By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2010-02-02 13:49
In order to combat global warming, a detailed knowledge of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with different energy conversion technologies is important. For nuclear energy, GHG emissions result from different process stages of the whole fuel cycle. A life-cycle assessment offers the opportunity to properly calculate these emissions. In the past, both indirect energy use and GHG emissions were studied by many researchers. Most of the studies result in low indirect emissions comparable to windturbines.
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By HDK / Published on Mon, 2009-09-21 14:04
This paper extends a broad functional category approach for the study of technological capability progress recently developed and applied to information technology to a second key case—that of energy based technologies. The approach is applied to the same three functional operations—storage, transportation and transformation—that were used for information technology by first building a 100 plus year database for each of the three energy-based functional categories.
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By HDK / Published on Sat, 2009-09-05 09:30
In this project, we propose a new methodological framework for assessing the economic impact of transmission investment. This framework improves on the current state of art by explicitly modeling strategic responses of generators to transmission investments. Using an economic measure of social benefit, results show that transmission planning should lead rather than follow generation investments. As a result, transmission investments should be treated as infrastructure development in the same general way that roadway investments are used for regional development.
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By HDK / Published on Fri, 2009-08-21 19:52
A new paper from Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center
We examine the potential economic implications of using vehicle batteries to store grid electricity generated at off-peak hours for off-vehicle use during peak hours. Hourly electricity prices in three U.S. cities were used to arrive at daily profit values, while the economic losses associated with battery degradation were calculated based on data collected from A123 Systems LiFePO4/Graphite cells tested under combined driving and off-vehicle electricity utilisation.
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By HDK / Published on Fri, 2009-08-21 18:27
A new paper from Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Wed, 2009-07-08 14:04
The renewable energy industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Europe thanks to two factors: the supportive political and legal frameworks and the region’s prominent investment in renewable energy research and development.
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By HDK / Published on Fri, 2009-06-12 07:57
A new study, which was conducted on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General Energy and Transport, is the first study to assess the economic effects of supporting renewable energy sources (RES) in detail, looking not only at jobs in the RES sector itself, but taking into account its impact on all sectors of the economy. It found that policies that support RES give a significant boost to the economy and the number of jobs in the EU.
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By Wim Deprez / Published on Tue, 2009-05-12 22:51
In this work, some fundamental aspects concerning the efficiency of induction machines are treated. The standards and the therein prescribed methods for the determination of the energy efficiency of induction machines are discussed. A detailed comparison of the four most relevant and recent methods identifies the differences. By means of measurement results of different machines, the differences between and the shortcomings of certain methods is confirmed. In that context, special attention is paid to the new, so-called ‘Eh-Y’ method.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2009-04-24 15:37
Geographic diversification of wind farms can smooth out the fluctuations in wind power generation and reduce the associated system balancing and reliability costs. The paper uses historical wind production data from five European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain) and applies Mean-Variance Portfolio theory to identify cross-country portfolios that minimize the total variance of wind production for a given level of production.
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By erikjanrodenhuis / Published on Tue, 2009-04-21 11:01
Although the renewable energy sector is maturing fast, still the developers are experiencing some hurdles to come to financial closure of actual projects. A prominent problem is that the technologies are generally associated with unfamiliar, high and unclear risks. Therefore a tool was developed that provides insights in the risks present in renewable energy projects, assists to communicate these risks and helps finding ways to effectively manage the project risks.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2009-04-13 10:36
The evolutionary path of the U.S. electricity grid is at an historical crossroad. Decisions are going to be made about the direction of grid development so that it can meet extraordinary economic challenges, critical needs for energy security, and essential requirements for a sustainable way of life. This is a defining moment in terms of our nation’s commitment to providing an electric energy system, including the bulk transmission network, that meets societal needs of the 21st century and beyond.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2009-03-06 20:45
Paul Hines, Jay Apt, and Sarosh Talukdar , Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2009-03-05 09:12
Renewable energy portfolio standards will require higher penetration of renewable energy sources in the years ahead. Such large-scale integration of renewable generation sources into the electric power grid is raising critical issues.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2009-02-13 13:16
Variability of weather and climate represents a significant source of risk to the electric power industry. Weather influences power trading, fuel acquisition, load forecasting, systems planning, hazard planning and a range of related tasks within the industry. Lead-times for weather and climate information range from minutes for rapidly changing hazard conditions and wind-power resources to decades for infrastructure planning. Demands on forecast accuracy are equally daunting.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2009-02-10 17:46
Bogdan Atanasiu, European Commission DG-JRC, Ispra, Italy
Paolo Bertoldi, European Commission DG-JRC, Ispra, Italy
Silvia Rezessy, Central European University, Hungary
Anibal de Almeida, University of Coimbra, Portugal
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2009-01-06 01:00
This paper presents an exploratory study of the possible physical impacts of climate change on the electric power system, and how these impacts could be incorporated into resource planning in the Western United States. While many aspects of climate change and energy have been discussed in the literature, there has not yet been a systematic review of the relationship between specific physical effects and the quantitative analyses that are commonly used in planning studies. The core of the problem is to understand how the electric system is vulnerable to physical weather risk, and how to make use of information from climate models to characterize the way these risks may evolve over time, including a treatment of uncertainty. In this paper, to provide the necessary technical background in climate science, we present an overview of the basic physics of climate and explain some of the methodologies used in climate modeling studies, particularly the importance of emissions scenarios. We also provide a brief survey of recent climate-related studies relevant to electric system planning in the Western US. To define the institutional context, we discuss the core elements of the resource and reliability planning processes used currently by utilities and by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. To illustrate more precisely how climate-related risk could be incorporated into modeling exercises, we discuss three idealized examples. Overall, we argue that existing methods of analysis can and should be extended to encompass the uncertainties related to future climate. While the focus here is on risk related to physical impacts, the same principles apply to a consideration of how future climate change policy decisions might impact the design and functioning of the electric grid. We conclude with some suggestions and recommendations on how to begin developing this approach within the existing electric system planning framework for the West.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2008-10-15 09:22
Published in Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews Volume 12 Issue 4, May 2008, Pages 960-998
Galen Barbose, Ryan Wisera and Mark Bolinger
In the US, the increasing financial support for customer-sited photovoltaic (PV) systems provided through publicly funded incentive programs has heightened concerns about the long-term performance of these systems. Given the barriers that customers face to ensuring that their PV systems perform well, and the responsibility that PV incentive programs bear to ensure that public funds are prudently spent, these programs should, and often do, play a critical role in addressing PV system performance. To provide a point of reference for assessing the current state of the art, and to inform program design efforts going forward, we examine the approaches to encouraging PV system performance used by 32 prominent PV incentive programs in the US. We identify eight general strategies or groups of related strategies that these programs have used to address factors that affect performance, and describe key implementation details. Based on this review, we then offer recommendations for how PV incentive programs can be effectively designed to mitigate potential performance issues.
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