Suitability assessment  for electricity generation  through renewable sources:  towards sustainable energy  production

Power generation through renewable sources is an effective alternative to mitigate climate change as its environmental impact is lower compared to fossil fuels. However, socio-economic problems are constant in sites where power plants are installed, especially in developing countries. In this paper, an innovative methodology was developed to assess the suitability of electricity generation through solar, wind, and biomass energy. Unlike most studies found in scientific literature, this work considers social, environmental, and economic aspects as key to determine the suitability of energy projects. First, we carried out a comprehensive analysis on social acceptance and resilience towards renewable energy and the conditions for communities to benefit from these projects; then, we analyzed the availability and capacity of renewable energy sources in Mexico, as a case study. Next, a set of indicators related to the three pillars of sustainability was developed to assess the conditions of each place with the best renewable resources in the country. The life cycle and capacity factor of each technology were also considered. Lastly, a mathematical model was developed to determine the most suitable locations and technologies for power generation. The results show a trend towards the states of northern Mexico, especially those bordering the United States, as the most viable for electricity generation. The most appropriate technology is wind energy. Finally, Oaxaca, the state with the best wind resources and current leader in wind power generation in Mexico is, by contrast, the least viable state for wind generation, as has been later confirmed by scientific evidence, as wind facilities are associated with severe socio-cultural and economic damage in host communities in this state.

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Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

Case Studies in the Environment ◽

10.1525/cse.2018.001792 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Lauren K. D’Souza ◽

William L. Ascher ◽

Tanja Srebotnjak

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Alternative Energy ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

The United States ◽

Biomass Energy ◽

Policy Support ◽

Small Scale ◽

Energy Plant ◽

Energy Projects ◽

Alternative Investment

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

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Potential of Utilization of Renewable Energy Technologies in Gulf Countries

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su131810261 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (18) ◽

pp. 10261

Author(s):

J. Sadhik Basha ◽

Tahereh Jafary ◽

Ranjit Vasudevan ◽

Jahanzeb Khan Bahadur ◽

Muna Al Ajmi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Gas Production ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Nonrenewable Resource ◽

Gulf Region ◽

Renewable Sources ◽

Power Sources

This critical review report highlights the enormous potentiality and availability of renewable energy sources in the Gulf region. The earth suffers from extreme air pollution, climate changes, and extreme problems due to the enormous usage of underground carbon resources applications materialized in industrial, transport, and domestic sectors. The countries under Gulf Cooperation Council, i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, mainly explore those underground carbon resources for crude oil extraction and natural gas production. As a nonrenewable resource, these are bound to be exhausted in the near future. Hence, this review discusses the importance and feasibility of renewable sources in the Gulf region to persuade the scientific community to launch and explore renewable sources to obtain the maximum benefit in electric power generation. In most parts of the Gulf region, solar and wind energy sources are abundantly available. However, attempts to harness those resources are very limited. Furthermore, in this review report, innovative areas of advanced research (such as bioenergy, biomass) were proposed for the Gulf region to extract those resources at a higher magnitude to generate surplus power generation. Overall, this report clearly depicts the current scenario, current power demand, currently installed capacities, and the future strategies of power production from renewable power sources (viz., solar, wind, tidal, biomass, and bioenergy) in each and every part of the Gulf region.

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A Review of Virtual Inertia Techniques for Renewable Energy-Based Generators

10.5772/intechopen.92651 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ana Fernández-Guillamón ◽

Emilio Gómez-Lázaro ◽

Eduard Muljadi ◽

Ángel Molina-Garcia

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Power Systems ◽

Power System ◽

Power Plants ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Extensive Discussion ◽

Renewable Sources ◽

Virtual Inertia ◽

Alternative Sources

Over recent decades, the penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), especially photovoltaic and wind power plants, has been promoted in most countries. However, as these both alternative sources have power electronics at the grid interface (inverters), they are electrically decoupled from the grid. Subsequently, stability and reliability of power systems are compromised. Inertia in power systems has been traditionally determined by considering all the rotating masses directly connected to the grid. Thus, as the penetration of renewable units increases, the inertia of the power system decreases due to the reduction of directly connected rotating machines. As a consequence, power systems require a new set of strategies to include these renewable sources. In fact, ‘hidden inertia,’ ‘synthetic inertia’ and ‘virtual inertia’ are terms currently used to represent an artificial inertia created by inverter control strategies of such renewable sources. This chapter reviews the inertia concept and proposes a method to estimate the rotational inertia in different parts of the world. In addition, an extensive discussion on wind and photovoltaic power plants and their contribution to inertia and power system stability is presented.

