Search

Hydropower emerged as the predominant renewable source, constituting 83.3 % of the overall renewable electricity generated and contributing to 15.9 % of the total electricity output in Malaysia. The adverse effects of climate change, including extreme temperature and precipitation events, pose challenges to the performance and infrastructure of the hydropower plant. The main objective of this research is to investigate the potential ramifications of climate change on hydropower generation in Malaysia, with a particular emphasis on the projected impacts of temperature and precipitation changes. Data from ClimateAP software using global climate models are used to estimate the percentage changes in annual average temperature by 2070 under high emissions scenarios in comparison to baseline data from the end of the 20th century. The heat map was used to show the projected maximum temperature and precipitation across Malaysia under the Radiative Concentration Pathways 8.5 scenario. The hydraulic power generated formula was modified to determine the relationship between climate change and power generation. The findings reveal that an increase in temperature reduces power generation while an increase in precipitation increases energy production. Enhancements, additional analysis, and validation of these findings would help mitigate climate change and provide valuable insight into hydropower systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy, often referred to as clean energy is derived from natural resources and does not deplete when used. Malaysia targets to achieve 31 % renewable energy generation by 2025. The availability and reliability of renewable energy resources are highly vulnerable to climate conditions. Floods, which account for almost 40 % of natural disaster can adversely affect energy resources generation, transmission and infrastructure. Malaysia as a tropical country is especially prone to floods due to the high average rainfall it receives annually. Malaysia energy policy planning has placed more emphasis on efficiency of generation and emissions reductions. The need to adapt to flood disasters and other climatic change challenges has not been adequately addressed. Due to the flood risk in Malaysia, adaptation to climate change and disasters such as flood needs to be considered in Malaysia's energy policy planning. This paper reviews scholarly papers and news articles related to the flood phenomenon in Malaysia, and analyses the impact of flood disasters on renewable energy generation and energy policy planning in this country. The findings indicate that flood has an insignificant effect on Malaysia's renewable energy power generators as they are not located in flood-prone areas. The east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, which is exposed to flooding during the monsoon season, is the most vulnerable to flood disasters. Most renewable energy generation facilities including biomass power stations, hydropower, and solar panels are located on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and in Sabah and Sarawak. The potentially high risk of flash floods and unpredictable climate conditions in Malaysia should not be underestimated and must be duly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diesel power systems have been widely applied for energy supply generation. This power scheme however requires periodical maintenance and contributes to the emissions of greenhouse gases. These challenges may be mitigated by integrating existing diesel station with renewable energy (RE) technologies into a hybrid system. Integration of diesel plants with RE systems has been mostly implemented using software and mathematical programming approaches, where the focus of the study is mainly on grid-independent hybrid system. Grid-connected hybrid systems have the potential to supply electricity at a lower cost in comparison to the standalone hybrid power systems. This work aims to design a system that integrates diesel plant with RE technologies into grid-tied hybrid system using insight-based Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) method. The interactions between diesel generator, RE sources and the grid in meeting the load demands were considered in the methodology development. Various load sharing scenarios between the multiple generation sources were assessed to establish the optimal system operation. Economic assessment was performed to ensure the trade-off between the costs of generation sources and grid electricity cost can be maximized. Based on the demonstrated Illustrative Case Study, load sharing based on peak/off peak period contributes to the lowest net present cost of MYR 32,813,708, hence is deduced as the optimal on-grid hybrid diesel RE system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating existing diesel station with renewable energy (RE) technologies into a hybrid system has been an attractive solution towards mitigating greenhouse gases emissions problem of diesel power system. Apart from offering cleaner power supply, hybrid systems could also contribute towards reduction of diesel fuel cost. Application of insight-based Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) method to integrate diesel plants and RE systems with the aim to minimise total generation and runtime of diesel generator has been proposed. This work utilises an extended PoPA tool called the Probability-Power Pinch Analysis (P-PoPA) to achieve the supplementation of RE technologies with existing diesel system. P-PoPA can provide accurate results as those established from the PoPA approach within a shorter time of analysis as it eliminates the manual matching of power sources and demands step. Correction factors based on all possible routes from the RE sources and the diesel generator to the demands are computed to determine the minimum diesel power target for the integrated system. Result of an illustrative