Contrastive Analysis between Wind Power Generation and Coal Generation on the Environmental Impact Assessment

2013 ◽  
Vol 316-317 ◽  
pp. 254-258
Author(s):  
Jia Hua Dong ◽  
Wei Guang Zhu ◽  
Cheng Kang Gao ◽  
Han Mei Tang

Wind power is an important type of renewable energy sources. In this passage we will apply Life Cycle Assessment to analyze the four stages of wind power generation,which are production of raw materials, transportation, build-operate process of wind plants and demolition stages, calculate the energy consumption and the environmental impact, set a contrastive analysis between coal-fired power plants and wind power plants. We will take WangHaiSi Wind Plant in Faku, Shenyang as an example to show the difference between the two ways of getting power. The analysis shows that: in comparison with coal-fired generation, wind power generation saves more energy and reduces emissions of pollutants markedly; the main energy consumption comes from production of raw materials, which takes 79.3% of the total energy consumption throughout the life cycle. In the meantime, the large amount of ecological resources consumption from construction, operation and maintenance of wind plants leads to mass emission of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, which respectively take 67.3% and 96.6% of total emissions. Besides, wind generation only accounts for 0.93%, 0.89% and 2.72% of energy consumption, global warming potential (GWP) and acid potential (AP) of coal-fired power generation. Thus, it proved that wind power generation has lesser impacts on environment than coal-fired power generation. However, it is still of great necessity to strengthen the environmental protection measures to reduce the consumption and destroy of ecologic resources.

2013 ◽  
Vol 448-453 ◽  
pp. 1897-1903
Author(s):  
Jia Hua Dong ◽  
Wei Guang Zhu ◽  
Cheng Kang Gao

Wind power is an important type of renewable energy sources. In this passage we will apply Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to analyze the four stages of wind power generation,which are production of raw materials, transportation, build-operate process of wind plants and demolition stages, calculate the energy consumption and the environmental impact, set a contrastive analysis between coal-fired power plants and wind power plants. We will take WangHaiSi Wind Plant in Faku, Shenyang as an example to show the difference between the two ways of getting power. The analysis shows that: in comparison with coal-fired generation, wind power generation saves more energy and reduces emissions of pollutants markedly; the main energy consumption comes from production of raw materials, which takes 79.3% of the total energy consumption throughout the life cycle. In the meantime, the large amount of ecological resources consumption from construction, operation and maintenance of wind plants leads to mass emission of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, which respectively take 67.3% and 96.6% of total emissions. Besides, wind generation only accounts for 0.93%, 0.89% and 2.72% of energy consumption, global warming potential (GWP) and acid potential (AP) of coal-fired power generation. Thus, it proved that wind power generation has lesser impacts on environment than coal-fired power generation. However, it is still of great necessity to strengthen the environmental protection measures to reduce the consumption and destroy of ecologic resources.


Author(s):  
Michael S Okundamiya

The rising demands for a sustainable energy system have stimulated global interests in renewable energy sources. Wind is the fastest growing and promising source of renewable power generation globally. The inclusion of wind power into the electric grid can severely impact the monetary cost, stability and quality of the grid network due to the erratic nature of wind. Power electronics technology can enable optimum performance of the wind power generation system, transferring suitable and applicable energy to the electricity grid. Power electronics can be used for smooth transfer of wind energy to electricity grid but the technology for wind turbines is influenced by the type of generator employed, the energy demand and the grid requirements. This paper investigates the constraints and standards of wind energy conversion technology and the enabling power electronic technology for integration to electricity grid.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Ekström ◽  
Matti Koivisto ◽  
Ilkka Mellin ◽  
Robert Millar ◽  
Matti Lehtonen

In future power systems, a large share of the energy will be generated with wind power plants (WPPs) and other renewable energy sources. With the increasing wind power penetration, the variability of the net generation in the system increases. Consequently, it is imperative to be able to assess and model the behavior of the WPP generation in detail. This paper presents an improved methodology for the detailed statistical modeling of wind power generation from multiple new WPPs without measurement data. A vector autoregressive based methodology, which can be applied to long-term Monte Carlo simulations of existing and new WPPs, is proposed. The proposed model improves the performance of the existing methodology and can more accurately analyze the temporal correlation structure of aggregated wind generation at the system level. This enables the model to assess the impact of new WPPs on the wind power ramp rates in a power system. To evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology, it is verified against hourly wind speed measurements from six locations in Finland and the aggregated wind power generation from Finland in 2015. Furthermore, a case study analyzing the impact of the geographical distribution of WPPs on wind power ramps is included.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Ghaffari

Wind power generation is uncertain and intermittent accentuating variability. Currently in many power systems worldwide, the total generation-load unbalance caused by mismatch between forecast and actual wind power output is handled by automatic governor control and real-time 5-minute balancing markets, which are operated by the independent system operators for maintaining reliable operation of power systems. Mechanisms such as automatic governor control and real-time 5-minute balancing markets are in place to correct the mismatch between the load forecast and the actual load. They are not designed to address increased uncertainty and variability introduced by large-scale wind power or solar power generation expected in the future. Thus, large-scale wind power generation with increased uncertainty and intermittency causing variability poses a techno-economic challenge of sourcing least cost load balancing services (reserve).


