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Abstract: Solar-power based sorption refrigeration systems do not suffer from the problem of greenhouse gas emission and release of ozone layer depleting substances as in the case of conventional vapour compression refrigeration system. Absorption based systems are already commercially available while adsorption based systems are still in research and development stage. Progress and development of solar-powered adsorption cooling systems have been described in this paper. Factors preventing commercialization of this system have been discussed in detail. The state of the ongoing research, to make the system more efficient and cost effective, has been presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is the editorial for the virtual special issue (VSI) of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) dedicated to three Sustainable Development of Energy Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Conferences held in 2022, namely: (i) the 5th South East European Conference SEESDEWES 2022 held from May 22 to 26, 2022 in Vlore, Albania; (ii) the 3rd Latin American LASDEWES 2022 held from July 24 to 28, 2022 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and (iii) the 17th SDEWES 2022 held from November 6 to 10, 2022 in Paphos, Cyprus. The VSI collected both high quality review papers and original research articles presented at these conferences, aligning with the aims and scope of RSER. Following a rigorous peer review process, seventeen articles were accepted and published. These articles explore techniques and technologies essential for advancing feasible Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. Spanning multidisciplinary topics, many of them address almost all the Sustainable Development Goals, offering feasible solutions for much-needed decarbonization pathways. • The VSI SDEWES 2022 presents the ready solutions for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. • Five clusters for presenting the Renewable and Sustainable energy cutting edge solutions. • The positioning in the scientific context of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. • Feasible solutions for much-needed decarbonization pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth in population and economic development in Iran and its neighboring countries has resulted in a dramatic increase in electricity demand over the past few years. A substantial amount of electricity must be produced to meet this growing demand in this region. By installing conventional fossil power plants, using renewable energy, and interconnecting with neighboring countries, this growing demand can be accomplished. The main aim of this research is to identify prospects and challenges in the electrical sector around Iran. To this end, this paper evaluates the existing and future state of the electrical sector in Iran and its neighboring countries. Despite the fact that there is still a long way to go in terms of renewable energy in this region, there are some promising targets for the future that will allow fossil fuels to be replaced effectively. Notwithstanding this, we should point out that a number of cross-border interconnection projects are being pursued by Iran and its neighbors in order to integrate their networks and supply this growing demand. Finally, this study presents an overview of the future prospects and challenges of electricity capacity expansion, cross-border interconnections, and electricity transmission corridors in this region. The review results provide comprehensive background knowledge to all the researchers in order to investigate further into the field. This paper assists energy policy makers regarding the development of sustainable energy planning. • •In addition to providing a general overview of the geographical location, population growth, and economic indicators of Iran and its neighboring countries, this paper presents the current state of the Iranian electricity sector and its neighboring countries in light of the trends in electricity production, energy mix, price, and exports and imports. • •This paper explores the existing and future states of electricity capacity expansion in the region, specifically focusing on renewable energy sources. • •The existing and future states of cross-border electricity interconnections are examined to present a comprehensive overview of the cross-border interconnections in this region. • •This region's potential electricity transmission corridors are proposed to create the opportunity to transmit electricity across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper is an Editorial for the special issue (SI) of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) devoted to the 12th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th to 8th October 2017 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The key focus of RSER is to publish critical thinking across the wide field of renewable and sustainable energy. The journal publishes either pure review papers or research papers with a precise review element. Overall, the guest editors invited 36 papers presented on 12th SDEWES conference, of which 17 were accepted after rigorous peer review process. The SDEWES conferences present a continuous effort in gathering high level scientists and research papers across the field of sustainability and by now the amount of accumulated knowledge, through conference papers and special journal issues, is significant. Each SDEWES journal editorial presents a wider overview of special issue journal papers in order to maintain the continuation of knowledge generation on the main sustainability topics. The main topics covered in this RSER editorial include renewable energies with special focus on integration, markets and roadmaps, energy efficiency in buildings, industrial process and transport, bio based economy focused on bio based chemicals and biofuels, energy storage focused on batteries, thermal and geological storages and various sustainability assessments in several sectors and technologies. All were considered in light of the Circular Economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The future of energy is complex, with fluctuating renewable resources in increasingly distributed systems. It is suggested that blockchain technology is a timely innovation with potential to facilitate this future. Peer-to-peer (P2P) microgrids can support renewable energy as well as economically empower consumers and prosumers. However, the rapid development of blockchain and prospects for P2P energy networks is coupled with several grey areas in the institutional landscape. The purpose of this paper is to holistically explore potential challenges of blockchain-based P2P microgrids , and propose practical implications for institutional development as well as academia. An analytical framework for P2P microgrids is developed based on literature review as well as expert interviews. The framework incorporates 1) Technological, 2) Economic, 3) Social, 4) Environmental and 5) Institutional dimensions. Directions for future work in practical and academic contexts are identified. It is suggested that bridging the gap from technological to institutional readiness would require the incorporation of all dimensions as well as their inter-relatedness. Gradual institutional change leveraging community-building and regulatory sandbox approaches are proposed as potential pathways in incorporating this multi-dimensionality, reducing cross-sectoral silos, and facilitating interoperability between current and future systems. By offering insight through holistic conceptualization, this paper aims to contribute to expanding research in building the pillars of a more substantiated institutional arch for blockchain in the energy sector. Highlights • Blockchain has significant potential in energy sector development. • Holistic review of factors of blockchain-based P2P microgrids. • Multi-dimensional analytical framework proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Simulation and modelling allow a range of offshore wind farm stakeholders to test and improve a project's viability in a cost-effective and safe manner. This paper presents a model developed to conduct detailed financial analysis of an offshore wind farm. It extends the current state of the art by employing stochastic time-series simulation modules performing in-depth analysis of the technologies, strategies and procedures applied during the installation, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning phases of a wind farm lifecycle. The model was designed for versatility and can consider both fixed and floating technologies, a wide variety of strategies, and any site specified by the user. Results include energy production, costs and the duration of activities at each stage. These populate financial spreadsheets, which calculate key performance indicators including the Levelised Cost of Energy. The model has been successfully validated against real-life case-studies where possible; published data; and uses sensitivity analysis to ensure the model is working as expected. Through a case-study, the paper demonstrates how 1) the model enables the identification of key cost and time drivers, facilitating scenario optimisation; 2) the stochastic nature of the model considers the impact of uncertain variables on results such as weather conditions and wind turbine failure rates; 3) the model can be used to assess different business models and financing structures. This comprehensive range