Modelling the Transition towards a Carbon-Neutral Electricity System—Investment Decisions and Heterogeneity

To achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector must be substantially reduced. We develop an agent-based model of the electricity system with heterogeneous agents who invest in power generating capacity under uncertainty. The heterogeneity is characterised by the hurdle rates the agents employ (to manage risk) and by their expectations of the future carbon prices. We analyse the impact of the heterogeneity on the transition to a low carbon electricity system. Results show that under an increasing CO2 tax scenario, the agents start investing heavily in wind, followed by nuclear and to some extent in natural gas fired power plants both with and without carbon capture and storage as well as biogas fired power plants. However, the degree to which different technologies are used depend strongly on the carbon tax expectations and the hurdle rate employed by the agents. Comparing to the case with homogeneous agents, the introduction of heterogeneity among the agents leads to a faster CO2 reduction. We also estimate the so called “cannibalisation effect” for wind and find that the absolute value of wind does not drop in response to higher deployment levels, but the relative value does decline.

Lipid hydroperoxides promote muscle atrophy through lysosomal amplification

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a cardinal feature of skeletal muscle atrophy. However, ROS refers to a collection of radical molecules whose cellular signals are vast, and it is unclear which downstream consequences of ROS are responsible for the loss of muscle mass and strength.1,2 Here we show that lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH) are increased with age and disuse, and the accumulation of LOOH by suppression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) is sufficient to augment muscle atrophy. Strikingly, genetic and pharmacologic suppression of muscle LOOH robustly prevented the reduction of both muscle mass and force-generating capacity. LOOH promoted atrophy in a lysosomal-dependent, proteasomal-independent manner, and the suppression of autophagic machinery was sufficient to prevent muscle atrophy and weakness. Indeed, the lysosome is essential for the amplification of LOOH induced by oxidative stress. Our findings provide novel insights for the role of LOOH in muscle atrophy including a therapeutic implication by pharmacologic suppression.

Renewables could aid Egypt's energy hub ambitions

Significance This is partly because of growth in gas supply and gas-fired generating capacity, but also owing to increased renewable energy capacity. Decreasing renewable energy costs, which leave onshore wind and solar photovoltaics now the cheapest forms of electricity generation, as well as concerns over climate change, may push Egypt further towards renewables. Impacts Tender activity for renewables may fall or face delays, owing to the level of surplus capacity. The combination of reduced power demand and growing renewables generation should support increased LNG exports. Guaranteed off-take agreements will remain critical to future investment.

Analysis of the electric power potential as illustrated by the UES of Russia

he paper presents an analysis of the current state of the Unified Energy System (UES) of Russia, which aims to identify "weak points," regional shortage and excess energy systems, locations of the electricity consumption growth, and seeks to determine the technical potential of the power grid for electricity transmission. This analysis relies on the models developed for optimization in terms of the maximum excess capacity for the entire Unified Energy System of Russia and for individual regions of the country in the context of the existing mix of generating capacity and cross-regional structure of the power grid. Calculations were made for the conditions corresponding to the reported performance of the Unified Energy System of Russia in 2020. The cross-regional power grid of the Unified Energy System of Russia is capable of covering the capacity needs of all the country's power systems, and almost everywhere has a significant available transfer capability of power transmission lines.

Design Technique for Load-Sharing and Monitoring of a Power Plant Using an Intelligent Control Technique

