Local Wind Energy Research Articles

Hybrid offshore wind–solar energy farms: A novel approach through retrofitting

Due to the inherent variability of the power output of offshore wind farms, their integration into electrical grids poses a challenge to their stability and leads to significant balancing costs. Combining wind and solar power may be expected to mitigate the power output variability. In addition, a number of synergies can be realised—shared infrastructure, shared crews and vessels for operations and maintenance, and last but not least, optimum use of scarce marine space. The objective of this work is to investigate this hybrid approach and, in particular, to determine the optimum capacity of the solar energy subsystem given a certain installed capacity of the wind energy subsystem. Three case studies are considered in Europe and China. Each of them is an existing wind farm that could be retrofitted with floating solar PV. After assessing the local wind and solar energy resources, the optimal size of the floating solar array is calculated with a view to smooth the aggregated power output of each farm. Subsequently, the benefits of this hybrid approach are demonstrated from various perspectives. It is found that a much larger solar array is required for a wind farm with a large installed capacity, but the specific optimal size depends more on the local wind and solar resources. The novelty of this paper lies in its exploration of retrofitting existing offshore wind turbines with floating solar PV systems from the perspective of addressing the variability challenge for the currently operating wind farms. This study could serve as a guideline for project designs aiming to retrofit existing offshore wind farms with solar PV technology, thus reducing balancing costs and facilitating the penetration of offshore renewable energy into national power grids.

Evaluation of Low-Carbon Economic Efficiency under Industrial Clustering and Study of Regional Differences, Taking Xinjiang as an Example

As a major resource region, Xinjiang is both China’s energy security base and an important hub connecting Asia and Europe. Following the country’s call for carbon emission reduction, the Xinjiang government proposes to accelerate the construction of eight major industrial clusters in 2023. The concept of sustainable development is also reflected in the industrial clusters in areas such as new energy. In this study, we combined panel data from 14 regions and cities in Xinjiang from 2006 to 2020 and analyzed the synergy between the development of industrial clusters, carbon emissions, and economic growth using a coupling coordination degree model. Subsequently, we used the super-efficiency slack-based measure (SE-SBM) and Dagum’s Gini coefficient to analyze the spatial disequilibrium of efficiency measures and efficiency cases. The results show the following: (1) Overall, the industrial clusters, carbon emissions, and economic growth in the 14 regions and cities of Xinjiang are not well coordinated. The best reported level has been medium coordination, but there exists a certain degree of correlation among the three. (2) Low-carbon economic efficiency under the influence of industrial clusters in the 14 regions and cities shows significant regional differences. The regions and cities with low-carbon economic efficiency greater than 0.8, which is significantly better than the other regions in terms of efficiency, are all located in northern Xinjiang. (3) During the study period, the overall regional difference in low-carbon economic efficiency under industrial clusters in Xinjiang decreased from 0.183 to 0.17. However, the regional differences were still large. The conclusions indicate that policies for industrial clusters in Xinjiang can promote industrial development, and there may be a correlation between them and the low-carbon economy. This will effectively contribute to local sustainable development. However, overall regional differences are significant, and the degree of coordination is low. Therefore, we suggest that the government can share the advantages of development by constructing cross-regional cooperation platforms. At the same time, the Xinjiang government should make full use of the rich local wind and solar energy resources and explore a low-carbon path toward transforming the traditional energy industry. It can also be seen that industrial clusters in Xinjiang can effectively promote local sustainable development.

Sea breeze-driven effects on wind down-ramps: Implications for wind farms along the north-east coast of Brazil

This research focuses on understanding a meteorological phenomenon that is related to operational disruptions in a wind power plant on the North-East coast of Brazil. The study employed enhanced weather observations based on SODAR and LIDAR wind profilers, micrometeorological masts, ERA-5 reanalysis data, wind power production data from Brazilian power grid operators, and GOES-16 thermal and visible imagery. On August 15, 2023, Brazil experienced a widespread blackout, which was largely caused by down-ramp events that affected several wind farms at the same time. The factors leading to the phenomenon were categorized into three driven-dependent categories: i) a sharp fall in dew-point temperature, ii) the presence of a cumulus cloud line just above the coastline in the early morning, and/or iii) rainfall over the adjoining sea, providing the feasibility to nowcasting this severe wind ramp. The results derived from the conceptual model suggest that sea-breezes play a significant role in the net wind at the turbine hub-height, and often exceed the influence of large-scale flow. The net wind is considered to be caused by the interplay between trade winds and consistent breezes. It is hoped this research can provide a valuable insight into the complex interactions between local meteorological phenomena and wind energy production on the North-East coast of Brazil, and that its application has the potential to improve the operational forecasting of wind power plants.

