Chapter 1

Principles of Renewable Energy

John Twidell and Tony Weir

Sami Karaki
American University of Beirut
February 2009, 2011, 2018

References:
John Twidell and Tony Weir
Duffie and Beckman
 Energy and Sustainable Development (1)
• Sustainable development is living, producing, and consuming to meet the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
• Reliable energy sources are an essential ingredient for development in all
economies for lighting, comfort control, communications, industry, and
transport.
• Purchases of fossil fuel energy account for 5-10% of GDP in developed
economies and for 25-35% of GDP in developing economies.
• World energy use increased more than tenfold in the 20th century,
predominantly from fossil fuels (e.g. coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power) and
is expected to further increase in the 21st century.
 Energy and Sustainable Development (2)
• Urgent need for efficient generation and use of energy as fossil fuels are
not being replenished at any significant rate and present stocks are thus
finite.
• The reserve lifetime of a resource is the known accessible amount divided
by the rate of present use. The lifetime of coal is a few centuries and that
of oil and gas is a few decades.
• Economics predict that as the lifetime of a fuel reserve shortens, its price
increases, and demand for that fuel reduces. Hence previously more
expensive alternative resources become more economic and enter the
market.
• However, the basic geological fact remains: fossil fuel reserves are limited
and so the present patterns of energy consumption are not sustainable in
the longer term.
 Energy and Sustainable Development (3)
• Moreover, emissions from fossil fuels and nuclear power increasingly
determine the fundamental limitation. Increasing CO2 and other green
house gases (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere are an example.
• The ecological history of Earth over billions of years reveals that carbon
was in excess in the Atmosphere originally and was sequestered below
ground to provide our present oxygen-rich atmosphere.
• The arguments of finite fossil fuels, the harm of their emissions, and the
earth’s ecological sustainability makes it essential to expand renewable
energy supplies and use energy more efficiently.
• This is supported by economics if the full cost of obtaining the fuel and
paying for the damage from emission are internalized in the price (cost of
CO2 emissions varies from $0.02 to $0.10/ kWh). Thus the use of
renewable energy with energy efficiency practices are cheaper for society
than the traditional use of fossil and nuclear fuel.
 Energy and Sustainable Development (4)
• Is it possible to, in principle, to supply the requirements of modern society
from renewable energy?
• Current per capita energy use is 2 kW; however, regional average values
vary with North America at 9 kW, Europe at 4 kW, and regions of central
Africa at 0.1 kW.
• Consider that 2 kW is a justifiable target that will, however, allow a much
higher standard of living by using more efficient modern equipment,
buildings and transportation.
• If the total renewable energy flux is 500W/ m2 is harnessed at 4%
efficiency then 2 kW can be drawn from an area 100 m2. Suburban areas
have a population densities of 500 people per km2 and thus the area
needed for energy production is just 5% of local land!
 Fundamentals – Definitions - 1
Source: Green energy Environment

Device

Use

Sink Environment

• Renewable energy: Energy obtained from natural and repetitive flows

of energy occurring in the immediate environment. Such energy is
also called green or sustainable energy.
 Fundamentals – Definitions - 2
Source: Brown energy

Device

Use

Sink Environment

• Non-renewable energy: Energy obtained from static stores of energy

that remain underground unless released by human interactions.
Such energy supply is finite and usually referred to as brown energy.
 Environmental Energy Infrared
Radiation
Reflection 80 000
Heat Conversion
to space
From 50 000 40 000 Water
Sun Evaporation
Solar 120 000
3000
radiation Wind & Waves