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Analyzing the Efficiency of Renewable Energy Sources in Terms of Electricity Generation

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Operations Management and Service Evaluation - Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-5442-5.ch008 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 155-176

Author(s):

Talip Arsu

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Geothermal Energy ◽

Energy Supply ◽

Electricity Generation ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Biomass Energy ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Data Envelopment ◽

Efficiency Determination ◽

Energy Supply Security

Electricity generation, one of the renewable energy sources (RES), delivers a solution for various problems such as energy efficiency, energy supply security, reducing foreign dependency, and especially, environmental concerns. However, the solutions provided for these problems bring along the question of which RESs are produced more effectively. Therefore, in this research, RESs used for electricity generation in Turkey were analyzed by using generation data to show which one is more effective. Bi-objective multiple-criteria data envelopment analysis (BiO-MCDEA) method, a goal programming-based efficiency determination method, was used for the efficiency analysis conducted for five years between the years of 2014 and 2018. As a result of the analysis, geothermal energy came into prominence as the most effective RES for all of the years included in the solution. Geothermal energy was followed by biomass energy, wind energy, hydroelectric, and solar energy, respectively.

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The Economics of Renewable Energy Sources into Electricity Generation in Tanzania

Journal of Energy ◽

10.1155/2016/5837154 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Baraka Kichonge ◽

Iddi S. N. Mkilaha ◽

Geoffrey R. John ◽

Sameer Hameer

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Supply ◽

Electricity Generation ◽

Power Plants ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Renewable Energy Technologies ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Primary Energy Supply

The study analyzes the economics of renewable energy sources into electricity generation in Tanzania. Business as usual (BAU) scenario and renewable energy (RE) scenario which enforce a mandatory penetration of renewable energy sources shares into electricity generations were analyzed. The results show total investment cost for the BAU scenario is much lower as compared to RE scenario while operating and maintenance variable costs are higher in BAU scenario. Primary energy supply in BAU scenario is higher tied with less investment costs as compared to RE scenario. Furthermore, the share of renewable energy sources in BAU scenario is insignificant as compared to RE scenario due to mandatory penetration policy imposed. Analysis concludes that there are much higher investments costs in RE scenario accompanied with less operating and variable costs and lower primary energy supply. Sensitivity analysis carried out suggests that regardless of changes in investments cost of coal and CCGT power plants, the penetration of renewable energy technologies was still insignificant. Notwithstanding the weaknesses of renewable energy technologies in terms of the associated higher investments costs, an interesting result is that it is possible to meet future electricity demand based on domestic resources including renewables.

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Kajian Peningkatan Potensi Ekspor Pelet Kayu Indonesia sebagai Sumber Energi Biomassa yang Terbarukan

Jurnal Ilmu Kehutanan ◽

10.22146/jik.34125 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 99 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Victor Tulus Pangapoi Sidabutar

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

The United States ◽

Biomass Energy ◽

Raw Material ◽

Wood Pellets ◽

Fossil Energy ◽

Renewable Biomass ◽

World Today

Dunia saat ini mulai beralih dari menggunakan batu bara ke sumber energi yang terbarukan. Salah satunya adalah pelet kayu demi mengurangi emisi gas rumah kaca dan meningkatkan penggunaan energi terbarukan pengganti energi fosil. Produsen utama pelet kayu di dunia saat ini adalah Amerika Serikat sedangkan untuk wilayah ASEAN adalah Vietnam. Di ASEAN, potensi Indonesia tidak kalah dari Vietnam. Indonesia unggul dalam jumlah luas hutan tanam dan pertanian yang lebih luas dibandingkan Vietnam. Selain itu, keragaman hayati tumbuhan yang ada dapat dijadikan sumber bahan baku pelet kayu yang unik dibandingkan pesaing lainnya. Legalisasi dan regulasi untuk keberlangsungan bahan baku merupakan persyaratan utama untuk memasuki pasar Eropa. Pemerintah Indonesia memberikan dukungan penuh dengan semakin mudahnya perijinan terkait legalisasi dan keberlangsungan bahan baku kayu. Study of Increasing the Export Potential of Indonesia Wood Pellets as a Source of the Renewable Biomass Energy SourceAbstractThe world today is beginning to switch from using coal into renewable energy sources. One of them is wood pellets in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of renewable energy substitute for fossil energy. The major manufacturer of wood pellets in the world today is the United States, while for the ASEAN region is Vietnam. In ASEAN, Indonesia’s potential is not less than Vietnam. Indonesia superior in numbers of forests and agricultural crops compare to Vietnam. In addition, the existing plant biodiversity that can be used as a source of raw material for wood pellets are unique compared to other competitors. Legalization and regulation in terms of the sustainability of raw materials is a key requirement to enter the European market. The Indonesian government gave full support to the more easily permits related legalization and sustainability of wood raw material.

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Solar Energy in the United States: Development, Challenges and Future Prospects

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14238142 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (23) ◽

pp. 8142

Author(s):

Sanzana Tabassum ◽

Tanvin Rahman ◽

Ashraf Ul Islam ◽

Sumayya Rahman ◽

Debopriya Roy Dipta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Financial Incentives ◽

Power Plants ◽

Solar Power ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

The United States ◽

Heating And Cooling ◽

The U.S

The ambitious target of net-zero emission by 2050 has been aggressively driving the renewable energy sector in many countries. Leading the race of renewable energy sources is solar energy, the fastest growing energy source at present. The solar industry has witnessed more growth in the last decade than it has in the past 40 years, owing to its technological advancements, plummeting costs, and lucrative incentives. The United States is one of the largest producers of solar power in the world and has been a pioneer in solar adoption, with major projects across different technologies, mainly photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, and solar heating and cooling, but is expanding towards floating PV, solar combined with storage, and hybrid power plants. Although the United States has tremendous potential for exploiting solar resources, there is a scarcity of research that details the U.S. solar energy scenario. This paper provides a comprehensive review of solar energy in the U.S., highlighting the drivers of the solar industry in terms of technology, financial incentives, and strategies to overcome challenges. It also discusses the prospects of the future solar market based on extensive background research and the latest statistics. In addition, the paper categorizes the U.S. states into five tiers based on their solar prospects calculated using analytical hierarchy process and regression analysis. The price of solar technologies in the U.S. is also predicted up to 2031 using Wright’s law, which projected a 77% reduction in the next decade.

