The main scientific conditions of the goal, objectives, principles of public policy, a heterogeneous class of renewable technologies, the main scientific conditions of the road map for sustainable development, the environmental aspect of climate change, mitigation potential, and costs are presented. The compiled roadmap for the use of renewable energy sources outlines the expected energy, economic, and environmental effects from the use of renewable energy technologies in remote areas from the centralized power line. The author believes that the outlined development roadmap for the use of renewable energy sources will become the basis for drawing up programs in other countries, depending on natural, climatic, and geographical conditions. Thus, the road map for the development of renewable energy sources, the use of local renewable energy resources, can reduce the need for fossil fuels in some cases by up to 80% and will significantly reduce the anthropogenic load on the environment. The introduction of renewable energy sources is one of the most relevant and promising for the development of the desert and the fight against desertification in the Karakum.

Development of an Energy Community through semi-dynamic simulation of a urban social housing

Energy communities (ECs) are instrumental in driving the transition to renewable energy in urban areas. This study focuses on implementing ECs in Rome’s Tor Bella Monaca district, with a particular focus on linear mass housing. Using the Urban Modeling Interface (UMI) and Simulink, four energy community scenarios were simulated to evaluate their potential outcomes. The scenarios involved integrating photovoltaics and heat pumps into the community’s infrastructure to assess their impact on renewable energy production and CO2 reduction. The results demonstrate that higher electrification within an energy community leads to increased self-consumption of renewable energy and reduced reliance on the grid. Furthermore, the integration of heat pumps enhances energy consumption efficiency. This research highlights the significant potential of energy communities and innovative technologies in managing local renewable energy resources effectively. It provides valuable insights for developing sustainable energy models in urban areas. It emphasizes the importance of carefully evaluating technology sizing, integration, and the inclusion of thermal and electrical storage to maximize self-consumption while minimizing CO2 emissions. The study’s findings offer practical guidance for policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders involved in sustainable energy management. They underscore the need for a holistic approach that combines technological advancements, community engagement, and thoughtful integration of renewable energy systems. Ultimately, this research contributes to the adoption of energy communities as crucial elements of a resilient and environmentally-friendly future.

The European Solar Communication—Will It Pave the Road to Achieve 1 TW of Photovoltaic System Capacity in the European Union by 2030?

The urgency of a clean energy transition in the European Union is now not only driven by concerns about climate change, but also by using local renewable energy resources to reduce the dependency on foreign energy imports. Solar photovoltaic electricity generation is acknowledged as one of the pillars of this transition and various policy measures were implemented over the last two years to not only accelerate the deployment of solar photovoltaic electricity generation systems, but also to rebuild a competitive solar value chain in Europe to hedge against solar photovoltaic component supply chain disruptions. However, the current political ambitions still do not pay sufficient attention to the importance of solar photovoltaics as a major contributor to the necessary future renewable energy supply. According to the market trend between 2017 and 2022, the currently average EU installed capacity of 474.55 Wp/capita will not reach the necessary 2246 Wp/capita or 1 TWp target by 2030. At the moment, only seven member states have an installed capacity per capita higher than the average EU value.

Mapping social capital across Wales (UK) using secondary data and spatial analysis

Social capital, a powerful community resource based on trust, relationships, norms, culture, values, networks and belonging, could shape the acceptance, cooperation, and involvement of citizens towards new policies or interventions. In past, connections of social capital have been studied in relation to human health, wellbeing, social and economic development. More recently, social capital has been studied with respect to human resilience and adaptation to climate change. We argue that social capital could also play a vital role in our efforts to reduce carbon footprint through behaviour change, a shift on shared local renewable energy resources, and adoption of low carbon technologies. In Wales (UK) there is no national scale dataset, reflecting its social capital landscape, that could be used for designing the right policies/interventions in this context, based on an expected level of trust, cooperation, and support within the communities. This paper is an effort to fill this data gap using secondary datasets. Firstly, a literature review is carried out to identify the indicators of social capital (cognitive and participatory). Secondary datasets have then been identified and acquired. Geospatial analysis has been carried out to produce the criterion maps for various indicators of social capital. Finally, Analytical Hierarchy Process is applied to generate a social capital map of Wales combining these indicators together. For validation of the produced data, social capital’s known correlations were tested with crime rates, income level and multiple deprivations.