Studies on the Use of Unconventional Transport Vehicles and Fuels in the Island of Crete, Greece

Several alternative vehicles and zero-carbon fuels have been developed and used to mitigate climate change, reduce the air pollution in cities and the dependence on oil resources. Their use is necessary for achieving the net-zero emissions target in the next decades. Among these vehicles are electric vehicles and vehicles with ICEs using electricity, hydrogen and bio-fuels of organic origin. The possibility of using alternative vehicles and fuels in Crete, Greece for de-carbonization of vehicles transportation has been examined. The use of electric vehicles equipped with re-chargeable electric batteries, electric vehicles equipped with fuel cells using hydrogen and vehicles with internal combustion engines using bio-fuels has been studied. The required electricity for re-charging electric batteries and for electrolytic hydrogen production can be generated from the abundant local solar and wind energy resources. Taking into account the maturity and the cost-effectiveness of the solar-PV technology as well as the wind turbine’s technology in Crete the use of electric vehicles powered by green electricity is prioritized for the green transition of the transportation sector. Bio-fuels which are used in conventional vehicles are not produced in the island. Each type of the abovementioned vehicles and fuels has several advantages and drawbacks which can accelerate or delay their use in Crete. It has been found that the green transition of vehicles transportation in the island has positive and negative economic impacts to all stakeholders. The results could be useful to policy makers, local authorities and to local stakeholders while they can assist in the development of a plan for de-carbonizing the island by 2050.

Assessing areas suitable for offshore wind energy considering potential risk to breeding seabirds in northern Japan

Offshore wind energy is expected to play a major role in realizing carbon neutrality. However, the installation of offshore wind turbines is of concern for breeding seabirds. Identifying areas with low potential risk for breeding seabirds in Japan is urgently needed. This study identified technically and legally potential areas for wind energy development that are suitable for breeding seabirds by integrating risk assessment models through a spatial approach using Geographic Information System (GIS). While many studies and the government have assessed the potential areas for offshore wind energy in northern Japan, this study shows that most of these legally potential areas overlap with major concern areas for breeding seabirds. Currently, Japanese rules do not sufficiently consider the risk to seabirds when zoning areas for installing offshore wind energy system. The results imply that the risk to breeding seabirds should be carefully examined when zoning areas for local offshore wind energy installations. The approach developed in this study is expected to aid in clearly identifying areas suitable for the installation of offshore wind turbines and minimize the impacts on breeding seabirds. It provides a balance between the expansion of offshore wind energy and conservation biology.

A novel LH2/GH2/battery multi-energy vehicle supply station using 100% local wind energy: Technical, economic and environmental perspectives

With the gradual maturity of wind power technology, China's wind power generation has grown rapidly over the recent years. However, due to the on-site inconsumable electricity, the phenomenon of large-scale “wind curtailment” occurs in some areas. In this paper, a novel hybrid hydrogen/electricity refueling station is built near a wind farm, and a part of the surplus wind power is used to charge electric trucks, and the other part of the surplus power is used to produce “green hydrogen”. According to real-time load changes, different amounts of liquid hydrogen and gas hydrogen can be properly coordinated to provide timely energy supply for hydrogen trucks. For a 400 MW wind farm in the western Inner Mongolia, China, the feasibility of the proposed system has been carried out based on the sensitivity and reliability analysis, the static and dynamic economic modeling, with an entire life cycle analysis. Compared to the conventional technology, the initial investment of the proposed scheme (700.07 M$) decreases by 13.97%, and the dynamic payback period (10.93 years) decreases by 25.87%. During the life cycle of the proposed system, the accumulative NPV reaches 184.63 M$, which increases by 3.14 times compared to the case by conventional wind technology.

What makes local energy projects acceptable? Probing the connection between ownership structures and community acceptance

Community ownership of wind energy has been found to increase acceptance, but the reasons for this are poorly understood. Here, we compare different communities’ attitudes towards local onshore wind energy projects in order to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of ownership which are conducive to community acceptance. Using a postal survey in Scotland (n = 318), we compared three communities with varying degrees of ownership regarding their (1) support for the local wind project; (2) perceptions of energy justice; (3) perceived impacts; and (4) ownership and benefit preferences. One-way ANOVAs and the Potential for Conflict Index2 identified that residents in the two communities with a degree of ownership were more associated with greater acceptance, processes, and outcomes (i.e. more just and inclusive development processes and more fairly distributed benefits and impacts), than residents living near the privately-owned development. Additionally, we provide evidence that a co-operative can achieve similar acceptance and energy justice as a fully community-owned project. Overall, the results indicate that policymakers should take seriously the connection between the tenets of energy justice and ownership models in their policy and planning efforts.

