An assessment of the sea breeze energy potential using small wind turbines in peri-urban coastal areas

From wind speed data recorded hourly at 2 m high during 18 years (1993-2010) in the Llobregat Delta (15 km south of Barcelona city; northeast of the Iberian Peninsula), wind speed distributions at 10 m high were computed for the whole year and for the sea breeze period (from March 1 to September 30, from 10 to 19 local time). Weibull probability density functions fitted to the distributions were used to assess the wind energy generated by two off-grid small wind turbines: the IT-PE-100 and the HP-600W. Results from FAST and AeroDyn simulation tools were compared with those obtained by applying measured wind speeds to manufacturer power curves. Using manufacturer data, the IT-PE-100 would deliver 132 kWh during the whole year (70 kWh during the sea breeze period). From the simulations, the IT-PE-100 would deliver 155 kWh during the whole year (80 kWh during the sea breeze period). It is concluded that the sea-breeze is an interesting wind energy resource for micro-generation, not only in the Mediterranean basin but in other areas of the world with similar wind regimes, and particularly in peri-urban coastal areas where large-scale wind farms cannot be implemented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The potential of the sea breeze for wind energy generation in peri-urban coastal areas using small wind turbines

This work investigates the potential of the sea breeze for wind energy generation with small wind turbines. For this purpose, we used wind data recorded in the Llobregat Delta (NE of the Iberian Peninsula) from 1993 to 2010 and turbine power curves obtained from QBlade, FAST and AeroDyn freeware tools, and from the manufacturer. The HP-600W turbine, with hub-height 8 m, would deliver 126 kWh in a year (53 kWh during the sea breeze period, i.e., March 1 to September 30, 10 to 19h LT), with average power of 14 W (27 W). The results for the entire year agree with data measured in situ in 2015, but it is not the case for the sea breeze period. Therefore, more research is necessary to validate completely the proposed approach, and to confirm the real potential of the sea breeze for micro-generation in a peri-urban coastal area like the one under study, where large wind farms are not feasible.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Planning for sustainable development of energy infrastructure: fast – fast simulation tool

Energy management has significant impact on planning within local or regional scale. The consequences of the implementation of large-scale renewable energy source involves multifaceted analyses, evaluation of environmental impacts, and the assessment of the scale of limitations or exclusions imposed on potential urbanized structures and arable land. The process of site designation has to acknowledge environmental transformations by inclusion of several key issues, e.g. emissions, hazards for nature and/or inhabitants of urbanized zones, to name the most significant. The parameters of potential development of energy-related infrastructure of facility acquire its local properties – the generic development data require adjustment, which is site specific or area specific. FAST (Fast Simulation Tool) is a simple IT tool aimed at supporting sustainable planning on local or regional level in reference to regional or district scale energy management (among other issues). In its current stage, it is utilized – as a work in progress – in the assessment of wind farm structures located within the area of Poznan agglomeration. This paper discusses the implementation of FAST and its application in two conflicting areas around the agglomeration of Poznan

A review of numerical modelling of multi-scale wind turbines and their environment

Global demand for energy continues to increase rapidly, due to economic and population growth, especially for increasing market economies. These lead to challenges and worries about energy security that can increase as more users need more energy resources. Also, higher consumption of fossil fuels leads to more greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming. Moreover, there are still more people without access to electricity. Several studies have reported that one of the rapidly developing source of power is wind energy and with declining costs due to technology and manufacturing advancements and concerns over energy security and environmental issues, the trend is predicted to continue. As a result, tools and methods to simulate and optimize wind energy technologies must also continue to advance. This paper reviews the most recently published works in Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations of micro to small wind turbines, building integrated with wind turbines, and wind turbines installed in wind farms. In addition, the existing limitations and complications included with the wind energy system modelling were examined and issues that needs further work are highlighted. This study investigated the current development of CFD modelling of wind energy systems. Studies on aerodynamic interaction among the atmospheric boundary layer or wind farm terrain and the turbine rotor and their wakes were investigated. Furthermore, CFD combined with other tools such as blade element momentum were examined

The National Small Wind Turbine Centre

In August 2008, the Federal government announced funding for a National Small Wind Turbine Centre (NSWTC) to be operated by the Research Institute of Sustainable Energy (RISE), based at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. The aim of the NSWTC is to promote the small wind turbine (SWT) market and industry in Australia by providing services in the areas of Testing, Standards and Labelling, Professional Development and Training, and Research. This paper summarises the work that has been carried out to date by the NSWTC in the area of Standards and Labelling. Existing certification and labelling schemes for SWTs are summarised and an overview is given of the NSWTC participation in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Task 27, a task aimed at research that will advance standards, improve the quality of SWT testing around the globe and lead to an international consumer label for SWTs. Options for certification and labelling for the emerging Australian SWT industry are analysed and the idea of introducing an Australian consumer label for SWTs is discussed

Potential for Solar Energy in Food Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail

