Turkey faces power shortages as gas contracts end

Significance Turkey stands to lose 21% of its import portfolio during the peak winter demand period. Take-or-pay gas import contracts signed two decades ago are coming to an end, and renewal is proving far from straightforward as exporters seek to leverage Turkey’s weak position to secure favourable terms. Impacts Cheaper gas on better terms would help Turkey’s chronic current account deficit. Ankara is keen to avoid further confrontation with Washington in case it puts further pressure on the lira in the run-up to elections. Balancing relations with Washington and Moscow and securing cheap, reliable gas supplies would be a major feat but may prove impossible.

Determination of transmission reliability margin for brownout

<abstract> <p>Power shortage is a severe problem in developing countries that are rolling to blackout, but today smart grids have the scope to avoid entire blackouts by transforming them into brownouts. A brownout is an under-voltage condition where the AC supply drops below the nominal value (120 V or 220 V) by about 10%. In a power system network, power shortages or disturbances can occur at any time, and the reliability margin analysis is essential to maintain the stability of the system. Transmission reliability margin (TRM) is a margin that keeps the network secure during any occurrence of disturbance. This paper presents a new approach to compute TRM in the case of brownout. The detailed assessment of TRM largely depends on the estimation of the available transfer power (ATC). In this method, the ATC of the system is calculated considering the effect of alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) reactive power (Q) flow (DCQF). The entire procedure is carried out for the multi-transaction IEEE-6 bus system, and the results are compared to the current efficiency justification method. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed technique is an effective alternative for calculating the TRM and is valid compared to the existing technique.</p> </abstract>

The Optimization of Hydrogen Oxygen Cycles

Todays renewables, wind and solar power, have a fluctuating nature, making the grid less stable. However, with the increasing share of intermittent sources of renewable power, novel options have to be created to stabilize the power grid. One of these options is energy storage via the conversion of excess power to hydrogen during periods of high generation from wind and/or solar. In periods of power shortages hydrogen is converted back to power. In this work, a number of high efficiency thermodynamic cycles, based upon the Graz cycle and the Toshiba Reheat Rankine cycle, both a coupled closed Brayton cycle with a Rankine cycle, are investigated and improvements are proposed leading to LHV efficiencies of 75%. Also the addition of fuel cells to the cycles is studied leading to potential LHV efficiencies of 85%. Application of pressurized H2/O2 usage leads to several improvements over conventional thermodynamic cycles and conventional fuel cells.

Electrical power generation through concentrated solar technology for the southern cities of Iraq

With a continuing mismatch between generating capacity and demand requirements, Iraqi cities are still enduring scheduled power outages. In this work, concentrated solar power (CSP) technology is proposed and designed for Iraqi cities to inject power into distribution networks with the objective of boosting the generating power capacity. Since CSP systems require a preliminary study of the direct normal irradiance (DNI), analyses of monthly data is carried out for each of the candidate cities. This is followed by determination of the amount of solar irradiance that falls on a titled collector per month considering the effects of reflection and diffusion. Finally, a thermal power plant is proposed and simulated using the system advisory model (SAM) per city. Results presented show an encouraging number of metrics and confirm the feasibility of such a plant in southern Iraq. The levelised cost of electricity and capacity factor shows a considerable decrease and increase respectively, when the plant is backed up by a fossil fuel steam cycle under circumstances when a plant loses over 80% of the MW capacity due to drop in solar irradiance. To provide a comparision platform, for each city, a photovolitaic (PV) plant is designed with an indentical electric capacity to that of the CSP plant. Findings from this work confirm that CSP plants can provide a suitstanable and enviroemntl friendly solution to electrical power shortages in the country compared to the current PV trends.

Laos will relieve fiscal pressures only gradually

Subject Economic problems in Laos. Significance The governing Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is pursuing an anti-corruption and reform agenda as it attempts to ease fiscal pressures. Separately, some 37 hydroelectric power plants are expected to come online over the next two years. Impacts A high risk of power shortages in Vietnam over the next two years will increase demand for Lao electricity exports. Growing electricity exports from Laos will increase the importance of transmission infrastructure in Thailand. Anti-hydropower activism will increase in Thailand.