case study shows that 31 % saving in the diesel fuel requirement can be achieved after the integration of the existing diesel plant with RE systems. The result of the P-PoPA method is accurate with an only 0.61 % difference to the result targeted using the conventional PoPA technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many countries have organised energy awards as an instrument to promote energy efficiency (EE), to contribute towards energy sustainability and to provide a mechanism for organisations to continuously search, benchmark and acknowledge initiatives and best practices in EE. To be effective, an award system must be tailored towards the needs, the level of readiness and the acceptance of a nation. This paper presents a framework for implementation of a national EE award in the context of Malaysia. The current energy scenario and energy issues relevant to Malaysia are first highlighted to establish the premise for organising a national energy award. Models and success stories of EE awards in other countries are discussed as possible benchmarks for implementation. The results of a survey conducted on various energy stakeholders in Malaysia confirmed the needs, readiness and acceptance for a national EE award. A framework for the implementation of a Malaysian EE award is proposed based on the survey conducted, and on various models of energy award implementation worldwide. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Globally, most industrial parks that have not gone through a proper site selection process have been neglected or underutilised and such active sites tend to burn a lot of fuels and generate greenhouse gases. Technology must be used to conduct on-site investigations of the spatial and non-spatial factors of industrial parks, especially the emerging Eco-Industrial Park (EIP). The paper seeks to appraise the global application, capability and acceptability of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tools in the EIP sites selection and planning. Also, to identify the benefits of mixing MCDM tools when integrating with GIS. There have been some reviews on the use of GIS and MCDM methods, but so far, there is none on the role of GIS and MCDM methods in EIP site selection. Geospatial and MCDM tools can be used to carefully select EIP sites, where materials and energy can be shared to achieve cleaner production, reduce environmental pollution and promote sustainable development. To understand the usage of these tools and their role in the EIP site selection process, a critical review of twenty-two papers published from 2007 to 2020 indexed by Google Scholar, Springer, IEEE Xplore and Web of Science have been developed for the first time. The articles are classified based on country/region, journal of publication, year and citations of publication, the authors and technologies applied. The results show that most studies on EIP site selection come from Iran and China. The Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment has the highest number of articles published at 28%. The highest number of articles was published in 2014 with 312 citations. GIS and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) topped the technologies used, accounting for 42% and 24% respectively, and hybrid tools 34%. As categorised by criteria content, there was an overlap of criteria in most journals. Though, water bodies, utilities, infrastructure, and natural characteristics were prominent. Renewable energy resources were not given attention by most researchers, and risk assessment was absent from the site selection literature. A blend of traditional MCDM tools constitutes the state-of-the-art tools, and when these are combined with GIS in EIP site surveys, they execute to obtain actual results. Future EIP site selection that is integrated with risk assessment is envisioned to be industry 4.0 (4IR)-driven through a combination of GIS and artificial intelligence, and the recently developed MCDM hybrid modules. [Display omitted] • Poor site selection has led to industrial park being neglected or underutilised. • Abandoned/underutilised active industrial parks can burn fuels to cause GHG. • First time of critical review of role of GIS and MCDM tools in EIP site selection. • GIS and AHP currently mainly used for large-scale EIP site criteria selection. • EIP site choice risk study using GIS, AI and MCDM hybrid can sustain industry 4.0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling tools for the optimal Hybrid Power Systems (HPS) supply planning and demand management have been relatively established. However, complementary tools that can provide planners, decizion-makers, energy managers and electrical as well as power engineers with graphical and visualization insights that are vital for better conceptual understanding of the problems, particularly at the onset of hybrid power systems planning and design, have just been developed over the last five years. This paper reviews the six-year development of the insight-based graphical and algebraic Process Integration (PI) tools for the optimal HPS supply planning and demand management, i.e., from its inception in the year 2011, until 2016. Known as the Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA), the tool has been among the next-generation PI techniques for resource conservation following the developments of the heat, mass, water, gas, materials, property, solid and carbon emission pinch analysis techniques. This paper discusses the progress, challenges and contributions of PoPA in promoting Renewable Energy (RE) utilization in HPS. Case studies on implementation of PoPA for HPS planning and design presented in the paper show encouraging improvement on HPS profitability and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feed-in Tariff (FiT) has been one of the most effective policies in accelerating the development of renewable energy (RE) projects. The