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Small Scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

10.32920/ryerson.14665251.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sahishnukumar Shah

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Wind Turbine ◽

Power Plants ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Electrical Power ◽

Vertical Axis ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Small Scale ◽

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

The small-scale vertical axis wind turbine is designed and modeled in this project, considering all aspects of wind turbine such as Blade design, stator design, rotor design and converter system design. Electric Power has become a prime necessity for any country for economic development. The conventional fuel sources for power generation are depleting fast. The favorable alternatives are renewable energy sources. Although more invention has to be carried out in the field of renewable energy sources, every little effort in this direction may provide a solution to reach most economical power generation point. Hence the same topic was selected for Masters Project. The goal of this project is to design a small scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, which is capable of producing electrical power even with low wind velocity. It can be placed on road dividers, sidetracks of train or remote places i.e. villages, military camps, where it is not economical to transmit power from power plants. Implementation of such project would reduce the dependence of an industry or remote houses, on electricity board.

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A Comprehensive Review on Available/Existing Renewable Energy Systems in Malaysia and Comparison of Their Capability of Electricity Generation in Malaysia

10.5772/intechopen.96586 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Hadi Nabipour Afrouzi ◽

Yuhani Pamodha Wimalaratna ◽

Jubaer Ahmed ◽

Kamyar Mehranzamir ◽

San Chuin Liew ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Electricity Generation ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Energy Generation ◽

Tidal Energy ◽

Renewable Energy Systems ◽

The Moment

Malaysia is one of the fastest emerging and developing countries in the world. To drive the economical workhorse, large amounts of power is required. The power demand has risen to 156,003 GWh per year in the year 2016, almost 30,000 GWh more than 5 years prior. Fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, oil, and diesel have been the driving force powering Malaysia’s grids. However, these resources will not last forever, and they do harm to our environment. To counter this, renewable energy (RE) projects have been constructed all around Malaysia. This paper discusses on available and existing renewable energy systems (single/hybrid) in Malaysia and provides a comparison of their electricity generation capabilities. The renewable energy sources that are covered in this paper include Solar, Hydropower, Biomass, Tidal and Geothermal. At the moment, hydropower is the largest renewable energy producer, contributing to almost 15% of the country’s total energy generation. A lot of resources have been channeled towards the initiative of hydropower and it has definitely borne much fruit. This is followed by Solar Energy. Even though it is not as successful as hydropower, there is still a lot of avenues for it to grow in a tropical country like this. Malaysia is still relatively new in terms of power generation using biomass sources. There has been a gradual increase in the power generation using biofuels through the years and its future does look bright. Energy generation from wind, tidal, and geothermal sources has been rather challenging. Because of Malaysia’s geographical location, it experiences slow winds on average throughout the year. This has led to insufficient output for its financial input. Besides that, Malaysia also has relatively low tide, if compared to other Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. This contributed to the failure of tidal energy in Malaysia, but there have been signs of locations that can be suitable for this energy generation. Besides that, the country’s first geothermal power plant project failed due to a lack of preparation and discipline during the project’s execution. There is a high initial cost for geothermal projects, and the chances of failure are high if the necessary precautions are not followed. This could be one of the reasons why this branch of renewable energy has not been explored deeply.

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Analysis of the influence of renewable energy sources on thermal energy generation for isolated power systems

Wind Engineering ◽

10.1177/0309524x19874032 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 0309524X1987403 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aleksey A Zhidkov ◽

Andrey A Achitaev ◽

Mikhail V Kashurnikov

Keyword(s):

Power Generation ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Power Systems ◽

Power Supply ◽

Power Plants ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Energy Sources ◽

Renewable Power ◽

Renewable Power Generation ◽

Autonomous Power Systems

The urgency of developing renewable power generation in Russia is associated with the presence of a large number of regions with a low degree of electrification. More than two-thirds of the territory of Russia is located in the area of decentralized power supply, where the main source of energy is imported diesel fuel or associated gas from local fields. At present, one of the directions for the development of renewable power generation in Russia is the implementation of a hybrid power supply system for autonomous power systems of remote regions. However, along with the possibility of using renewable energy sources, it is important for such regions to generate heat from co-generation of diesel power plants, since there is an urgent problem of heat supply for remote regions, especially located in the Far North of Russia. This article presents an analysis of the influence of using renewable energy sources in autonomous power systems on co-generation of diesel power plants.

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