The co-benefits of California offshore wind electricity

California has set forth an ambitious goal of generating all its electricity from carbon-free technologies by 2045. Offshore wind (OSW) presents several attractive system, economic, and environmental attributes to help the state achieve these goals. Inclusion of OSW into the clean electricity generation portfolio could contribute significantly to total resource cost savings. In addition, OSW offers several major co-benefits. Its high and consistent capacity factor and generation time profile complements that of solar and helps enhance renewable electricity generation reliability. OSW could also be instrumental in early retirement of costly and pollution-heavy natural gas plants and lead to substantial job creations. Moreover, California could reap additional economic co-benefits from the development of a local wind energy industry. Additionally, OSW has the potential to advance environmental justice through reduction of ordinary air pollutants in urban areas and by bringing economic opportunities to lagging areas. At the same time, there are multiple challenges that must be addressed for OSW to reach its full potential. Our analysis is intended also to serve as a template for studies elsewhere by providing a comprehensive framework for estimating co-benefits, taking account of important local conditions, and identification of challenges and how they might be overcome.

Can't buy me acceptance? Financial benefits for wind energy projects in Germany

Local opposition to wind energy projects in Europe and North America is growing. This often causes project delays or even failure. Financial benefits may be one way to counteract a lack of community support. This analysis seeks to explain how discounted electricity, payments to the municipality, and payments for social purposes shift the acceptance of communities about a local wind energy project. A choice-based conjoint analysis among 811 German citizens showed that financial benefits increase citizens’ acceptance of a hypothetical wind energy project in the close vicinity of their homes. Proponents and the large group of citizens with rather weak preferences for local wind energy projects appreciate all tested benefits. In contrast, benefits cannot win over the small group of opponents. The study provides evidence that benefits do not ensure the perception of fair distributive justice, even for citizens with weak preferences. The findings inform current policies that introduce benefit schemes for wind energy projects to foster community acceptance and win over majority support for projects.

Realization of the optimal sizing of local hybrid photovoltaic and wind energy systems with load scheduling capacity

Realization of the optimal sizing of local hybrid photovoltaic and wind energy systems with load scheduling capacity

Uncertainty Analysis of Annual Wind Speed in Northern China and Its Potential Impact on Energy Sector

In this article, the wind energy uncertainty caused by annual wind speed variation in northern China is studied. The research time period is from 1991 to 2020, and the ERA5 reanalysis wind data is used. The uncertainty statistical indicators are the standard deviation percentage and the maximum deviation percentage of the average wind power density. The analysis results show that the uncertainty of wind energy in Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi is relatively large, these areas are more likely to experience large fluctuations of wind power. Among them, the standard deviation percentage of Qinghai and Xinjiang accounts for 15%-30% or higher. The maximum deviation percentage of Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi accounts for 30%-60% or higher. In addition, the empirical orthogonal function analysis (EOF) results show that there is an anti-phase mechanism of local wind energy fluctuations in Northern China, especially between the Northeast and Northwest regions, which implies that the power transmission between the Northeast and Northwest regions is helpful to reduce the wind energy uncertainty effect.

Reducing the carbon footprint of Whisky production through the use of a battery and heat storage alongside renewable generation

This paper presents an analysis of providing a typical distillery with low carbon energy through the combination of local wind energy, solar PV, electricity storage and heat storage. The aim of this is to increase the sustainability of the energyintensive whisky industry. Using hourly local renewable resource data and typical distillery consumption information, the local energy generation is balanced against the demand at the time of use. This followed by load shifting using a battery and heat storage. Results show that significant carbon savings can be achieved by a carefully designed portfolio of hybrid generation, battery storage and heat storage.

Assessment of the Wind Energy Potential along the Romanian Coastal Zone

The present work aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the wind energy potential that characterizes the Romanian coastal environment using in situ measurements and reanalysis of wind data (ERA5) that cover a 42–year time interval (1979–2020). A total of 16 reference points (both land and offshore) equally distributed along the Romanian sector are used to evaluate the local wind energy potential, targeting in this way several sites where a renewable wind project could be established. Compared to the in situ measurements (land points), the ERA5 dataset underestimates the wind speed by at least 11.57%, this value increasing as we approach the coastline. From the analysis of the spatial maps, it is likely that the wind speed steadily increases from onshore to offshore, with a sharp variation near the coastline being reported. Furthermore, the assessment of some state-of-the-art offshore wind turbines was conducted using 12 systems defined by rated capacity ranging from 2 to 10 MW. Some scenarios were proposed to identify sustainable offshore wind projects to be implemented in the Romanian coastal zone based on these results.

