Quality Of Electricity Supply Research Articles

Accelerating Groundwater and Energy Use for Agricultural Growth in Odisha: Technological and Policy Issues

The groundwater resources in Odisha, one of the eastern states of India, suffer from the dual problems of under-development and under-utilization of available irrigation potential. The present paper has unravelled the pattern of groundwater development and its utilization, has evaluated the prospects of energy regulation and has suggested technological and policy options for sustainable management of groundwater resources. About a quarter of the groundwater structures in Odisha are non-functional and these may be targeted on priority to improve the irrigation infrastructure. The cost of groundwater extraction in the hard rock region is 2–3 times more than in the coastal/alluvial region, depending on the type of wells and energy sources. The assured and quality electricity supply can accelerate groundwater utilization. A part of investment for such infrastructure can accrue from the reducing existing subsidy on power. The groundwater extraction cost with higher electricity tariff after removal of subsidy is lower than that incurred using diesel-operated pumps, even at the subsidized diesel price. There is ample opportunity to harness the potential of groundwater resources through suitable technological interventions and energy regulations for accelerated agricultural growth in Odisha.

Enhanced Operating Flexibility and Optimised Off-design Operation of Coal Plants with Post-combustion Capture

Abstract The inherent nature of electricity necessitates a permanent balance between generation and demand in electricity systems. This has obvious implications for the operation of CCS power plants in decarbonised electricity systems with inflexible nuclear and variable renewable supply. The low variable costs of nuclear and some intermittent renewable technology allow them to run as base-load generators and shift fossil fuel plants from base-load to mid- merit plants. CCS power plants can be expected to increasingly operate in ways to balance variations, sometimes simultaneously, in the production of some intermittent renewable technologies and variations in electricity demand, resulting in more frequent ramping and start/stop cycles. As a result, they may also operate over a wide output range to maintain the quality and security of electricity supply by providing ancillary services, e.g. capacity and energy reserve, to the electricity network. This work characterises the operating envelope, the performance and the corresponding compressed CO 2 flow of coal power plants for a range of loads, with or without voluntary by-pass of the capture unit. Optimised part-load operating strategies provide novel insights into the additional capabilities of CCS power plants specifically designed for enhanced operating flexibility.

Willingness to pay for residential electricity supply quality and reliability

A key feature of many regulatory reviews is determination of the amount of expenditure that should be reflected in the revenue requirement for a service provider. An increasingly important driver in determining the appropriate level of this expenditure is the desired level of service quality and requisite service targets which are incorporated in the ‘regulatory bargain’. Willingness to pay (WTP) evidence can be used in the regulatory bargain to establish such targets. In this paper we study households’ WTP to avoid specific restrictions on service supply quality (especially reliability) in residential electricity, using stated choice experiments to reveal the set of preferences required to calculate WTP. Using a sample of residents in Canberra, Australia, we find that residential customers value reliability of the electricity service; in particular, frequency and the duration of outages are important to customers, and customers value incurring fewer and shorter outages, compared to more frequent and longer outages. The average WTP to avoid a common set of events such as outages, power surges and flickers in electric current vary from $60 per customer per event for an 8-h electricity outage when it occurs once a year through to $9 per event for a flicker in electric current.

Experimental study on flicker emissions by photovoltaic systems on highly cloudy region: A case study in Malaysia

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the most promising renewable energy sources in Malaysia because of its location being around the equatorial region where sunlight is available throughout the year. However, the country is warm and surrounded by the South China Sea and Malacca Straits. A large amount of clouds is created and passed over the region. The impacts of the passing clouds on the PV power outputs and voltage magnitude have to be studied thoroughly. Therefore, an experimental low-voltage network integrated with a PV system is set up. The experimental results show that the passing clouds result in the frequent and rapid fluctuations of PV power outputs, hence producing a large amount of flickers to the distribution networks. Some of the flickers are actually greater than the statutory limits. To mitigate this power quality issue, a dynamic load controller is proposed to be the solution because its components are cheap. The load controller is made of a number of 200 W power resistors and solid-state relays. A central controller switches the resistors on and off very rapidly based on the fluctuations of the network voltage. The experimental results show that the dynamic load controller is able to reduce the flickers effectively on the distribution networks. The studies and solution presented in this paper are very valuable to different parties, such as the government, policy makers, utility companies and owners of the PV systems, in order to ensure an effective growth of the PV systems without compromising the quality of electricity supply to the customers.

