Wheeling Charges Methodology for Deregulated Electricity Markets using Tracing-based Postage Stamp Methods

MW-mile and Postage-stamp methods is traditionally used by electric utilities to determine a fixed transmission cost among users of firm transmission service. MW-Mile method is charging the users by determining the actual paths the power follows through the network. However, this method is not sufficient to recover the total transmission system cost. To recover the total transmission system cost, the Postage Stamp Method is adopted. This method is simple but its main drawback is that the charges paid by each user do not reflect the actual use of the network but based on the average usage of the entire network. This paper proposes a new wheeling charges methodology using tracing-based postage stamp methods. The proposed method allocates transmission costs among the generators proportional to the total power delivered to the load through transmission lines. The proposed method incorporates with generalised generation distribution factors to trace the contribution of each generator to the line flow. One unique feature of the proposed method is the consideration of the local load on the power flow allocation. Two case studies of 3-bus and IEEE 14-bus systems are used to illustrate the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method provides fair and equitable wheeling charges to generators reflecting the actual usage of the transmission system

Performance and emission opacity of canola and soybean biodiesel fuel in a diesel engine

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel known to produce more environmentally friendly emissions compared to diesel fuel. However, at times it has been reported as exhibiting a much lower engine performance compared to standard diesel fuel. Biodiesel fuel has the potential to achieve similar performance as compared to diesel fuel when the optimum percentage of biodiesel blend is used. In this study, an experiment was conducted to determine the performance and opacity of emissions collected from soybean biodiesel and canola biodiesel fuel by using a YANMAR TF90 single cylinder direct injection diesel engine. The objective of this study is to determine the best percentage of diesel-soybean and diesel-canola fuel mixture that would result in the best performance of an engine. The experiment investigated the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake power (BP), and torque generated by the engine using different biodiesel fuel percentages at varying engine speeds. Additionally, the emission opacity was investigated to identify the most favourable fuel percentage for optimised biodiesel compared to the quality obtained from soybean and canola soybean biodiesel. The results from the experiment clearly show that the engine using biodiesel fuel has a slightly lower performance as compared to the engine that only used diesel fuel for all percentages used. However, at low speeds, a BTE of 40% canola biodiesel was higher compared to diesel and soybean biodiesel. The BSFC for all biodiesel fuel was found to be slightly higher than diesel, except for BC40, which was greater for BSFC compared to other blends used at much lower engine speeds. Engine emission opacity of biodiesel was recorded to be less than diesel fuel at all engine speeds, but slightly higher for BC5, BS5 and BS20 due to the insufficient air intake to the engine. Engine performance and emission opacity of all biodiesel fuels were found to be similar to diesel fuel. From the results relating to engine performance and emission, canola biodiesel was found to be an excellent biodiesel product to be used in a diesel engine since it had a higher BTE, lower BSFC and a lower opacity which was greater than those of soybean biodiesel blends. Therefore, biodiesel can be blended in a diesel engine at a higher percentage while maintaining engine performance and reducing engine emission

Preliminary phytochemical screening of eurycomanone for selection of high quality planting materials: Eurycoma longifolia

Eurycoma longifolia has been widely used in traditional herbal preparation and presently there are many commercial products available for general health and libido. However, study on plant breeding of this species is still in its infancy. Thus, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has taken an initiative to conduct provenance trial of this species in order to select the best provenance and eurycomanone is chosen as bioactive marker. The aim of this study was to analyze the percentage of eurycomanone extracted from root, stem and leaves parts of E. longifolia from different provenances collected throughout Peninsular Malaysia. The eurycomanone compound is extracted with pure water and the present is detected by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC). Findings showed that the highest percentage of eurycomanone present in the root extract of Terengganu with 1.46% while the lowest is Melaka with 0.17%. Stem part of the plant showed there was presence of eurycomanone compound relatively in small percentage except for Terengganu, while there was no eurycomanone compound detected in leaves extract from all provenances tested (Johor, Kedah/Perlis, Melaka, Pahang, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Selangor and Terengganu). However, it is still too early to derive any conclusion on the best provenance based on chemical marker itself