Renewable electricity generation and transmission network developments in light of public opposition: Insights from Ireland. ESRI Working Paper No. 653 March 2020

This paper analyses how people’s attitudes towards onshore wind power and overhead transmission lines affect the costoptimal development of electricity generation mixes, under a high renewable energy policy. For that purpose, we use a power systems generation and transmission expansion planning model, combined with information on public attitudes towards energy infrastructure on the island of Ireland. Overall, households have a positive attitude towards onshore wind power but their willingness to accept wind farms near their homes tends to be low. Opposition to overhead transmission lines is even greater. This can lead to a substantial increase in the costs of expanding the power system. In the Irish case, costs escalate by more than 4.3% when public opposition is factored into the constrained optimisation of power generation and grid expansion planning across the island. This is mainly driven by the compounded effects of higher capacity investments in more expensive technologies such as offshore wind and solar photovoltaic to compensate for lower levels of onshore wind generation and grid reinforcements. The results also reveal the effect of public opposition on the value of onshore wind, via shadow prices. The higher the level of public opposition, the higher the shadow value of onshore wind. And, this starkly differs across regions: regions with more wind resource or closest to major demand centres have the highest shadow prices. The shadow costs can guide policy makers when designing incentive mechanisms to garner public support for onshore wind installations

INTEGRATED DESIGN OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OPTIONS - A MULTICRITERIA APPROACH

Energy planning has come a long way during the 20th century from an intuitive approach to a full-scale discipline, incorporating technological and economic dimensions. The latter include both the micro- and the macro- level, whereas the technological framework covers energy, technology, thermodynamics and thermo-economic approaches. It is only during the last two decades that the environmental aspects of energy conversion has started to assume the gravity that it should have been assigned perhaps from the start, with the deterioration of the environment, e.g. acid rain, urban pollution, global warming, etc. and the depletion of resources becoming issues of outmost importance. The emergence of the renewable energy technologies as a reliable substitute of conventional fossil fuels gave promises that were only partially fulfilled as they never assumed the role that society had entrusted on them in the beginning. The alternative energy options, both on the technological and the resource level, revealed the complex nature of energy planning, where energy production and conversion should be addressed in tandem with energy demand and consumption and the particular preferences of the individuals. In both cases the spatial elements should be carefully analyzed and taken into consideration. Today’s energy planning asks for a complex approach which must includes the technological, economic, environmental and social design, accounting for the multitude of facets that interweave in the analysis and successful implementation of energy policies and projects. The aforementioned four dimensions must in turn be decomposed in a number of attributes in order for a quantitative and qualitative estimation to be realized. For the identification of an appropriate solution, a multi-criteria analysis seems to be the logical framework since it allows for a multitude of elements to be incorporated, and at the same time it can include a variety of stakeholders, with conflicting perhaps interests. In this paper we present the new approach for energy planning with the technological, economic, environmental and social design dimensions integrated in a new platform together with the necessary decomposition analysis. The whole new framework is presented via theoretical and practical examples and will hopefully pave the way towards a new under transition, energy future.

Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: literature review

Smart grids are expected to play a central role in any transition to a low-carbon energy future, and much research is currently underway on practically every area of smart grids. However, it is evident that even basic aspects such as theoretical and operational definitions, are yet to be agreed upon and be clearly defined. Some aspects (efficient management of supply, including intermittent supply, two-way communication between the producer and user of electricity, use of IT technology to respond to and manage demand, and ensuring safe and secure electricity distribution) are more commonly accepted than others (such as smart meters) in defining what comprises a smart grid. It is clear that smart grid developments enjoy political and financial support both at UK and EU levels, and from the majority of related industries. The reasons for this vary and include the hope that smart grids will facilitate the achievement of carbon reduction targets, create new employment opportunities, and reduce costs relevant to energy generation (fewer power stations) and distribution (fewer losses and better stability). However, smart grid development depends on additional factors, beyond the energy industry. These relate to issues of public acceptability of relevant technologies and associated risks (e.g. data safety, privacy, cyber security), pricing, competition, and regulation; implying the involvement of a wide range of players such as the industry, regulators and consumers. The above constitute a complex set of variables and actors, and interactions between them. In order to best explore ways of possible deployment of smart grids, the use of scenarios is most adequate, as they can incorporate several parameters and variables into a coherent storyline. Scenarios have been previously used in the context of smart grids, but have traditionally focused on factors such as economic growth or policy evolution. Important additional socio-technical aspects of smart grids emerge from the literature review in this report and therefore need to be incorporated in our scenarios. These can be grouped into four (interlinked) main categories: supply side aspects, demand side aspects, policy and regulation, and technical aspects.

