Non-conventional Renewable Energy Sources Research Articles

Small Hydro Power Schemes: Technical Aspects

<p>Small hydro systems play a major role in meeting power requirements of remote, isolated, hilly areas in a decentralized manner by tapping water streams, rivulets and canals of small discharge. Small hydroelectric system captures the energy in flowing water and converts it to electricity.</p>Of all the non-conventional renewable energy sources, small hydro stands first as it is more resourceful, reduces system losses, environment friendly, non-consumptive and source is renewable due to their enormous advantages over large hydro and other power plants, lot of small hydro-power plants have come up across the world to meet the ever increasing demand of electrical energy. Lowering the high initial cost of the small hydro-power plants and its popularization is today’s challenges. This paper describes basic techniques design of the small hydro-power development.

Medium-Voltage Power Converter Interface for Multigenerator Marine Energy Conversion Systems

Marine energy conversion systems are highlighted among nonconventional renewable energy sources for their availability and energy density. Most marine energy conversion systems are based on multigenerator units or arrays, projected to inject power to the grid in the megawatt range. The current solution for regulating generators and managing power output is the use of two-level voltage-source converters in a back-to-back configuration for each generator. This work presents the model, control scheme, and experimental validation of a configuration, which is able to interface medium-voltage high-power multigenerator marine energy conversion systems to the grid at medium-voltage high-power levels. The configuration is based on a two-step rectifier/boost converter for each generator and a multilevel inverter that merges and manages the multiple power outputs from the multigenerator section of the system. The multilevel inverter is responsible for controlling power flow to the grid and provides regulated medium-voltage high-power injection.

The Impact of a Carbon Tax on the Chilean Electricity Generation Sector

This paper aims to analyse the economy-wide implications of a carbon tax applied on the Chilean electricity generation sector. In order to analyse the macroeconomic impacts, both an energy sectorial model and a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model have been used. During the year 2014 a carbon tax of 5 US$/tCO2e was approved in Chile. This tax and its increases (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 US$/tCO2e) are evaluated in this article. The results show that the effectiveness of this policy depends on some variables which are not controlled by policy makers, for example, non-conventional renewable energy investment cost projections, natural gas prices, and the feasibility of exploiting hydroelectric resources. For a carbon tax of 20 US$/tCO2e, the average annual emission reduction would be between 1.1 and 9.1 million tCO2e. However, the price of the electricity would increase between 8.3 and 9.6 US$/MWh. This price shock would decrease the annual GDP growth rate by a maximum amount of 0.13%. This article compares this energy policy with others such as the introduction of non-conventional renewable energy sources and a sectorial cap. The results show that the same global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction can be obtained with these policies, but the impact on the electricity price and GDP are lower than that of the carbon tax.

A methodology for community engagement in the introduction of renewable based smart microgrid

Introduction of new technologies is necessarily a social and cultural transformation that implies adaptation to a new context, co-created by the interaction between those intervened and interveners. Sustainable technologies should be aimed to preserve basic functions of socio-ecological systems while limiting evolution of unsustainable practices, as it is the case of non-conventional renewable energy sources. In this research we propose a methodology of intervention for the introduction of smart microgrid system in a rural community. The introduction of new energy technologies in a rural setting is a challenge, since it generates changes in patters of energy use that affect the demand of the system. Smart microgrid systems have the advantage of being more resilient than conventional approaches to renewable energy, as they can adapt to changes in the demand and through time. The proposed methodology is based on the concept of a community as a socio-ecological system approach affected by a technological intervention, aimed to move towards a stage of more sustainable use of resources. The method is divided in three stages, each one focused on enhancing elements of the socio-ecological systems and integration among stakeholders: trust, diversity, boundaries of the system, territoriality, adaptability and reflexivity. This methodology is validated in a case study on smart microgrids development in a rural community in the north of Chile. The application of this methodology highlights the importance of learning processes among stakeholders, specially the development of reflexivity within developers. Adoption and adaptation to new technologies depends on the characteristics of each community, but it can be enhanced when participation shapes the evolution of the technological intervention, opening up to a diversity of expectations associated to the complexity of the system.

The global markets of renewable energy sources and the national interests of Russia

The current state and the prospects of the use of renewable energy sources (RES) in the world, their total and technical potential and fields of application, and their advantages and disadvantages in comparison with fossil kinds of fuel are considered. Special attention is given to nonconventional RES. The reasons why Russia is lagging behind in the use of these sources are analyzed.

Mathematical modelling of electricity market with renewable energy sources

The paper addresses the electricity market with conventional energy sources on fossil fuel and non-conventional renewable energy sources (RESs) with stochastic operating conditions.A mathematical model of long-run (accounting for development of generation capacities) equilibrium in the market is constructed. The problem of determining optimal parameters providing the maximum social criterion of efficiency is also formulated.The calculations performed have shown that the adequate choice of price cap, environmental tax, subsidies to RESs and consumption tax make it possible to take into account external effects (environmental damage) and to create incentives for investors to construct conventional and renewable energy sources in an optimal (from the society view point) mix.