of abilities means that the model is suited to a variety of end-users and meets the demands of a growing industry, striving to achieve further cost-reductions across a range of site conditions, technologies and markets. Highlights • A validated model that performs in-depth financial analysis of offshore wind farms. • Designed for versatility, it can consider both fixed and floating technologies. • The model identifies key cost and time drivers, facilitating scenario optimisation. • It considers the impact of uncertain variables on results such as weather conditions. • With a comprehensive range of abilities, it is suited to a variety of end-users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Energy systems are quickly evolving through the development of new technologies and the emergence of new operational and market design paradigms. In particular, the global push for sustainability is driving the transition towards a pronounced redesign. In fact, renewable energy integration is occurring at a massive scale, and several other exciting developments are finding their place in modern energy systems, such as distributed energy resources, demand response, energy storage technologies, and local energy markets. In this dynamic context, the process of energy policy design and implementation has found new challenges, and in supporting this key process, expansion planning models and tools can play an essential role. For example, these models can be employed to estimate the impact of a multitude of policy instruments. Thus, there is a wide interest in these tools and a variety of such models, as evidenced by a rich literature and a fast-paced evolution of this research area. Motivated by this, this work presents a comprehensive and up-to-date review on expansion planning models and tools with emphasis on their application to energy policy analysis. In particular, this paper reviews the most significant policy instruments, with an emphasis in renewable energy integration, the optimization models that have been developed for expansion planning, and existing decision-support tools for energy policy analysis. Finally, this paper also discusses the trends in the literature and the most pressing current challenges in the development and use of expansion planning models for energy policy analysis. Highlights • Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview on expansion planning models. • Reviews the most significant policy instruments with an emphasis in renewable energy integration. • Describes the salient features of using expansion models on energy policy analysis. • Discusses the future trends and challenges of smart grid technologies on expansion models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Growing concerns over the environmental impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, uncertainty of future fossil fuel prices, geopolitical instability, and consumer preferences are a few factors driving the development and use of biomass as a source of renewable energy. Government mandates and policy frameworks have further built consensus for effective utilization of sustainable resources for energy. As a result, biomass derived densified solid biofuels have experienced a phenomenal growth in the last decade and are expected to grow by 56% during the three decades from 2010 to 2040. Solid biomass represents the largest share of biomass used for heat and electricity generation. Biomass sources range from agricultural, municipal, and commercial wastes, to forest-litter, and energy crops. Because of the varied nature of these sources, harvesting practices and the cost of transportation, several methods have been developed to densify the biomass. The long-term viability and growth of biobased energy products hinges on the technical innovation and wider societal acceptance of these products. This paper reviews multiple biomass feedstock, processing characteristics, product properties, transportation, and storage options. The paper also discusses the economics of densifying biomass, the impacts to regions where biomass utilization is implemented, outstanding challenges, and national and global trends in biomass utilization. Highlights • Biomass feedstocks are major source for densified solid biofuels. • Environmental concerns, GHG gases emission and government mandates driving biomass utilization. • Woody and non-woody biomass represent largest share of biomass for heat and electricity generation. • Biomass feedstock type, preprocessing, densification, and transportation are critical factors for adoption of biomass for energy applications. • Technical innovation and wider societal acceptance important for growth of solid biofuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy is a promising and efficient renewable energy source for electrical energy production. Globally, there has been a significant increase in the development of wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The world is interested in grid codes applying for facing various problems because of large capacity WECS integration with the grid, including the stability and reliability of electrical grid and power quality. Low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability is an important requirement of grid codes. LVRT means that the wind turbine is still connected to the grid during grid voltage sags. This is essential for ensuring that no generated power by wind turbines is lost due to grid disturbances. To deal with these issues simultaneously, this paper presents a comprehensive review of LVRT methods for the most common wind generators; squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG), doubly fed induction generators (DFIG), and permanent magnetic synchronous generator (PMSG). Moreover, the overall view of optimization techniques that are used to enhance LVRT capability for WECSs and the configurations of WECS are investigated. A comprehensive and a useful summary for the recent work in literature regarding LVRT methods for these three wind generators with comparisons and discussion are introduced. To achieve this aim, more than 200 articles are organised and only 135 papers are presented in this review. • Comprehensive review of low voltage ride through methods for the most common wind generators. • Overall view on optimization techniques that are used to enhance LVRT capability. • The configurations of wind energy conversion system are investigated. • Useful summery for the recent work in literature regarding LVRT methods is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the editorial for the virtual special issue (VSI) of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (RSER) dedicated to the 16th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES 2021) held from October 10 to 15, 2021 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The VSI collected both high quality review papers and original research articles presented at the SDEWES Conference in 2021 belonging to the aims and scope of RSER. After a scrutinizing peer review process, 28 articles were accepted and published. These articles deal with techniques and technologies to board on the feasible Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. Many of them are multidisciplinary articles addressing almost all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and providing feasible solutions to the strongly needed decarbonization pathways. • The VSI SDEWES 2021 covers the feasible Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems. • An overview of the Renewable and Sustainable energy cutting edge techniques. • An overview of the Renewable and Sustainable energy cutting edge technologies. • Feasible solutions to the strongly needed decarbonization pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a discussion on the paper titled “Assessing feed-in tariffs on wind power installation and industry development in Taiwan” published by Hsu et al. In the discussed paper, there were several missing variables in the historical test of the system dynamics (SD) model, and thus the test was not integrated and valid. Additionally, the simulated results of the missing variables were used as important indexes to observe the behavior of the SD model. Therefore, it was highly likely that the solution and related policy analysis based on the simulated results were incorrect. Accordingly, the present study illustrated the structure characteristics of the SD model with respect to the fore-mentioned problems, discussed the reason for missing variables and proposed a method to assess whether or not the historical test was integrated. Finally, after a careful analysis, this study offered suggestions to perfect the historical test proposed in the discussed paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the editorial for the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews joint special issue devoted to the research work discussed and presented at the 11th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th September to the 9th September 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and the 2nd South East European (SEE) SDEWES Conference held from June 15th to June 18th, 2016 in Piran, Slovenia. This special issue is in line with the journal's aim of publishing research from across the ever-broadening field of renewable and sustainable energy with a strong review element. Previous SDEWES conference special issues have gathered a significant knowledge base in the field of sustainable development that reflects the continuous research efforts of the