Sustainable Renewable Energy Systems Research Articles

Assessing the 3E performance of multiple energy supply scenarios based on photovoltaic, wind turbine, battery and hydrogen systems

Supplying buildings with cost-effective, eco-friendly and reliable energy by hybridizing sustainable renewable energy systems (RESs) and energy storage methods is becoming increasingly interesting. This study investigates the energy, environmental and economic (3E) effectiveness of three energy supply scenarios (ESSs) designed to meet the electricity and thermal needs of a typical residential building under the Mediterranean climate of Morocco. The first scenario aims to directly supply the energy produced by two RESs, namely photovoltaic and wind systems, to the building and inject the surplus electricity into the grid. In contrast, in the second scenario, the excess solar and wind energy is stored in batteries, while in the third one a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is used to produce hydrogen and store it for later use through fuel cells. To examine the performance of these scenarios, numerous software, such as EnergyPlus and PVsyst, as well as numerical models are used. The findings indicate that the second and third scenarios can achieve an energy coverage ratio of up to 100 %, whilst the first scenario reaches lower ratio of 52.56 %. Environmentally, the first scenario exhibits the best outcomes with a carbon payback period of one year and a reduction in carbon emissions of 18.21 tCO2e/year. On the other side, the carbon payback period and carbon emissions reduction are 1.66 years and 15.13 tCO2e/year for the second scenario, and 1.14 years and 14.82 tCO2e/year for the third scenario. Economically, the first scenario reveals the best economic findings, followed by the second one, while the third scenario is not economically feasible. The obtained simple payback period values for the first, second and third scenarios are 5.80, 7.89 and 16.30 years, whereas their levelized cost of energy shares are 0.05, 0.09 and 0.21 $/kWh, sequentially. The outcomes of this research significantly contribute to the field by providing crucial information for building owners and professionals to help them in discerning the most efficient ESSs in the 3E prospects, and hence improving their decision-making and implementation processes.

Prioritizing sustainable renewable energy systems in Tunisia: An integrated approach using hybrid multi-criteria decision analysis

In recent years, renewable energy technologies (RETs) have become increasingly popular worldwide to achieve energy sufficiency, reduce reliance on conventional fuels, and mitigate their devastating environmental impact. Nonetheless, more appears to have stayed the same in emerging economies, such as Tunisia, as various barriers hampered the implementation of these technologies. Hence, the prime objective of this article is to conduct a thoughtful assessment of four prominent renewable energy options for electricity generation and explore the most potential barriers hindering their development in Tunisia. To do so, a two-stage approach was applied. First, CRiteria Importance Through Inter-Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) were used to evaluate the considered alternatives, namely solar PV, concentrated solar power (CSP), onshore wind, and biomass. Then, an integrated step-wise assessment ratio analysis and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory approach (SWARA-DEMATEL) was developed to identify the most relevant barriers. The related criteria and barriers were determined based on an exhaustive literature review and experts’ feedback. The obtained results indicated that solar PV and wind were the most promising renewable technologies, while biomass was the worst option. To validate the outcome and demonstrate the effect of changing input data on the final results, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out. As for the key obstacles, political instability, high upfront costs, and market access mechanisms were the most influential barriers. Hence, prioritizing different RETs and analyzing the inherent barriers to their utilization would offer insightful guidance to policymakers, enabling them to establish efficient strategies for overcoming these obstacles, and accelerating the deployment of these technologies in the country.

Sustainable renewable energy system selection for self-sufficient households using integrated fermatean neutrosophic fuzzy stratified AHP-MARCOS approach

Sustainable renewable energy system selection for self-sufficient households using integrated fermatean neutrosophic fuzzy stratified AHP-MARCOS approach

Two-dimensional Pd-Cellulose with optimized morphology for the effective solar to steam generation

Nanosized plasmonic metallic nanoparticles such as Pd have gained significant attention due to their diverse applications in catalysis, sensing, and light-to-heat conversion. However, the development of scalable and environmentally friendly synthesis routes for such nanoparticles is crucial for the sustainable development of industrial applications. In this work, we address this challenge by synthesizing Pd-nanoparticles on the cellulose filter paper (Pd-Cellulose) via two scalable green synthesis routes: low-temperature thermal and plasma synthesis. We found that adjusting synthesis conditions allowed us to achieve an optimum morphology that maximizes light absorptance. The nature of the reduction species during synthesis significantly impacts the morphology and heat-transfer properties of the resulting material. Compared to thermally synthesized Pd-Cellulose, the absorbers synthesized with plasma have smaller particles size and higher coverage, which leads to higher broadband light absorptance and more intense heat transfer to the surroundings. The optimized Pd-based light absorbers were utilized in a solar-to-steam desalination system, resulting in an evaporation rate of 1.30 kg/m2h for the open system and a filtration rate of 0.7 kg/m2h for the closed system. Our findings provide insights into the green and scalable synthesis and optimization of Pd-based light absorbers and their potential application in sustainable renewable energy systems.

