Search

One of the most crucial solutions to the issues of climate change and global warming is clean energy. However, creating intelligent, resilient, and sustainable systems is a worldwide problem, particularly for grid-connected Renewable Energy Systems (RES). Therefore, it is important to investigate how prospective changes in electricity pricing, renewable energy sources, and load demand could affect system performance during the projects. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of a grid-connected wind energy system located in the Al-Jouf region in Saudi Arabia. To this end, the potential of renewable energy sources was assessed using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewables (HOMER) software, that also carried out the technical and economic study utilizing multi-year parameters. The novelty of this study is that it is the first-ever investigation of a grid-connected wind farm system in Saudi Arabia that considers the impact of multi-year parameters such as the grid price, system fixed operation, maintenance cost, and the AC electric load. The results showed that the proposed system in the chosen area recorded a very low Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of around 0.06 USD/kWh compared to other systems. Also, running a multi-year model showed that the considered parameters have an impact on the system's performance, and this reflects the importance of considering these parameters in any such system that will increase the study's accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the current regulation and governance of wind energy turbines on the high seas and detect regulatory challenges. We focus on the existing regulatory framework to develop marine wind farms in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), the nature of wind farms and wind turbines in said areas, and which governance schemes and institutions ought to coordinate and regulate any future marine wind energy development. Our research shows that under public international law, the deployment of wind turbines on (most parts of) the high seas for all States is possible, but many issues still remain, either thinly regulated or unanswered. We inquire where, by whom, and how can marine wind parks be built on the high seas according to public international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the LOSC). Lastly, we evaluate the possible role of marine spatial planning (MSP) in developing wind energy on the high seas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controversy exists as to whether renewable energy (RE) can provide for all the world's energy needs. The purpose of this paper is to help resolve this vital question. Official forecasts see a resumption of a business-as-usual world after the pandemic-induced recession, with further economic growth out to at least 2050. The novel approach taken in this paper is to assume that such a world is fueled entirely with RE at global energy levels at or above those of today, and then to examine whether this scenario is feasible. Because the intermittent primary electricity sources, wind, and solar power, would have to supply nearly all this energy, a simplification made for this analysis is that they do supply 100% of all energy, including non-electrical energy needs. It is found that the energy that could be delivered by these two sources is much less than often assumed, for several reasons: The declining quality of inputs; the need for inclusion of uncounted environmental costs; the need for energy conversion and storage; and the removal of existing fossil fuel energy subsidies. It is concluded that a future world entirely fuelled by RE would necessarily be a lower-energy one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]