SDEWES research community. Therefore, this editorial provides not only an overview of the papers published in this particular special issue, but also a wider overview of the current trends in the domain of sustainable and renewable energy. This year's special issue focuses particularly on the benefits of the bio-based economy, energy security issues, fossil fuel thermal plant alternatives and environmental constraints, district heating and cooling together with cross sector energy efficiency and energy conservation issues. Sustainable transport systems, the issue of fuel poverty in urban neighbourhoods and renewable energy to support development of peripheral rural areas, optimising passive building design for hot climates and solar-powered heating and cooling are further topics featured in this special issue. In the process of selecting papers for this special issue, the guest editors invited in total 23 extended manuscripts for consideration for publication. After a rigorous review process by expert reviewers overseen by the guest editors a total of 16 articles were accepted for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional petrol vehicles emit a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases, leading to increasingly serious global warming problems. The expansion and development of renewable power generation technologies is conducive in promoting the use of electric vehicles, which are more environmentally friendly. This paper proposes a multi-objective power expansion model considering renewable energy policy objectives. The model regards the problem as a multi-period optimisation task, taking the newly installed capacity and the power generation capacity of each power generation technology as decision variables, and simulating the uncertain factors in the planning process using Geometric Brownian Motion and Monte Carlo approaches. The optimisation objective of the model is to minimise expected costs, reduce risk and environmental impacts, and incorporate changing policy objectives into the constraints to meet policy makers' expectations for renewable energy development. Then, a decentralised target search-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed to solve the model. Its effectiveness is verified by a numerical example using real data from the Chinese power system. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits improved performance compared with benchmark algorithms and provides high quality and diverse Pareto-optimal solutions to decision makers. Finally, the optimal plans for power expansion and generation mix under different preferences and policy objectives are discussed and corresponding recommendations are made. [Display omitted] • Planning for the expansion of power generation under uncertainties is determined. • Strategies for the expansion of power generation towards renewable energy are optimised. • A novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with a constraint handling method is developed. • The impact of multiple renewable energy policies on power generation expansion planning is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the history of renewable energy development in the BRICS countries. The financing models for renewable energy development of BRICS countries include bank financing, institutional loans, industry funds, and international financing. This paper identified several problems with financing in BRICS countries, including a lack of financing channels, investment shortage for small and medium-sized enterprises and imperfect government policies. The solutions to these problems include expanded capital markets, the financing of leasing services, and build-operate-transfer and build-own-operate projects; further, a financial citizen participation model should be employed similar to that as Germany and European Union emissions trading system (EU ETS). A financial citizen participation model means that legal entities, private individuals, and agricultural enterprises invest in renewable energy infrastructure through equity. A regional reserve ratio monetary policy is suggested to allow regions to develop renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical framework, based on New Institutional Economics (NIE) concepts, to guide the development of community microgrids. Given limited application thus far of such energy systems, this paper also draws on empirical studies and experiences from the planning and development of other public/community infrastructure and utility services in the development of this framework. It links an efficient ownership and governance structure with transactional characteristics such as asset idiosyncrasy, frequency, and uncertainty (defined in Section 3.1). The key role of the customers and the microgrid service provider, and more specifically their 'bilateral monopoly' relationship and its effects on the choice of institutional structure, is highlighted. The paper examines the optimum conditions for public, private or hybrid financial ownership, and for unified or network governance through long-term contracting. This allows ex-ante investment uncertainty and ex-post appropriation risks to be efficiently managed. The analysis suggests that long-term contract completeness, future demand for electricity and level of uncertainty are the determining factors in the selection of institutional structure. This has significant real-world implications for the communities seeking to achieve electricity self-sufficiency and environmental benefits through community microgrids, service providers and other private or public actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper is devoted to elaborating the status of different energy policy planning studies and the evaluation of various GHG mitigation studies. It includes, some of the major developments in global energy scenario, status of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, issues in the implementation of Kyoto protocol and GHG mitigation, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and energy scenario especially pertaining to the residential, industrial and commercial energy sector in the initial sections. The later part of this paper highlights the salient contributions in various literatures pertaining to energy demand forecasting in residential, commercial and industrial sector, GHG estimation methodologies, and GHG mitigation studies in various sectors. The success and difficulties in implementing various policy planning practices were also discussed in the paper. Most of the prominent literature in the area of energy demand and consumption analysis towards effective implementation of GHG mitigation is described. In the end, a comprehensive comments and recommendations based on the study were furnished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of strategical planning in support of the energy transition, industry plays a key role, producing alone more than 20 % direct global CO 2 emissions, thus the adoption of low-carbon technologies in this field is crucial to reach ambitious environmental goals. An important tool in building long-term environmental strategies is scenario analysis, often built through quantitative bottom-up models, among which the TIMES model generator. However, the quality of the results strongly depends on the level of detail of the dataset it can rely on. Therefore, the development of insightful environmental-friendly energy use trajectories is favored by the use of a sufficiently rich and accurately built technological repository. A review of the technological outlook is presented in this paper in five industrial subsectors (iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, non-metallic minerals, chemicals, pulp and paper). That review leads to the composition of a dataset (referred to as industrial demand technology database) including both currently existing and announced technologies to be used in a variety of macro-scale energy models, with particular reference to those belonging to the TIMES family. Techno-economic and environmental parameters are critically selected from the available data sources, in order to give a picture of the degree of sustainability that each industrial sector can achieve in the long term. This is a first-of-a-kind comprehensive review – including, among others, the characterization of very innovative technologies still in research phase – and as such, it could be very helpful to develop useful insights focusing on a low carbon, sustainable energy system development. • An extended transparent technological database for the industry sector is presented. • Techno-economic and environmental features are given for 65 industrial technologies. • A detailed picture of current industrial energy technology perspectives is provided. • Some industrial sectors show a wide range of environmental-friendly alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrified vehicles provide an effective solution to address the unfavorable impacts of fossil fuel use in the transportation sector. Energy management strategy (EMS) is the core technology supporting the outstanding performance of electrified vehicles. However, technical bottlenecks in conventional control methods, such as poor real-time performance and limited generalization capability, significantly hinder the development of energy management technology. The recent advances in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) hold enormous potential in addressing relevant problems. To this end, this paper systematically surveys DRL-based EMSs. First, DRL