The overall aim of the study was to assess the potential for increasing the use of solar energy in the food sector. For comparative purposes the study also included an assessment of the benefits that could arise from the use of other renewable energy sources, and the potential for more effective use of energy in food retail and distribution. Specific objectives were to: i) establish the current state of the art in relevant available solar technology; ii) identify the barriers for the adoption of solar technology; iii) assess the potential for solar energy capture; iv) appraise the potential of alternative relevant technologies for providing renewable energy; v) assess the benefits from energy saving technologies; vi) compare the alternative strategies for the next 5-10 years and vii) Consider the merits of specific research programmes on solar energy and energy conservation in the food sector. To obtain the views of the main stakeholders in the relevant food and energy sectors on the opportunities and barriers to the adoption of solar energy and other renewable energy technologies by the food industry, personal interviews and structured questionnaires tailored to the main stakeholders (supermarkets, consultants for supermarket design; energy and equipment suppliers) were used. The main findings from the questionnaires and interviews are: - Key personnel in supermarkets and engineers involved in the design of supermarkets are aware of the potential contribution of renewable energy technologies and other energy conservation measures to energy conservation and environmental impact reduction in the food industry. A number of supermarket chains have implemented such technologies at pilot scale to gain operating experience, and more importantly, for marketing reasons, to gain competitive advantage through a green image. - From installations to date in the UK the most notable are a 600 kW wind turbine at a Sainsbury's distribution centre in East Kilbride and a 60 kWp photovoltaic array at a Tesco store in Swansea. - The main barrier to the application of renewable energy technologies in the food sector is the capital cost. Even though significant progress has been made towards the improvement of the energy conversion efficiencies of photovoltaic technologies (PVs) and reduction in their cost, payback periods are still far too long, for them to become attractive to the food industry. - Wind energy can be more attractive than PVs in areas of high wind speed. Apart from relatively high cost, the main barrier to the wide application of wind turbines for local power generation is planning restrictions. This technology is more attractive for application in food distribution centres that are normally located outside build-up areas where planning restrictions can be less severe than in urban areas. In these applications it is likely that preference will be for large wind turbines of more than 1.0 MW power generation capacity as the cost of generation per unit power reduces with the size of the turbine

Assessment of highly distributed power systems using an integrated simulation approach

In a highly distributed power system (HDPS), micro renewable and low carbon technologies would make a significant contribution to the electricity supply. Further, controllable devices such as micro combined heat and power (CHP) could be used to assist in maintaining stability in addition to simply providing heat and power to dwellings. To analyse the behaviour of such a system requires the modelling of both the electrical distribution system and the coupled microgeneration devices in a realistic context. In this paper a pragmatic approach to HDPS modelling is presented: microgeneration devices are simulated using a building simulation tool to generate time-varying power output profiles, which are then replicated and processed statistically so that they can be used as boundary conditions for a load flow simulation; this is used to explore security issues such as under and over voltage, branch thermal overloading, and reverse power flow. Simulations of a section of real network are presented, featuring different penetrations of micro-renewables and micro-CHP within the ranges that are believed to be realistically possible by 2050. This analysis indicates that well-designed suburban networks are likely to be able to accommodate such levels of domestic-scale generation without problems emerging such as overloads or degradation to the quality of supply

Distributed generation on rural electricity networks - a lines company perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Energy Management at Massey University

CD held with Reference copyA number of electricity assets used in rural New Zealand yield a very low return on investment. According to the provisions of the Electricity Act 1992, after 01 April 2013, lines companies may terminate supply to any customer to whom they cannot provide electricity lines services profitably. This research was undertaken to assist the policy makers, lines companies, rural investors on the viability of distributed generation in a rural setting from the point of view of the lines company and the investor as well as to provide recommendations to the problem areas. A dynamic distributed generation model was developed to simulate critical distributed generation scenarios relevant to New Zealand, such as diverse metering arrangements, time dependent electricity prices, peak shaving by load control, peak lopping by dispatchable distributed generation and state subsides, which are not addressed in commercial software. Data required to run the model was collected from a small rural North Island sheep and beef farming community situated at the end of a 26km long radial distribution feeder. Additional operational data were also collected from the community on distributed resources such as solar hot water systems. A number of optimum distributed generation combinations involving a range of technologies under different metering arrangements and price signals were identified for the small and the medium investor. The effect of influencing factors, such as state initiatives and technological growth, on the investor and the lines companies were discussed. Recommendations for future implementation in order to integrate distributed generation on to rural networks were also given. Several key research areas were identified and discussed including low cost micro hydro, wind resource assessment, diversification of the use of the induction generators, voltage flicker and dynamic distributed generation techno-economic forecasting tools

Enhancing consumers' voluntary use of small-scale wind turbines to generate own electricity in South Africa

This paper investigates whether South African households and small businesses can take advantage of the country’s substantial wind resources to produce their own power from small-scale wind turbines in a viable way. The viability of small-scale wind turbines is assessed by means of a financial analysis based on the internal rate of return method. The recently announced wind feed-in tariff will not affect the viability of consumer-based small-scale wind turbines considered in this paper since such turbines are used to displace electricity consumption from the grid rather than supplying electricity to the grid. Thus the benefits of such wind turbines’ output is valued at the grid power tariff which is saved rather than at the wind feed-in tariff rate as electricity arbitrage opportunities are non-existent because of the smallness of the turbines. The analysis found the turbines to be viable in only a few of the windiest locations in South Africa. As the competiveness of the turbines is seriously challenged by the relatively low coal-based electricity tariffs in South Africa the financial analysis also considers alternative scenarios where the turbines are supported by financial mechanisms, namely: a tariff subsidy; a capital subsidy and revenue from carbon credits. The analysis reveals that a tariff subsidy of about R1.45/kWh or capital subsidy of about R30,000/kW will be more effective in boosting the viability of consumer-based small-scale wind turbines in areas with winds of at least 5m/s. Thus, if the government’s goal is renewable energy expansion in the country, there is a need for subsidizing all producers of renewable energy including those who produce it for their own consumption as they equally contribute to that goal. A tariff subsidy is however likely to be met with both political and public resistance if it means that consumers have to cross-subsidize the tariff. Also, the significant funds required for capital subsidies might not be freely available. An alternative solution would be granting soft loans to potential wind turbine buyers. Ultimately, the removal of distortionary support to coal-based electricity generation will go a long way in enhancing the viability of small-scale wind turbines.small-scale wind turbines; microgeneration; renewable energy; wind energy; South Africa