Electrification of Highway Transportation with Solar and Wind Energy

Global warming has triggered waves of public awareness to surface very strongly worldwide, urging to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions in a timely fashion. Among all feasible approaches to achieving this goal, using renewables to replace fossil fuels and electric vehicles (EVs) to replace conventional internal combustion engine vehicles is arguably a top-priority task. However, there is a severe lack of practical approaches to measuring a proper renewable mix for powering EVs in a large highway network while also considering renewables’ seasonal availability and the possible need to regulate the production and consumption of renewable energy with grid-scale battery arrays installed at certain locations. This urgent need motivates developing the mixed-integer programming model as presented in this paper. Furthermore, a comprehensive case study on Taiwan’s national highways covers such useful knowledge as the process to prepare key numeric data, especially local solar and wind energy and highway traffic, in-depth analysis on model solutions to reveal the overall availability of renewable energy across the highway network, and close measurements on the required investments. These findings support using renewable energy to power EVs on a national highway and reveal the importance of local business involvements. However, a relatively small country, such as Taiwan, can still display significant variations in renewable power availability. In a stand-alone setting for power usage, these variations would result in massive volumes of renewable energy not used by highway travel in some seasons. These details demonstrate the applicability and values of the proposed model in a real situation.

An assessment of wind energy status, incentive mechanisms and market in Turkey

Turkey attaches great importance to energy diversification to reduce the energy dependence on fossil resources. In this regard, Turkey assigned energy targets by 2023 including 20 GW of installed wind capacity. Yet, despite the good efforts, the current wind installed capacity of 8 GW is far behind the assigned target. This study presents a comprehensive review of wind energy status in Turkey focusing on policies and incentives for improvement of wind energy progress in the country. To that end, the global wind energy market is evaluated and a set of recommendations is presented in the context of the importance of local employment and establishment of local wind energy industry. Then, a feasibility analysis is performed to discuss the current feed-in tariff scheme in Turkey. Lastly, Turkey’s competitive position is evaluated over a SWOT analysis to give an overview of all positive and negative determinants, considering internal and external factors.

Resident perceptions of local offshore wind energy development: Modeling efforts to improve participatory processes

Federal agencies anticipate local opposition where wind energy projects are proposed. When opposition manifests as social action in later stages of project development, it can complicate projects. Therefore, it is important to understand what mediates local opposition and oppositional action so potential concerns can be addressed earlier. Results indicate that Carolina coast residents are supportive of local offshore wind energy development, despite little to no awareness of such developments and uncertainty about potential impacts. Awareness and certainty of impacts are the largest drivers of support level, followed by perceived impacts. Residents generally believe local offshore wind energy will improve local economies but damage the environment; however, perceived impacts vary by factor importance. About twice as many Carolina coast residents intend social action related to local offshore wind energy compared to those who have engaged in related past actions. Holding a strong position and engagement in past actions are the largest drivers of intended action. For those in strong opposition, increased place attachment increases the odds of intending action, suggesting place-protective action. These findings enhance understanding about relevant values and perceptions from a broader range of stakeholders, which decision-makers can use to improve public engagement and participatory processes.

Managing Wind Power Generation via Indexed Semi-Markov Model and Copula

Because of the stochastic nature of wind turbines, the output power management of wind power generation (WPG) is a fundamental challenge for the integration of wind energy systems into either power systems or microgrids (i.e., isolated systems consisting of local wind energy systems only) in operation and planning studies. In general, a wind energy system can refer to both one wind farm consisting of a number of wind turbines and a given number of wind farms sited at the area in question. In power systems (microgrid) planning, a WPG should be quantified for the determination of the expected power flows and the analysis of the adequacy of power generation. Concerning this operation, the WPG should be incorporated into an optimal operation decision process, as well as unit commitment and economic dispatch studies. In both cases, the probabilistic investigation of WPG leads to a multivariate uncertainty analysis problem involving correlated random variables (the output power of either wind turbines that constitute wind farm or wind farms sited at the area in question) that follow different distributions. This paper advances a multivariate model of WPG for a wind farm that relies on indexed semi-Markov chains (ISMC) to represent the output power of each wind energy system in question and a copula function to reproduce the spatial dependencies of the energy systems’ output power. The ISMC model can reproduce long-term memory effects in the temporal dependence of turbine power and thus understand, as distinct cases, the plethora of Markovian models. Using copula theory, we incorporate non-linear spatial dependencies into the model that go beyond linear correlations. Some copula functions that are frequently used in applications are taken into consideration in the paper; i.e., Gumbel copula, Gaussian copula, and the t-Student copula with different degrees of freedom. As a case study, we analyze a real dataset of the output powers of six wind turbines that constitute a wind farm situated in Poland. This dataset is compared with the synthetic data generated by the model thorough the calculation of three adequacy indices commonly used at the first hierarchical level of power system reliability studies; i.e., loss of load probability (LOLP), loss of load hours (LOLH) and loss of load expectation (LOLE). The results will be compared with those obtained using other models that are well known in the econometric field; i.e., vector autoregressive models (VAR).