A Systematic Review on Investment Risks in Hydropower to Developing Sustainable Renewable Energy Systems

Hydropower is regarded as one of the most important renewable energy sources for the present and the future. However, hydropower projects are exposed to various risks and uncertainties, including economic, environmental, social, geological, regulatory, political, technological, financial, climate, natural, and safety concerns. Thus, to know the existing risks in the hydropower sector, a systematic literature review is conducted to find all peer-reviewed articles in English published between 2018 and 2022 that dealt with investment risks and uncertainties associated with hydropower. This systematic review paper considers 'Hydropower Investment Risk' critical to developing sustainable renewable energy systems. The keywords selected for the search are tailored to identify all the relevant articles related to 'Investment Risk in Hydropower,' where hydropower is referred to as mini, micro, and large hydropower. In addition, the keywords that correspond to investment risk in the hydropower sector are chosen. Two crucial databases 'Scopus' and 'Google Scholar' search yielded 6689 and 123,000 articles, respectively. Among 34 full texts, 31 primary source articles and 3 secondary source articles are reviewed. The many investment risks pertaining to hydropower investments obtained from the extensive review are: 1. risks related to climate change and hydrology 2. Risks related to environment and anthropogenic 3. Market risks related to credit, capital, and other financial risks 4. Risks related to substitution from renewable energy to fossil fuels 5. Risks related to socio-political and technological changes 6. Risks related to institution, policy, legality, and regulatory 7. Risks related to human capital development, and 8. Impact of climate change on hydropower's revenue generation.

A Computational Study of Magneto-Convective Heat Transfer Over Inclined Surfaces With Thermodiffusion

In this article, the ocean energy generator system is analysed. The need for sustainable renewable energy systems is continually growing, given the situation of the world’s energy supplies. Numerous similar systems, including photovoltaic solar collectors, biomass, and wind turbines are used for energy generation. The ocean energy generator system uses the magnetohydrodynamics transformation concept to convert kinetic energy to electrical energy. Similar to conventional generators, an ocean generator requires an applied magnetic field to generate current, making it a critical component of the system. To optimize the performance and efficiency of ocean generators, various devices utilizing superconducting magnets have been developed, including Hall current generators, rotating channels, rotating disc magnetohydrodynamics generators, and helicoid generators. However, these systems also involve complex heat, momentum, and mass transfer, which can be better understood through mathematical modeling. The similarity transformation are introduced to transform the mathematical model from partial differential equation system to ordinary differential equation system. By adopting this approach, the numerical solution is significantly simplified while still preserving numerous crucial physical aspects of the studied heat and material transport phenomena. The physical characteristics of sea waves are governed by the three variables of seawater: temperature, salinity, and pressure. Small dispersed particles also affect the generation of hydroelectric power from surface water. The behaviour of velocity, temperature, and salinity profile is observed for the variations of different parameters such as magnetic, Grashof number and heat source. The system is converted into an optimization problem and solved by a neural network procedure. The solutions are compared with reference solutions for validation. The errors, performance, testing and training data are also presented graphically. The data is typically visualized using histograms, line graphs, and other visual aids. This allows for easier comprehension and analysis of the data.

Applicability Of Incineration Technology In Waste Management: Istanbul Case Study

The purpose of this study is to make a technological and financial forecast for the future construction of similar facilities based on feasibility data from the Istanbul Domestic Waste Incineration and Energy Production Facility, which was constructed to minimize environmental damage and give domestic solid wastes economic value, as opposed to storing and disposing of them. The study examined the initial investment and operating costs of the facility, the repayment time and profitability calculations, the financial and economic profitability of the project, and the cost and internal profitability rates for other waste disposal facilities to be established, in addition to comparisons with conventional waste management systems (storage or composting) and incineration techniques. By separating themselves as much as possible from conventional waste management systems, systems employing technological methods will be more realistic and cost-effective, both financially and in terms of the environment. To meet rising energy demands and lessen reliance on foreign sources, investments in sustainable renewable energy systems other than fossil fuels must be increased now. It is crucial to accelerate and support investments in environmentally friendly energy technologies through their development. This is the first study conducted in Turkey on obtaining energy by burning domestic solid waste as opposed to storing it.

