Wind Energy Supply Research Articles

PROPOSAL FOR PUBLIC POLICIES TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THE GROWTH OF WIND ENERGY GENERATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

This paper proposes novel public policies aimed at incentivizing wind energy generation in the United States. In response to the imperative of transitioning to sustainable energy sources, the study explores innovative approaches to promote and accelerate the adoption of wind power. Furthermore, the research employs the LEAP (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning) software for energy planning to simulate the forecasted impact of these proposed policies on the wind energy supply in the USA. By integrating policy recommendations with simulation results, this study provides a comprehensive analysis to guide policymakers and stakeholders in fostering the growth of wind energy as a pivotal component in the country’s renewable energy landscape.

Wind energy-driven medical waste treatment with polygeneration and carbon neutrality: Process design, advanced exergy analysis and process optimization

This study presents a novel and original rich-O2 steam gasification-based process integrated with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) for carbon-neutral valorization of medical waste (MW) in Hong Kong. The process employs a calcium loop to capture CO2 from the gasifier-produced syngas, simultaneously facilitating H2 production. The captured CO2 is optionally utilized to generate high value-added products like ethylene, ethanol, and acetic acid through electroreduction. The process incorporates multiple steam Rankine cycles for converting waste heat to power, achieving a total energy efficiency of 71.38%. Advanced exergy analysis reveals over 70% endogenous exergy destruction in reactors and 79.05% avoidable exergy destruction in heat exchangers and condensers, which may be paid more attention. Driven by wind energy, the process has the potential to achieve zero CO2 emission. Economic optimization demonstrates potential profits up to 10410 HK$/h with sufficient wind energy supply and 2548.2 HK$/h with limited supply. This study highlights the novelty of a carbon-neutral MW valorization approach, CCUS utilization, advanced exergy analysis, optimization and renewable wind energy for sustainability and economic viability.

Design and Performance Analysis of a Grid-Connected Distributed Wind Turbine

The utilization of wind energy has become increasingly popular in the United States and many European countries due to its abundant nature and optimized design. While existing wind turbines are predominantly large-scale and not suitable for standalone or distributed power production, Lubbock County in West Texas offers a diverse range of renewable energy options to meet its energy needs. The region relies heavily on utility-scale wind energy sources to supply power to the Texas Grid, replacing conventional fossil fuel-based systems. Currently, standalone solar PV systems are the preferred choice for renewable energy generation. However, West Texas possesses an ample supply of wind energy that can be harnessed to establish a microgrid and provide standalone power to rural communities. Distributed wind energy offers localized power generation, reducing transmission losses and grid strain, while conventional wind farms require long-distance transmission, leading to efficiency gains. By employing the latest technology and optimizing efficiency, even in low-scale generation, a 6-kilowatt permanent magnet alternator-based distributed wind turbine has been designed. This paper focuses on analyzing the techno-economic aspects of implementing this wind turbine in a real-world scenario, taking into account wind attributes, such as velocity and available power, at the specific location.

Evaluation of the relationship of wastewater treatment and biodiesel production by microalgae cultivated in the photobioreactor

Microalgae has a great preponderance of fast growth rate and high oil contents. Mixed wastewater and industrial waste gas are utilized in this study as the microalgae's growing medium and resource of inorganic carbon. A combined study of waste usage and biomass energy development is conducted based on closed photobioreactor cultivation. With a focus on the cost of microalgal biodiesel, the financial benefits of waste treatment, the CO2 absorption effect, and biodiesel yield, an assessment of the production process is conducted for different algae species under different energy supply situations. The experimental results indicate that Model algal species 3 (M3) are better adapted for the production of biodiesel with the situation of wind power. It has the algae generates 6800 L of algal liquid, 32.3 kg of microalgae, 42.27 kg of CO2 emission reduction, and 12.47 kg of biodiesel in the single production cycle. The production of microalgae biodiesel based on photobioreactors can produce negative carbon emissions in the setting of a wind energy supply, and the total yearly biodiesel production in the same proliferation scale is at least 112.89 times that of open culture ponds. It has realized the sufficient coupling between waste utilization and biomass energy development through the development of microalgae biodiesel based on photobioreactor culture. It reduces the cost of biodiesel development and maintains high economic efficiency of waste disposal while producing negative carbon emissions. New theoretical guidance is provided by the target's advancement of renewable energy, carbon sequestration, and emission reduction, which has substantial effects on reducing pollution and enhancing significant ecological and environmental effects.

