Renewable Energy Electricity Generation Research Articles

Promoting renewable energy through national energy legislation

To solve the global warming and energy crisis, substituting fossil fuel energy such as oil with renewable energy is an inevitable trend. International efforts towards this have been great, as evidenced by climate change legislation related to the energy sector. Employing panel data on energy-related legislative activity aimed at climate change in 129 countries in the period 2001–2020, this research statistically investigated the short- and long-term effects of energy laws that promote renewable energy-based electricity generation including non-hydro renewable energy-based electricity generation in the short and long run. The effect is enhanced in countries with a strong legal system. Moreover, the impact of legislative acts is stronger than that of executive orders. Regarding different types of renewable energy resources, the effects of energy laws on solar and wind energy are stronger compared to other renewable sources. Furthermore, heterogeneous tests show that the effect of energy laws on renewable energy is greater in high and upper middle-income countries than in lower middle- and low-income countries. In 2020, the current energy laws increased renewable energy and non-hydro renewable energy electricity generation by 2248.067 and 1888.341 quadrillion kWh, respectively.

Role of economic complexity and energy sector in moving towards sustainability in the exporting economies

The largest contributor to environmental deterioration, the carbon footprint, arises from excessive fossil fuel consumption. Meanwhile, international experts note that despite the positive dynamics in the issue of making commitments to carbon-zero targets, most companies around the globe do not have a clear plan or strategy to achieve environment-based targets. This study addresses sustainable development goals (SDGs) concerning clean energy usage, sustainability, and the environment. Hence, this study investigates the impacts of the economic complexity index (ECI), energy productivity (EPD), renewable energy electricity generation (REEG), and environment-based patents on ecological footprints (ECFP) to attain a carbon-zero environment and SDGs for forty-five exporting countries from 1990 to 2020. An extensive exploration into the connection amongst the explored variables shows that the rises in ECI, EPD, and REEG help subside ECFP in the short-term and long-term estimations. Besides, the results show a bidirectional and unidirectional causality from ECFP to REEG and EPD, respectively. The key practical policies of this work are building modernized tax systems with progressive tax policies, better tax collection, private SDGs financing with incentives regulations, promising project planning on green technologies, and accessibility of grants from global organizations and private sectors to invest in SDGs and a carbon-zero environment target.

Hydrogen Production from Surplus Electricity Generated by an Autonomous Renewable System: Scenario 2040 on Grand Canary Island, Spain

The electrification of final energy uses is a key strategy to reach the desired scenario with zero greenhouse gas emissions. Many of them can be electrified with more or less difficulty, but there is a part that is difficult to electrify at a competitive cost: heavy road transport, maritime and air transport, and some industrial processes are some examples. For this reason, the possibility of using other energy vectors rather than electricity should be explored. Hydrogen can be considered a real alternative, especially considering that this transition should not be carried out immediately because, initially, the electrification would be carried out in those energy uses that are considered most feasible for this conversion. The Canary Islands’ government is making considerable efforts to promote a carbon-free energy mix, starting with renewable energy for electricity generation. Still, in the early–mid 2030s, it will be necessary to substitute heavy transport fossil fuel. For this purpose, HOMER software was used to analyze the feasibility of hydrogen production using surplus electricity produced by the future electricity system. The results of previous research on the optimal generation MIX for Grand Canary Island, based exclusively on renewable sources, were used. This previous research considers three possible scenarios where electricity surplus is in the range of 2.3–4.9 TWh/year. Several optimized scenarios using demand-side management techniques were also studied. Therefore, based on the electricity surpluses of these scenarios, the optimization of hydrogen production and storage systems was carried out, always covering at least the final hydrogen demand of the island. As a result, it is concluded that it would be possible to produce 3.5 × 104 to 7.68 × 104 t of H2/year. In these scenarios, 3.15 × 105 to 6.91 × 105 t of water per year would be required, and there could be a potential production of 2.8 × 105 to 6.14 × 105 t of O2 per year.