Game-theoretic multi-energy trading framework for strategic biogas-solar renewable energy provider with heterogeneous consumers

This paper proposes a game-theoretic multi-energy trading framework for a biogas-solar renewable energy provider with heterogeneous consumers to promote the efficient utilization of local renewable energy resources. Within the proposed framework, the multi-energy provider utilizes biogas-solar complementarities to enhance the operational flexibility for electricity, biogas, and heat energy supplies, and consumers are enabled to actively participate in demand response under different multi-energy prices from the provider and UCs. A multi-energy pricing model is then proposed based on the Stackelberg game to interactively and dynamically determine the internal trading prices for optimal multi-energy trading between the provider and consumers. Furthermore, a bi-level optimization method is formulated to solve the Stackelberg game-based multi-energy trading problem to maximize the provider's profit at the upper level and the welfare of each consumer at the lower level. Case studies show that the provider's profit is improved by 33.7% using the proposed scheme compared with the benchmark scheme, and meanwhile the average welfare of consumers for consuming biogas and electricity are approximately 3.0 and 1.4 times greater than those using the benchmark scheme.

Power System Planning Assessment for Optimizing Renewable Energy Integration in the Maluku Electricity System

The planning of electrical power systems in remote island areas poses a few challenges, such as requiring many load centers, various energy sources, and certain geographical conditions, which leads to inefficiencies in energy production. For this reason, it is necessary to plan an electrical transmission system to efficiently transfer the power between load centers. Previous research has found that the completion of the most economical power system will be achieved in 2050 on the condition that the Ambon, Seram, Haruku, and Saparua (Ambon-SHS) systems are interconnected in 2025. Providing complementary support, this paper conducts a power system analysis to assess the proposed interconnection system in Maluku Island, which has several islands, small load centers, and local renewable energy resources. The power system analysis was performed using DIgSILENT PowerFactory and was carried out every 5 years of the system planning period until 2050. The results show that the design of the obtained transmission system meets the standard security criteria, which include thermal loading and voltage, being under both normal and N-1 contingency conditions, a short-circuit current, voltage stability, frequency stability, and transient stability. Finally, this paper demonstrates that the proposed plan is economically and technically feasible.

Generation Expansion Planning Based on Local Renewable Energy Resources: A Case Study of the Isolated Ambon-Seram Power System

Energy sustainability has become one of the main issues in power system planning in the Indonesian archipelago system, which has many small, isolated systems. For that purpose, green and sustainable generation expansion planning (GEP) procedures based on local energy resources is required. GEP is a necessary procedure for fulfilling electricity demand, which determines the generating units to be installed within a specified time horizon with minimal total costs as the objective function. This study uses GEP considering the interconnection option among the existing small scattered generation systems in Maluku: the isolated Ambon, Seram, Haruku, and Saparua systems. With interconnection, the utilization of local renewable energy sources would be increased, especially biomass, which has abundant potential in these areas. The GEP was simulated in the PLEXOS environment using mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). For comparison purposes, there were interconnection and isolated system scenarios. The results showed that the interconnection system would have a high share of a renewable energy source (RES) of up to 54% in 2050, most of which is biomass as the primary local energy source. The interconnection system scenario met the LOLP criteria and had a lower reserve margin and total costs than the isolated scenario, with USD 773.7 million.

Real-World Application of Sustainable Mobility in Urban Microgrids

The impact of microgrid applications expands with the increasing share of renewable energy resources in the energy supply and the progressing electrification of the transport sector. The additional energy demand of electric vehicles (EVs) may cause increased peak loads, leading to growing burdens on the power system. In this regard, microgrids allow to cover the energy demand of EVs utilizing local renewable energy resources and a battery storage system, thereby lowering the utilization of the power system. This article discusses a self-consumption operational strategy for a real-world microgrid at the EUREF-Campus in Berlin, Germany. A rule-based control algorithm for the sustainable energy supply of EV charging stations is implemented and validated. Measurements are recorded with high resolution over three years from 2017 to 2019. The performance of the microgrid operation is assessed with regards to three distinct key indicators: Self-consumption, autarky, and emission rate. The influence of selected operating parameters under real-world and ideal operating conditions are investigated. The results indicate that self-consumption and autarky rates are sensitive to the rated power capacity of a battery storage system rather than to its rated energy capacity. Moreover, the reduction of emissions through battery deployment for EV charging amounts up to 37 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\,$</tex-math></inline-formula> % under ideal operating conditions. This underlines the potential of the microgrid concept for the sustainable application of EVs in urban areas.

