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The ever-increasing use of fossil fuels causes the climate to become unbalanced due to the resulting pollution. Renewable energy is gaining widespread adoption because it is more cost-effective and eco-friendly. Using water as micro-hydro power plants or PLTMH can be a viable alternative to non-renewable fuel sources. Indonesia is one of the countries with the greatest application potential for micro-hydro power plants or PLTMH, particularly in Batang Regency, Central Java Province. This study focused on reducing the use of fossil fuels as a source of electricity in Batang Regency by utilizing water resources. Environmental approaches and hydrological analysis were employed in this study to achieve precise and optimal PLTMH planning outcomes. The results of the analysis indicated that the total discharge required to operate the PLTMH turbine is 2.22 m3/s with an 80% mainstay discharge, while the design flood discharge is 113,679 m3/s (Q100year). Implementing micro-hydro power plants or PLTMH in Batang Regency could be the first step in Indonesia’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

The Earth is warming due to the burning of fossil fuels, leading to a growing interest in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower. Hydropower plays a vital role in meeting global carbon mitigation targets, especially in the Mid-Columbia (Mid-C) energy market in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), where it currently comprises 50-65% of generation. However, with other renewable energy sources expanding, such as solar power in California (CA), hydropower operations at plants within the connected Mid-C market need to be modified to balance the more intermittent supply from renewables in CA. Our technical project aims to redesign hydropower operations in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) of the PNW to achieve a 95% renewable energy power grid in CA and the PNW by 2035, balancing objectives such as minimizing environmental spill violations, maximizing hydropower production, maximizing flood protection, and maximizing economic benefits through multi-objective optimization. The Columbia River Basin, which spans over an area of 260,000 square miles, is a significant watershed in the United States that is solely dedicated to the Columbia River. It serves as the drainage system for numerous rivers, creeks, and streams. In the 1930s, the federal government began constructing dams along this river for various purposes such as preventing floods, generating hydroelectric power, supplying water for irrigation, creating locks for navigation of boats and barges, and developing recreational areas. However, the hydropower operations and the construction of dams in the Columbia River Basin have resulted in significant environmental and social impacts, including the reduction of accessibility to salmon populations and disruption to the way of life of Indigenous populations who have relied on these lands, the Columbia River, and the salmon for centuries. The government has implicitly relied on technological determinism, sacrificing the humanitarian rights of Native Americans for the sake of hydropower advancement, while simultaneously achieving progress on their economic and environmental objectives for the larger American population who rely on the dams and the power grid. My STS research seeks to draw upon hydropower legislation and policy analyses in a global context to argue for successful approaches and frameworks for hydropower policy going forward in the California River Basin that ensure the rights and survival of Native American tribes in the region. A multi-stakeholder process in the context of hydropower in California could provide a valuable precedent for addressing the needs of multiple social groups and constituents in the future. Both projects enable me to explore how the United States can make systemic changes, motivated by the current state of the hydropower and energy sector, to balance multiple competing interests and stakeholders in the Columbia River Basin. For our technical project, we focused on adapting hydropower operations to support renewable energy transitions and freshwater sustainability in the Columbia River Basin. Achieving net-zero energy sector emissions requires rapid adoption of renewable alternatives to existing high-emissions infrastructure. The on-demand energy from hydropower uniquely facilitates the transition to renewable energy by meeting demands not met by weather-dependent energy sources like wind and solar. Because there are conflicting tradeoffs in hydropower operating policies, it was necessary for us to perform a multi-objective optimization after we had simulated the operations of reservoirs in the Columbia River Basin which serve as the supply of water for hydropower in the region. Our case study focused on designing operations at four reservoirs in the Columbia River Basin to balance environmental and economic objectives under potential future energy and climate conditions. These reservoirs included Hungry Horse, Libby, Dworshak, and Grand Coulee. Our objectives were to minimize environmental spill violations, minimize peak flood height, minimize flood frequency, maximize hydropower production, and maximize Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) revenue. We performed multi-objective optimization to design alternative reservoir operating rules that balance these conflicting objectives. We made use of two computational models – a power systems model for generating electricity prices from synthetic weather data to represent regional wind, solar, and hydropower capacities and a reservoir optimization model for generating optimal policies that balance the objectives. These models are coupled through the objective of maximizing the BPA revenue in our reservoir optimization, since calculating that revenue requires the electricity