Theoretical assessment of the available power from the marine energy sources in Mexico

While the need to use clean, renewable energies in electricity generation is universally understood, Mexico is lagging behind other countries regarding the contribution these sources have to the production of energy nationally. The first hurdle to overcome is providing accurate information for decision-makers and potential investors. In the case of renewable marine energy, this means generating data on the possible installed electrical capacities of the various sources at sites across the country. From this, it is possible to estimate the economic viability of implementing renewable energy projects at specific locations. This work, therefore, aims to characterize the available power from diverse energy sources around the coasts of Mexico and to make recommendations of sites where the energy potential warrants further analysis. A literature review of the power available from marine currents, waves, and thermal and saline gradient sources was performed for the Mexican Caribbean. Several sites were found to be geographically viable; there is sufficient potential energy available to meet at least part of the energy demands of the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel Island. Key sites are to the south of Cozumel Island and in the Cozumel Channel for energy harvested from ocean currents. In the northern part of Quintana Roo, sites offer great potential for wave energy, while the central part of the state could be suitable for energy generation from thermal gradients. In Chetumal Bay, there is potential for saline gradient electricity. Wave energy potential was evaluated for the entire Mexican coast, and seven locations are recommended for further investigation. A conservative gross estimation has shown that wave energy could contribute up to 0.2 % of the national demand in the short or mid-term, with a relatively small investment and a low environmental impact.

A Prosumer-Oriented, Interoperable, Modular and Secure Smart Home Energy Management System Architecture

As prices on renewable energy electricity generation and storage technologies decrease, previous standard home energy end-users are also becoming producers (prosumers). Together with the increase of Smart Home automation and the need to manage the energy-related interaction between home energy consumers and Smart Grid through different Demand Response approaches, home energy management becomes a complex and multi-faceted problem, calling for an extensible, interoperable and secure solution. This work proposes a modular architecture for building a Smart Home Energy Management System, integrable with existing Home Automation Systems, that considers the use of standard interfaces for data communication, the implementation of security measures for the integration of the different components, as well as the use of semantic web technologies to integrate knowledge and build on it. Our proposal is finally validated through implementation in one real smart home test-bed, evaluating the system from a functional standpoint to demonstrate its ability to support our goals.

Optimizing the size of the hybrid power and heat generation system during COVID-19 crisis (case study: Italy)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 2.2 million deaths worldwide. The consequences of this disease are expected to continue. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global economy, demand for goods and services, and labor. This deadly virus has affected the energy demand in various sectors, the structure of energy production and especially renewable energy. Although judging the future of renewable energy requires a broader perspective, it is clear that the share of renewable energy in electricity generation, heating and energy policies must change after the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, the optimal share of energy resources in Italy was calculated using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and considering the changes in the energy system, energy demand and prices during the quarantine period.Current conditions and declining fossil fuel prices have led investors to reduce their investment in clean energy, and the amount of investment in renewable energy in 2020 has decreased by about 20% compared to the same period last year. The results of this study show that despite the ubiquitous limitations of COVID-19 for renewable energy, this period is a good opportunity to expand and invest in clean energy due to the increase in the share of electricity demand and domestic heating and the reduction of energy consumption in the industrial sector (Especially solar energy).

Integrating renewable energy into Nigeria’s energy supply mix

In this paper, simulation model for Nigeria’s energy system is developed using EnergyPLAN simulation tool to study the structure of the present energy system and explore alternative future scenarios based on renewable energy sources. First, 2017 reference scenario was developed and validated to reflect Nigeria’s energy supply and consumption in 2017. Two other future scenarios were then developed; the 2030 REMP scenario to show a pathway to achieving the Renewable Energy Master Plan target of increasing the supply of renewable electricity by 36% of the total electricity generation by 2030; and the 2050 RE scenario which seeks to increase the share of renewable energy by >70% of the total electricity generation and introduces the concept of electric vehicles and the use of biofuel in the transport sector. Both the 2030 REMP and the 2050 RE scenarios employed the National Energy Master Plan 7% reference growth scenario for all sectors using 2017 as the base year. The study shows with the abundance of renewable energy sources in Nigeria, it is possible to develop an energy system that is sorely dependent on renewable energy. The 2030 REMP shows the shift from fossil fuel power plant to renewable energy for electricity generation will result in an increase in the share of renewable energy in electricity production from 20.2% in 2017 to 37.88% in 2030 while the 2050 RE shows that the share can go up to 71.20% if proper policies and infrastructures are put in place.