2022 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Seyed Amir Kaboli ◽  
Reyhaneh Nazmabadi

There continues to be significant attention and investment in wind power generation, which can supply a high percentage of the global demand for renewable energy if harvested efficiently. The research study is based on techno-economic analysis of the feasibility of implementing wind power generation in Kuwait with a power generation capacity of 105 MW based on 50 wind turbines, which has a major requirement for clean energy. The study focused on three main areas of analysis and numerical modeling using the RETScreen software tool. The first area involved evaluating the performance and efficacy of generating wind power by collecting, analyzing, and modeling data on observed wind levels, wind turbine operation, and wind power generation. The second area comprised an environmental impact review to assess the environmental benefits of implementing wind power. The third area involved economic analysis of installing wind power in Kuwait. The analysis was undertaken to assess the energy recovery time for wind energy and determine the mitigation of global warming and pollution levels, the decrease of toxic emissions, and any cost savings from implementing clean energy systems in Kuwait. Additionally, sensitivity analysis was undertaken to determine the impact of certain variables in the modeling process. The results are used to estimate that the energy price would be $0.053 per kWh for a power generation capacity of 105 MWh based on an initial cost of $168 million and O&M of $5 million for 214,000 MWh of electricity exported to the grid. Moreover, the wind turbine farm will potentially avoid the emission of approximately 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, thereby saving approximately $9 million over 20 years spent installing carbon capture systems for conventional power plants. The wind farm containing a simple wind turbine is estimated to have a payback period of 9.1 years.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-154
Author(s):  
Zoltán Korényi

Összefoglaló. A dolgozat témája a különböző erőműfajták életciklusra vonatkozó fajlagos anyagigényének a vizsgálata. Az elemzések a nemzetközi szakirodalmi források felhasználásával történtek. Módszere, a bázisadatok elemzése, majd az anyagigényeknek az erőmű beépített teljesítményére és az életciklus alatt megtermelt villamosenergiára vonatkoztatott fajlagos értékek meghatározása. Az eredmények azt mutatják, hogy a nap- és szélerőművek elterjedésével a hagyományos erőművek által felhasznált fosszilis energiaforrások (pl. a szén) bent maradnak ugyan a földben, de cserébe az új technológia legyártásához a hagyományos anyagokból (beton, acél, alumínium, réz stb.) fajlagosan jóval nagyobb mennyiségekre lesz szükség. Emellett megnő a ritkán előforduló fémek (gallium, indium stb.) felhasználása, ami Európában, a lelőhelyek hiányában, új kockázatokkal jár. Summary. The topic of the study is to determine the material use of different power plant types. This is a part of the known life cycle analysis (LCA). The aim of LCA is to determine the impact of human activity on nature. The procedure is described in the standards (ISO 14040/41/42/42). Under environmental impact we mean changes in our natural environment, air, water, soil pollution, noise and impacts on human health. In the LCA, the environmental impact begins with the opening of the mine, continues with the extraction and processing of raw materials, and then with the production of equipment, construction and installation of the power plant. This is followed by the commissioning and then operation of the power plants for 20-60 years, including maintenance. The cycle ends with demolition, which is followed by recycling of materials. The remaining waste is disposed of. This is the complex content of life cycle analysis. Its purpose is to determine the ecological footprint of man. The method of the present study is to isolate a limited area from the complex LCA process. This means determining the amount of material needed to build different power plants, excluding mining and processing of raw materials. Commercially available basic materials are built into the power plant’s components. The research is based on the literature available in the international area. The author studied these sources, analysed the data, and checked the authenticity. It was not easy because the sources from different times, for different power plants showed a lot of uncertainty. In overcoming the uncertainties, it was a help that the author has decades of experience in the realisation of power plants. It was considered the material consumption related to the installed electricity capacity of the power plant (tons/MW) as basic data. The author then determined the specific material consumptions, allocated to the electric energy generated during the lifetime, in different power plants. The calculation is carried out with the help of the usual annual peak load duration hours and the usual lifetime of the power plants. The results show that with the spread of solar and wind energy, the fossil energy sources previously needed for conventional power plants will remain inside the Earth, but in exchange for the production of new technological equipment from traditional structural materials (concrete, steel, aluminium, copper and plastic), the special need multiplies. If we compare the power plants using renewable energy with the electric energy produced during the life cycle of a nuclear power plant, the specific installed material requirement of a river hydropower plant is 37 times, that of an onshore wind farm it is 9.6 times, and that of an outdoor solar power park is 6.6 times higher. Another important difference is that wind turbines, solar panels and batteries also require rare materials that do not occur in Europe (e.g. gallium, indium, yttrium, neodymium, cobalt, etc.). This can lead to security risks in Europe in the long run.


2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Ruhul Kabir ◽  
Braden Rooke ◽  
G.D. Malinga Dassanayake ◽  
Brian A. Fleck

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