Fabrication of self charging supercapacitor based on two dimensional bismuthene-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposite powered by dye sensitized solar cells

The development of sustainable renewable energy systems that provides both energy conversion and storage is highly desirable to compensate the energy needs in daily life. But the key challenge is to fabricate a self powered energy conversion and storage device that possess holds both high conversion efficiency and high storage capability. Herein, we fabricate a solid state hybrid supercapacitor with the aid of bismuthene-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposite and activated carbon electrodes (Bi-g-C3N4//AC HSC) as an energy storage device and integrated with a dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) as energy conversion device. The fabricated Bi-g-C3N4//AC HSC delivers a high energy density of 31.597 μWh/cm2 and the high power density of 3.25 mW/cm2. Moreover, the integrated solar powered supercapacitor (SPSC) delivers a competitive total energy conversion and storage efficiency (ηtotal) of about 5.418 % and an unprecedented energy storage efficiency (ηstorage) of 68.35 %.

Integrated spatial and energy planning in Styria – A role model for local and regional energy transition and climate protection policies

• Programme to integrate spatial planning and energy planning. • Creating strategic database for energy transition in spatial planning. • Applying strategic maps to harmonize district heating, mobility and spatial development. • Applying energy transition thinking for sustainable spatial planning. • Holistic implementation programme for scientific knowledge in local spatial planning. How we plan our towns, cities and regions is inseparably connected to energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and the way how we can manage the transition to sustainable renewable energy systems. Therefore, we propose that integrated spatial and energy planning is an important part of energy transition and climate protection strategies. In this article, we discuss how the energy transition and spatial planning can be holistically integrated, and how this theoretical framework combining the factual findings of integrated spatial and energy planning and strategic concepts of spatial planning can be put into practice in municipal spatial planning. We demonstrate the applicability of the approach in an action research process in the Austrian Province of Styria involving the Government representatives, municipalities and spatial planners. The whole approach includes, as tangible outputs a strategic database, strategic maps, and a planning guidance for municipalities on the one hand, and a further education programme for planners and municipal decision makers on the other hand. Finally, the applicability, transferability and limitations of the approach are discussed. As the approach is not only established in Styria, but at the moment also put forward in two further Provinces so that we can, in total, cover about 63% of all Austrian municipalities with this approach, we also propose that this approach can serve as a role model not only for local and regional energy transition and climate protection policies around the world, but also for shaping third mission activities of universities.

Guest Editorial: Empowering Sustainable Energy Infrastructures via AI-Assisted Wireless Communications

The global economy is experiencing significant business growth leading to increasing demands for energy. Global energy consumption increased by 2.1 percent in 2017, and according to the 2019 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports, the expected energy growth in Asia will reach 50 percent by 2050. Since it is unlikely that these demands will be met using conventional energy systems, the world is moving toward sustainable renewable energy systems (RESs) that are supported by cyberphysical technologies. Additionally, climate change is putting more pressure on governments to reduce their dependency on conventional energy resources and invest more in sustainable renewable energies. The shift from conventional energy sources to renewables is clear, as revealed in 2018 where 30 percent of the U.K. gross electricity consumption was generated by RES (according to the Green Match report on Renewable Energy in the United Kingdom). This transformation has led to the emergence of prosumers (i.e., producers and consumers) capable of both generating and consuming energy. Many households and buildings are now equipped with solar panels that can contribute to the overall energy needs. Power systems need to adapt to renewable energy to provide more efficient and sustainable operations. As such, the concept of smart grid needs to be promoted and looked at more closely in the research and development fields to support such sustainable power systems and energy solutions.

Natural Gas as a Key Alternative Energy Source in Sustainable Renewable Energy Transition: A Mini Review

Energy security and sustainability are undeniably the main concerns in combatting climate change. While an immediate call for all-green and renewable energy seems to be impossible due to huge financial implications and inadequate supporting energy structure, an alternative to fossil fuels needs to be established. Natural gas, a naturally occurring fossil gas is a cleaner energy source option compared to other fossil fuels such as coal, bitumen, and diesel. Natural gas makes the best fit for a sustainable renewable energy transition in any country around the globe due to its competitiveness towards other fossil fuels such as coal and its ability to aid the integration of renewables. This review highlights the technological pathways of utilizing natural gas in a transition to sustainable renewable energy systems, with a focus on the natural gas components and resources point of view for ASEAN member states (AMS). Policies that support the development of natural gas as a key alternative energy source in sustainable renewable energy transition would also be reviewed. This review aims to provide a thorough guide to researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers to construct and support efficient, reliable, affordable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly energy systems utilizing the abundant inexpensive natural gas.