Electricity Generation and Renewable Energy Policy in Nigeria: Resolving the Regulatory Challenges

Since the 1960s, inadequate electricity generation has been the bane of economic developments in Nigeria. The introduction of reforms and policies in the electricity sector, for the purposes of exploring renewable energy in electricity generation, is yet to bring about increased electricity generation. This paper examines the challenges of renewable electricity in Nigeria from the regulatory perspective. Studies have shown that the failure of Nigeria to have a regulator specifically for renewable energy is closely linked with the history of electricity generation in Nigeria. Till date, Nigeria does not have a regulator with specific mandates for the development of renewable energy even though there are many regulators with overlap of functions over the development of renewable electricity. Moreover, the power of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission over the promotion of renewable energy is limited to renewable technologies of certain capacities. This paper will analyse the history of electricity generation in Nigeria in the context of the law and the policy to ascertain how the country has approached the development of renewable energy for electricity generation. The aim is to identify regulatory impediments to the development of renewable electricity from the law and the policy in Nigeria. Recommendations will be made for the establishment of a renewable electricity regulator independent of the existing bodies

Extending the theory of planned behaviour with application to renewable energy investment: the moderating effect of tax incentives

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to deploy and expand the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model with application to renewable energy investment by incorporating the component of tax incentives (TIN). This will serve as an additional measure in understanding the conventional energy stakeholders’ investment intention into renewable energy in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 357 individual key conventional energy stakeholders in Nigeria using survey questionnaires. The research model was tested using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results from the study revealed the applicability of the TPB in predicting the conventional energy stakeholders’ investment intention into renewable energy. The result indicates that attitude and subjective norm are significantly associated with investment intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe outcome implies that the integration of tax incentives can improve the predictive power of the model as the introduced variable demonstrates a significant impact on the conventional energy stakeholders’ investment intention into renewable energy.Practical implicationsThis study extends on the well-established TPB model by integrating tax incentives in understanding investment intentions and the outcome implies a significant association of tax incentives with investment intention and moderated the influence of attitude and subjective norm over the conventional energy stakeholders’ investment intention.Originality/valueTPB has been widely deployed and even extended to predict intention in numerous fields of study. Available literature presents the lack of such empirical research that focuses on investment in Nigeria and specifically regarding energy investment. The outcome highlighted the significant influence of tax incentives, thus the need for policymakers to suggest and implement various tax incentives to attract private investment into renewable energy for electricity generation that will consequently assist in achieving SDG-7 and mitigate climate change.

Carrying Capacity of Water Resources for Renewable Energy Development in Arid Regions in Northwest China: A Case Study of Golmud, Qinghai