Wind Energy Supply Profiling and Offshore Potential in South Africa

South Africa’s energy network is under severe pressure due to low supply and overwhelming demand. With an increase in renewable energy providers, specifically wind energy, knowing how the supply can satisfy the electricity demand may relieve apprehensions. This research aims to provide insight into the wind energy supply of South Africa and question how well this supply meets the demand of South Africa. The methodology used in this work highlights the importance of access to public datasets to dispel misconceptions in the energy industry. Additionally, the work supports network planning and the arguments for increasing wind energy penetration on the South African grid. Wind profiles and the typical energy production of South African wind farms are compared to electricity demand. The geographical spacing of the operational wind farms is considered. It is observed that wind energy supply assists in the peak electricity hourly demand as well as seasonal peaks. Furthermore, South Africa’s coast is analysed to determine the offshore wind power potential, where shallow and deep waters are considered. It is observed that South Africa has a high potential for offshore wind, even after losses are applied.

Ресурсы ветра западного сектора Арктической зоны Российской Федерации и возможные направления их использования

The authors consider the potential and technical resources of wind energy in the Western sector of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. They have stated that increased wind speeds take place in the Arctic coastal areas. Their average annual values ​​at a height of 10 m reach 6—8 m/s. The strongest winds are observed in winter. It is during this period that the demand for heat and electricity from all categories of consumers is maximum, which is a significant prerequisite for the use of wind energy. On the example of the Murmansk region, the authors show the prospects for the use of wind-driven power plants (WPPs) for the production of electricity as part of the Kola electric power system, where there are 17 hydroelectric power plants that can compensate for the variability in the supply of wind energy. Promising is the joint work of WPPs with diesel power plants and boiler plants. The positive effect of such work is expressed in saving the imported fuel and reducing harmful emissions into the environment. The authors propose promising sites for the construction of energy complexes focused on the production of environmentally friendly hydrogen through the use of high-potential wind resources.

Gaussian copula modeling of extreme cold and weak-wind events over Europe conditioned on winter weather regimes

A transition to renewable energy is needed to mitigate climate change. In Europe, this transition has been led by wind energy, which is one of the fastest growing energy sources. However, energy demand and production are sensitive to meteorological conditions and atmospheric variability at multiple time scales. To accomplish the required balance between these two variables, critical conditions of high demand and low wind energy supply must be considered in the design of energy systems. We describe a methodology for modeling joint distributions of meteorological variables without making any assumptions about their marginal distributions. In this context, Gaussian copulas are used to model the correlated nature of cold and weak-wind events. The marginal distributions are modeled with logistic regressions defining two sets of binary variables as predictors: four large-scale weather regimes (WRs) and the months of the extended winter season. By applying this framework to ERA5 data, we can compute the joint probabilities of co-occurrence of cold and weak-wind events on a high-resolution grid .Our results show that (a) WRs must be considered when modeling cold and weak-wind events, (b) it is essential to account for the correlations between these events when modeling their joint distribution, (c) we need to analyze each month separately, and (d) the highest estimated number of days with compound events are associated with the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (3 days on average over Finland, Ireland, and Lithuania in January, and France and Luxembourg in February) and the Scandinavian blocking pattern (3 days on average over Ireland in January and Denmark in February). This information could be relevant for application in sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasts of such events.

Fluctuations in the wind energy supply do not impair acceptance of wind farms

With the growing contribution of wind power to the electric energy supply, fluctuation in available wind energy might increasingly become part of public debate. Fluctuation influences energy prices and might lead to acceptance problems. As a first step to gauge potential communication strategies, we investigated in an experimental study if acceptance is influenced by being made aware of fluctuation. Participants either answered questions on acceptance before or after judging fluctuation and predictability for 30 days of wind energy input. To test for potentially biased cognition, we additionally checked if judgments were affected by whether or not it was transparent that the graphs showed wind energy input. Mean acceptance did not differ between the groups. Directing attention to the fluctuation of power generated by wind does not have an impact on acceptance. Additionally, presence or absence of labels on the graphs and thus knowing that the graphs depicted wind energy supply, did not affect fluctuation and predictability ratings.

Exploration and Development of Marine Renewable Energy in Fujian Province Towards Carbon Neutrality

To achieve peak carbon emission and carbon neutrality, marine renewable energy plays an essential role in energy transition in China’s coastal areas. Fujian Province is not only exposed to a shortage of traditional energy resources, but also urgently needs to change its current coal-based energy structure to reduce carbon emissions. In contrast to the scarcity of fossil fuels, Fujian Province has rich marine energy reserves, with an abundant supply of offshore wind, wave, tidal, and ocean current energy. Therefore, the active development of low-carbon and carbon-free marine energy can increase the energy supply and alleviate energy shortages. Furthermore, it can optimize the structure of the energy sector in this region. This study analyzed the energy structure of the Fujian Province, the effort needed to reach the carbon neutrality goal, the reserves of marine energy resources, the background of marine energy development technology, and socio-economic conditions. We believe that the development of the marine energy is a critical action towards solving the current energy resource limitations in Fujian and subsequently propose relevant suggestions for marine energy industry development in Fujian Province in terms of development ideas and pathways.