prices in the region. Our optimization model yielded nineteen non-dominated reservoir operating policies that dictate when to release water using parameters such as the previous day’s inflow and the storage of the reservoir. To evaluate the robustness of these policies and account for uncertainty, we simulated the outputted policies over four climate change scenarios and an energy scenario inspired by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Mid-Case with 95% Renewables by 2035. The climate change scenarios we used were futures that are dry with high warming, dry with low warming, wet with high warming, and wet with low warming. Furthermore, the energy scenario we selected describes the projected distribution of energy across renewable sources for the years 2025, 2030, and 2035. In the end, we selected one optimal policy out of the nineteen which had the least significant tradeoff between the objectives. It effectively maximized hydropower output and BPA revenue, while minimizing spills, flood height, and flood risk. In this policy, the Dworshak reservoir is used for flood protection and all policies chose to keep Grand Coulee reservoir full to maximize hydropower production. Thus, through multi-objective optimization and scenario analysis, we were able to find alternative reservoir operations for the Columbia River Basin that balance all the system objectives and are robust to uncertainty. Future work should explore how uncertainties in energy and climate interact rather than their independent influences and optimize policies across these possible futures to improve performance. For my STS project, I focused on developing potential public policy to uplift Native American tribes affected by hydropower in the Columbia River Basin. The ongoing operations of dams in the Columbia River Basin have negatively impacted salmon populations, disrupting the traditional way of life and culture of Indigenous populations who rely on salmon as a staple food and cultural symbol. The construction of these dams between the 1930s and 1980s also resulted in the displacement and loss of Native American territory, leaving tribes living in federally assigned settlements with unsafe living conditions. The heavy use of the Columbia River has caused significant declines in water quality and threatens the survival of species like salmon. The negative impacts have disproportionately affected Indigenous tribes in the region, including the Nez Perce, Warm Springs, Yakama, and Umatilla tribes who settled with the federal government for their lost sites. Notable legislation that has been enacted thus far to address the environmental disruptions to salmon populations and displacement of Native Americans include the Northwest Power Act of 1980, the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program of 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers’ development of more permanent housing for Native Americans under the Obama Administration in 2016, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016, and the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing litigation with Indigenous tribes in the Columbia River Basin regarding salmon populations. Members of Congress and the US Department of Energy admit that inefficiencies in hydropower licensing processes are causing higher development costs and longer timelines which reduce the flexibility of the government to perform stakeholder analyses. Thus, the effects of hydropower operations on fisheries, recreation, and tribal and public lands are not being considered by the federal government. A framework I discovered in the academic literature on hydropower policy both domestically and internationally that can be applied to the case of Native Americans in the Columbia River Basin is the political ecology framework. In the paper—"Discussing Large Dams in Asia After the World Commission on Dams: Is a Political Ecology Approach the Way Forward?"—the authors present this framework which is characterized by the following: the framework examines the effects of large dams as well as the causes (economic and political motivations), it requires that ecological structures and functions be coupled with social, political, cultural, and economic influences, and it incorporates an actor-oriented model to look at environmental change and land-use conflicts that are occurring within politicized environments. In their paper, they analyze the case of the Bhakra Dam in India using this framework and comment on the social, political, and economic motivations behind the dam that are not immediately evident. An important similarity between the Bhakra Dam case and the Columbia River Basin case is the issue of arbitrary demarcations of land. The Bhakra Dam was built by India in a disputed territory with Pakistan called Punjab. Furthermore, India hindered Pakistan’s use of the Sutlej river which ran through both countries to construct the dam. In the Columbia River Basin case, Native Americans do not own the land they reside on—rather it is held ‘in trust’ by the federal government making it an arbitrary demarcation. Therefore, I pose two potential solutions using the framework of political ecology in the Columbia River Basin case—award property rights to Native Americans and design new licensing processes for hydropower. By giving Native Americans property rights, they have equity in the land and can therefore reap monetary benefits and power by selling it or cultivating the natural resources on it. With their own source of money, they can take charge over environmental restoration and uplifting the Native American community alongside the federal government instead of being dependent on the government for change to occur. By designing new licensing processes for hydropower, this enables the federal government to place reasonable conditions on hydropower licenses and protect tribal and public lands, safeguard water quality, and fishery resources.