Mixed feelings on wind energy: Affective imagery and local concern driving social acceptance in Switzerland

Several countries are witnessing increasing levels of local opposition to wind energy projects. This is in contrast to opinion polls often showing that a large majority of the population is supportive of low-carbon policies, including deployment of wind energy. At the same time, project developers and policymakers are realising that social acceptance has an emotional component, but struggle to find ways to manage this phenomenon. We surveyed a representative sample of Swiss residents (n = 1111) using affective imagery, asking respondents to list their spontaneous associations with wind power and provide an affective evaluation of each association. We find a strong correlation between the affective imagery and respondents’ likelihood to express concern about local wind projects, suggesting that affect matters in the formation of attitudes towards local wind energy projects. An in-depth analysis of the sequencing of affective imagery highlights that mild opponents have conflicting feelings about wind energy, and that “second thoughts” appear to tip the balance towards opposition for them. The study further reveals that important differences exist between mild and strong opponents, providing a basis for the segmentation of target groups in managing processes of social acceptance.

Assessment of the energy efficiency of a hybrid wind-photovoltaic system for Cascavel, PR

The present work was developed at the Assis Gurgaz School of Engineering (FAG) and aimed to determine the efficiency of a wind-photovoltaic hybrid system for electricity generation. Three 140 W photovoltaic panels were installed to assess the generation of photovoltaic energy and the efficiency of its participation in the hybrid system. A small wind generator of 2000 W was used to evaluate the production of local wind energy, establishing the wind contribution in the hybrid system. Energy consumption was achieved with the installation of four 60 W incandescent lamps. The measurements of the meteorological quantities were obtained with the installation of a Micrometeorological station and the electrical data, with the use of a datalogger. Four batteries of 100 Ah each were installed to store the surplus electricity production and feed the installed load, when the system production was insufficient. A voltage divider, a rectifying bridge and an electronic device were installed to make it possible to record the quantities in the datalogger. The system showed efficiency of 12.5% for the generation of energy by the photovoltaic solar source, 18.7% for the wind generation and 11.9% for the entire hybrid system. The participation of the photovoltaic matrix contributed with 75.2% of all energy generated, while the wind matrix presented a contribution of 24.8%.

ВПЛИВ НЕСТАБІЛЬНОСТІ СПОЖИВАННЯ НА ЕНЕРГЕТИЧНИЙ БАЛАНС ГІБРИДНОЇ ЕНЕРГОСИСТЕМИ

Метою даної роботи є розроблення моделі балансування процесів генерації та споживання електроенергії для випадків обмеженої або недостатньої інформації про навантаження на енергетичну систему. При відсутності достатніх історичних даних про ці процеси для моделювання використовуються узагальнені статистичні показники. Цим обумовлено завищені вимоги до потреб у резервних потужностях та системах акумулювання енергії. Предметом дослідження є гібридні електроенергетичні системи, які використовують традиційні та відновлювані джерела енергії і мають властивості локальної мережі. Такі системи чутливі до змінних режимів споживання енергії, які ускладнюють оцінку поточного навантаження. Наявність вітрових та сонячних електростанцій ускладнює забезпечення балансу потужності, що збільшує потребу в проміжному акумулюванні енергії. Методом дослідження локальної системи є математичне моделювання випадкових процесів споживання та генерації енергії. Джерелом інформації про споживання є статистичні дані про робота окремих споживачів, які мають обмежену потребу в електричній енергії і зацікавлені в автономних джерелах. Для таких споживачів перспективним є застосування розосередженої генерації, в тому числі з використанням місцевих джерел сонячної та вітрової енергії. Для узагальнення даних про різних споживачів їх поєднано в групи відповідно до державної класифікації видів економічної діяльності. Тоді балансування потужності можна розглядати як суперпозицію випадкових процесів генерації та споживання. Запропонована модель навантаження дозволяє імітувати реальні процеси таким чином, щоб результати співпадали з наявними статистичними даними. Результати дослідження дозволяють порівнювати різні варіанти енергосистеми за збалансованістю та потребами в акумулюванні енергії. Бібл. 17, табл. 1, рис. 4.