Lacking energy storage, and nuclear contribution, wind, and solar photovoltaic electricity is expensive and scarce

Prices of electricity have skyrocketed phased with the uptake of non-dispatchable wind and solar photovoltaic energy supply, and the closure of combustion fuel plants able to produce electricity on demand. At the same time, blackouts have become more likely, with governments requesting citizens not to use electricity when they need to prevent their occurrence. If we were expecting cheap and abundant renewable energy, it seems something is not right. There are, however, solutions. These are the adoption of other energy sources, not only non-dispatchable wind and solar, but also dispatchable hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass renewable energy, and baseload nuclear energy, plus the development of energy storage, by batteries, pumped hydro, thermal energy storage, and more than that, by hydrogen, to generate enough dispatchable energy to cover the requirements of a growing world.

Fat Tails due to Variable Renewables and Insufficient Flexibility: Evidence from Germany

The large-scale integration of renewable energy sources requires flexibility from power markets in the sense that the latter should quickly counterbalance the renewable supply variation driven by weather conditions. Most power markets cannot (yet) provide this flexibility effectively as they suffer from inelastic demand and insufficient flexible storage capacity or flexible conventional suppliers. Research accordingly shows that the volume of renewable energy in the supply system affects the mean and volatility of power prices. We extend this view and show that the level of wind and solar energy supply affects the tails of the electricity price distributions as well and that it does so asymmetrically. The higher the supply from wind and solar energy sources, the fatter the left tail of the price distribution and the thinner the right tail. This implies that one cannot rely on symmetric price distributions for risk management and for valuation of (flexible) power assets. The evidence in this paper suggests that we have to rethink the methods of subsidizing variable renewable supply such that they take into consideration also the flexibility needs of power markets.

Spatially resolved generation profiles for onshore and offshore wind turbines: A case study of four Dutch energy transition scenarios

In line with the Dutch Climate Agreement, multiple energy transition scenarios have been constructed for 2030 and 2050. To various extents, they project a shift towards decentralized and intermittent renewable electricity generation (wind and solar) and widespread deployment of electric vehicles and heat pumps. These developments impose challenges regarding electricity supply-demand mismatch and grid congestion. In order to gain an understanding of when and where such problems are likely to occur, temporally and spatially resolved interpretations of the energy transition scenarios are required. This paper focuses on Dutch wind energy supply and shows construction of geodatabases of scenario-specific, hourly onshore and offshore wind electricity generation profiles on an individual turbine level. For the geographical distribution of turbine capacity, datasets on historically operational turbines, planned wind parks and suggested future turbine distributions are utilized. Turbine electricity generation profiles are constructed using a high resolution 3D meteorological dataset and power curves of commercially available turbine models. They are corrected for air pressure deviations and a multitude of loss factors, including wake effects. Compared to the present-day situation, yearly country-level electricity generation is projected to be a factor 16.6, 24.6 or 12.8 higher in 2050 when following the Regional, National or International Steering scenarios, respectively. In comparison to both the present-day and 2030 situation, onshore electricity generation is projected to be more evenly spread over different parts of the country in 2050. All offshore wind exploration areas considered in this research are projected to be completely utilized by 2050.

Digitalization in the Renewable Energy Sector—New Market Players

Under the conditions of climate change and energy crisis stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the embargo on the supply of raw materials from Russia, high hopes are attached to the development of renewable energy in terms of meeting energy needs. Still, renewable energy has some drawbacks too. In the most dynamically growing solar and wind energy industries, the main problems that are indicated include this energy storage and ensuring the security of supplies. These are supposed to be solved by the digital transformation of renewable power generation plus the entry of market players that implement digital business models in renewable energy. The purpose of the article is to identify a framework “digital compass” of business models in renewable energy within a group of solar and wind energy start-ups, operating in energy storage and supply industries. At the base of this study there were: digital technologies, customer orientation, delivery of value and revenue stream. The research algorithm applied here enabled the identification and classification of startup business models based on secondary data using R software. The results show that the identified startups implement digital business models to a minor extent. Startups dealing with solar energy storage stand out in a quite positive manner. The low digital attractiveness of investing in wind energy storage and supply (which, to a smaller extent applies to solar energy), is also indicated the investment preferences of big-tech. Thus, the future of the digital transformation of these industries should be related to regulatory changes rather than technological ones.