Nowadays, an increase in energy demand, environmental concerns, and the shortage of fossil fuel resources have made energy management researchers explore alternative resources for clean and renewable energy resources. The simultaneous incorporation of a comprehensive set of technical, economic, environmental, and social attributes in decision-making processes is recommended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sustainable decisions on energy resource planning. To tackle this challenge, an efficient method is proposed based on the Simultaneous Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives (SECA) for the optimal selection of renewable energy resources. In the SECA technique, criteria and alternative evaluations are performed simultaneously. The proposed assessment framework is applied in Iran's electricity industry as a real case study, and a two-round fuzzy-based Delphi technique is also adopted to extract the assessment criteria from the experts' opinions. Moreover, the management insights are inferred from sensitivity analysis. According to the study results, solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, hydrogen, geothermal, and marine energy resources are sorted in descending order of priority. Finally, the best composite option of sustainable energies encompassing a combination of solar, wind, and biomass energy resources concludes the study.

Selecting the best renewable energy (RE) sources are often considered as a critical task in the field of decision-making. Renewable energy depends on certain conflicting factors that might divert the proper selection of the best one. Hence, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) would be the appropriate choice to treat this kind of confusing situations. In this article, a real-time decision-making problem is considered regarding the proper selection of a RE power plant in India. The main objective is to propose the suitable RE power plant that should be established in India based on six most important factors with the help of integrated MEREC-PIV MCDM tool. Here, five alternatives RE sources are considered and the best one is chosen based on the suitability of the Indian climatic conditions with the help of PIV, and MEREC is utilized to determine the objective weights of the six criterions. The final results show that, hydroelectric power plant would be the appropriate choice, whereas, biomass energy is the worst among the five alternatives. A ranking order of the alternatives is also proposed showing from highest to lowest rating. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to validate the outcome results and ranking.

This study analyzes the impact of renewable energy on energy security risk for 23 OECD countries over the 1985-2016 period using second generation panel data techniques. To our knowledge, this study is the first to empirically analyze the impact of renewable energy sources on energy security risk for OECD countries. According to the findings obtained from the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimates for OECD countries, we have concluded that wind, hydroelectric, and total renewable energy reduce energy security risk, whereas biomass and solar sources do not have a significant effect on energy security. According to the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test results, we found unidirectional causality running from biomass and hydroelectricity to energy security risk and bidirectional causality between industrial production, total energy, economic integration, urbanization, and wind and energy security risk. The study also made country-specific estimates which show significant differences in terms of the direction of the relationship, significance, and coefficient size by country. The findings demonstrate that wind, hydroelectricity, and total renewable energy reduce energy security risk for OECD countries. However, these positive effects are not valid for all OECD countries. According to these results, OECD countries should implement policies aiming to reduce their energy security risk specific to countries' unique characteristics. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The share of world energy consumption for electricity generation by source is primarily based on coal and natural gas. Within the last years, governments have implemented policies to promote investment in renewable energy. In Ecuador, the share of hydroelectricity has rapidly increased without regarding long-term environmental impacts. This paper aims to develop a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of two representative plants of Ecuador (Agoyán and Paute, with 156 MW and 1075 MW of installed capacity, respectively). The life cycle inventory contains the primary flows of energy and matter during the construction, operation, and final disposal stages, with 1 kWh as a functional unit. The life cycle impact assessment uses the CML 2000 midpoint potential categories, including Abiotic Depletion, Acidification, Eutrophication, and Global Warming. The construction stage is the leading contributor to the global impacts, and the dam the environmental hot spot of both plants, and the reservoir flooding represents the major contributor to the impact during the operation stage. Furthermore, electricity generation in plants with a larger scale can lead to fewer impacts, suggesting that constructing large-scale plants can reduce the global impacts in countries with similar hydropower potential. This methodological framework serves as a decision-making criterion for evaluating the environmental performance of other renewable energy systems.

This study employs the econometrics test of endogenous structural breaks to separately investigate the changes in trends of the share of hydropower and non-hydro renewable power in electricity production for China using two separate sub-panels of data spanning from 1971 to 2015 and 1990–2015. To identify structural changes in each renewable power generation series, we apply the Bai and Perron procedure for determining structural breaks to estimate shifting-mean autoregressions and use the low frequency Fourier-type Lagrange Multiplier test to approximate the time series in a non-linear form. Through these tests, our empirical results reveal that the series under investigation are characteristic of segmented trend stationary processes around four or one structural breaks, among which, there are two upward shifts in the 45-year series of hydroelectricity generation occurring in 1978 and 2008, respectively. Meanwhile, one upward shift is identified in the 26-years series of non-hydro renewable generation occurring in 2005. The patterns in the timing of structural changes are suggestive of the causal effects from the recent regulatory shocks and policy change. In the present study, we conduct an innovative attempt to reveal the relevance of renewable energy and policy changes, which may also provide some empirical value in investigating the effect of policy series on renewable energy in other countries.