Development of a solar nano-grid for meeting the electricity supply shortage in developing countries (Nigeria as a case study)

The urban demographic in most developing countries often depend on fossilized fuel generators to meet the electricity supply gap from the national grid. Due to health and environmental concerns with fossilized fuel, local renewable energy resources offer a tentative replacement but often involve high initial upfront costs for their deployment. This work addresses the initial cost barrier issue with renewable energy deployment by focusing on Nigeria as a case study. More specifically, this work proposes a Solar Nano grid concept as an alternative to fossilized generators. The proposed Solar Nano grid concept presents the flexibility to deploy PV systems based on budgetary constraints and the option of upgrading the system (adding newer units to existing ones) in the future. While adding new units to old ones gives rise to compatibility and aging issues in the PV systems, simulation studies show that it is possible to eliminate such concerns by applying a set of design protocols and principles in the proposed Solar Nano grid. An assembled lab-scale Solar Nano grid system validated the simulation findings. With the validated model, this work puts forth possible strategy for reducing the upfront cost of PV system deployment to about 10% of the initial value.

An integrated flexibility optimizer for economic gains of local energy communities — A case study for a University campus

With a capacity-based network tariff structure, consumers are encouraged to reduce their connection capacity to avoid higher costs. However, overloading beyond the administrative grid connection capacity limit would result in an increased connection capacity, thus prosumers have to pay the increased electricity bill for the rest of the year. Therefore, it is important to optimize the energy generation and consumption profiles of local energy communities (LECs) considering the comfort level of occupants. This work aims to reduce the overloading of the grid connection and increase the utilization of local renewable energy resources (RES) thus avoids being penalized throughout the year due to casual intermittent overloading in peak hours, even once in a year. The present work proposes a novel data-driven flexibility optimizer model for day-ahead scheduling of energy profiles for LECs, considering photovoltaic (PV) generation, heat pump (HPs), and cooling loads. The proposed methodology has been developed to explore the flexibility potentials from a university campus network which includes both electrical and heating/cooling systems in an integrated way. A two-layer optimization strategy is developed, to guard the occupant’s comfort level. Simulation has been performed for complete two months, considering winter and summer scenarios. A peak demand reduction of 16% has been observed with negligible energy usage differences between the proposed and the baseline case. Two types of flexibility indicators are estimated to give a deeper insight into the performance. Economical gains of 9 % and 16 % are estimated depending on the type and voltage level of the connection.

Design and operation optimization of multi-source complementary heating system based on air source heat pump in Tibetan area of Western Sichuan, China

A significant demand for building heating exists in the Tibetan area of Western Sichuan. However, there is no enough meteorological data and appropriate optimization method used for designing and operating local building heating systems. This study puts forward a building heating climate zoning method to divide the Tibetan area of Western Sichuan into four building heating climate zones. Combined with the local renewable energy resources, an optimization model that can be used to simultaneously optimize system configuration, equipment capacity, and operating parameters for a multi-source complementary heating system based on air source heat pump (MSCHS-ASHP) is proposed. Life cycle cost (LCC), seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP), CO2 emission equivalent in operation cycle, and cumulative power consumption the during heating season (Wele) are selected as indices to evaluate the performance of MSCHS-ASHP and coal-fired boiler heating system (CBHS), which is optimized for comparison. Results show that compared to CBHS, the LCC of optimal MSCHS-ASHP can be reduced by up to 26.8%, while the SCOP can be increased by up to 398.8%. Zero CO2 emissions can be achieved during operation of MSCHS-ASHP as well. The Wele of optimal MSCHS-ASHP can reach a minimum value of 1.75 kWh/(m2·a).

Microgrid Policies: A Review of Technologies and Key Drivers of Thailand

Microgrids have been emerging and playing valuable roles in several parts of society, from academia of scholars to the energy supply industry of professional practitioners. A microgrid policy appeared in the Thailand 2015 energy development plan. There are many microgrids in Thailand. The first smart microgrid in Thailand is in active operation. Some microgrids are no longer functioning. Other microgrids continue to serve their customers. The remaining microgrid projects are in the process of development. Most present microgrids in Thailand are driven by public policy and legal flexibility. The objective of this research is to investigate the compatible microgrid technology in Thailand and explore the key drivers of microgrid policies in Thailand. The research methodology applied in this research includes data collection (i.e., a document study, interview, group discussion, and microgrid project participation and observation), as well as data analysis and conclusion. The findings of the research show that: in Thailand, the desired microgrid technologies are compatible with 1) inputs of potential local renewable energy resources of solar, wind, biomass, and mini-hydro, and 2) small gaps of human resource capabilities to deal with the technology utilization. The key drivers of the Thailand microgrid policy are 1) electricity access, 2) wealth creation and distribution, 3) environmental protection, and 4) technology development.

