A Comparative Study on a Built Sun Tracker and Fixed Converter Panels

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Farzin Shama ◽  
Gholam Hossein Roshani ◽  
Sobhan Roshani ◽  
Arash Ahmadi ◽  
Saber Karami

Producing non-polluting renewable energy in large scale is essential for sustainability of future developments in industry and human society. Among renewable energy resources, solar energy takes a special place because of its free accessibility and affordability. However, the optimization of its production and consumption processes poses important concerns, essentially in the affordability issue. This paper investigates several optimization and performance issues regarding solar panel converters using two-axis controlled solar tracer that has been practically implemented in comparison with fixed converter panels. Results shown in tables and graphs demonstrate clearly the advantages and disadvantages of the methods. Based on these results, large scale solar power plants are being suggested to be equipped with similar devices.

2013 ◽  
pp. 335-347
Author(s):  
Farzin Shama ◽  
Gholam Hossein Roshani ◽  
Sobhan Roshani ◽  
Arash Ahmadi ◽  
Saber Karami

Producing non-polluting renewable energy in large scale is essential for sustainability of future developments in industry and human society. Among renewable energy resources, solar energy takes a special place because of its free accessibility and affordability. However, the optimization of its production and consumption processes poses important concerns, essentially in the affordability issue. This paper investigates several optimization and performance issues regarding solar panel converters using two-axis controlled solar tracer that has been practically implemented in comparison with fixed converter panels. Results shown in tables and graphs demonstrate clearly the advantages and disadvantages of the methods. Based on these results, large scale solar power plants are being suggested to be equipped with similar devices.


Author(s):  
Atmonobudi Soebagio ◽  
Bambang Widodo

Indonesia is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources. Nevertheless, they have only been used to cover about 5% of the total national energy demand.   To optimize their utilization, the government has to make and implement a policy that will encourage PLN costumers to help increase their on-grid power supply capacity. This policy will provide benefits for islands that are already equipped with PLN power grids. This paper uses Solar Power Plants and household costumers as models to calculate potential on-grid power increase which can be contributed by PLN costumers. A two-way power meter is used to replace the currently used one. This model will be applied to the  conventional grid to demonstrate the compatibility that show how it is applicable even without upgrading the conventional grid to become   smart grid system. The result shows that customers can participate significantly through the flow of their excess energy to grid.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Mohammed Alkahtani ◽  
Yihua Hu ◽  
Mohammed A Alghaseb ◽  
Khaled Elkhayat ◽  
Colin Sokol Kuka ◽  
...  

Over the past few years, electricity demand has been on the rise. This has resulted in renewable energy resources being used rapidly, considering the shortage as well as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel. A renewable energy source that has become increasingly popular is photovoltaic (PV) energy as it is environmentally friendly. Installing PV modules, however, has to ensure harsh environments including temperature, dust, birds drop, hotspot, and storm. Thus, the phenomena of the non-uniform aging of PV modules has become unavoidable, negatively affecting the performance of PV plants, particularly during the middle and latter duration of their service life. The idea here is to decrease the capital of maintenance and operation costs involved in medium- and large-scale PV power plants and improving the power efficiency. Hence, the present paper generated an offline PV module reconfiguration strategy considering the non-uniform aging PV array to ensure that this effect is mitigated and does not need extra sensors. To enhance the economic benefit, the offline reconfiguration takes into account labor cost and electricity price. This paper proposes a gene evolution algorithm (GEA) for determining the highest economic benefit. The proposed algorithm was verified using MATLAB software-based modeling and simulations to investigate fourteen countries to maximize the economic benefit that employed a representative 18-kW and 43-kW output and the power of 10 × 10 PV arrays in connection as a testing benchmark and considered the electricity price and workforce cost. According to the results, enhanced power output can be generated from a non-uniformly aged PV array of any size, and offers the minimum swapping/replacing times to maximize the output power and improve the electric revenue by reducing the maintenance costs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Fatihah Salleh ◽  
Mohd Eqwan Mohd Roslan ◽  
Adlansyah Abd Rahman ◽  
Abdul Halim Shamsuddin ◽  
Tuan Ab Rashid Tuan Abdullah ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The global commitment to climate change mitigation enforces the worldwide development of renewable energy sources. Therefore, various studies have investigated the growth of renewable energy in Malaysia, most commonly based on biogas and hydropower. In this article, the dynamics of Malaysia’s renewable energy development is critically examined by using the latest official national reports and other reliable resources. Results The study reveals the influencing factors that shape renewable energy growth in a developing country endowed with substantial biomass resources, such as Malaysia. Likewise, it evaluates the evolution of renewable energy in the electricity sector. In 2017, renewable energy represented about 3.5% of the Malaysian electricity generation mix with 1122 MW of installed capacity. A closer look into the renewable energy resources, i.e. biomass, biogas, solar and small hydro power, revealed that over 47% of the grid-connected power generation came from solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. While solar PV capacity continues to accelerate, the development of other renewable resources, especially biomass, is seeing growth at a significantly slower pace. This article investigates the underlying causes of the skewed development rate as well as the potential strategies that may be adopted to promote a diversification of renewable energy resources. In light of this, introduction of a new national bioenergy policy is proposed, through which four essential programmes could be implemented: (i) enhanced bioenergy conversion efficiency and waste management, (ii) biomass co-firing in coal power plants, (iii) conversion of biogas to biomethane and bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG), (iv) large-scale biomass power plants. A total of 4487 MW of additional power could be connected to the grid upon successful implementation of a large-scale biomass power plant programme. Conclusions The establishment of a comprehensive and inclusive national bioenergy policy will lead towards a sustainable future of renewable energy development in Malaysia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e610
Author(s):  
Imen Toumia ◽  
Ahlem Ben Hassine