algorithms and useful DRL extensions are briefly reviewed. Next, a comprehensive literature survey of pioneering and representative working is presented. The effectiveness and configuration methods of DRL in energy management issues, as well as a guideline for DRL-based EMSs in different vehicular structures, are appropriately analyzed and summarized. Finally, the main challenges and potential solutions are extracted to enhance further real-world implementation. [Display omitted] • Theoretical overview of DRL algorithms that are valuable for energy management. • Summary of pioneering and representative studies on DRL-based EMSs. • Analysis of the effectiveness and configuration methods of DRL in energy management. • Guidelines for applying various DRL methods in different vehicular structures. • Discussion of challenges and potential solutions for real-world implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art on Hardware-In-The-Loop simulation methodologies and technologies applied in the research field of wave energy converters. It reveals important issues, such as an unclear taxonomy and representations of these methodologies, which are critical for the success of the approach, mostly during the design of experiments and presentation of results. Moreover, a classification approach to these methodologies is not found in the literature. Thus, a generic taxonomical and classification framework is developed to support the review process. This framework is built based on three taxonomic subsystems that the review shows to be effective in organizing the reviewed methodologies: simulated, real and interface subsystems. In particular, the definition of the interface subsystem is key to overcoming the limitations found in the methodological representations. Furthermore, this review borrows the term actionability to this approach to better describe the nuances and gaps between the reviewed case studies. It is found that the different technical implementations are easily organized with the proposed framework, and the results cover a wide range of wave energy converter development phases. Likewise, this review shows opportunities for improvements in the methodology and application to a wider number of new case studies. [Display omitted] • Hardware in the loop approach is currently described with unclear methodology. • Few case studies of the approach on wave energy converters have been published. • Review reveals research opportunities for methodological improvements. • Taxonomic framework proposed for systematic and clear methodological descriptions. • Technical information is provided for a wide range of device development phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African continent is endowed with massive energy resources such as hydropower, solar, wind, natural gas, wave energy, and many more, yet it is the continent with the least energy supply in the world thereby resulting in a lack of sufficient energy to meet its growing energy demand. Though the continent holds 100 GW of wind capabilities, the current installed capacity as at 2018 was 5.7 GW with countries in northern Africa as well as South Africa capturing over 90% of the wind energy share on the continent. Therefore, this paper reviews the wind energy industry in Africa by identifying the current installed and potential capacity of wind energy on the continent. The challenges faced by the wind energy industry such as policy, competition, technical and economic are also reviewed. Transitions, technological innovation systems, and strategic niche management theoretical sustainability transition framework as well as proposed pathways to overcome these prevailing challenges hindering the full exploration of the wind energy sector in Africa are also highlighted in order to uplift the continent's socio-economic status. Basically, this can be achieved through the adoption of strong 'political-will' by African national governments to drive wind energy development. There is also the need for institutional frameworks to ensure the practical adoption of new wind energy technologies. Furthermore, the major benefits Africa stands to gain from investment in wind energy are enumerated by comparing with the benefits realized by other countries' economies as a result of investing in the wind energy industry. For instance, cheap electricity, job creation, industrial growth, and eco-friendly energy source. • Reviewing wind energy industry in Africa and existing challenges. • The challenges faced by African's wind energy industry can be categorized under policy, competition, technical and economic. • Framework for transiting Africa's wind energy industry from small-scale production to large-scale commercial industry.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive review on the status of renewable energy developments and hydrogen economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. This region is heavily reliant on fossil fuels for its domestic energy supply and is also considered a global energy exporter. In this regard, an overview of the current state of energy sector in the region is provided. Moreover, the region possesses great potential for renewable energy exploitation due to its climatic advantages. Therefore, the current status of renewable energy utilization within the region's various countries is reviewed by presenting several operational renewable energy-based plants and future projects for deployment of renewable power in the region. Green hydrogen is an important sustainable clean fuel, and its utilization is essential for both environmental preservation and energy security. Thus, the status of hydrogen production and utilization in the region is discussed considering the various operational systems and future hydrogen generation projects. The concept of source, system and service is also incorporated which considers the utilization of clean energy sources for sustainable hydrogen production through environmentally benign pathways. The potential deployment opportunities for the renewable hydrogen production are also discussed based on available renewable sources in the region. Moreover, this paper discusses the challenges of increasing renewable energy utilization in the region. Furthermore, this paper provides a road map for achieving renewable hydrogen economy including a reduction in domestic utilization of oil and gas sources, subsidization of renewable production sector, and financial support to hydrogen production and transportation infrastructure. • Providing an overview of the status of energy sector in the region. • Providing an overview of the status of renewable energy utilization in the region. • Discussing the challenges and opportunities of renewable and hydrogen energy development in the region. • Providing a road map for renewable hydrogen development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement of thermal performance of a solar air heater can be obtained by enhancing the rate of heat transfer. Thermal efficiency of matrix solar air heater is higher in comparison to conventional type. Number of studies has been reported in the literature on the performance of matrix air heater with different material packing and elaborated various parameters such as design; heat transfer enhancement, flow phenomenon and pressure drop in the duct. Majority of the studies revealed an increase in the thermal efficiency for matrix collector as compared to conventional plane solar air heater. This review paper presents an extensive study of the research carried out on matrix solar air heater. Based on literature review, it is concluded that the solar air heaters performed well when packed with porous medium and this is due to the geometrical parameters of porous material. In addition double pass porous bed solar air heaters performed better than single pass. Various types of matrix materials used in the literature and correlations developed for heat transfer and friction factor by different researchers have been presented. Much attention has been devoted in this paper to portrait the development of various types of solar air heaters over the years. The merits and demerits of different models evolved by many researchers have been critically analyzed. Finding in a nut shell is that the drawbacks associated with conventional nonporous solar air heaters such as high heat loss to the ambient, decreased convective heat flow from plate to air, etc. can be overcome by the use of an effective design of porous bed solar air heater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PV/T technology attracted numerous researchers and professionals during the last decades. There are many review papers in the literature evaluated the R&D aspects of PV/T collectors. In fact, there are abundant of case studies discussed the parameters of climate, design and operational conditions affected the PV/T collector performance. But, a comprehensive compilation of the information of those case studies is still a missing link in the literature. Hence, this paper intended to review thoroughly the information regarding the parameters affecting the PV/T collector performance mainly and PV module performance partially. The parameters are supported with the most available R&D to measure the accurate influence of each parameter on the performance. The outcomes from the study are highlighted in lessons learned section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the specificities of the patterns of low carbon energy technological innovations in selected Asian emerging economies. China