Hydropower and its development

Even if the documented history of hydropower reaches back as far as 5000 years ago, it owes its rapid acceleration in growth to the industrial revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The end of the twentieth century brought about new challenges associated, on the one hand, with a growing demand for ancillary grid services, and on the other with new requirements for mitigating the environmental impact. Hydropower technology expansion had come about in a manner aiming to at least partially exploit the mechanical energy of sea and ocean waters. This study points out to the most important trends in and barriers to hydropower development, with particular focus on the situation in Poland. This author sees the main threats to Polish hydropower development in how it is perceived solely through the prism of the generation of a particular volume of green energy, and a total underestimation of the quality of electricity supply and the numerous non-energy benefits resulting from hydroelectric power plant operation.

The development of renewable energies and supply security: A trade-off analysis

This paper analyzes the effects of the green transformation on the German electricity sector with respect to the energy-political triangle. It focuses on how the development of renewable energies will affect security of electricity supply. In a cost–benefit analysis, the value of supply security is compared with its costs of provision. More specifically, the benefits of maintaining the present quality of electricity supply are the avoided social damages from electricity outages and are compared with the respective investment costs in the low- and medium-voltage distribution grid. It is shown that the transformation process towards a green and decentralized production structure will be costly for society, even though the costs can be reduced by different measures.

Households’ Perceptions on Electricity Consumption in Slovenia

The electricity market liberalisation for households in Slovenia aims to encourage new suppliers’ entries and thus greater market competition in electricity supply. It is interesting to investigate how households’ consumption in Slovenia has reacted in response to new opportunities in selection of suppliers and what are the Slovenian households’ consumers perceptions in electricity consumption and in using more energy savings approaches in consumption of electrical energy. In 2010, we have conducted surveys with the sample of the Slovenian households’ electricity consumers. The questions relate to the households perceptions on estimation of competition in households’ electricity markets and on perceptions to implement in a household practice more efficient electrically energy savings strategies. The collected survey data are processed by use of summary statistics and multivariate factor analysis. We have found the increasing awareness and perceptions of the Slovenian households towards better quality of electricity supply with advices in savings strategies of electricity consumption, but still a bit less towards more electrical energy consumption from the renewable sources of electrical energy. This implies that additional promotional and educational activities are needed to comply with the objectives to encourage a greater market competition as well as to improve households’ efficiency in energy use and to increase the use of electrical energy from the renewable sources of energy.

A real site application of a diagnose method at Estimating Insulated Cables Degradation using Non Linearity Indicators

The quality of electricity supply, among other issues, deals with continuity indicators as one of the most important factors for the characterization of an adequate service as far as power quality is concerned. In this context, one of the major problems responsible for the unscheduled interruptions is related to the degradation of electrical cables insulation and the well-known water tree effect emerges as an important cause for the deterioration of their insulation layer. If this phenomenon happens large loss of insulating properties of dielectric material used to build up such component will occur. In light of these facts, the development of procedures to evaluate, predict and indicate the operational status of operating cables shows highly attractive in order to improve the quality and reliability of energy supply. Focusing this subject, this paper presents a synthesis of existing methods and a new trend towards the mentioned matter. By using experimental measurements, carried out in medium voltage commercial operating cables in a distribution utility throughout non-invasive approach, applied voltage and insulating leakage currents are obtained so support the analysis. The data are used to obtain degradation indexes to estimate the cables physical operational conditions and the found indicators are further considered in viewing the effectiveness of the strategies for the diagnosis purposes.

Evaluation of Harmonic Variability in Electrical Power Systems through Statistical Control of Quality and Functional Data Analysis

The presence of harmonics in power systems and their problems and impact on quality of electricity supply is increasing due to the increase in society's use of the nonlinear loads that generate them, especially the electronic kind. Classic techniques such as Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Process Capability Analysis (PCA) that form the Statistical Quality Control, can be used to identify outliers or special causes of variability, and proceed with the implementation of actions allowing corrective disposal, provided that the harmonics are normally distributed. In the event that the distribution is unknown novel tools such as Functional Data Analysis (FDA), have been used successfully in this communication to study these phenomena in situations where the classic quality control cannot.