Energy is at the basis of any social or economic development. The fossil energy is the most used energy source in the world due to the cheap building cost of the power plants. In 2017, fossil fuels generated 64.5% of the world electricity. Since, on the one hand, these plants produce large amount of carbon dioxide which drives climate change, and on the other hand, the storage of existing world fossil resources is in continuous decrease, safer and highly available energy sources should be considered. Hence, for human well-being, and for a green environment, these fossil plants should be switched to cleaner ones. Renewable energy resources have begun to be used as alternatives. These resources have many advantages such as sustainability and environmental protection. Nevertheless, they require higher investment costs. In addition, the reliability of many planted systems is poor. In most cases these systems are not sufficient to ensure a continuous demand of energy for all in needy regions because most of their resources are climate dependent. The main contributions of this research are (i) to propose a natural formalisation of the renewable energy distribution problem, based on COP (Constraint Optimisation Problem), that takes into consideration all the constraints related to this problem; (ii) to propose a novel multi-agent dynamic (A-RESS for Agent based Renewable Energy Sharing System) to solve this problem. The proposed system was implemented and the obtained results show its efficiency and performance in terms of produced, consumed and lost energy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 165-171
Author(s):  
Iryna Hryhoruk

Exhaustion of traditional energy resources, their uneven geographical location, and catastrophic changes in the environment necessitate the transition to renewable energy resources. Moreover, Ukraine's economy is critically dependent on energy exports, and in some cases, the dependence is not only economic but also political, which in itself poses a threat to national security. One of the ways to solve this problem is the large-scale introduction and use of renewable energy resources, bioenergy in particular. The article summarizes and offers methods for assessing the energy potential of agriculture. In our country, a significant amount of biomass is produced every year, which remains unused. A significant part is disposed of due to incineration, which significantly harms the environment and does not allow earning additional funds. It is investigated that the bioenergy potential of agriculture depends on the geographical distribution and varies in each region of Ukraine. Studies have shown that as of 2019 the smallest share in the total amount of conventional fuel that can be obtained from agricultural waste and products suitable for energy production accounts for Zakarpattya region - 172.5 thousand tons. (0.5% of the total) and Chernivtsi region - 291.3 thousand tons. (0.9%). Poltava region has the greatest potential - 2652.2 thousand tons. (7.8%) and Vinnytsia - 2623.7 thousand tons. (7.7%). It should be noted that the use of the energy potential of biomass in Ukraine can be called unsatisfactory. The share of biomass in the provision of primary energy consumption is very small. For bioenergy to occupy its niche in the general structure of the agro-industrial complex, it is necessary to develop mechanisms for its stimulation. In addition, an effective strategy for the development of the bioenergy sector of agriculture is needed. The article considers the general energy potential of agriculture, its indicative structure. The analysis is also made in terms of areas. In addition, an economic assessment of the possible use of existing potential is identified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3933
Author(s):  
Solomon E. Uhunamure ◽  
Karabo Shale

South Africa is been faced with erratic power supply, resulting in persistent load shedding due to ageing in most of its coal-fired power plants. Associated with generating electricity from fossil fuel are environmental consequences such as greenhouse emissions and climate change. On the other hand, the country is endowed with abundant renewable energy resources that can potentially ameliorate its energy needs. This article explores the viability of renewable energy using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis approach on the key renewable potential in the country. The result indicates that geographic position, political and economic stability and policy implementation are some of the strengths. However, Government bureaucratic processes, level of awareness and high investment cost are some of the weaknesses. Several opportunities favour switching to renewable energy, and these include regional integration, global awareness on climate change and the continuous electricity demand. Some threats hindering the renewable energy sector in the country include land ownership, corruption and erratic climatic conditions. Some policy implications are suggested based on the findings of the study.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph E.H. Sims

AbstractSome forms of renewable energy have long contributed to electricity generation, whereas others are just emerging. For example, large-scale hydropower is a mature technology generating about 16% of global electricity, and many smaller scale systems are also being installed worldwide. Future opportunities to improve the technology are limited but include upgrading of existing plants to gain greater performance efficiencies and reduced maintenance. Geothermal energy, widely used for power generation and direct heat applications, is also mature, but new technologies could improve plant designs, extend their lifetimes, and improve reliability. By contrast, ocean energy is an emerging renewable energy technology. Design, development, and testing of a myriad of devices remain mainly in the research and development stage, with many opportunities for materials science to improve design and performance, reduce costly maintenance procedures, and extend plant operating lifetimes under the harsh marine environment.


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