and the members of ASEAN-4 (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) are included in this analysis for their identical structure of developing economy. We outline a synthetic framework to cluster together the technologies with similar characteristics and analyse the changes of these characteristics over time. This is in order to elucidate the scope of sectoral composition and specialisation of the selected economies, and thereby understand the relative impact of science-based low carbon energy technologies on the niches of technological excellence. The findings show that China was keen to pursue its diversification strategy and develop its capability in low carbon energy technologies since the turn of the millennium. However, China has been gradually losing its momentum in more traditional areas like biomass, hydroelectric power, natural gas and fossil fuels. The ASEAN-4 economies, on the other hand, are showing interest in building a number of niches of technological excellence. This highlights a contrasting relative technological advantage between larger and smaller economies. Our findings also indicate that many of the low carbon technologies in selected economies have yet to attain strong scientific grounding for development. The findings of this paper are expected to provide some insights into low carbon energy technological development of emerging economies, and be useful for other developing economies to establish their strategic moves for energy technology development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive review on various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms based on Perturb and Observe, Incremental Conductance, Soft Computing and other techniques along with the real time hardware implementation of photovoltaic (PV) system. In this review, the complete procedure, the implementation methodology and their effects in the PV output were discussed in detail for each algorithm. Further, MPPT algorithms for PV systems with partial shading condition were reviewed and reported. This paper is intended to serve as a suitable reference for future work in PV based power generation and its related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric energy transport theories are still a debatable subject regarding their validity and applicability in various aspects. This paper includes a comparative study of the group of theories which are categorized as instantaneous theories as opposed to periodic-averaged ones. As a preliminary review this paper presents first the three apparent power definitions in order to emphasize the difference between them. A discussion regarding their accuracy for energy metering of various conditions such as multiphase and non-sinusoidal environments is presented. Instantaneous theories are then reviewed and compared with periodic averaged theories. The review focuses mainly on p-q theory ( PQT ) and its derivative, instantaneous multi-phase theory. The legacy application of this theory for active filtering is briefly presented and the new idea of using the theory for multi-load and multi-source theory is presented as well. The comparison identifies the similarities and differences between the instantaneous and periodic averaging theories, and their inter-relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to UNDP Policy Note 2014, only 23% of Yemen rural community have access to electricity – having connected to national grid or use small isolated generating units – while the country is one of the richest in solar energy with over 3000 h per year clean blue sky. The objectives of this paper is to concentrate on the utilization and the cost effectiveness of photovoltaic solar energy for electrification of Yemeni rural and desert communities, which will result in enhancing education, culture, science, medical services, and improve the living conditions in rural areas. Otherwise, energy poverty that is a facet of a multidimensional poverty in Yemen will persists because the possibility of connecting rural communities to the national grid, even in the next ten years, is invisible due to major political and financial problems that the country is facing. Moreover, PV energy is environmentally clean and has proved to be one of the best solutions for rural electrification in many countries worldwide due to noticeable drop of PV systems prices with the advance in PV technology. Accordingly, it should be the best solution for rural electrification in Yemeni as well. The paper demonstrates the cost effectiveness and the design procedure of utilization of solar energy for rural and desert communities in Yemen using a number of subsequent cases typical to Yemeni communities and provides also a practical study to support Bedouin backpackers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is among the 10 countries that face the worst energy crisis of the world. As the country struggles with a number of financial, political and social issues, the transition from a conventional fuels based economy to a green economy is not an easy one. Pakistan has been blessed with immense potential of clean renewable sources of solar, wind and biomass but they have not been exploited yet. Renewable energy technology sector has not penetrated the energy mix and is currently an emerging market. This paper highlights the steps the country has taken in the past and the steps that are being taken at present to emerge out of the prevailing energy crisis when even the most urban areas suffer from power outages of 12 h per day. Until 2009, no single grid interconnected wind farm existed but now the situation has changed considerably and wind farms contributing to the national grid are a reality now. Three grid interconnected farms have been inaugurated and many others are in pipeline. The national policy regarding wind power systems has recently changed after unexpected setbacks to ongoing projects. This paper reviews the developments in the wind power sector of the country and lists some suggestions that can help improve the wind power penetration in the national energy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the first industrial revolution was based on Steam Engine (coal as energy source), and the second on oil and electricity, where both these revolutions are actually "high carbon" revolutions, it is logical to expect that the third industrial revolution should be based on systems of renewable energy sources (RES), in order to minimize the problems arising from climate changes and to achieve sustainable development. However, the usage of the RES technologies and daily/weekly storage of energy and their connection to smart grids is not enough for the expected third industrial revolution. The start of this revolution would require technologies that have a great potential for further development and ability to supply, at any time, the necessary energy and power to a settlement/city, as well as drinking water, meeting the peak load requirements, continuously throughout the year, and independently of external sources of energy and drinking water. This would be provided from intermittent RES energy (solar, wind, etc.) and sea or other unclean source of water as natural resources. In that context, this paper presents a radically new technological solution: Key Engine which uses only natural resources: the sun, sea and gravity, in order to continuously and simultaneously supply a consumer with energy, power and drinking water. This solution has all the essential features required to start a third industrial revolution. The basic unit of Key Engine consists of the solar thermal (ST) generator with parabolic trough collectors through which sea water flows directly, absorbing thermal energy of solar radiation. After the separation of steam from seawater, the steam drives turbines and generators and produces electricity that is delivered to Pump Storage Hydroelectric (PSH) facility with seawater, which balances the daily and seasonal surpluses and shortages of energy, thus ensuring a continuous supply of electric power and energy to a consumer. At the same time, the water that comes out of the turbine, passes through the water treatment unit and is stored in drinking water reservoir, enabling continuous supply of the same consumer with drinking water. The paper presents theoretical aspects of Key Engine, model for optimal sizing and practical formulas for the calculation of characteristic values of the system, which could be the basis for further scientific research, development and innovative solutions that would help engineers in practice for numerous and diverse applications of Key Engine. In order to verify the derived mathematical relationships and models for optimizing the Key Engine in real conditions, the case study of the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, Croatia, has been considered, along with total annual irradiance of 1575 kW h/m 2 a, total annual electric energy consumption of 20 GW h and drinking water consumption of 453,382 m 3 . The obtained results: power of ST generator of 52 MW, working volume of the upper reservoir of 7 hm 3 , total annual electric energy production of 62 GW h/a, and drinking water production of 480,754 m 3 /a, clearly show that the new technology can fully meet the needs of the considered consumer for energy and drinking water. As the basic idea of Key Engine relies on the use of natural resources, i.e. RES energy and sea, the paper presents only the starting solution, whereby, apart from the sun, RES can be wind, or other renewable sources, that