Service quality evaluation in electricity utility industry: an empirical study in India

As electric utilities operate in a rapidly changing market, the role of the customer becomes important to provide quality service. Growing competition between utilities, changing legislation and increased usage of sensitive and disturbing end-user equipment are some of the reasons for increasing customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, attention needs to be diverted towards customers’ perception on quality of electricity supply and its related services so that managers can focus on specific areas of concern to improve customer satisfaction. In this paper, attempt is made for concrete and measurable improvements in the service through an extensive study on customer’s perception and various extents of the power supply. Some suggestions are provided for the improvement in service quality in Indian context.

Rede de distribuição de energia elétrica e arborização viária: o caso da Cidade de Maringá, Estado do Paraná

The objective of this work was to analyze the interaction between street trees and the high-tension electricity distribution network, while also evaluating the tree species used in the city of Maringá, Paraná State, specifically in the Zona 7 neighborhood. This area was chosen for its local peculiarities, such as the use of large-sized trees and the different types of electricity networks (conventional and compact for high tension, and conventional and isolated for low tension). It was observed that large-sized tree species prevail, such as Caesalpinia peltophoroides and Tipuana tipu, which represent 32.92 and 30.79% of total planted trees, respectively. The final result showed a reduction in impact caused by trees on the electrical network, as electricity supply quality indicators improved by up to 80%. Network maintenance costs were reduced significantly, and tree quality, especially from the reduction in pruning, showed considerable improvements, confirming the efficacy of the protected compact network when compared to the others.

Regulated reactive-power sources with biasing-controlled shunting reactors and capacitor banks

It is shown that the regulated reactive-power sources with biasing-controlled shunting reactors and capacitor banks applied in 110–500 kV networks make it possible to substantially lower the cost of electric power undersupply, reduce the volume of electrical network construction at the expense of maximal utilization of capacity of existing transmission lines, and improve the quality of consumer electricity supply. This application is a practical development of FACTS technology.

Willingness to Pay for Improved Quality of Electricity Supply Across Business Type and Location

Regulatory authorities in many countries are experimenting with mechanisms for providing electricity distributors with financial incentives to improve quality of supply. In designing these incentives it is apparent that customers’ preferences have rarely been obtained for consideration in the regulatory process. As a result, there is relatively limited understanding of customers’ willingness to pay for improved quality of electricity supply. Several studies have examined the willingness of households to pay for improved quality of electricity supply, however, few studies have examined the willingness of businesses to pay for improved quality of supply. In this study we use choice modelling with random parameters logit models to identify the willingness to pay of business for various service related attributes. Furthermore, we examine the values held by both service and manufacturing businesses, from both rural/regional and urban areas, and observe the differences between them. We find several differences in willingness to pay across business types and locations, however overall the value estimates are relatively homogeneous.

Definition, evolution, applications and barriers for deployment of microgrids in the energy sector

The Microgrid concept is becoming a reality since its careful design and operation could solve a variety of challenges. The massive interconnection and operation of decentralized energy resources near the loads, electric loss reductions, customized quality of electrical supply to clients, energy efficiency increase and greenhouse gas emissions reduction when electric and thermal loads are supplied by high efficiency generation units (CHP, Combined Heat and Power, or CHCP, Combined Heat, Cool and Power) or renewable energies are their major advantages. Microgrids are a common research topic in USA, Canada, Japan and Europe, where several pilot installations have been specified, designed, built and operated with some other demonstration and research facilities being planned. This paper gives an overview of definitions and evolution of the microgrid concept, the different approaches to microgrids in the three continents, specific problems solved by real microgrids and, as an example, it also analyzes the major barriers actually encountered in the Spanish legislation for their wide deployment. Finally, the role of the Energy Department of LABEIN-Tecnalia in the field of microgrids is described.

The impact of distributed synchronous generators on quality of electricity supply and transient stability of real distribution network

The paper investigates steady state and transient impact of Distributed Synchronous Generators (DSG) on a real Italian distribution network. Before connecting or allowing the connection of DSG, the worst operating scenarios have to be analyzed to guarantee that the network voltages remain within allowed ranges. A voltage profile variation and steady state voltage regulation are analyzed, therefore following connection of DSG. Transient analysis is also performed in order to analyze the impact of DSG on stability and protection system. Further, the islanding operating mode of the network is considered having in mind that the DSG could provide additional to the load in the absence of the main power supply. In particular, in the event of a supply outage, the temporary islanding operation of DSG might improve the continuity of service and such contribute to the overall quality of electricity supply to the customers.