Development of titanium dioxide nanoparticles/nanosolution for photocatalytic activity

Biological and chemical contaminants by man-made activities have been serious global issue. Exposure of these contaminants beyond the limits may result in serious environmental and health problem. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective solution that can be easily utilized by mankind. One of the effective ways to overcome this problem is by using titanium dioxide (TiO2). TiO2 is a well-known photocatalyst that widely used for environmental clean-up due to its ability to decompose organic pollutant and kill bacteria. Although it is proven TiO2 has an advantage to solve this concern, its usefulness unfortunately is limited only under UV light irradiation. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the potential of TiO2 that can be activated under visible light by the incorporation of metal ions (Fe, Ag, Zr and Ag-Zr). In this study, sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis of metal ions incorporated TiO2. XRD analysis revealed that all samples content biphasic anatase-brookite TiO2 of size 3 nm to 5 nm. It was found that the incorporation of these metal ions did not change the morphology of TiO2 but the crystallinity and optical properties were affected. The crystallinity of anatase in the biphasic TiO2 was found to be decreased and favored brookite formation. PL analysis showed metal ions incorporation suppressed the recombination of electron-hole pairs while the band gap energy of TiO2 (3.2 eV) was decreased by the incorporation of Fe (2.46 eV) and Ag (2.86 eV). Among this incorporation, Ag-Zr incorporated TiO2 showed highest performance for methyl orange degradation (93%) under fluorescent xxv light irradiation for 10 h. This follows by Zr-TiO2 (82%), Fe-TiO2 (75%) and Ag�TiO2 (43%). Meanwhile, the highest antibacterial performance was exhibited by Ag�TiO2. TEM images showed that E.coli bacterium was killed within 12 h after treated with Ag-TiO2. The results obtained from the fieldwork study established that Ag-Zr incorporation have excellent performances for VOC removal and antibacterial test. The VOC content after treated with Ag-Zr-TiO2 fulfilled the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 which is lower than 3 ppm. In addition, the percentage of microbes also found to be decrease around 45 % within 5 days of monitoring

Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: synthesis report

‘Smart grid’ is a catch-all term for the smart options that could transform the ways society produces, delivers and consumes energy, and potentially the way we conceive of these services. Delivering energy more intelligently will be fundamental to decarbonising the UK electricity system at least possible cost, while maintaining security and reliability of supply. Smarter energy delivery is expected to allow the integration of more low carbon technologies and to be much more cost effective than traditional methods, as well as contributing to economic growth by opening up new business and innovation opportunities. Innovating new options for energy system management could lead to cost savings of up to £10bn, even if low carbon technologies do not emerge. This saving will be much higher if UK renewable energy targets are achieved. Building on extensive expert feedback and input, this report describes four smart grid scenarios which consider how the UK’s electricity system might develop to 2050. The scenarios outline how political decisions, as well as those made in regulation, finance, technology, consumer and social behaviour, market design or response, might affect the decisions of other actors and limit or allow the availability of future options. The project aims to explore the degree of uncertainty around the current direction of the electricity system and the complex interactions of a whole host of factors that may lead to any one of a wide range of outcomes. Our addition to this discussion will help decision makers to understand the implications of possible actions and better plan for the future, whilst recognising that it may take any one of a number of forms

Towards a cross-paradigmatic framework of the social acceptance of energy systems

As the significance of public opinion and practice for energy system change has become more widely understood, an expanding body of work is investigating drivers of social and public acceptance of a wide diversity of energy technologies, both infrastructure and end-user applications. The literature is large and spans multiple contexts, methods, theoretical and disciplinary perspectives and paradigms. While this diversity is in many ways healthy, experience suggests that it can be confusing for those without close knowledge of its constituent parts. Here we set out a framework for thinking about energy technology ‘acceptance’ that is relatively neutral in normative and theoretical terms, while acknowledging that a full integration of perspectives and complete theoretical neutrality are not possible. We do not claim a comprehensive review base, but draw on our experience to illustrate the diversity of what we regard as the more influential perspectives in the literature

Ocean Energy in Belgium - 2019

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