Résumé La contribution des énergies renouvelables (EnR) dans l’offre énergétique de la société d'Electricité de Guinée (EDG) se résume à nos jours à l'apport de l'hydroélectricité qui a contribué à 72% de la production totale en 2020. Le but de cette étude est d'analyser l'apport des EnR dans l’offre énergétique de l'EDG. A travers cette analyse, nous montrons en nous appuyant sur l’inventaire du potentiel hydroélectrique de la Guinée, estimé à 6000 MW, l’impérieuse nécessité de choisir l’option de la mise en valeur des énergies renouvelables et la réduction du mode de production thermique. Cette option a retenu notre attention au regard des multiples inconvénients de la production thermique en comparaison aux avantages des EnR. Les résultats de notre étude ont permis de comprendre les impacts positifs, dans le processus de la fourniture d’électricité au réseau interconnecté de Conakry, de la centrale de Kaléta depuis sa mise en service en mai 2015. La centrale hydroélectrique de Kaléta a contribué à une baisse des charges de fonctionnement (achat du carburant et autres consommables) de 31% soit 122 milliards de franc guinéens équivalent à 13.224.931,76 USD. La production de Kaléta représente environ 43% du parc de la production nationale. La situation d'exploitation a connu une grande amélioration avec une augmentation de 44% d'électricité produite et distribuée entre 2015 et 2018 et une baisse substantielle des temps de coupures de 40%. L'apport de Kaléta et l’existence d’un potentiel considérable pour l’hydroélectricité et le solaire; la préservation de l’environnement pour les générations présentes et futures par l’utilisation d’énergies non polluantes, la volonté de l’Etat de tendre vers l’indépendance énergétique sont autant de raisons qui nous amènent à plaider pour un mix énergétique à travers une combinaison rationnelle de la source hydroélectrique, solaire et de la thermique. Mots Clés : Analyse ;Hydroélectricité ;Energies Renouvelables (EnR) ;Impacts ;Mix énergétique Abstract The contribution of renewable energies (RE) in the energy supply of the company Electricity of Guinea (EDG) is summarized today to the contribution of hydroelectricity which contributed to 72% of the total production in 2018. The purpose of this study is to analyze the contribution of renewable energy in the energy supply of EDG. Through this analysis, we show, based on the inventory of Guinea's hydropower potential, estimated at 6000 MW, the imperative need to choose the option of the development of renewable energies and the reduction of thermal production mode. This option caught our attention with regard to the multiple disadvantages of thermal generation compared to the advantages of renewable energy. The results of our study have made it possible to understand the positive impacts, in the process of the supply of electricity to the interconnected network of Conakry, of the Kaleta power station since it was commissioned in May 2015. Kaleta hydroelectric plant has contributed to a reduction of the charges. operating cost (purchase of fuel and other consumables) of 31% or 122 billion Guinean francs equivalent to 13.224.931,76 USD. Kaleta production represents about 43% of the national production fleet. The operating situation has improved significantly with a 44% increase in electricity produced and distributed between 2015 and 2018 and a substantial reduction in cut-off times of 40%. The contribution of Kaléta, the existence of considerable potential for hydroelectricity and solar; the preservation of the environment for present and future generations through the use of non-polluting energies, the will of the State to strive towards energy independence are all reasons which lead us to plead for an energy mix through a rational combination of hydroelectric, solar and thermal sources. Keywords : Analysis ;Hydroelectricity ;Renewable Energy ;Impacts ;Energy mix

In recent decades, the energy sector in Egypt faces various challenges due to the continuous increase in energy demand. Fossil fuels may be running out, so there is an urgent need to find a sustainable energy source. Renewable energy is one of pure energy, but it needs to be stored using economical and environment-friendly means. Pumping hydroelectric storage (PHES) plants are currently one of the most economical and unique storage technologies available. In addition, PHES plants are working on creating a balance between the supply and demand of energy during the day. A GIS model based on remote sensing data was used to discover suitable sites for PHES plants and establish a (PHES) map for Egypt. The new PHES locations were filtered using a model based on GIS multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The GIS model criteria were developed by using the weighted linear combination (WLC) technique. The global digital elevation model SRTM 1 arcsec was used for depicting elevation head, head ratio, and terrain slope criteria. The National Grid, road networks, land use, and airport-restricted areas as constraints data sets were analysed using Arc GIS spatial analysis math algebra tool. The results discovered many suitable PHES sites covering a total area of 10428 km2 and, maps of PHES have become available for Egypt.