Power Quality Enhancement in Multi-Feeder Distribution System using Mf-Upqc Device

The significant usage of power semi-conductor devices in modern single or multi-feeder distribution system is increasing a lot in present situation. The non-linear characterization of power distribution is highly responsible for degradation of power-quality standards. The usage of large-sized non-linear loads provokes the harmonic pollution, voltage interruptions, voltage sag/swell issues are the key problems faced by distribution systems. Over the various compensation methodologies, the highly validated universal device is Unified-Power Quality Compensator. The multi-feeder universal devices play a prominent role and provide the attractive performance with improved characteristics in multi-feeder distribution system. In this work, Multi-Feeder UPQC device is used to compensate all voltage and current related PQ issues in multi-feeder distribution systems and also furnishes load-sharing between adjacent feeders, reduce the power-shortages, maximizes the stable performance. The performance evaluation of proposed MF-UPQC is verified under various case studies with the help of Computer-Simulation tool, results are validated with improved PQ features.

Domestic Socioeconomic Barriers to Hydropower Trading: Evidence from Bhutan and Nepal

Bhutan has increased exports of surplus hydropower generation, whereas Nepal has been suffering from domestic power shortages. Why has Bhutan successfully promoted hydropower development and exports, while Nepal has failed to do so? This paper focuses on inherent development barriers that stem from domestic power supply, internal governance systems, and indigenous societal sensitivity. There are lessons to be learned from Bhutan’s practices that could be applied in Nepal. First, hydropower development can be severely affected by electricity scarcity that arises when power export is privileged over domestic power supply. Nepal has fallen into this negative loop, whereas Bhutan has overcome it through policy interventions that ensure visible links between power exports and domestic power consumption. Second, the sector reforms in the two countries contrast in terms of institutional, operational, and financial efficiency. Without fundamental reforms, Nepal’s sector-wide inefficiency fuels a vicious circle. Third, local resource conflicts and social complexities have made Nepal’s hydropower projects more complicated than Bhutan’s. In planning hydropower projects, it is crucial to pay careful attention to domestic stakeholders and local benefits. Planners and governments must ensure that projects are designed with extensive benefit sharing mechanisms, sustainable value chains, effective sector reforms, and sufficient societal conflict management.

Review of energy conservations policy and alternative solutions in gulf countries

The robust growth in population and gross domestic product (GDP) for Gulf Countries (GC) has led to negative side-effects such as power shortages and environmental pollution. Therefore, it is necessary for GC to have quick actions to preserve their energy resources and protect their environment. The current paper identifies the main energy conservation strategies that were widely adopted in GC. The efforts that were conducted by GC to manage the energy consumption and to establish the required regulations are presented. The paper also investigates possibilities for the use of alternative sources of clean energy that might avoid the disadvantages of the conventional sources of energy. It is found that in order to protect the environment and the maintain the fossil fuel wealth for longer time, long term strategies must be implemented, and alternative sources of renewable energy must be utilized.

Getting there and staying there: supporting and enabling persistent human life on Mars using synthetic natural rubber, self-healing materials, and biological batteries

Planetary exploration requires a balance between preemptive planning and financial feasibility. The risk of mid-mission equipment failure, power shortages, or supply depletion incentivizes precautionary measures, but the financial strain of sending unnecessary mass into space limits this practice.To balance the two, our team explored the advantages of biological solutions, namely the self-sustaining abilities of low-mass organisms, to make planetary exploration more self-sufficient and economical. Prioritizing repair over replacement, we are developing self-healing materials embedded with Bacillus subtilis. For longer-lasting energy, we are designing a “biobactery” using linearly oriented Escherichia coli to generate power. For renewable materials, we are engineering bacteria to synthesize and degrade rubber. Individually, these projects offer sustainable alternatives for repair, power, and materials. But when combined, these consolidated insights can provide us with the power to get to Mars and resources to sustain us while we’re there.