100 Photonic
From Processes
Earth 30
Geothermal Heat
From
Planets Gravitation, 3
Tidal Motion
orbital motion

Solar flux reaching Earth is 120 000 TW. Lebanon total electric power
capacity is 2000 MW give power to about 4 million people. Note the
range of energy flux (1:105) and the dominance of solar radiation and
heat
Primary Supply to End-Use
 Energy Planning
• Energy supply should be matched to end-use, otherwise uneconomic
operation may result. If energy requirement is heat for warmth, cooking,
and hot water, it is irresponsible to generate grid quality electricity from
fuel, waste the majority of the energy as thermal emission, and distribute
the electricity in lossy cables. Sadly it often occurs.
• System efficiency calculations can help pinpoint unnecessary losses.
Consider electricity produced from conventional thermally generated
electricity (efficiency 30%), distributed (90%) and incandescent lamps (5%).
The total efficiency is 1.35%. Compare this to cogeneration of useful heat
and electricity (85%), distribution (90%), and compact fluorescent lamps
(22%), which has a total efficiency of 16.8%.
• Energy management is vital to improve utilization efficiency as no energy
supply is free and renewable energy is expensive. Efficiency improvement
with finite fuel sources reduces pollution and with renewables reduces
capital cost.
Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy - 1
• Use renewable energy currents already present in the local environment.
The practical implication is that the local environment has to be monitored
to establish what energy flows are present. Biogas (methane) should be
contemplated as a by-product of an industry already established.
• The dynamic characteristic of energy demand must be matched by the
supply source. If power is provided by a finite resource the input is
adjusted in response to demand. Unused energy is not wasted. However,
renewable energy vary uncontrollably with time and storage is often
needed to perform this dynamic matching.
• Quality of supply from a source is defined as the proportion of energy
from the source that can be converted to mechanical power. Electricity
has high quality because when consumed in an electric motor more than
95% may be converted to mechanical work.
Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy - 2
• The efficiency of nuclear, fossil fuel, or biomass in a single stage power
station is moderately low at about 33% and the rest is lost to the
atmosphere as heat. If the fuel is used in a combined cycle (i.e. gas turbine
followed by a steam turbine) the efficiency is increased to about 50%.
• Renewable energy is divided into three categories: Mechanical supplies
such as hydro (70-90%), wind (35%), wave (50%), and tidal (75%); Heat
supplies with a maximum realizable quality of 35%; Photon processes such
as photosynthesis and photovoltaic conversion with efficiencies of the
order of 20 – 30%.
• A pronounced difference between renewable and finite energy supplies is
the energy flux at the initial transformation. Brown energy is produced
centrally at high flux (e.g. 100 kW/m2 in boiler tubes) and is expensive to
distribute. Renewable energy is produced in dispersed locations a low flux
density (e.g. 1 kW/m2 for solar irradiance) and is expensive to concentrate.
Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy - 4
• Renewable energy supplies are linked to the natural environment and thus
the associated problems are multidisciplinary in nature: In integrated
farming, animal and plant waste may be used to generate methane and
solid fuel to produce heat and electricity, and the whole system integrated
with fertilizer production and nutrient cycling for optimum agricultural
yield.
• Renewable energy system is situation dependent and it is necessary to
‘prospect’ the environment for renewable energy as it is to prospect
geological formations for oil.
• Particular end use needs and local renewable energy supplies must be
matched subject to economic and environmental constraints. In this
respect renewable energy is similar to agriculture. The main consequence
of this is the impossibility of making simplistic national or international
renewable energy plans.
 Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy – 5
Electromagnetic Spectrum and Radiation

