Lecture 2: Fundamentals of Utilizing Renewable Energy

ECE6603: Renewable Energy Systems

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton
Winter 2014

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General
As a result of the diverse natures of renewable energy sources, it is difficult to
approach their utilization in similar manners. The emphasis is always on the
possibilities to convert, control, deliver, and utilize renewable energy sources
as a final energy. The diversity of renewable energy sources makes a mandate
for developing different methods and technologies to meet the major objective.
The basic step toward addressing this mandate to define possibilities,
constraints, and boundaries for converting, controlling, delivering, and utilizing
renewable energy sources. On a very basic level, these possibilities,
constraints, and boundaries largely depend on the respective physical and
technical conditions. From engineering perspective, the technical conditions
are subject to development, improvement, and replacement. This flexibility on
the technical conditions is always driven by maximum achievable efficiencies
and technical availabilities. In addition, the technical flexibility can be employed
to integrate renewable energy sources into other energy generation entities.
Finally, the delivery of the final energy produced by renewable energy sources
can be enhanced and deployed with help of the technical flexibility.

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Principles of Utilizing Renewable Energy
In general, the technical key figures can be defined as:
Efficiency: The efficiency is defined as the ratio of useful power output to
the power input. It depends on the respective operating conditions of the
conversion plant, as well as a series of other factors, which vary over
time (e.g. in case of a heating boiler the efficiency varies with ambient
temperature, among other factors).
Utilization Ratio: The utilization ratio is defined as the ratio of the total
output of useful energy to the total energy input within a certain period of
time (e.g. one year). The observed time periods may include part load
periods and breaks as well as start-up and shutdown times. Utilization
ratios are usually smaller compared to the efficiency of conversion plants
indicated for the design point at full load.
Technical Availability. The technology deployment describes that
portion of the time period under observation, within which a plant has
actually been available for its intended purpose and thus considers time
periods during which the plant has been unavailable due to malfunctions.

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Technical Overview
Any renewable energy source can be converted by appropriate technical
platform into secondary or end energy carriers, or directly into final energy.
First, the components comprising such a technical platform are usually defined
as the renewable energy conversion system. Renewable energy conversion
systems are designed in a modular form, where characteristic curves, the
energy flows, durability features, operating and switching losses are included
within the entire provision or operation, control, and protection. In addition, the
different options to convert, control, and deliver energy produced by renewable
energy sources are evaluated economically as well as environmentally by
means of selected reference plants.
Reference Plants
Based on the current market spectrum, appropriate reference plants are
defined according to the present state of technology. In this respect, heat and
power provision must be distinguished. For the heat provision, it must be
always considered in the context of secured consumer supply, while its
distribution means are limited (no general grid in any country to cover the heat
distribution all over that country).
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Conventional Energy Systems
Renewable energy sources and their corresponding technologies can be
utilized for the provision of heat and/or power. In some cases, the main
objective of utilizing renewable energy sources is to substitute conventional
fossil fuel energy sources. It is thus sensible to compare evaluated options of
using renewable energy sources with the corresponding fossil fuel-based
options which they are to substitute. For this purpose, standard conventional
energy provision technologies based on fossil fuel energy, used for
comparison, are defined and discussed for their economic and environmental
figures.
Boundary conditions
Energy prices are an important parameter to describe the availability of fossil
energy carriers. The average expenditures direct to the consumer, including
consumption taxes (e.g. mineral oil tax), but excluding value added tax,
indicate that the average price for fossil energy sources ranges from
2.72-24.34 $US/GJ. Compared to this, the price level for final consumers is
comparatively higher. Even though the prices vary in a wide range, constant
prices are assumed for the lifetime of the plants.
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Conventional Energy Systems
Thermal power stations convert part of the energy contained in fuels (e.g. hard
coal, lignite, natural gas, crude oil) into electrical energy by plants based on
steam cycles and/or gas turbines. In these plants, engines used for power
generation by stand-alone systems (co-generation systems) are mostly
employed for back-up power generation, and partly for covering the peak
demand.
Thermal power stations convert part of the energy contained in fuels (e.g. hard
coal, lignite, natural gas, crude oil) into electrical energy by plants based on
steam cycles and/or gas turbines. In these plants, engines used for power
generation by stand-alone systems (co-generation systems) are mostly
employed for back-up power generation, and partly for covering the peak
demand. In steam power plants, the prime source of energy is obtained from
coal, natural gas, or crude oil, where furnaces, steam generators, turbines,
generators, water cycles, flue-gas cleaning (depending on the applied fuel dust
filters), and control and electro technical devices are employed for achieving
the conversion processes. Coal-fired power plants additionally require fuel
treatment (such as coal grinding).
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Conventional Energy Systems
For power plants with a capacity below 500 MW, oil and gas-fired boilers are
generally equipped with a conventional burner firing. The downstream steam
generator transfers the energy released during the oxidation of the fuel to the
water cycle, thereby generating steam which is subsequently relieved by a
multi-stage steam turbine. The thermal energy which has been converted into
mechanical energy is then transferred to a generator which transforms it into
electrical energy. To close the cycle, the steam that exits the turbine is
condensed by a cooling system and re-transferred to the steam generator by a
feed-water pump. Currently, steam turbine power plants are characterized by
net efficiencies of up to 45 % and above.
For gas turbine power plants, turbo-compressors, combustion chambers,
turbines and generators. The compressor pressurizes ambient air sucked in
from outside, which is subsequently transferred to the combustion chamber,
where the pressurized air chemically reacts with the fuel under release of heat.
Downstream, within the turbine, the flue gas is relieved to ambient pressure
and a generator coupled to the turbine shaft transforms the provided
mechanical energy into electrical energy at 38 % net efficiency.
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Conventional Energy Systems
In case of gas and steam power plant, a gas turbine power plant is combined
with a steam turbine power plant, where hot exhaust gases released from the
gas turbine are transferred to a heat recovery boiler which generates
superheated steam for a steam process. Gas and steam plants allow
achieving efficiencies of above 58 %. The provision of electrical energy by
such conventional power plants is characterised by corresponding costs. It is
to be noted that first one hard coal-fired steam power plant and one natural
gas-fired gas and steam power plant are designed according to state-of-the-art
technology (i.e. new plant construction).
For the hard coal-fired steam power plant with an electrical capacity of 600
MW and a mean annual efficiency of 45 % coal-firing is assumed. This power
plant thus represents plants to be built under normal conditions in the years to
come. Furthermore a typical application for medium load power generation of
roughly 5,000 full load hours per year are usually assumed. Another option to
generate power from fossil is gas-fired gas and steam turbine power plants for
ratings up to 600 MW at an efficiency around 58 %. These power plants are
operated with an assumption of 5,000 full load hours.
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Comparing Energy Systems
For comparing the economic figures of these power generation technologies
with those employed for producing energy from renewable energy sources
(e.g. wind power plants), the mean and not maximum full load hours are
assumed. From a technical perspective, the conventional power plants are are
considerably high and could reach up to 8,000 hours per year (a maximum of
8,760 hour per year is theoretically possible). However, power generation by
renewable energy sources always depends on the availability of the renewable
energy source (e.g. available wind or sunny periods). The achievable full load
hours are thus dependent on the energy availability of the respective site.
Although such plants could theoretically also be operated according to the
given power demand within the grid, they are, for economic reasons, optimized
to such an extent so that they maximize power generation. However,
conventional power plants operated within a conventional-renewable power
plant system usually supply as much electrical energy to cover the given
demand according to their respective task within the overall power plant
system (provision of base, medium or peak load demands).