Abstract: Northwest China has become a base for wind and solar energy development due to its rich wind and solar resources and large area of desert and unutilized land. However, whether the scarce water resources in the arid regions there can meet the requirements for renewable energy development is currently a pressing, critical problem. Therefore, the life cycle water footprint (WF) of the renewable energy industry—its wind energy, photovoltaic (PV), and concentrated solar power (CSP) electricity generation enterprises—in the basin area of Golmud, Qinghai, a typical arid region in Northwest China, has been investigated in this study. Water consumption by local renewable energy enterprises was estimated under current (2020) scenarios [i.e., different (local/vs. nonlocal) origins of equipment and raw materials used, and employees hired by these enterprises] and three future scenarios (i.e., different ratios between installed capacities of wind energy, PV, and CSP at a fixed total renewable energy electricity generation capacity assuming China’s carbon emission will peak then). The results revealed that water consumption by local renewable energy enterprises in 2020 was 1.62 × 106–1.31 × 107 m3, accounting for 0.07–0.6% of the current total water resources in the basin area of Golmud. Water consumption by the local salt chemistry industry, a pillar industry in Golmud whose water consumption is high, accounted for 2.69% of the total water resources being 4.24–34.37 times that of the local renewable energy industry. To reach the goal of carbon emissions peaking by 2030 requires an increase of 6.17 × 106 kW in the installed capacity for wind and solar power generation in Golmud, would translate into an increase of 1.57 × 107–6.46 × 107 m3 in water consumption, this accounting for 7.15–19.35% of the remaining available water resources in the basin area of Golmud. Our results indicate that the expansion of the local renewable energy industry has exerted significant pressure on the already scarce water resources in Golmud. Therefore, future increases in the installed capacity for renewable energy electricity generation should be planned scientifically, by considering the availability of water resources as a constraint.

Decarbonization roadmaps for ASEAN and their implications

The objective of this paper is to derive, for the first time, decarbonization roadmaps for the ten nations of ASEAN. This study first presents a regional view of ASEAN’s fossil and renewable energy usage and energy-related CO2 emission. Results show that renewable energies have been losing ground to fossil energies in the last two decades and fossil fuels will likely continue to be an important part of ASEAN’s energy mix for the next few decades. Therefore, decarbonizing efforts should focus not only on increasing the share of renewable energies in electricity generation, but also on technologies to reduce CO2 emission from fossil power and industrial plants. This study next performs a technology mapping exercise for all ten ASEAN countries to determine decarbonization technologies that have high impact and high readiness for individual countries. Besides installing more sustainable renewable energies, common themes coming from these roadmaps include switching from coal to gas for power generation, using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to decarbonize fossil and industrial plants, replacing internal combustion vehicles by electric vehicles, and for countries that have coal and natural gas resources, upgrading them to blue hydrogen by chemical processes and using CCS to mitigate the emitted CO2. Blue hydrogen can be used to decarbonize hard-to-decarbonize industries. Policy implications of these roadmaps include imposing a credible carbon tax, establishing a national hydrogen strategy, intergovernmental coordination to establish regional CCS corridors, funding research and development to improve carbon capture efficiency on a plant level and resolving sustainability issues of hydropower and bioenergy in ASEAN.

Validating Public Governance Quality Measurement Scale with Application to Domestic Private Investment in Renewable Energy for Electricity Generation

Measurement scale plays an important role in academic research without which an instrument could not be developed. The goal of this study is to validate the measurement scale of public governance quality (PGQ) with application to renewable energy investment by means of comprehensive scale validation procedures. Data was collected from 357 individual key conventional energy stakeholders in Nigeria using survey questionnaires. Confirmatory Analysis (CFA) using SPSS version 25 and PLS-SEM version 3.8 was used to determine the reliability and validity of the measures of PGQ. The results from the study offer proof that the measurement scale of the PGQ has fulfilled the standards for reliability and validity. Practically, the validated scale introduced acts as a measurement for PGQ in the area of renewable energy domestic private investment. Also, the validated scale may be used to determine investors' view regarding PGQ in a country or entity as to whether the level of governance is below average, average or high which consequently influence renewable energy investment. Still, it may be used to determine the effect of PGQ on investment intentions and/or behaviours when engaging with domestic investors. In due course, the measurement scale will allow policy makers across the globe to adapt energy investment decisions that will draw domestic private investment particularly in renewable energy based on researches conducted using the scale.

