{"title":"Application-based design of the Fresnel lens solar concentrator","authors":"Hassan Qandil, Shuping Wang, Weihuan Zhao","doi":"10.1186/s40807-019-0057-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-019-0057-8","url":null,"abstract":"A novel genetically themed hierarchical algorithm (GTHA) has been investigated to design Fresnel lens solar concentrators that match with the distinct energy input and spatial geometry of various thermal applications. Basic heat transfer analysis of each application decides its solar energy requirement. The GTHA incorporated in MATLAB® optimizes the concentrator characteristics to secure this energy demand, balancing a minimized geometry and a maximized efficiency. The optimum concentrator is then simulated to ensure the algorithm validity. To verify the algorithmic-optimization and simulation-validation processes, two experimental applications were selected from the literature, a solar welding system for H13 steel plates and a solar Stirling engine with an aluminum-cavity receiver attached to the heater section. In each case, a flat Fresnel lens with a spot focus was algorithmically designed to supply the desired solar heat, and then a computer simulation of the optimized lens was conducted showing great comparability to the original experimental results.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"226 3","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138519027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cost–benefit analysis for optimal DG placement in distribution systems by using elephant herding optimization algorithm","authors":"C. Hari Prasad, K. Subbaramaiah, P. Sujatha","doi":"10.1186/s40807-019-0056-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-019-0056-9","url":null,"abstract":"Distributed generations (DGs) are small generating plants which are connected to consumers in distribution systems to improve the voltage profile, stability improvement, reduction in power losses and economic benefits. The above benefits can be achieved by optimal placement of DGs. In this paper, a novel nature-inspired algorithm called elephant herding optimization algorithm is used to determine the optimal distributed generation size. It has been developed based on herding behaviour of elephant groups in nature. The proposed algorithm is tested on IEEE 15-, 33- and 69-bus test systems. The proposed algorithm with type III DG unit operating at 0.9 pf gives better results when compared with other methods in the literature.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"76 1","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138542542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of solvents on the extraction and purification of vegetable dyes onto the efficiency for dye-sensitized solar cells","authors":"J. Ramirez-Perez, C. Maria, Cristian Santacruz","doi":"10.1186/s40807-019-0055-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-019-0055-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1186/s40807-019-0055-x","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65756338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing solar and wind complementarity in Texas","authors":"Joanna H. Slusarewicz, Daniel S. Cohan","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0054-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0054-3","url":null,"abstract":"As wind and solar power installations proliferate, power grids will face new challenges in ensuring consistent coverage from variable renewable resources. One option to reduce variability is to integrate the output from wind and solar facilities with dissimilar temporal profiles of output. This study measured the complementarity of wind and solar resources sited in various regions of Texas. This study modeled solar and wind power output using the System Advisory Model with solar data from the National Solar Radiation Database and wind data from the Wind Integration National Dataset Toolkit. Half-hourly power production was assessed based on resource location, plant size, hourly load, inter-annual variability, and solar array design for all sites. We found that solar and wind resources exhibit complementary peaks in production on an annual and daily level and that West and South Texas wind resources also exhibit complementarity. Pairings of West Texas wind with solar power or South Texas wind sites yield the highest firm capacity. Solar farms are better suited for providing power during summertime hours of peak demand, whereas wind farms are better for winter. Taken together, our results suggest that Texas renewable power production can be made more reliable by combining resources of different types and locations.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"32 1","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138519000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An enhanced particle swarm optimization algorithm for improving the renewable energy penetration and small signal stability in power system","authors":"T. K. Renuka, P. Reji, Sasidharan Sreedharan","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0053-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0053-4","url":null,"abstract":"In power systems, increasing the renewable energy penetration with small signal stability is one of the demanding and critical tasks in recent days. This research work aims to develop a multistage optimization technique, namely particle swarm optimization (PSO), for improving both the energy penetration and small signal stability. Here, the wind and solar power sources are considered, and its penetration is maximized by satisfying the grid requirements such as the bus voltage, line flows, and real and reactive power generation within the limit. This work includes two stages: in the first stage, PSO algorithm is implemented for maximizing the renewable energy penetration to the test systems. Then, in the second stage, the small signal stability of the systems is improved with maximum renewable energy penetration in which the best locations for connecting the wind farm are identified by using the calculation of wind farm placement index and solar generation is fixed by considering voltage and bus load absorption capability. During simulation, the proposed method is tested and validated by using IEEE 14-bus standard system, and the 220 kV Kerala (India) grid practical system with the solar and wind power. Moreover, various measures such as power generation, load and bus voltage are evaluated for two different case studies. In this evaluation, it is proved that the renewable energy sources are safely integrated with the power system with increased energy penetration and improved small signal stability.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"98 6","pages":"1-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138519030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Khalid Yousuf Khan, Lucia Gauchia, Joshua M. Pearce