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Comparing Energy Systems
The previous discussion suggests that the full load hours of conventional
power plants are defined on the basis of the demand unlike systems based on
renewable energy sources, where full load hours are determined by the
availability of primary energy. Moreover, it has to be considered that the
energy provided by conversion plants based on renewable energy sources is
mostly utilized for supplying medium load.
In order to estimate the costs of power generation by fossils, the variable,
fixed, and specific power generation costs of the reference plants are
compared to natural gas-fired gas and steam turbine power plants, hard
coal-fired power plants. The later power plants are characterized by high
investment and operation costs due to the high expenditures for coal
preparation and flue-gas treatments. The operation costs are due to, for
instance, personnel, maintenance, flue-gas cleaning, and disposal of
combustion residues (i.e. ashes), insurance and, in particular, fuels. Due to
the specific lower fuel costs, the assessed hard coal-fired power plant has
lower expenditures for fuels than the gas and steam turbine power plants.

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Comparing Energy Systems
Hard Coal-Fired Natural Gas-Fired
Power Plant Power Plant
Total Investments $ US/kW 1487.2 743.6
Annual Investments Million $ US/Year 54.08 27.04
Operation Costs Million $ US/Year 30.15 11.90
Fuel Costs Million $ US/Year 70.30 151.02
Total Million $ US/Year 155.21 190.36
Electricity Generation Costs $ US/kWh 0.052 0.064

Electricity generation costs are calculated based on the boundary conditions,

as well as assumed economic boundary conditions (i.e. interest rate of 4.5 %
assumed throughout the physical life of 30 or 25 years respectively). According
to this assumption, the power generation by natural gas accounts for the major
share of the annual costs, whereas for hard coal-fired power plants costs are
distributed relatively evenly among investments, fuels, and further operation.

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Conventional Energy Systems
Environmental Impacts: In addition to the airborne emissions of harmful
substances, like SO2 and N OX and greenhouse gas and dust emissions,
other pollutants (such as heavy metals) are released during ordinary operation
of conventional power plants. The provision of fossils is associated with a
series of further environmental effects, including:
For a long time, coal-fired power plants have been a considerable source
of anthropogenic dust and SO2 emissions. Late strict emission
regulations have required the installation of extensive flue-gas cleaning
systems, and caused reductions in these emissions.
Above ground mining of lignite affects the scenery due to its
space-consuming measures and the transfer of large material quantities.
However, these effects can be partly compensated by re-cultivation
measures once the available lignite is extracted. In some cases, the
establishment of lakes can even enhance the recreational value of a
particular site. Hard coal underground mining may cause downfalls of
the created hollow spaces, which may disturb the ground water layer,
buildings located on the surface, and small streams.

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Conventional Energy Systems

Environmental Impacts (Cont’d)

The residues remaining after coal combustion (i.e. ashes or dusts) may
contain heavy metals and radioactive elements. Depending on the coal
composition, especially the particulate matter, partly released with the
flue gas into the atmosphere, may be charged with these harmful
substances. Such contaminated dusts must therefore be safely removed
from the flue gas and securely evacuated.
During the exploitation of natural gas reservoirs the ground (onshore) or
the ocean (offshore) may be polluted, for instance, due to chemical
auxiliary and operating materials (e.g. drilling fluid) released during
drilling of wells and/or production of gas.

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