Potential for the regional energy supply system optimization through recycling waste into energy

The use of renewable energy sources is becoming a general trend for optimizing energy supply and achieving low-carbon development goals in various regions of the world. In Russia, in connection with the introduction and implementation of government support measures for solar, wind, bioenergy, starting in 2013, a large-scale introduction of energy-generating facilities began. This factor, as well as the need to solve the problem of recycling waste from the municipal sector, agriculture and forestry, makes it necessary to use local renewable energy resources, including waste. This approach helps to optimize the regional energy system, even if they are grid connected. The paper discusses the methods and potential for optimizing energy supply in the regions of southern Russia, which has a high population density, a significant deficit in energy balance, and problems in the field of solid waste processing. The basis for this work is the use of municipal sector waste as an energy resource, with an assessment of the economic and environmental efficiency of this process. The use of geoinformation technologies provides a spatial analysis of the resource potential, a comparative analysis of the distribution of energy production and consumption within the region, as well as helps to assess the availability of territories for the optimal placement of solid municipal waste processing facilities.

A control strategy for distributed energy system considering the state of thermal energy storage

Distributed energy systems (DES) is energy efficient due to energy cascade utilization and integration with local renewable energy resources. Thermal energy storage systems (TESs) can supplement the DES to improve the system performance. In this study, a control strategy is proposed for the DES&TES considering the state of the TES to improve the surplus energy utilization, the system energy and economic performance especially during transition season. The operation of the power generator is determined by the electrical load, the state of the TES and the time-of-use tariff. In addition to the following the electrical load strategy, the generator is shut down when the TES is full and starts until the TES is discharged completely. The proposed strategy is tested under two tariffs. Results show that the proposed strategy can improve the surplus energy utilization rate and the primary energy efficiency of the DES by 29.2 % and 2.9 % compared with following the electricity load strategy. The payback period of the TES can be decreased to 1.9 years. In addition, the performance deviation resulting from the dynamic and static TES models shows that the dynamic model should be employed because the static model can over-estimate nearly 40 % of surplus energy utilization rate.

Evaluation of renewable energy resources abundance and spatial correlation analysis in Beijing

Beijing is actively exploring the development and utilization potential of local renewable energy resources in order to speed up the adjustment of energy structure, implement clean energy substitution and build a modern green energy system in the capital. In this context, it is urgent to systematically analyze the status and characteristics of renewable energy resources in Beijing. Taking Beijing as the research area, this paper calculates the abundance indexes of solar energy, wind energy and biomass resources respectively, and establishes the renewable energy abundance evaluation model. Based on the spatial distribution characteristics of renewable energy resources in Beijing, the spatial correlation of renewable energy resources was tested. The results show that renewable energy resources in Beijing are generally characterized by “rich in the north and poor in the South” and “rich in the surrounding areas and poor in the center”. Among them, solar energy resources are relatively rich, wind energy resources are scarce with random distribution characteristics, and biomass resources are decreasing year by year. The research results can provide important reference for the development and utilization of renewable energy resources in different regions of Beijing.

Optimal Coordination Strategies for Load Service Entity and Community Energy Systems Based on Centralized and Decentralized Approaches

The energy interaction among a load service entity and community energy systems in neighboring communities leads to a complex energy generation, storage, and transaction problem. A load service entity is formed by a local electricity generation system, storage system, and renewable energy resources, which can provide ancillary services to customers and the utility grid. This paper proposes two coordination schemes for the interaction of community-based energy systems and load service entities based on game-theoretic frameworks. The first one is a centralized coordination scheme with full cooperation, in which the load service entity and community energy systems jointly activate the local resources. The second one is set as a decentralized coordination scheme to obtain a relative balance of interests among the market participants in a Stackelberg framework. Two mathematical models are developed for the day-ahead decision-making of the above energy management schemes. The Shapley value method, Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions, and strong dual theory are applied to solve the complex coordination problems. Numerical study shows the effectiveness of the coordination strategies that all stakeholders benefit from the proposed coordination schemes and create a win–win situation. In addition, sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the effects of system configuration, energy demand, and energy prices on the economic performance of all stakeholders. The results can serve as references for business managers of the load service entity.

Ukraine Energy Sector Management Using Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

The Ukrainian energy sector is one of the most inflexible energy sectors in the world as a result of the almost complete depreciation of the equipment of the main sources of power supply: nuclear, thermal, and hydropower. In connection with existing problems, there is a need to develop and use new energy-saving technologies based on renewable energy sources. In this proposed research, a regression model of renewable energy growth in the energy sector of Ukraine was developed. The studied literature reveals that the independent use of individual functioning elements of renewable energy sources function as the primary power source that is not an optimal solution for stable energy supply. This study proposes the use of hybrid renewable energy systems, namely a combination of two or more renewable energy sources that will help each other to achieve higher energy efficiency, accelerate the growth of renewable energy in the share of the Ukrainian energy sector and/or improve functioning with battery energy storages. Moreover, the use of hybrid renewable energy systems in Ukraine will reduce the human impact on the environment, realize the potential of local renewable energy resources and also increase the share of electricity generation from renewable energy sources. Therefore, mechanisms for managing state regulation of stimulating the development of hybrid renewable energy systems have been developed.