Closing the Loop in Photovoltaic Solar and Wind Power Supply Chains: An investigation in Turkey through Neutrosphopic-DELPHI-based Force Field Analysis and Neutrosphopic-DEMATEL

Since solar panels and wind turbines have limited lifespans, solar photovoltaic energy supply chain (SPvESC) and wind energy supply chain (WESC) in Turkey needs a paradigm shift to improve the efficiency and recyclability of solar panel and wind turbine components. The circular economy (CE) is a viable strategy for reducing the negative effects of linear supply chains in the SPvESC and WESC. However, despite the several drivers of implementing CE in the SPvESC and WESC, there are also barriers to CE initiatives. It is argued that further studies are needed to explore the drivers and challenges for CE adoption in different industries of developing and developed countries. Hence, the goal of this research is to explore the driving and restraining forces for CE adoption in Turkey’s SPvESC and WESC through a decision framework that includes Neutrosphopic DELPHI-based Force Field Analysis, Neutrosphopic-DEMATEL, and Nominal Group Technique. The findings of this research suggested that because the total score of restraining forces is higher than that of driving forces in force field analysis, it is critical to investigate the relationships among the restraining forces. Our findings also suggested that nonexistence of effective incentives and regulations proved to be the most prominent restraining force.

SCADA Data Based Wind Power Interval Prediction Using LUBE-Based Deep Residual Networks

Wind is a pollution-free renewable energy source. It has attracted increasing attention owing to the decarbonization of electricity generation. However, owing to the dynamic nature of wind speed, ensuring a stable supply of wind energy to electric grid networks is challenging. Therefore, accurate short-term forecasting of wind power prediction plays a key role for wind farm engineers. With the boom in AI technologies, deep-learning-based forecasting models have demonstrated superior performance in wind power forecasting. This paper proposes a short-term deep-learning-based interval prediction algorithm for forecasting short-term wind power generation in wind farms. The proposed approach combines the lower upper bound estimation (LUBE) method and a deep residual network (DRN). Wind farm data collected in northwestern China are selected for this empirical study. The proposed approach is compared with three benchmark short-term forecasting approaches. Extensive experiments conducted on the data collected from five wind turbines in 2021 indicate that the proposed algorithm is efficient, stable, and reliable.

Day-ahead scheduling strategy for integrated heating and power system with high wind power penetration and integrated demand response: A hybrid stochastic/interval approach

The accommodation of wind energy is restricted due to the heat-led operation mode of CHP units. Comprehensive utilization of multi-energy coordinated supply and integration of wind energy, is deemed as an efficient solution for improving energy conservation and operational flexibility. Therefore, a novel hybrid stochastic/interval optimization for an integrated heating and power system (IHPS) day-ahead scheduling is proposed in this paper. Considering the bilateral uncertainties that exist on both sides of supply and demand, the scenario-based stochastic analyze is adopted to generate a set of possible scenarios for describing uncertainties of electrical and thermal loads. Also, the information gap decision theory (IGDT) is proposed to deal with the severe uncertainty caused by high wind power penetration. For the operation of district heating network (DHN), temperature dynamics and transmission delay are studied to exploit the heating system as a virtual storage for managing the dispatch of wind power. To further improve the system economic, the concept of price-based integrated demand response (IDR) under the background of multi-energy coupling is also introduced and the characteristics of energy substitution and load timing transfer are modeled. Simulation results show that the benefits of the proposed method for enhancing the system operation flexibility.