{"title":"Self-sufficiency of 3-D printers: utilizing stand-alone solar photovoltaic power systems","authors":"Khalid Yousuf Khan, Lucia Gauchia, Joshua M. Pearce","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0051-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0051-6","url":null,"abstract":"A self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) is a type of 3-D printer capable of printing many of its own components in addition to a wide assortment of products from high-value scientific or medical tools to household products and toys. There is some evidence that these printers could provide low-cost distributed manufacturing in underprivileged rural areas. For the most isolated communities without access to the electric grid, a low-cost alternative energy is needed. Solar energy can be harvested through a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) power system specifically designed to match the needs of the RepRap. The voltage and current requirement for the printer demands the use of buck along with a bidirectional DC converters to ensure proper operation. This paper provides the design for a stand-alone PV—lithium ion battery power system with an efficient controller. Robust and agile PI controller schemes are utilized to efficiently maintain the distribution of energy through the power system. The system was defined with ordinary differential equations, simulated and tested for two operational conditions in MATLAB/Simulink. The results showed that the controller developed operates the system in a stable condition and the simulation shows steady acceptable behavior that makes this system highly suitable for hardware implementation.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"7 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138518999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimal DG placement for benefit maximization in distribution networks by using Dragonfly algorithm","authors":"M. C. V. Suresh, Edward J. Belwin","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0050-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0050-7","url":null,"abstract":"Distributed generation (DG) is small generating plants which are connected to consumers in distribution systems to improve the voltage profile, voltage regulation, stability, reduction in power losses and economic benefits. The above benefits can be achieved by optimal placement of DGs. A novel nature-inspired algorithm called Dragonfly algorithm is used to determine the optimal DG units size in this paper. It has been developed based on the peculiar behavior of dragonflies in nature. This algorithm mainly focused on the dragonflies how they look for food or away from enemies. The proposed algorithm is tested on IEEE 15, 33 and 69 test systems. The results obtained by the proposed algorithm are compared with other evolutionary algorithms. When compared with other algorithms the Dragonfly algorithm gives best results. Best results are obtained from type III DG unit operating at 0.9 pf.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"58 1","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138542554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. El Hammoumi, Saad Motahhir, A. Chalh, A. El Ghzizal, A. Derouich
{"title":"Low-cost virtual instrumentation of PV panel characteristics using Excel and Arduino in comparison with traditional instrumentation","authors":"A. El Hammoumi, Saad Motahhir, A. Chalh, A. El Ghzizal, A. Derouich","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0049-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0049-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1186/s40807-018-0049-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"65756293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diaa Abdellatif, Rameen AbdelHady, Ahmed M. Ibrahim, Essam Abu El-Zahab
{"title":"Conditions for economic competitiveness of pumped storage hydroelectric power plants in Egypt","authors":"Diaa Abdellatif, Rameen AbdelHady, Ahmed M. Ibrahim, Essam Abu El-Zahab","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0048-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0048-1","url":null,"abstract":"Pumped storage hydroelectric power plants are one of the most applicable energy storage technologies on large-scale capacity generation due to many technical considerations such as their maturity, frequency control and higher ramp rates, thus maintaining following loads in case of high penetration of renewables in the electrical grid. Economic viability of PSHPPs is still questionable when compared with other electricity generation technologies. In this manuscript, the key factors that affect the viability of constructing PSHPP in Attaqa Mountain, Egypt, are defined. An economic comparison between PSHPPs and simple cycle gas turbine power plants has been carried out to identify the conditions at which PSHPPs will have competitiveness as an on-peak solution, over traditional SCGT power plants. This assessment is based on calculating levelized cost of electricity taking into account different scenarios for PSHPP pumping cost and capital cost, and different scenarios for SCGT fuel prices. The results showed the key factors of the best case at which PSHPPs have the highest economic competitiveness over SCGT power plants when fuel prices are non-subsidized. This is only valid provided that the PSHPP’s capital cost should not exceed 4180 $/kW at zero pumping cost.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"12 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138542541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Use coal or invest in renewables: a real options analysis of energy investments in the Philippines","authors":"Casper Boongaling Agaton","doi":"10.1186/s40807-018-0047-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-018-0047-2","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to analyze the comparative attractiveness of either investing in various renewable energy sources or continue using coal for electricity generation in the Philippines. Using real options approach, this research evaluates the investment value and trigger prices of coal for switching technologies with some scenarios in coal price uncertainty and social discount rate. The results find that investing in renewable energy is a better option than continue using coal for electricity generation. Among renewable energy sources, geothermal is the most attractive to invest to, followed by wind, hydroelectric, and solar photovoltaic.","PeriodicalId":93049,"journal":{"name":"Renewables: wind, water, and solar","volume":"256 ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138519025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}