can perform separation of vapor from seawater and thus produce drinking water, as well as energy simultanously. Also, energy storage may not be performed solely by the PSH technology, but also by any other technology that can provide seasonal balancing of energy. All this suggests that the Key Engine can be understood as an open-source for RES technology development and thus bring changes in all three aspects of sustainable development: economy, society and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a three-year low valley caused by Fukushima nuclear accident, China finally restarted the approval of new coastal nuclear projects followed by the gradually matured new generation nuclear reactor technology and increasingly more supporting policies. Under this major shift of policy environment, China׳s nuclear power development would certainly stride on a new stage. This paper simulated the growth rate, development scale and evolvement path of China׳s nuclear power by establishing system dynamics models in the new-round construction. Under the background of changing nuclear power policy, this paper is helpful to master the dynamic development pattern of China׳s nuclear power system. These dynamic analyses also have reference meaning to the prediction of nuclear installed-capacity, nuclear generation, uranium import and other relevant factors. Further, the simulation results of this paper provide the Chinese government with suggestions of planning China׳s nuclear push, and deciding the strategy of uranium supply in order to secure the safe and steady nuclear power supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the impact assessment of optimally placed different types of distributed generations (DGs) such as DG-1(T 1 ), DG-2 (T 2 ), DG-3 (T 3 ), and DG-4 (T 4 ) with different load models (DMLs) by using genetic algorithm (GA) in distribution power systems (DPSs) from minimum total mega volt ampere (MVA) intake viewpoint of main substation. This paper also presents the impact assessment of optimally placed same kind of DGssuch as DG-2(T 2 ) and DG-4(T 4 ) operating at different power factors (varies from 0.80 to 0.99 leading and lagging, respectively) with DLMs by GA in DPSs from minimum total MVA intake viewpoint of main substation. Different power system (PS) performance indices such as minimization of real power loss, minimization of reactive power loss, improvement of voltage profile, reduction of short circuit current or MVA line capacity and reduction in the emission of environmental greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxide (NO x ) and particulate matters and in emergency like conditions such as under fault, sudden change in field excitation of alternators or load increased in DPSs are calculated. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is illustrated on IEEE-37 bus distribution test system. This research article is very much useful for practitioners working on the implementation of renewable and building of future electricity grids and also includes the different PS performance indicators from better social welfare, reduced in the environmental pollutants emission, improved the technical issues, reduced the economical burden, and betters the security viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy not only can effectively alleviate the depletion of traditional energy sources, but also meet the need for building development. At present, the applications of renewable energy in buildings are still facing many problems. This paper presents a review of the application of renewable energy systems in buildings, and describes how to make good use of renewable energy for the sustainable development in the hot-summer and warm-winter region of China. The effective measures would improve the calculation methods, design the building and energy system with locality, develop integrated design of renewable energy systems, establish evaluation indexes of renewable energy applicability in buildings, and strengthen project management. Discussion results presented in the paper can provide a guideline for better to apply renewable energy systems to buildings in the hot-summer and warm-winter region of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological compensation could coordinate the development of energy, the economy, and the environment by internalizing environmental externalities and adjusting for the relationships with stakeholders׳ benefits. Thus, because hydropower is a clean and renewable form of energy, it is urgent that an ecological compensation mechanism be established for hydropower to promote its sustainable development. In this context, this paper has reviewed previous compensation research to explore the particular role that ecological compensation has had in the sustainable development of hydropower. The paper discusses and perfects the ecological compensation mechanism establishment in hydropower development, discussing its connotation, stakeholders, modes, and development of standards. We found that the current ecological compensation mechanism in hydropower development was not complete; the accuracy, applicability and reasonability of each mode of ecological compensation in hydropower development required additional study. Based on these findings, in this review paper, a complete ecological compensation mechanism framework was constructed to avoid the partial compensation on large hydropower projects. With this new compensation mechanism framework, the displaced people, inundated habitats, and regulated rivers were identified as the recipients, whereas the beneficiaries from the hydropower development were identified as the payers. The findings also indicated that the market-led and government-led compensation should be integrated when designing natural habitat restoration, resettlement compensation, and payment for ecosystem services (PES) in hydropower development. Additionally, a cascade ecological compensation development mode was proposed for hydropower development according to the practical situation in China to illustrate the gradual perfection of the ecological compensation mechanism establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand response (DR) is regarded as an important method in the economic and secure operation of the power system, which has attracted great attentions from both industry and academia. With increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DER), demand-side resources become more active and diversified. Moreover, developments of the smart grid (SG) technology provide better environment for DR application. This paper presents an overview of demand-side resource developments from controllable loads to generalized demand-side resources (GDR) including distributed generation (DG) and electric energy storage (EES). Besides, aggregation technologies such as virtual power plant (VPP) and load aggregator (LA) are summarized here. Advantages of GDR application and its development prospects are presented at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sustainable energy system can be treated as a development of the distributed generation concept. It meets energy demands locally from renewable energy or/and high-efficiency polygeneration production technologies, and is characterized by energy and cost efficiency, reliability, and environmental-friendliness. Distributed energy systems typically use renewable energy resources to supply all energy demands, such as heat, cooling, and electric power in an integrated way. However, it seems that too much emphasis is placed on power and associated renewable energy-based power technologies for dealing with sustainability issues in public discussion and the research community. Often, equally important thermal energy (heat and cooling) and polygeneration are ignored. Polygeneration is an energy-efficient technology for generating simultaneously heat and power as well as other energy products in a single integrated process. Energy efficiency contributes significantly to CO 2 emission reduction. This paper discusses the role of polygeneration in a distributed energy system and the contributions of polygeneration to the development of sustainable energy systems. The paper also stresses that efficient decision support tools for sustainable polygeneration systems are important to achieve sustainability. First, the joint characteristic of a polygeneration plant that defines the dependency between different energy products is reviewed. Then, typical methods for dealing with polygeneration systems are reviewed. The review attempts to highlight the complexity of polygeneration systems and potential of polygeneration systems to adjust output of different energy products. Next, the challenges of sustainable polygeneration energy systems are discussed. Then some practices for operating polygeneration plants are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010 China has faced a worrying phenomenon “wind curtailment” in the development and operation of the wind power industry. This phenomenon has resulted in sharp decline of the utilization hours of the wind power equipment, seriously affected the economic benefits of the wind farms and caused serious energy waste. The wind curtailment in China is seemingly caused by the volatility of the wind power technical characteristics. However, judging from a deep level, the planning, networking management and policies play a critical role. With analysis this paper makes such a conclusion: it is not practical to solve the wind curtailment of China solely with the