Power generation from renewable energy resources has increased substantially in recent years. Wind and hydroelectric renewable sources are being widely used for power generation. Self-excited induction generators (SEIG) are used for the electricity generation from wind resources, for their robust nature. Performance of SEIG in an islanded micro-grid has been analyzed in this paper. A method is developed to identify the conditions of both SEIG and load of the micro-grid for stable operation of the network. Critical speed, critical fault clearance time and maximum loadability of the islanded micro-grid having SEIG sources, have been determined. Critical fault clearance time and critical speed 500 ms and 1.2 p.u. are found, respectively. To develop the mathematical model for the performance analysis of SEIG, a d-q frame model and thevenin equivalent circuit has been considered in this work.

Energy economics and environment protection are important issues in a modern society that aspires to aim at sustainable development. The evaluation of environmental and operational efficiency would be an important first step towards sustainable development. Renewable energies, especially hydroelectricity, geothermal, solar and wind, are playing an increasingly important role in the energy sector. Therefore, oil & gas companies are progressively transforming into energy companies following an energy transition policy. This raises the question whether the renewable energies promote the environmental and operational efficiency of petroleum companies. First, this paper examines two types of efficiency measures – operational and environmental – for 45 US oil & gas companies during the period 2000–2018 using on the true fixed effect (TFE) model. Second, this research aims to study the effect of renewable energies on both types of efficiency. The results reveal that the overall average operational efficiency (desirable output) of the US oil & gas companies is 76% for a period of 19 years, while the overall average level of CO2 emissions efficiency (undesirable output) of the oil & gas companies is 79%. The results highlight that US oil & gas companies have begun to transition to low CO2 emission in recent years. Furthermore, the renewable energies and biomass energies contribute to destroying the operational efficiency and to promote the environmental efficiency of oil & gas companies.

The North Region of Cameroon is home to a 72 MW hydroelectric dam, which provides electricity beyond the region’s needs. However, aging dam and distribution network leading to frequent load shedding, are contributing factors to look for other environmentally friendly alternatives such as wind power to sustain the energy needs of the region. Wind energy can significantly contribute to the energy mix, mainly during the dry season (March, April and May) when energy demands highly rise and load shedding can last forever, mainly in rural or remotes locations. The main purpose this study to evaluate the wind energy production, using bihourly data collected at 10 m above ground level over a period of fifteen years from 2005 to 2019 for the localities, Garoua and Guider. The novelty of this study is 2D and 3D topographical maps of the wind resource of Garoua and Guider have been computed as well as the map of wind energy produced using the WAsP software, with an accurate determination of wind speed, wind power density and energy produced. Based on the results, wind power can be considered as a reliable alternative for renewable energy production, if optimal site selection is made.

This paper presents renewable energy systems based on micro-hydro and solar photovoltaic for rural areas, with a case study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The Special Region of Yogyakarta, located on the island of Java, Indonesia, has a high potential for the development of renewable energy resources, especially hydropower and solar power. Many rural areas in Yogyakarta lack a supply of electricity. In this study, data on the potential for hydropower and solar power in rural regions of Yogyakarta are processed to determine the best capacity of hydroelectric and solar power plants. The extended particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique has been used to ensure optimal capacity optimization of this hybrid systems. The final result of this study is the most optimal of hydropower and solar power generation capacity based on the calculation of cost of capital, grid sales, cost of energy, and net present value.

