Research Project : Drivers, Barriers And Constraints And Then Refine The Outlook Of Small Scale Power Generation

Most of the energy that we use comes from fossil fuels like petroleum and coal that provide electricity and gas to power our growing energy needs. These fossil fuels, currently providing most of our home energy needs are finite resources, which mean that, they will eventually run out. Furthermore, the world’s population is growing rapidly. Countries are becoming more industrialised and are using notable amount of energy. Individuals are consuming nearly twice as much as energy as they were using 30 years ago. In Australia itself, the total amount of energy consumed by households has increased over the past two decades and is forecast to increase. This could be due to the dependence of our standard of living on easily available energy. Between

Energy consumption levels arise as the world population continues to grow. To be able to sustain resources for future generations

The beginning of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century led to an exponential increase in our demand for energy to satisfy the growing needs of manufacturing, transport, production of raw materials, healthcare, and agriculture. Simple tasks are taken for granted such as “powering-up” the plethora of devices and gadgets that we “cannot live without” – such as our smart phones and computers. Whilst all of these things are central to our very existence on the planet, our increased dependence on energy has essentially been met to date by the burning of non-renewable fossil fuels, such as brown and black coal.

As a result of my research, I can conclude that a solar, hydro, and biogas minigrid would be feasible for 90% electrification of Grand-Goâve, and the greatest obstacle to its implementation is the price. With proper policy and pricing, this minigrid will be a viable option to power the city of Grand-Goâve, and the relatively similar geography throughout Haiti suggests that similar systems would work in other communities. I came to this conclusion through a meta-analysis of the different energy potentials with the help of the HOMER program. Minigrids have been effective in similar environments, so it is likely that one would work in Haiti. While the full capacity minigrid is very expensive (around $12.9 million), a smaller, more limited minigrid would be less costly and still benefit the city of Grand-Goâve.

The Distributed is electrical power generation in small scale (usually 1MW to 50MW) near the load centre using either conventional techniques such as Diesel generators and micro turbines or using non-conventional techniques such as Photo-Voltaic, wind turbines and small hydro power. This modern concept of power system is very advantageous as it reduces the load on the grid, consumers get a reliable power of better quality, and consumers can supply surplus power to the grid and earn a considerable profit. Thus, adopting this modern concept of power system is not only beneficial for consumers but also to the utilities.

One resource that is essential to produce electricity is renewable energy. Providing one’s own energy consists of utilizing solar panels, wind turbines and micro hydroelectricity. Solar panels absorb energy from the Sun to produce solar energy. A great number of people who live off the grid use solar power. Wind turbines generate electrical power from the wind and functions in the reverse manner as a fan does. Micro hydroelectricity is another source of energy, which fascinatingly “uses a source of running water, like a stream, to generate electricity” (Dunn 3). Between all three sources of renewable energy, micro hydroelectricity is the most efficient, reliable and commonly used form.

Shai Agassi had a great vision, and this was a very enjoyable presentation and well thought out. When this presentation was done about seven years ago, it is fair to say Shai threw out a lot of unrealistic numbers that are very hard to understand for many people. Fortunately, a lot has changed since 2009 and this idea has become completely feasible. We already have the technology, look up TESLA motors for example, they have electric cars in production that can use non-polluting renewable energy (solar, hydro, wind) to produce portable energy (battery, cell, fuel) and this is a great place to start because there are aren’t any other viable near-term choices out there. Since this presentation was recorded, some amazing breakthroughs are happening

Unfortunately, unlike the previous reading we did where the reader could take what they learned and incorporate it into their daily lives, I do not feel that this article can be followed immediately nor can it be applied on an individual basis due to the scale that is needed to go through. The concept of decentralized generation of electricity, also known as distributed generation, is something that only power plants and other large industrial corporations can fully put to use because they are in control of how our energy is disbursed between households and businesses. The only thing that we as the reader can get from this article is the idea that recycling energy will eventually be what saves the economy. The way that we use power and energy now is expensive and waste more money than it really needs to. By reading this article, I have understood that if we were to start using recycled energy instead of allowing it to go to waste like we do on a daily basis, we could save millions of dollars which could be used in other ways to further advance our lifestyles. If there was anything that we, as the readers, could do to have this method implemented to recycle energy, it would probably have to be sending letters in order to try and convince the government to consider implementing

In Europe, around 300,000 houses are not interconnected to the main electricity grid (Lymberopoulos & Zoulias, 2008). These houses are located in remote areas such as islands and mountains. Currently, fossil fuel based generators do the electrification of these households. These generators are sometimes supplemented with renewable energy based systems (e.g. PV solar panels or wind turbines). The fossil fuel based generators face problems with onsite fuel availability, noise and local emissions. The renewable energy systems, on the other hand, face problems with the intermittency of the natural source, such as wind or sun. The disadvantages of both systems could be potentially overcome with the introduction of the artificial leaf technology

Over the years there has been controversy over whether nuclear power is the most efficient power production method in the world for the future. As global warming is increasing, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the air is also increasing, and a global concern is arising about whether the current power production methods using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are long term, as these power production methods are seen as temporary because these recourses are becoming abundant. The most widely thought concern of the population is how long the systems we are currently are going to last before the fuel for power runs out. There have been successful attempts to use ecological systems such as hydropower, wind energy,

There are three main methods for utility scale electricity generation. They consists of power production via mechanical generator, via chemical battery, and via photovoltaic cells. For the sake of this document, we will focus on mechanical power generation.

It is a widely accepted fact that renewable energy would be highly beneficial to our country and the general well being of those living in our country. Instilling this new way of energy usage into our communities will inevitably increase the state of living for those in cities and other well populated areas. The change to renewable energy sources could drastically lower the pollutants currently being dispersed into the atmosphere by coal mines and other harmful power options,

This concise report summarizes the present analysis and important issues and provides better recommendation. In this report I have discussed the short and long term benefits and risks for the renewable energy industry. I have considered public education that allows noise levels and visual amenity to encourage establishment wind farms and other sources of renewable energy. And also a national system of feed-in tariff rates for all forms of renewable and sustainable energy in a policy setting that encourages community power schemes, small and medium businesses, and other

Non Conventional energy resources like wind, biomass, tidal /wave and small hydro potential were used due to fast depletion of fossil fuels. A micro-hydro system using natural hydro potential with minimal civil works is a strong candidate in this race. However, the system must be economical, rugged, and user friendly since local communities are often not techno-savvy. Uncontrolled low head turbines are prescribed for such applications [1]-[5], which maintain almost constant input power due to fixed head and discharge. In remote locations, harnessing of electrical energy from such local resources can be cheaper and easier compared to grid connection, which involves long transmission lines and associated

Opposite such high production and consumption of utilities in countries such as the U.S. many other countries don’t have the resources to produce the same amount and quality of these utilities. In fact, it was estimated that in 2013 1.2 billion people were without access to electricity. This represents 17% of the global population (Energy Access Database, 2015). Fortunately, the realization of the need for alternative energy throughout the world has made it possible for many third world countries to utilize green systems in order to improve the daily conditions of citizens.