Soft computing tool for aiding the integration of hybrid sustainable renewable energy systems, case of Putumayo, Colombia

This study contributes to the development of a soft computing tool used for the integration of hybrid renewable energy systems. The tool consists of the integration of a forecasting sub-tool for assessing quantitative and qualitative data. These data are input for a fuzzy multi-objective decision model developed in GAMS, where the total present value and the CO2 emissions of the system are minimized to obtain a set of Pareto alternatives. These alternatives are used as input for a fuzzy multi-attribute model developed in MATLAB. The CO2 emissions and the total present value, together with social, technologic, and environmental criteria are used as inputs for choosing the most sustainable alternative. Finally, the tool is tested in Puerto Guzmán, a small village of the department of Putumayo in southern Colombia. The selected and most sustainable alternative is composed of 31.2% diesel, 47.7% gasification of biomass, 7.9% solar photovoltaic and the rest with small hydro. The total present value of the system is 0.56 million USD and CO2 emissions are 0.4 million kg.

Evaluation approach for sustainable renewable energy systems under uncertain environment: A case study

The demand for energy in Egypt has increased dramatically due to the steady increase in economic and societal development. To meet this need, the use of more renewable energy resources is an essential part of the solution to the ultimate shortage of energy. Because of the multitude of factors involved, the selection of the most suitable renewable energy systems (RESs) is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. There are a good number of works associated with the design of MCDM methods, particularly under uncertain and ambiguous situations. However, efficient incorporation of ambiguity and uncertainty in decision making is still a challenging task, and thus this work proposes a hybrid MCDM approach for selecting the components of a sustainable RES under uncertain environments, utilizing different triangular neutrosophic numbers to deal with unclear information. This proposed hybrid approach starts with defining the relative importance of the selected sustainable criteria by using an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Later, in the second phase, this hybrid approach combines VIKOR and the TOPSIS to rank the RESs for a real-life case study. The results obtained indicate that concentrated solar power is the most suitable source of renewable energy for Egypt, with photoelectric power the second most suitable.

Debating the sustainability of solar energy: Examining resource construction processes for local photovoltaic projects in France

The growing attention to sustainable transitions suggests that the development of renewable energies is a central pillar of the transition towards low-carbon societies. However, even though the boundary between renewability and sustainability may be considered minimal, renewable does not mean sustainable. This paper adopts a geography of resource perspective to investigate the sustainability of renewable energies as the result of a contextualized construction process at the scale of local energy projects. The first part of the paper examines how sustainability is addressed in the literature and postulates that a relational focus on resource construction processes offers new analytical perspectives for understanding the importance of context in the construction of renewable energy sustainability. Sustainability is specifically described as a political quality distributed among human and non-human actors within a milieu. Drawing from this theoretical construction, an analysis of two case studies of local photovoltaic projects in the French Rhône-Alpes region (southeast France) highlights how an energy resource might be endowed with very different modes of existence (Simondon), among which some appear to be sustainable and others do not. The final part of the paper discusses how a relational framework offers new perspectives to define and move toward more sustainable renewable energy systems.

Sustainable Renewable Energy System Installations through Qualified and Skilled Workforce: TRAINEE Approach

Renewable energy and use of renewable energy sources (RES) is seen as part of the appropriate response to the global concerns for energy efficiency and greener world leading to a rapid increase in demand for renewable energy specialists who are able to design, install and maintain such systems. There are very few initiatives for more systematic approach for designing educational programs and developing curricula for training for designers and installers of RES systems in buildings. This especially refers to developing separate occupational standards, recognized by the national qualification frameworks, which will ensure formal validation of developed qualifications. The aim of this paper is to provide a model for training courses for designers and installers of small-scale renewable energy systems in buildings. This model is based on the experience of TRAINEE project, which had the aim to implement training courses for designers and installers of RES systems in buildings.

From smart energy community to smart energy municipalities: Literature review, agendas and pathways

The current energy and environmental target is the completely integration of the energy produced from different sources taking into account the renewables. The traditional power grids or thermal-cooling and heating conversion systems converge to the use of smart grids and to the planning of intelligent local organizations through energy integration techniques. This cannot be assessed as an isolated problem but an integrated one. The right construction of smart society is to match different challenges achieving sustainable energy systems not only from the point of view of energy consumption in different sectors (civil, industrial, agriculture, transport) and of the related of pollutants emissions, but considering simultaneously the relation with the socio-economic impact. The aim of this paper is firstly to examine the theories-approach to smart energy systems at the community level, the scientific literature of the smart energy community, the benefits of their potential applications in the smart energy municipalities. Finally, it manages the aspects related to smart energy community adoption with a multidisciplinary approach linking the technical conditions to the socio-economic systems of territorial planning. The main finding is that the concept of the intelligent energy community is strictly related to a coherent and intersectoral approach searching the best control strategy to satisfy all energy requirements. Moreover, the road leading to the smart energy community is essential to build the more sustainable renewable energy systems, to collect storage synergies between energy sub-sectors through the energy sharing and finally to exploit economically efficient sources.