Floating photovoltaic system for reservoirs is a recent innovative technology that is highly advantageous in reducing evaporation while generating solar power. In addition, the integration of floating photovoltaic systems with the existing hydroelectric power plants will increase renewable power production. The present study aims to assess the electrical performance of floating photovoltaic systems in major reservoirs with existing hydroelectric power plants in India. The reservoirs with large water surface area were selected for the study, and a model floating photovoltaic system with a 5-MW capacity was designed for the selected reservoirs. The numerical analysis showed that installing floating photovoltaic systems will result in an annual energy yield of 160 GWh. Further, the systems also save 1.40 million cubic meters of water per day and also help in generating additional energy of 514.80 MWh/day from the saved water through its integration with hydroelectric power plants. A single-axis tracking mechanism to the floating photovoltaic systems will increase the annual energy generation by 11%. The detailed cost analysis and carbon emission analysis were also carried out. The results indicate that the tracking mechanisms increase the total installation cost of the systems. The annual carbon emission reduction from the floating photovoltaic systems accounts for about 3.30 million tons of CO2. The obtained results highlight the suitability of this innovative technology for installation in Indian reservoirs and its effectiveness in reducing evaporation and carbon emission. Graphic abstract

Run-of-river (RoR) hydroelectric power provides renewable energy with potentially less impact on fish habitat productivity than large, reservoir-storage hydroelectric projects. This is the first empirical study of resident fish response to water diversion at RoR projects in BC, where the abundance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was monitored in four small streams using a before–after control–impact design. Although flows in the diversion reaches of these projects were reduced by 63% to 70%, the total biomass of rainbow trout increased from 35% to 157% across the streams compared with the “before period” and “control reaches”. The response to water diversion differed among age classes: adult biomass increased with reduced flows in the growing season; juvenile biomass increased with reduced flows in the winter, higher stream conductivity, and increased flows in late summer; and fry biomass increased with higher stream conductivity and temperatures. One novel way to contextualize these shifts in resident salmonid productivity and differential growth and (or) survival by age class is via a size–density approach, which we use here to demonstrate how the carrying capacity of a stream for rainbow trout is affected by water diversion.

The goal of this article is to create an intelligent energy management system that will control the stand-alone microgrid and power flow of a grid associated that includes Battery Energy Storage System, Fuel Cell, Wind Turbine, Diesel Generator, Photovoltaic, and a Hydro Power Plant. Storage systems are required for high dependability, while control systems are required for the system's optimum and steady functioning. The control, operation, and planning of both energy demand and production are all part of energy management. By controlling unpredictable power and providing an appropriate control algorithm for the entire system, the suggested energy management strategy is designed to handle diverse variations in power demand and supply. Under the TOU Tariff, the problem is presented as a discrete time multi-objective optimization method to minimize grid imported energy costs. It also maximizes earnings from surplus RE sales to the grid at a pre-determined RE feed-in tariff. Simulations were run using SIMULINK/MATLAB to validate and evaluate the suggested energy management approach under various power demand and power supply scenarios. The simulations indicate that the proposed energy management can fulfill demand at all times utilizing unreliable renewables like wind, solar, and hydroelectric power plants, as well as hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, without affecting load supply or power quality.

Nowadays, most of the country switched to generate their power by renewable energy sources as well as the power industries also mainly focused on the renewable resources for power generation. The renewable resources are solar, wind, biomass, and hydroelectric; out of these, the solar market is developing due to shortage of non-renewable resources. The solar energy is freely obtainable during the year; also, it provides a clean and noiseless environment. Most of the large- and small-scale industries and household consumers moved to generate the power through a PV solar cell. Most of the research work includes the modelling of the PV solar cell based on their requirement in a one-diode model. In this article, a detailed study is provided about the circuit-based single-diode solar cell (SCSC) model and double-diode solar cell (DDSC) with different conditions done in MATLAB/Simulink. Both the SDSC and DDSC models are tested with different values of temperature, irradiation, and shunt resistance. This work helps the researchers study V-I and P-V characteristics of the PV solar cell clearly with different conditions. The outputs of SDSC and DDSC models are compared with simulation outputs. Effect of partial shading is also discussed to get a better idea.

The present review paper aims to shed lights on the concept of fully green energy system which includes both the source of energy and the storage system. The objective is to propose an energy label “Green to Green” (G2G) that identifies systems involving simultaneously green source and green storage, as an efficient solution to achieve a significant reduction in the dangerous level of pollution that most countries have reached today. Green sources include mainly renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, geothermal and wave energy systems. In its turns green storage includes pumped hydroelectric, flywheel, hydrogen and compressed air. Moreover, and as a case investigation on G2G concept, the paper reviews the main solar-hydrogen coupling systems, that are categorized within four categories parabolic trough-hydrogen, solar tower-hydrogen, photovoltaic-hydrogen and solar chimney-hydrogen.