amount of RE electricity in the FiT purchase agreement is an important decision that has to be made by the RE project developers. They have to consider various crucial factors associated with RE system operation as well as its stochastic nature. The presented work aims to assess the sensitivity and profitability of a hybrid power system (HPS) in cases of RE system failure or shutdown. The amount of RE electricity for the FiT purchase agreement in various scenarios was determined using a novel tool called On-Grid Problem Table based on the Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA). A sensitivity table has also been introduced to assist planners to evaluate the effects of the RE system's failure on the profitability of the HPS. This table offers insights on the variance of the RE electricity. The sensitivity analysis of various possible scenarios shows that the RE projects can still provide financial benefits via the FiT, despite the losses incurred from the penalty levied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is crucial to reducing climate change as it replaces fossil fuel-based energy sources partially. However, renewable energy facilities are highly dependent on climate conditions. There have been few studies in Malaysia focusing on the impacts of extreme temperature and precipitation on energy systems. None of the studies used the risk assessment method to examine the effects. This research aims to study the possible risks associated with common renewable energy systems in Malaysia (solar photovoltaic, anaerobic biogas system, biomass, and hydropower) using a risk matrix approach. The mitigation action plan to reduce extreme weathepact on each energy system will also be presented in this study. Three extreme temperature and precipitation scenarios were used to explore the potential impacts on infrastructures, energy resources, power capacity, and efficiency of solar photovoltaic systems, hydropower, biomass, and biogas power plant. The trend of daily temperature and precipitation in Malaysia from 1970 to 2070 is also presented. By 2070, Malaysia will be experiencing greater change in rainfall, as well as warmer temperatures and more droughts. Results of the study show that biomass is the most vulnerable to extreme temperature and precipitation. • Risk assessment on solar PV, hydropower, biomass and biogas using a risk matrix approach were presented. • Malaysia will experience a higher change in rainfall, warmer and more droughts by 2070. • Biomass is the most vulnerable to extreme temperature and precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) for the design and optimisation of Hybrid Power Systems (HPS) is steadily progressing. Even though PoPA has been developed for a wide range of applications in HPS design and analysis, the economic aspect still needs more attention. Screening of various renewable energy (RE) technologies in HPS is crucial as different technologies may have different cost and efficiencies, and affect the overall system economics. This work presents a novel framework for the design of a cost-effective HPS by incorporating PoPA with a cost-screening tool known as the Systematic Hierarchical Approach for Resilient Process Screening (SHARPS). SHARPS, which was originally developed to screen various process changes options in water networks is adapted to perform economic analysis and RE technology screening in power networks. Two strategies namely substitution and intensification have been proposed, in order to customise a cost-effective HPS. The presented framework provides a handy and effective measure to visualise the trade-off between the performance and cost of various potential RE technologies for HPS. Application of the framework on a case study demonstrates that the HPS design has been successfully customised with the RE technology scheme and capacity acceptable to the owner, while meeting its targeted payback period of 10 y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future 100% renewable energy systems will have to integrate different sectors, including provision of power, heating, cooling and transport. Such energy systems will be needed to mitigate the negative impacts of economic development based on the use of fossil fuels, but will rely on variable renewable energy resources. As two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to fossil fuel combustion, decarbonization of energy systems is imperative for combating the climate change. Integrating future energy systems with CO 2 capture and utilization technologies can contribute to deep decarbonization. As these technologies can be operated flexibly, they can be used to balance the grid to allow for high levels of variable renewable energy in the power mix. The captured CO 2 can be either utilized as a feedstock for various value-added applications in the chemical industry and related sectors such as the food and beverage industries. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art literature on CO 2 capture and utilization technologies, with an emphasis on their potential integration into a low-carbon, high-renewables penetration grid. The potential market size for CO 2 as raw material is also elaborated and discussed. The review paper provides an insight to the development and the technological needs of different energy system sectors, as well the limitations, challenges and research gaps to the integration of the variable renewable energy sources and flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies. Image 1 • Integration of renewable energy systems and carbon capture technologies is needed. • Flexible carbon capture and utilization technologies are needed to meet energy demands. • Carbon capture technologies stabilize volatile energy systems by utilizing excess energy. • Captured carbon dioxide can be used directly, or as raw material for chemical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]