• Thermal radiation is electromagnetic energy emitted by bodies due to their

temperature and propagates in space at the speed of light (C).
• The spectrum is divided into wavelength bands characterized by their wavelength
: C= C0/ n=   , where C0 is the speed of light in vacuum, n is index of refraction,
and  is the frequency.
• The energy of the photon is E= h, where h is Planck’s constant (6.625x10-34 Js). So
for example, a minimum photon energy is needed to create an electron-hole pair
in photovoltaic device..
 Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy – 6
Blackbody Radiation
• A blackbody is a perfect absorber of radiation
at all wavelengths and in all directions. It is an
ideal concept that is approached by a thick
layer of carbon black.
• A black body emits the maximum thermal
radiation at a given temperature.
• The wavelength distribution of radiation
emitted by a black body Eb, in Wm-2, is given
by Planck’s law:
Eb = C1/ [ 5 exp(C2/ T) – 1]
Where C1= 2hC02= 3.7405x10-16 m2W and
C2= 0.0143879 mK.
• The total energy emitted by a black body (Eb) is obtained by integrating Planck’s law
over all wavelengths:
Eb= T4
where  is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant equal to 5.6697x10-8 W/ m2 K4 that
appears in all radiation equations.
 Scientific Principles of Renewable Energy – 5
Radiation to sky and between surfaces
• To predict the performance of solar Where F12 is the view factor which is
collectors we need to evaluate the tabulated for different cases.
radiation exchange between a surface • For radiation between two infinite
and the sky: parallel plates the above equation
Q= A (T4 - Ts4) becomes:
Where  is the surface emittance and with F12= 1.
A is its area, and Ts is the sky
temperature. Ts = Ta – 5 C in hot moist
climate, and Ts = Ta – 30 C in a cold • The second special case is for small
dry climate. object enclosed by a large enclosure:
• The majority of problems in solar
energy applications involve radiation Where F12 = 1 and A1/ A2 approaches
between two surfaces: 0.
 Technical Implications - 1
• Monitoring is needed for several years at the site in question, and ongoing
analysis must insure that useful data are being recorded particularly with
respect to the system being planned.
• Meteorological data from official stations are always important but are
often different from the prospective generating sites. The methods of
recording and analysis are not ideally suited for energy prospecting.
• However, long term data from official monitoring stations may be used as
a base for comparison with local sites. Thus wind velocity monitored over
several months at a prospective generating site may be extrapolated using
the many years of official station data.
• Energy is not cheap and always occurs with environmental disruption, so it
is vital to use it efficiently with good conservation measures. Money spent
on improvements in end use efficiency usually gives better long term
benefits than money spent on increasing generation supply capacity.
 Technical Implications - 2
• Monitoring is needed for several years at the site in question, and ongoing
analysis must insure that useful data are being recorded particularly with
respect to the system being planned.
• Meteorological data from official stations are always important but are
often different from the prospective generating sites. The methods of
recording and analysis are not ideally suited for energy prospecting.
• However, long term data from official monitoring stations may be used as
a base for comparison with local sites. Thus wind velocity monitored over
several months at a prospective generating site may extrapolated using
the many years of official station data.
• Energy is not cheap and always occurs with environmental disruption, so it
is vital to use it efficiently with good conservation measures. Money spent
on improvements in end use efficiency usually gives better long term
benefits than money spent on increasing generation supply capacity.
 Matching Supply and Demand - 1

Environmental
Source
– +

Supply Environment
End Use
Device Sink
Wasted energy

Negative feedback control from demand to supply is not beneficial

since the result is waste or spill harnessed energy. In effect the capital
value of the equipment is not utilized.
 Matching Supply and Demand - 2

Feedback
Environmental control
Source

Supply – Environment
End Use
Device + Sink

Storage

Storage is incorporated to match supply and demand that have

different dynamic characteristic and yet not waste harnessed energy.
But adequate storage is expensive.
 Matching Supply and Demand - 3
Environmental
Source

Supply Environment
End Use
Device Sink

Large Grid System Storage

–
Finite Sources Feedback
control

Here renewable energy is embedded in an energy grid network with

brown energy supply which usually has negative feedback control. The
inclusion of storage (e.g. thermal heat capacity or batteries) allow the
proportion of renewable energy to be increased.
 Matching Supply and Demand - 4
Environmental Feedforward
Source control

Supply ++ End Use Environment

Device Load 1 Sink

++ End Use
Load 2

++ End Use
Load 3

Here several end uses are available and can be switched or adjusted so
that the total load is equal to the available supply at any one time.
Some end uses examples include water heating and pumping. Such
systems require positive feed-forward control.
 Social Implications - 1
• The Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America and industrial
development in all countries have profoundly affected social structures
and patterns of living.
• There is a historic relationship between coal mining and the development
of industrialized countries, which will continue for several years. Also the
availability of fossil fuels (e.g. diesel, gasoline, and gas) in all countries has
led to profound changes in lifestyle.
• In the 19th and 20th centuries the availability of finite energy stores (e.g. oil
and gas) that are easily concentrated at the source created employment
opportunities in industry and commerce and allowed the development of
large urban complexes.
• Due to its dispersed nature the widespread application of renewable
energy will favor rural development and allow relief from excessive
urbanization.
 Social Implications - 2
• Harmful emissions are primarily the result of using brown fuels, fossil and
nuclear. They can be chemical (CO2), physical (e.g. noise and radioactivity),
and biological (e.g. pathogens).
• In contrast renewable energy is extracted from flows of energy compatible
with the environment and no thermal pollution occurs except on a very
small scale. One exception is incomplete combustion of biomass or
refuses.
• Environmental pollution does occur if brown energy was used in the
manufacture of renewable energy devices, but reportedly this is small over
the lifetime of the equipment.
• The future widespread use of renewable energy and the expected
improvement in older technologies is likely to give an uplift on standards of
living. The sustainable nature of renewable energy should produce greater
socio-economic stability and diversity in social and economic
characteristics than has been the case with fossil fuels and nuclear power.