The application of Data Technology (IT) has been growing rapidly recently. IT utilized to monitor flowing power and distributing electrical energy which is produced by thermal power plant. This project explains how to build and design interface system. Electrical energy needs to be monitored in order to keep energy following. Single Board Computer (SBC), microcontroller, sensors, and transceivers are used in logging electrical power for this project. Following to the reliable need of an efficient power supply and the concern about poor electricity power supply, deregulation, consistent overload on already existing overstressed power supply system which has become a major concern to the social economic needs. The study case system generating capacity consist of 10 units of 2000KVA (20,000VA) = 16000W for power factor of 0.8 which is tied to the exiting load demand of 30MW capacity. Research identity mischarge between the generating capacity and the load demand requirement. That the generator can only a total load capacity of 15MW at one engagement on rationalization and subsequently take the next 15MW capacity to the generator supply. This sequence of operation has put the study zone into regular percentage (blackout) there by negatively affecting the economy activities of the area. This research work has proposed for an additional capacity of 2000 KVA (20 MVA =16 MW) generating power plant for a giving power factor of 0.8 on the view to notice the existing total load of 30MW without any form of rationalization and percentage (blackout) in order to improve the power quality and voltage profile without problem in the day-to-day occurrence activities. The concern for poor power grid supply in the study case (Bertoua community) for the given load of about 16M capacity are taken due consideration with 2MWW capacity thermal power plant on the view to propose solution to improve the quality of energy supply to the Bertoua community and environ. The system is designed with electronic circuitry that can be used to sense/monitor voltage, current, frequency, temperature, pressure and cool level. The design system is modeled in proteus and matrix laboratory (MATLAB) Environment with the application of isochronous mode of control with (10 unit of 2000kVA thermal plant. The improved mode of control (Isochronous technique) was preferred over droop type of generator load sharing techniques, because the improved versus allows and maintained constants speed and frequency regardless of gradual building up of the load to the peak demand scenarios. The modeled Simulink block are configured as an intelligent system multiple generators set in parallel state to monitor and control the gradual load increase from consumer-end to the generators capacity of 2mVA thermal power plant in order to allow load of 1×2000kVA, 2×2000kVA, 3×2000kVA, 4×2000kVA, 5×2000kVA, 6×2000kVA, 7×2000kVA, 8×2000kVA, 9×2000kVA, 10×2000kVA. Since the control system will become an essential factor for reliability of power plants and electrical distribution networks consumption and electric utility at large on the view to investigate appropriate load sharing and balancing, load scheduling, load forecasting, fuel-consumption pattern, optimizing generation capacity in order to optimize energy saving, costsaving and performance. Keywords: Load-Sharing, Monitoring

Whole-limb scaling of muscle mass and force-generating capacity in amniotes

Skeletal muscle mass, architecture and force-generating capacity are well known to scale with body size in animals, both throughout ontogeny and across species. Investigations of limb muscle scaling in terrestrial amniotes typically focus on individual muscles within select clades, but here this question was examined at the level of the whole limb across amniotes generally. In particular, the present study explored how muscle mass, force-generating capacity (measured by physiological cross-sectional area) and internal architecture (fascicle length) scales in the fore- and hindlimbs of extant mammals, non-avian saurians (‘reptiles’) and bipeds (birds and humans). Sixty species spanning almost five orders of magnitude in body mass were investigated, comprising previously published architectural data and new data obtained via dissections of the opossum Didelphis virginiana and the tegu lizard Salvator merianae. Phylogenetic generalized least squares was used to determine allometric scaling slopes (exponents) and intercepts, to assess whether patterns previously reported for individual muscles or functional groups were retained at the level of the whole limb, and to test whether mammals, reptiles and bipeds followed different allometric trajectories. In general, patterns of scaling observed in individual muscles were also observed in the whole limb. Reptiles generally have proportionately lower muscle mass and force-generating capacity compared to mammals, especially at larger body size, and bipeds exhibit strong to extreme positive allometry in the distal hindlimb. Remarkably, when muscle mass was accounted for in analyses of muscle force-generating capacity, reptiles, mammals and bipeds almost ubiquitously followed a single common scaling pattern, implying that differences in whole-limb force-generating capacity are principally driven by differences in muscle mass, not internal architecture. In addition to providing a novel perspective on skeletal muscle allometry in animals, the new dataset assembled was used to generate pan-amniote statistical relationships that can be used to predict muscle mass or force-generating capacity in extinct amniotes, helping to inform future reconstructions of musculoskeletal function in the fossil record.

The Influence of Electro-Conductive Compression Knits Wearing Conditions on Heating Characteristics

Textile-based heaters have opened new opportunities for next-generation smart heating devices. This experiment presents electrically conductive textiles for heat generation in orthopaedic compression supports. The main goal was to investigate the influence of frequent washing and stretching on heat generation durability of constructed compression knitted structures. The silver coated polyamide yarns were used to knit a half-Milano rib structure containing elastomeric inlay-yarn. Dimensional stability of the knitted fabric and morphological changes of the silver coated electro-conductive yarns were investigated during every wash cycle. The results revealed that temperature becomes stable within two minutes for all investigated fabrics. The heat generation was found to be dependent on the stretching, mostly due to the changing surface area; and it should be considered during the development of heated compression knits. Washing negatively influences the heat-generating capacity on the fabric due to the surface damage caused by the mechanical and chemical interaction during washing. The higher number of silver-coated filaments in the electro-conductive yarn and the knitted structure, protecting the electro-conductive yarn from mechanical abrasion, may ensure higher durability of heating characteristics.