technical solutions and comprehensive measures must be taken. The paper offers strategies from the planning, policy and technical levels to solve the wind curtailment problem according to the actual situation of China and by referring to experiences of developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction of renewable energy sources (RES) in insular areas is growing on different islands of various regions in the world and the large-scale deployment of renewables in island power systems is appealing to local attention of grid operators as a method to decrease fossil fuel consumption. Planning a grid based on renewable power plants (RPP) presents serious challenges to the normal operation of a power system, precisely on voltage and frequency stability. Despite of its inherent problems, there is a consensus that in near future the RES could supply most of local needs without depending exclusively on fossil fuels. In previous grid code compliance, wind turbines did not required services to support grid operation. Thus, in order to shift to large-scale integration of renewables, the insular grid code ought to incorporate a new set of requirements with the intention of regulating the inclusion of these services. Hence, this paper discusses grid code requirements for large-scale integration of renewables in an island context, as a new contribution to earlier studies. The current trends on grid code formulation, towards an improved integration of distributed renewable resources in island power systems, are addressed. The paper also discusses advanced grid code requirement concepts such as virtual wind inertia and synthetic inertia for improving regulation capability of wind farms and the application of energy storage systems (EES) for enhancing renewable generation integration. Finally, a comparative analysis of insular grid code compliance to these requirements is presented in the European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh being a developing country is struggling for the self-sufficiency of electric power for a very long time. In this run renewable energy can play an important role for electricity generation. Bangladesh abuts by Bay of Bengal, as a result the southern areas face around 2∼5 m of tidal head/height rise and fall and as it is in the tropical region it gets an average daylight of 7∼8 hper day. Thus the hydro (tidal) energy and solar energy can be the key points to meet the scarcity of power. This paper discusses a model of possible small hybrid power generation system consisting of a PV generation unit with storage and a micro-hydro generation unit and a diesel generator which can mitigate the rising energy demand at the southern areas of Bangladesh. In this paper the economic viability is discussed along with the technical aspects to set up such system via HOMER analysis. Moreover the system cost was analyzed together with a comparison of other system costs of similar capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a global consensus on making full use of renewable energy because of human concern for energy security and environmental deterioration. Power generation with large-scale renewable energy such as solar and wind energy has become the trend of modern power systems, and the resulting impacts on power systems are more and more prominent. Therefore, there is great concern from academic and engineering areas of all countries. In China, as the fastest growing country in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in the world, these problems are particularly outstanding. This paper extensively reviews the present research and application status of large-scale PV (LSPV) power generation in China, discusses the modelling and simulation techniques of LSPV, explores impacts of LSPV integration on dynamic and static characteristics of power systems, and describes key technologies about LSPV power generation delivery and consumption from the perspective of power system planning, simulation, dispatching and control. Additionally, this paper also refines academic and engineering problems, and recommendations are proposed for future research and development of LSPV power generation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of alternative energy sources has become a necessity as fossil energy resources are declining. At the same time, energy demand is rapidly increasing, putting the world on the verge of a global energy crisis. Moreover, the extensive use of conventional energy sources is polluting the environment and causing global warming. On the other hand, wind and other renewable energy sources are viable and clean alternatives to fossil fuels. Low operating cost and extensive availability make wind one of the most advantageous and effective renewable energy sources. This paper provides an exposure to the necessity for deployment of renewable energy sources and the worldwide installed capacity of wind power as well as a review of various wind technologies in conjunction with their applications and devices of operation. Furthermore, this paper discusses the cost of electric generation in wind power plants as well as the economic and environmental policies that advocate the installation of wind energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total energy consumption per capita of any country is a critical input for the economic and social development. But nowadays, the current energy production systems are not sustainable and they are not environment friendly. Increased fossil energy consumptions in manufacturing, transportation and standard of living in the growing population have the highest impact on the environment in terms of global warming potential and air pollution. Also fossil fuel prices are increasing because of shortening of fossil fuel sources. Sustainable development improves standard of life economically and environmentally over the long term in a way that must be supported by the industrial structure of the country. In order to sustain energy availability and keep environment livable for future generations, finding new alternatives is necessary. Increased awareness of society about environmental issues and fossil energy sources depletion support new clean alternatives. These alternatives are one of the important and determinant policy areas for the countries, and should include both short and long term energy policies. This paper discusses the environmental pollution caused by energy consumption, and the role of conventional and renewable energy technologies as one component of the effective sustainable development and solution. Also, renewable energy potential of Turkey for assessment of the green energy systems is investigated in terms of sustainable development, environmental impact and prices. All the given results in this paper will be useful to researchers, engineers, decision and policy makers in industry and government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adsorption refrigeration technology has established enhanced significance in last three decades, due to its noiseless, non-corrosive and environment friendly operation by the utilization of low grade heat sources, especially solar energy. A plethora of adsorption cooling systems had been developed but still these cooling systems are not ready to compete with the traditional vapor compression cooling systems. This paper aims to provide fundamental knowledge on the adsorption systems and presents a comprehensive literature review of the past efforts in the field of their solar energy utilization. This paper also presents a brief of various related researches conducted in India. A survey of developments in the market trends is also presented in this paper. It shows that a number of attempts have been made by various companies to enhance the performance of adsorption refrigeration systems and maintain their presence in market but limitations regarding their technical and economic aspects seem difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, adsorption cooling systems driven by solar energy not only lowers down the daily electricity consumption but also reduces the global warming potential due to its environment friendly nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solar energy generation has grown significantly in the past years. The importance of PV penetration in power system as a major element of renewable energy source has seen it being widely used on a global scale. Despite its promising success, PV penetration presents various issues and its impact on the distribution system has to address for seamless integration in the power system. In this paper, a comprehensive overview on important issues affecting the distribution system as a result of PV penetration is presented. Pertinent issues such as voltage fluctuation, voltage rise, voltage balance, and harmonics and their effect on the system are discussed in details. The islanding issues, which are of critical importance to the stability and integrity of the system, are also thoroughly reviewed. Details on different islanding techniques – remote and local techniques and their advantage and disadvantages are shown. Therefore, this paper can provide useful information and serve as a reference for researchers and utility engineers on issues to be considered with regards to PV penetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increased acknowledgment of global climate change and warming, governments, consumers, and firms are responding collectively to create today's low-carbon economy. Carbon footprint labeling has developed