RENCANA PEMASANGAN DISTRIBUTED GENERATION PADA JARINGAN DISTRIBUSI SERTA PENGARUHNYA TERHADAP PROFIL TEGANGAN DAN RUGI-RUGI DAYA

Jatiluwih feeder is a primary 20 kV distribution network with a peak demand of 1.85 MW. The feeder has a radial configuration with a length of 120 kmc. The extended length of the feeder causes a high voltage drop and power loss. One strategy to reduce voltage drop and power loss is by the installation of distributed generation (DG). The energy resource of the DG usually adopts local available renewable energy resources, such as solar power and hydro power. This paper discusses voltage profile and power loss due to the installation of DG on the distribution network. The analysis covered survey of the available renewable energy resources and power flow simulation. Power flow simulation was carried out in two scenarios, before and after the installation of DG. The simulation results showed that during peak daytime load, DG installation is able to reduce maximum voltage drop by 2,08 %, and increases the voltage from 344,4 V to 352,7 V. Besides that, the installation of DG is able to reduce the total power loss by 9,43 % or as much as 530 kW.

Modeling and frequency control of community micro-grids under stochastic solar and wind sources

The Community Micro-Grid (CMG) is a coordinated local grid area served by one or more distribution substations supported by local renewable and other distributed energy resources (DER). In an islanded mode, the CMG stability reduces due to low inertia of the equivalent system and stochastic nature of renewable energy sources (RESs). To study the frequency stability of the islanded CMG system, this paper explores the mathematical modeling aspects of different sources in the CMG and the robust control design for the community microgrid model. The robust design using a fixed structure H∞ synthesis method has been presented to compensate for the effect of modeling uncertainty. The uncertainty in the CMG model results in parametric perturbation which degrades its performance and stability. This paper explores the existing mathematical models of CMG’s and different control techniques applied for frequency regulation. Robust controller design for CMG is proposed that can handle the stochastic input disturbances like a sudden change in power coming from solar and wind sources and also the model uncertainty that results in the parametric perturbations. The complete model is simulated using MATLAB Simulink platform and results of frequency deviation obtained by robust and PID controller are compared. The controller hardware in loop (C-HIL) validation of the robust control method for CMG has been done using a real-time controller board (DS1104). This CHIL system also implements the CMG plant-controller model and analyzes the frequency deviation against load and renewable power fluctuations. The oscillations in frequency deviation are analyzed for sudden rise or fall in the renewable power coming from the solar and wind sources. A reduction of 30% is achieved in frequency overshoot and settling time using a robust controller than the PID controller. The controller developed and implemented using H∞ synthesis has robust stability and performance for the perturbed CMG model and also shows a better time response, unlike the PID controller.

СПОСОБИ СТИМУЛЮВАННЯ ЗБЕРЕЖЕННЯ ТЕПЛА ТА ЕНЕРГІЇ В УКРАЇНІ Й ІНШИХ КРАЇНАХ

Consider ways to stimulate heat and energy conservation in Ukraine and other countries, based on an analysis of the legal framework and practical experience. Review and analysis of the Energy Strategy of Ukraine for the period up to 2035 “Security, Energy Efficiency, Competitiveness”, Laws of Ukraine “On Energy Saving”, “On Energy Efficiency Fund”. Review and analysis of the practical experience of applying different ways of stimulating energy saving, improving the efficiency of use of fuel and energy resources by economic entities, consumers in the housing sector in Ukraine and other countries. The ways of stimulation of heat and energy conservation in Ukraine are proposed, which envisage both the system of financing of projects of resource saving and ways of informing consumers about the energy efficiency of new equipment (through marking), buildings, households. The main directions to be developed for efficient management of energy efficiency projects, in particular, the efficient functioning of district heating; combined production of thermal and electric energy; use of local renewable energy resources; introduction of resource-saving eco-friendly technologies. The legislation, which provides financial and informational ways of stimulating energy and heat conservation, as well as ways of financially filling the energy efficiency fund in Ukraine and the corresponding funds in other countries, is considered. The operation of the Energy Efficiency Fund is necessary for the provision of tax benefits, subsidies (targeted state and others), irrevocable appropriations for various types of energy conservation works, for the introduction of new types of energy saving equipment and technologies.