Economic Aspects of the Energy Transition

I make three points relating to the transition from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy. One is that the economic cost of moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy in electricity generation is very low, and probably lower than many estimates of the economic benefits from this change—at least for the U.S. The second is that, if it were to be successful in moving the economy away from fossil fuels and from oil in particular, a carbon tax would have to be much great than generally believed, in the range of $400 per ton \(CO_{2}\) or above. Finally, decarbonization of the economy implies electrification, the replacement of fossil fuels by electricity in transportation, space heating and many other fields. Currently electricity is far too expensive for this to be politically realistic: this is because its price does not reflect its marginal cost but this plus a wide range of fixed costs that are recovered in the per kilowatt hour charge. If we are to electrify the economy then the price of electricity will need to be nearer to its marginal cost, which raises questions about the business models of utilities.

Investigation of carbon footprint effect of renewable power plants regarding energy production: A case study of a city in Turkey

ABSTRACT This paper presents a carbon footprint investigation of renewable power plants in a city in Turkey. With a total of 71 licensed power plants, this area is significant in terms of energy production resources such as hydroelectric, wind, solar, and lignite. As of April 2021, it has 4401.17 MW of installed power, accounting for 4.87% of Turkey’s installed power and ranked third in terms of installed power cities. This city has 18 natural gas power plants, 3 lignite power plants, 33 hydroelectric (stream), 7 hydroelectric (dam) power plants, 2 solar, 2 coal, 2 wind, 1 waste heat, and 3 biomass power plants. However, all production technologies produce CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), and emissions might be both direct and indirect. Once harmful gases are released into the atmosphere, they damage the ecosystem and all living things while also contributing to climate change. The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement were signed to deal with climate change and propose a limitation on carbon emissions. Thus, countries have adopted some strategies to reduce their carbon footprint. For instance, Turkey is aiming to increase the share of domestic and renewable energy in electricity generation to reduce GHG emissions by up to 21% between 2020–2030. In this study, a carbon footprint effect analysis was carried out during electricity generation in a city with abundant renewable energy potential. According to the findings, it was determined that the renewable power plants successfully reduced the carbon footprint of the area as 3,500,794 tons CO2, 3,024,120 tons CO2, and 1,073,039 tons CO2 for 2019, 2020, and 2021 (end of April), respectively. Implications: The main aim of this study is to investigate a carbon footprint effect during electricity generation in a region (Kahramanmaraş, Turkey) with abundant renewable energy potential in terms of electricity generation. This area is significant in terms of energy production resources including hydroelectric, wind, solar, and lignite, with a total of 71 licensed power plants. The key contributions of this research study are: (1) The study of carbon footprint savings based on the electricity generation of this city was carried out for the first time in the literature. (2) While generating electricity with renewable energy sources, it has been determined that an average of 3,500,794 tons CO2, 3,024,120 tons CO2, and 1,073,039 tons CO2 carbon footprint savings were accomplished for 2019, 2020, and 2021 (end of April), respectively. (3) This study demonstrated that a city with abundant lignite potential emits a high amount of carbon footprint into the atmosphere while producing energy. By using lignite, 4,462,045 tons CO2, 3,952,348 tons CO2, and 1,140,975 tons CO2 were emitted for 2019, 2020, and 2021 (end of April), respectively. (4) The study includes encouraging research on renewable energy investment in accordance with the Kyoto Protocols and the Paris Agreement for local governments and investors. (5) The study sheds light on the distance Turkey has covered on the way to the 2030 targets in the fight against cli-mate change, regionally

Price duration curve and cost of renewable energy for electricity generation for power development plan of Thailand (PDP 2018)

Price duration curve and cost of renewable energy for electricity generation for power development plan of Thailand (PDP 2018)

Modeling the Levelized Cost of Energy for Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Systems Based on a Nonlinear AutoRegressive Neural Network With Exogenous Inputs

This article presents the results of the development of a mathematical model for predicting the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for solar concentrating thermal power systems (CSP systems) based on a nonlinear autoregressive neural network with exogenous inputs (NARX). A two-layer NARX network with sigmoid hidden neurons and linear output neurons has been developed. The input layer is made up of the following variables: the volume of input power of CSP systems in the world, the total world energy consumption, domestic energy consumption, domestic gas consumption, domestic consumption of coal and lignite, domestic energy consumption, the share of renewable energy in electricity generation, the share of wind and solar energy in the production of electricity, carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion, the price of Brent oil against the US dollar, and the average price for natural gas auctions. The output layer specifies LCOE values for CSP systems.