as a meaningful instrument to motivate greenhouse gas emission reductions. This paper reviews existing research and implementation examples to understand the development of carbon labeling. This includes discussing the evolution of the carbon labeling concept, and different measurement methodologies and standards for carbon labels. These methods and standards include life cycle assessment, Public Available Standard 2050, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and International Organization for Standardization 14067. The review also considers carbon label implementation in different countries and the potential impacts of carbon labeling schemes. The paper closes with recommendations for carbon label implementation, summarizing the advantages and drawbacks of carbon labeling approaches. Governments, consumers, and firms may use this review to adjust their strategy for future carbon label implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with environmental issues caused by fossil fuel burning in the industrial and transportation sectors, innovations towards cleaner solutions to replace the ever diminishing fossil fuels have been the focus of not only researchers but governments all around the world. The hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technology is the result of the desire to have vehicles with a better fuel economy and lower tailpipe emissions to meet the requirements of environmental policies as well as to absorb the impact of rising fuel prices. The objectives are met by combining a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with one or more electric motors powered by a battery pack that can be charged using an on-board generator and the regenerative braking technology to power the transmission. The challenge is to develop an efficient energy management strategy (EMS) to satisfy the objectives while not having a reduced vehicle performance. In this paper, EMSs that are proposed and developed in the recent years are revisited and reviewed. Additionally, the Plug-in HEV is discussed in a new perspective from the EMS point of view. The through-the-road (TtR) HEV with in-wheel motors (IWM) is a fairly new concept in the HEV design that features less complicated configuration with reduced hardware requirements and lower cost. Recent research findings are evaluated throughout this paper leading to a hypothetical TtR HEV materialization. A thorough discussion is made encompassing the advantages and disadvantages of the concept, its performance compared to conventional HEVs and the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the conventional energy resources are limited and environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent, new energy resources, being environmental friendly and renewable, are paid more and more attention by all the countries. At present, the development and utilization of new energy resources in China has made progress. However, due to the factors such as the international energy competition situation, China׳s productivity level and its development phase, and the lagging of related system and mechanism reforms, China׳s new energy has been faced with constraints in the aspects of the system, efficiency, supply, region and technology. If related reforms were not implemented, the development of new energy in China would be severely hindered for a long period of time in the future. In view of this, this paper reviewed the development status of China׳s new energy industry, and analyzed five aspects of constraints. Moreover, a discussion was carried out from four aspects of the system, consumption, production, technology reforms in order to break the corresponding constraints. Finally the future development planning of new energy was presented. All in all, the deep investigation into China׳s new energy development status, constraints, reforms and planning in this paper is aimed at promoting the reform of new energy resources production and utilization modes, improving the policy system continuously, addressing the deep-rooted institutional contradictions of the new energy industry, and providing the reference and advice for the transformation of China׳s energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an enquiry into the role of State policies in influencing wind installed capacity. The paper studies the impact of policies on deployment of wind potential across the States of India over two decades. Aggregate indices are computed for each of the seven wind resourceful States of India indicating attractiveness for installed capacity of wind energy. For computing the indices, four policies, Feed-in-Tariff, Renewable Purchase Obligation, Banking facility, and Wheeling charges are considered. Panel data techniques are then employed to investigate the impact of the policy differences on wind potential deployment over the 19 year period (1993–2012) after controlling for three State-specific factors. The controlling factors include per-capita income of the State, power deficit, and ratio of installed capacity of wind to geographic potential indicating unmet capacity. The results show that that policy index positively impacts wind deployment whether control variables are included or not. Moreover, the control factors like the per-capita income of the State and unmet capacity have positive influence over the investment in wind energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and renewable, wind is one of the major ways to produce power. However, natural wind used for tunnel ventilation is often neglected. Natural wind is usually regarded as resistance. Every year, unchanging ventilation mode and unreasonable control strategy lead to huge energy consumption and economic loss In China. This paper mainly discusses and analyzes the current situation of energy consumption in extra-long tunnel operation ventilation in China. It proposes the natural wind utilization in extra-long segmented tunnels. Therefore, a scientific and theoretical calculation method for extra-long tunnels located in climate separation zone is presented in this paper. Principles of natural wind in each tunnel section are obtained based on long-term monitored meteorological factors. A feasible optimized energy-saving ventilation strategy is put forward, which utilizes natural wind and will minimize the operation energy consumption. It is concluded that, the results about operation energy consumption from this paper can provide useful technical supports in design, operation and management for tunnels all over the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is facing increasing power shortage from the last two decades. The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has taken various remedial measures and is offering incentives for private investment to generate electricity at cheap rates. New hydropower dams were proposed in the past, such as Kalabagh Dam, but could not be commissioned to date. Fossil fuels are depleting and oil has to be imported for oil-fired power plants, which is highly expensive and a burden for the country's economy. This scenario has raised serious concerns among citizens. In this frustrating situation, there is dire need for exploration and installation of alternate renewable energy resources, in particular, wind energy and solar energy to augment the existing power generation and distribution apparatus. These then need to be integrated with the national power grid. Pakistan has enormous wind energy potential, especially in three of its four provinces namely, Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK), Sindh and Balochistan. The country's multifarious terrain includes coastal and hilly areas suitable for installation of large wind turbines. The GoP has taken active steps towards measuring wind speed statistics in various parts of the country. In this paper, the authors analyze wind speed data for the mentioned three provinces. The fourth province, Punjab, has very limited wind energy potential and hence is not considered. Wind speed data for Jiwani (a reference site in Balochistan) was obtained from Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) as a case study. The paper attempts to assess how much wind energy can be harnessed from the three provinces. It then focuses on Jiwani whose specific power density is estimated for wind turbine sizing. Lastly, a practical scheme is proposed for integration of wind power output (from windy sites) with the national power grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy hybrid power systems have been proven through their ability to address the limitations of single renewable energy system in terms of power efficiency, stability, and reliability while operating at minimum cost. In this regards many research and practical experiences have been done. The present paper reviews the different hybrid PV–Wind renewable energy hybrid systems used for electrical power generations. Different criteria of sizing the different system components of hybrid renewable energy power plant at the most preferable logistical environmental and economical considerations have been discussed. Also, the paper discussed some of the optimization approaches which are used to compare the energy production cost and performance of different hybrid system configurations using simulation techniques. Based on the fact that, potential of the wind and solar energy is not equal in Oman, this paper will discuss the optimum sizing process of two proposed hybrid PV–Wind plants in Oman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]