Selection of the Most Sustainable Renewable Energy System for Bozcaada Island: Wind vs. Photovoltaic

Energy production without destroying the environment has been one of the most crucial issues for people living in today’s world. In order to analyze whole environmental and/or economic impacts of the energy production process, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) are widely used. In this study, two distinct renewable energy systems are assessed. First, a land-based wind farm, which has been operating in Bozcaada Island since 2000, is compared to a proposed solar photovoltaic power plant in terms of Energy Pay-Back Time (EPBT) periods and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and life cycle cost. The energy production process including the recycling phase evaluated “from cradle to grave” using GaBi software for both cases. All scenarios are compared by considering different impact categories such as global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), and eutrophication potential (EP). Following this, levelized unit cost to produce 1 MWh electricity (LUCE) is calculated for both systems. This study revealed that LCA and LCCA are useful and practical tools that help to determine drawbacks and benefits of different renewable energy systems considering their long-term environmental and economic impacts. Our findings show that onshore wind farms have a number of benefits than proposed photovoltaic power plants in terms of environmental and cost aspects.

Environmental impacts of biogas production from grass: Role of co-digestion and pretreatment at harvesting time

Biogas production from anaerobic digestion of grass was evaluated in this study taking into account two harvesting machines, a Disc-mower and an Excoriator, under diverse operating conditions. In addition, the application of generated biogas either in a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant for thermal and electrical energy production or as transportation fuel after upgrading (BGU) process was evaluated. Consequential Life Cycle Assessment (CLCA) with long term marginal data was employed. Lab-scale data as well as those obtained from the ecoinvent database were used to compile life cycle inventory data. The system boundary of the present study covered harvesting operation of grass, baling, transportation of bales, anaerobic digestion, use of digestate on farmlands, and downstream processes for biogas usage. Additionally, the system boundary was expanded to take into account the effect of substituting grass with straw in animal feeds. The results demonstrated that the environmental performance of grass-based biogas plants were highly dependent on selected downstream strategies. Furthermore, it was evident that mono-digestion of grass would not guarantee a long-term sustainable renewable energy system. Based on the results obtained, Excoriator at driving speed of 7.5 km/ha had the best environmental performance in all damage categories, i.e., “Human health”, “Ecosystem quality”, “Climate change”, and “Resources”. CHP had a greater environmental performance than water scrubbing BGU for the downstream strategies taken into account. The results from the sensitivity analysis proved that a specific methane yield lower than 329 mLCH4/gVS cannot ensure the achievement of an eco-friendly energy system from grass-based biogas plants.

Current energy mix and techno-economic analysis of concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies in Malaysia

This study performs a techno-economic analysis of concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies for Malaysia. The solar resource assessment was done by analyzing various rural and regional locations using NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy database. Three different technologies, parabolic trough collector (PTC), solar power tower (SPT) and solar parabolic dish (SPD) were assessed under different economic criterions. Results based on the analysis show that PTC and SPT type plants are particularly suitable for locations at East and Peninsular Malaysia. However, considering simple payback, the net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR), it is found that PTC type CSP plant will be the most eligible for CSP plant development. Sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the effect of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) on the various project discount rate. Regional renewable energy policy development and regulatory reform in feed-in-tariff (FiT), hybrid technology (PTC with biogas, solar PV and biomass) implementation, project financing under clean development mechanism (CDM) and lesson learned from international experience in local PTC equipment manufacturing are some of the crucial future policy outlooks that need to be applied for CSP technology implementation, as well as long-term sustainable renewable energy system development in the country.

Supply chain for sustainable renewable energy from biomass

A sustainable-energy policy requires the development of economical and sustainable renewable energy systems. This research focuses on the feasibility of developing a sustainable resource supply chain plan, by using available biomass as a resource for producing electricity in the Loei province, Thailand. A mathematical model has been proposed to determine suitable locations for the biomass power plants, the optimal biomass production, and supplier allocation that result in the lowest operating cost to meet the electricity demand. The availability of different types of biomass, different modes of transportation, and electricity consumption in the Loei province is used to develop the optimisation model. An extended model is also proposed to deal with the perishability of biomass. The proposed models can be used and applied by decision makers to perform different types of analysis in order to assist decision making on the location of biomass plants as well as in the distribution plan.