Possibility of Hydropower Development: A Simple-to-Use Index

A standardized range system based on carefully selected multi-criteria is proposed in this work to assess the feasibility of hydropower implementation. A thought process has been developed as a simple-to-use and easy-to-understand methodology. Today, due to the broad concern for the natural environment, the use of renewable energy sources has become globally popular. Subsequently, such solutions as the application of renewable energy for electricity generation are often considered the most environmentally friendly installations. Unfortunately, no methodology to assess the possibility of hydropower plant realization in either scientific or industry literature has been put forward, and this constitutes a blatant failure. The proposed range system has been designed to use selected information (head, available flow, fish migration, hydrotechnical infrastructure, protected areas, environmental flow, status of surface water body), which is available through a variety of sources that are easy to obtain. From analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of this research method, it was recognized that it is worth propagating and recommending for the practical estimation of the hydropower potential. The author believes that the novel contribution of the paper, which is the innovative range system, will be accepted for common use.

Residential energy environmental Kuznets curve extended with non-linear temperature effects: a quantile regression for Andalusian (Spain) municipalities.

The increased use of renewable energy in electricity generation has not been sufficient to reduce the associated emissions. Therefore, a better understanding of the evolution of electricity consumption may be advisable to undertake suitable energy policies. This paper contributes to this understanding by analyzing the non-linear income and temperature effects on electricity demand in the residential sector in Andalusia (Spain). To this end, panel data OLS, PCSE, and quantile regression analysis methods have been performed to provide a complete picture of the relationship between the studied variables. The results show evidence to support an inverted N-shaped relationship, with respect to income, without reaching the upper threshold point. The results also show that electricity elasticity, with respect to income, tends to increase with residential electricity consumption. It is also observed that temperature values, increasing above 22°C and temperatures decreasing below 15°C progressively, increase residential electricity consumption, the elasticity with respect to temperatures being higher for municipalities with lower residential electricity consumption. Reinforcing energy efficiency measures in the municipalities with the highest electricity consumption is recommended.

Towards a 100% renewable energy electricity generation system in Sweden

Swedish government’s target is to have 100% renewable electricity production by 2040. Currently, hydropower contributes the majority of renewable electricity generation of the country. The wind power capacity has increased significantly in the past decade. In this paper, practical data is used to study the possibility of reaching the 100% renewable electricity generation goal by replacing existing thermal generations with wind power generations. It is found that the Swedish electricity generation system can reach 100% renewable by tripling the existing wind power capacity combined with the existing hydropower in the country. Based on current growth rate of wind power installation, the goal could be reached within 20 years. Hourly simulation shows that 100% renewable energy generation system composed by wind power and hydropower satisfy hourly operation requirements.

Investigation of availability, demand, targets, and development of renewable energy in 2017\u20132050: a case study in Indonesia

Abundant potential of renewable energy (RE) in Indonesia is predicted to replace conventional energy which continues to experience depletion year by year. However, until now, the use of RE has only reached 2% of the existing potential of 441.7 GW. The main overview of this work is to investigate the availability of RE that can be utilized for electricity generation in Indonesia. National energy demand and targets in the long run during the 2017–2050 period are also discussed. Besides, government policies in supporting RE development are considered in this work. The results show that the potential of RE in Indonesia can be utilized and might replace conventional energy for decades. The use of RE for electricity generation can be achieved by employing a government policy that supports the investor as the executor of RE development. The selling price of electricity generated from RE is cheaper than electricity generated from fossils; this makes economy is more affordable for people. Finally, the target set by the government for utilizing RE as the main energy in Indonesia can be done by implementing several policies for the RE development. Thus, greenhouse gas emissions and the use of petroleum fuels can be reduced.