DESERT SOLAR POWER INDIA: A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR POWER IN THE INDIAN DESERT

The deserts of Rajasthan have long been known for their spare beauty and their intense sunshine. Now that sun is being turned into a surge of solar power expansion that may one day power not just Rajasthan but a wide swath of India with clean energy. Rajasthan, with its 300 days a year of sunshine and relatively cheap desert land, has set a goal even more ambitious than Indias. In this years state budget, the newly formed state government announced it hoped to install 25,000 megawatts of solar energy in the state within the next five years, and infrastructure to transmit that power to the national grid. Rajasthan is no newcomer to renewable energy. Since the 1990s, the state has been home to a range of wind energy projects, with about 2,800 megawatts of wind capacity now installed, out of an estimated potential capacity of 5,000 megawatts. Altogether wind power in Rajasthan accounts for about 13 percent of Indias wind energy production. But Rajasthans Great Indian Thar Desert, the test site for Indias first underground explosion of a nuclear weapon 15 years ago, may now help make India a solar power as well. The desert set in Rajasthans largest district Jaisalmer, near the border with Pakistan, it is a place of sand dunes and shrub thickets – but also, increasingly, solar installations that could help change the character of Indias energy development. India committed at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009 to reduce its climate-changing emissions, per unit of GDP, by 20 to 25 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels. The country is currently the worlds seventh largest emitter of global warming pollution and the fifth biggest producer of emissions from burning fossil fuels. Sixty-eight percent of those emissions from fossil fuel use come from creating energy for the worlds second most populous country, according to Indias energy ministry. Today the country has 2.28 million megawatts of power generating capacity, and about 12.4 percent of that comes from renewable energy. Of the 2,632 megawatts of solar power now installed in India, Rajasthan so far has only 730 megawatts, putting it in second place behind the state of Gujarat, with 916 megawatts, according to Indias Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. But Rajasthan, Indias largest state and 60 percent covered by sunny desert, is now attracting the worlds interest as a solar hotspot. Around 1 lakh (100,000) square kilometers of barren land is available in the northwest arid belt of the state at cheaper rates that could be utilized for large scale solar projects. The government is formulating the policy to harness the enormous solar potential of the region to meet the countrys growing energy requirements. Besides large solar installations, the government is studying the possibility of grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic units for households. The Solar Energy Corporation of India estimates that 130 million homes could potentially be equipped with the units, creating 25,000 megawatts of generating capacity. said Alok, Rajasthans Energy Secretary.

Effects of the Belo Monte hydro-electric-dam complex on crocodilians in the Xingu River, Brazilian Amazonia

The Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu River has the third largest generating capacity of any hydroelectric dam in the world. We conducted surveys of crocodilians (Caiman crocodilus, Paleosuchus trigonatus) by boat in the Xingu River at the site of the dam prior to (2013-2015), and after filling (2016-2017). While the number of C. crocodilus sighted decreased with increasing water level, there was no difference in numbers prior to, and after reservoir filling. The number of P. trigonatus was unaffected by both water level prior to and after reservoir filling. Reservoir filling had little effect on the number of crocodilians using the forest around the Xingu River reservoir. Most crocodilians seen in forest surveys were P. trigonatus, both before and after reservoir filling, but C. crocodilus was recorded occasionally in the forest. It seems that most Amazonian crocodilians are sufficiently generalist to adapt to the new conditions created by the construction of dams, at least in the short-term. However, there may be long-term collateral effects on crocodilian populations from dams, due to as deforestation and improved access for hunters.

Dynamic Aeroelastic Response of Stall-Controlled Wind Turbine Rotors in Turbulent Wind Conditions

With the current global trend of the wind turbines to be commissioned, the next generation of state-of-the-art turbines will have a generating capacity of 20 MW with rotor diameters of 250 m or larger. This systematic increase in rotor size is prompted by economies-of-scale factors, thereby resulting in a continuously decreasing cost per kWh generated. However, such large rotors have larger masses associated with them and necessitate studies in order to better understand their dynamics. The present work regarding the aeroelastic behavior of stall-controlled rotors involves the study of the frequency content and time evolution of their oscillatory behavior. A wide range of experiments were conducted to assess the effects of rapid variations on the rotor’s operational conditions. Various gust conditions were tested at different wind speeds, which are represented by pulses of different intensities, occurring suddenly in an otherwise constant wind regime. This allowed us to observe the pure aero-elasto-inertial dynamics of the rotor’s response. A reduced-order characterization of the rotor’s dynamics as an oscillatory system was obtained on the basis of energy-transfer principles. This is of fundamental interest for researchers and engineers working on developing optimized control strategies for wind turbines. It allows for the critical elements of the rotor’s dynamic behavior to be described as a reduced-order model that can be solved in real time, an essential requirement for determining predictive control actions.