Quality of electricity supply as a service

Quality of electricity supply as a service

Factors influencing household access to electricity in India

Modern energy sources are important input factors for human development. Although official estimates indicate that 85% of Indian villages are electrified, fewer than 60% of Indian households actually consume electricity. Until recently, the main policy has been to extend the grid to villages in rural areas in order to emphasise productive uses for agriculture. Today, there is a new emphasis on making sure rural households have access to and adopt electricity. This paper examines the factors that influence household electrification. The analysis shows that household electrification depends on household characteristics, the degree of community electrification, and the quality of electricity supply. Surprisingly, household expenditure and, in particular, the electricity tariff show only a relatively small effect on a household's choice for electricity.

Network Economics and the Digital Divide in Rural India

The idea of a ‘global digital divide’ is well accepted, and cross-country studies of determinants of differences in computer and Internet penetration have identified income, telecommunications infrastructure, and regulatory quality as key influencing factors. The policy implications from these studies are relatively blunt: get richer, have more telephones, and regulate telecommunications better. In this paper, we examine an alternative policy approach to bridging the digital divide, through organizational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing levels of income, telecommunications infrastructure and regulatory environment. We use survey data from 500 individuals in four states of India: Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. The situations in which data was collected were ones where computer and Internet access was being provided by a developmental agency (government or non-government). We estimate logit and multinomial logit models, using explanatory variables such as income, household size, education, and occupation, as well as infrastructure factors such as quality of electricity supply, and availability of telephones and televisions. Thus we are able to go beyond simple analyses of penetration at the country level, to understand the microeconomics of computer and Internet use in rural India. In particular, by examining patterns of use, we are able to comment on the importance of network externalities for diffusion of computers and the Internet in these local rural contexts.

Network Economics and the Digital Divide in Rural South Asia

The concept of a 'global digital divide' is now common, and many cross-country studies of determinants of differences in computer and Internet penetration have been performed. The main conclusions and policy implications from these studies are relatively blunt: get richer, have more telephones, and regulate telecommunications better. In this paper, we examine an alternative approach to bridging the digital divide, through organizational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing conditions of income levels, telecommunications infrastructure and regulatory environment. We use survey data from 500 individuals in three South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. These individuals were in situations where computer and Internet access has been provided by a developmental agency (government or non-government). We estimate logit and multinomial logit models, using explanatory variables such as income, household size, education, and occupation, as well as infrastructure factors such as quality of electricity supply, and availability of telephones and televisions. Thus we are able to go beyond simple analyses of penetration at the country level, to understand the microeconomics of computer and Internet use in rural South Asia.

Potential for flexible operation of pulverised coal power plants with CO2capture

Fossil-fired plants play an important role in electricity networks as mid-merit plants that can respond relatively quickly to changes in supply and demand. As a consequence, they are required to operate over a wide output range and play an important role in maintaining the quality and security of electricity supply by providing response and reserve capacity. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) has been identified as a critical technology for future electricity generation from coal in the UK. Although the performance of CCS schemes where CO2 capture plants are operated at full load has been considered in detail, part load performance is less well understood. Developing a better understanding of part load performance of plants operating with CO2 capture is crucial in determining their suitability to operate as mid-merit plants. This paper presents an assessment of the potential impact of adding post-combustion CO2 capture at pulverised-coal power plants. Estimated performance of steam cycles working with post-combustion CO2 capture plant are presented at full and part load, leading to performance predictions for pulverised-coal power plants operated over a range of loads and with varying levels of CO2 capture. By adjusting the operation of the capture plant, as well as the boiler/steam cycle, an extended range of operation can be achieved including lower minimum stable generation levels and additional 'pumped storage like' capacity for times of high demand. For example, plant operators can alter the energy penalty for the CO2 capture plant with an associated change in plant output by reducing the level of CO2 capture. This can allow extra electricity to be generated and sold when electricity prices are high. With solvent storage it should also be possible to increase power plant output for a number of hours, but without associated increases in CO2 emissions.