Design of wind and solar energy supply, to match energy demand

Renewable energy sources have an intermittent character that does not necessarily match energy demand. Such imbalances tend to increase system cost as they require mitigation measures and this is undesirable when available resources should be focused on increasing renewable energy supply. Matching supply and demand should therefore be inherent to early stages of system design, to avoid mismatch costs to the greatest extent possible and we need guidelines for that. This paper delivers such guidelines by exploring design of hybrid wind and solar energy and unusual large solar installation angles. The hybrid wind and solar energy supply and energy demand is studied with an analytical analysis of average monthly energy yields in The Netherlands, Spain and Britain, capacity factor statistics and a dynamic energy supply simulation. The analytical focus in this paper differs from that found in literature, where analyses entirely rely on simulations. Additionally, the seasonal energy yield profile of solar energy at large installation angles is studied with the web application PVGIS and an hourly simulation of the energy yield, based on the Perez model. In Europe, the energy yield of solar PV peaks during the summer months and the energy yield of wind turbines is highest during the winter months. As a consequence, three basic hybrid supply profiles, based on three different mix ratios of wind to solar PV, can be differentiated: a heating profile with high monthly energy yield during the winter months, a flat or baseload profile and a cooling profile with high monthly energy yield during the summer months. It is shown that the baseload profile in The Netherlands is achieved at a ratio of wind to solar energy yield and power of respectively E w / E s = 1.7 and P w / P s = 0.6 . The baseload ratio for Spain and Britain is comparable because of similar seasonal weather patterns, so that this baseload ratio is likely comparable for other European countries too. In addition to the seasonal benefits, the hybrid mix is also ideal for the short-term as wind and solar PV adds up to a total that has fewer energy supply flaws and peaks than with each energy source individually and it is shown that they are seldom (3%) both at rated power. This allows them to share one cable, allowing “cable pooling”, with curtailment to -for example-manage cable capacity. A dynamic simulation with the baseload mix supply and a flat demand reveals that a 100% and 75% yearly energy match cause a curtailment loss of respectively 6% and 1%. Curtailment losses of the baseload mix are thereby shown to be small. Tuning of the energy supply of solar panels separately is also possible. Compared to standard 40° slope in The Netherlands, facade panels have smaller yield during the summer months, but almost equal yield during the rest of the year, so that the total yield adds up to 72% of standard 40° slope panels. Additionally, an hourly energy yield simulation reveals that: façade (90°) and 60° slope panels with an inverter rated at respectively 50% and 65% Wp, produce 95% of the maximum energy yield at that slope. The flatter seasonal yield profile of “large slope panels” together with decreased peak power fits Dutch demand and grid capacity more effectively.

The huge potential of new dams is based upon pumping

Existing dams are mainly used for creating along river reservoirs filled by gravity. The potential of new dams for such uses is limited in most countries by the lack of sites, the competitive cost of wind or solar energy supply and the criticism of environmental impacts. But there is a huge potential of large new reservoirs filled by pumping. Such use will probably be very important after 2030 for storage of wind and solar energy which will become the main sources of electricity. Very large off rivers reservoirs have a huge future as well for seasonal water storage as for floods mitigation. Environmental impacts of such uses are usually better than for traditional ones. Yearly investments for new dams may be in 2040 much more important than ever in the past. Dams’ designs may be traditional or innovative.

Smart Charging Needs, Wants and Demands, Charging Experiences and Opinions of EV Drivers

To reduce emissions of harmful substances (such as CO2, NOx and particulate matter) from transportation a fuel transition is essential. Electric transport is one of the most promising options for achieving this. In order to make this new electric transport market function efficiently, new interactions between new and existing parties are required. The growth of electric transport increases the peak demand for electricity. This creates a greater mismatch between moments of supply and moments of demand. In other words, EV drivers want to have their car charged before departure, and grid operators need to allocate resources to meet this demand. Flexibility from both players is required. Charging must be further optimised (become “smarter”) to facilitate this flexibility. Smart charging means: controlling and optimising the time and speed of charging. For example, when there is a large supply of solar and wind energy, there is little other demand for electricity and the price for electricity is low. With the contribution of many organisations, the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER) and ElaadNL have jointly investigated the experiences and opinions of electric drivers about the smart charging of electric cars with a broad survey called the “National Charging Research”. In total, more than 1800 Dutch electric drivers took part in this study. Among other things, the research paid attention to the way in which EV drivers charge their electric cars, which bottlenecks they experience (at home and away) and what the experience is with smart charging. The main finding was that many EV drivers are familiar with smart charging. They are willing to apply smart charging, but they want to be in control of their sessions. To give them that control, both insight and transparency are essential. To meet the needs and wants of both EV drivers and grid operators, alignment with the momentum of European legislation is required to avoid a mismatch of energy between moments of supply and demand.

Omni-directional wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerator with cross-shaped dielectric film

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are actively being researched and developed to become a new external power unit for various electronics and applications. Wind is proposed as a mechanical energy source to flutter the dielectric film in wind-driven TENGs as it is clean, abundant, ubiquitous, and sustainable. Herein, we propose a TENG structure with dielectric films bent in four directions to collect the wind energy supply from all directions, unlike the conventional wind-driven TENGs which can only harvest the wind energy from one direction. Aluminum (Al) layer was intercalated within the dielectric film to improve electrostatic induction, resulting in improved triboelectric performances. Maximum open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 233 V, short-circuit current (Isc) of 348 µA, and output power density of 46.1 W m− 2 at an external load of 1 MΩ under a wind speed of 9 m s− 1 were revealed, and it faithfully lit “LED” characters composed of 25 LEDs.