In Togo, the production of electrical energy is mainly hydroelectric and thermal, but the needs remain far greater than the resources; in particular in the city of Lome, the inhabitants of the city try to fill this energy deficit, among others, by solar systems. Once installed, and in the presence of the sun, solar panels operate continuously until the end of their service, regardless of whether the use is effective or not; which therefore causes losses in the event of overproduction and non-storage. To overcome this problem, we have studied in this article a PV installation (a solar power plant) which is connected to the electrical network, which represents a significant saving in investment and in operation. Thus, in our study, we designed and optimized our PV-Grid model which shows a photovoltaic system connected to the electricity grid through DC / DC boosting power converters and a DC / AC inverter. In this model, we have fixed the meteorological conditions relating to Togo, such as incident solar illumination and temperature, thus making it possible to fix the reference variables Ipvref (photovoltaic current produced) on the DC / DC side and Irmref (final current injected into the network) on the DC / AC side. Thanks to the results obtained, we can recommend this model of photovoltaic system connected to the grid under Togo's conditions and at the same time develop an energy policy and an integration of renewable electricity in Togo strong enough to trigger long-term sustainable development.

Design of hydroelectricity system is employed here in an effort to produce electric energy using an exhaust waste water of steam power plant. The major concern in this work is how the system is designed, selection of site and resources. The system after designed and fabricated was mounted at waste water outlet for proof run for about three months period. The result obtained exhibit the overall design is feasible for the sensitive site application

A key objective of renewable energy development in the USA is to reduce CO2 emissions by decreasing reliance on fossil fuels in the coming decades. Using quantile-on-quantile regressions, this research examines the relationship between disaggregated sources of renewable energy (biomass, biofuel, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind, wood, and waste) and CO2 emissions in the USA during the period from 1995 to 2017. Our findings support the deployment of various types of renewables in combating CO2 emissions for each quantile. In particular, a negative effect of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions is observed for the lower quantiles in almost all types of renewables. The effect of all the renewable energy sources taken together is significant for the lower and upper quantiles of the provisional distribution of CO2 emissions. The effect of renewable energy becomes stronger and more significant in the middle quantiles, where a pronounced causal effect of return and volatility is detected for the lower and upper middle quantiles. At the same time, heterogeneity in the findings across various types of renewable energy sources reveals differences in the relative importance of each type within the energy sector taken as a whole. Future US initiatives in renewable energy deployment at both the federal and the state levels should take into consideration the relative importance of each type, so as to maximize the efficacy of renewable energy policies in combating CO2 emissions.

In recent years, as a result of the rapid increase in population and industrial development, the need for energy has increased. Many investments are made especially for electrical energy which is an inevitable requirement for the industry. Most of these investments are made by using fossil resources in countries’ lands. Fossil sources are known to be consumable as well as too poisonous gases they give to the atmosphere during energy production. This situation causes global climate change. To prevent climate change, the carbon emitted to the atmosphere has to be brought under a certain control mechanism. In this context, the first Kyoto Protocol and then Paris Climate Agreement was signed. Under these agreements, countries will be responsible for the level of their greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This situation led to the carbon trade among countries. This situation accelerated the transition of countries from fossil sources to renewable energy sources. In this study, the effect of hydroelectric power plants, one of the renewable energy sources, on carbon emissions was investigated. According to the results, based on fossil sources of 408,533.57 tCO2 per year from Turkey Gokcekaya dam has been shown to reduce the carbon footprint.

In recent years, there has been an increased concern regarding the impacts of climate change caused by the increase in anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and the search for clean energy sources has grown. Hydrogen produced from renewable sources is an alternative to the demand for clean energy. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are countries located in South America with a considerable number of rivers and hydroelectric plants. This study shows the potential production of hydrogen in these countries using the excess energy from hydroelectric plants. While Argentina has a potential generation of 3.44E+10 Kg.year−1 of H2, Paraguay and Uruguay presented, respectively, 5.32E+10 Kg.year−1 and 2.19E+10 Kg.year−1. Taking into account the economic viability analysis, H production and storage had a profit of 0.2253 US$.m−3 for Paraguay, 0.2249 US$.m−3 for Uruguay and a cost of 0.2263 US$.m−3 in Argentina. The results of this research contribute to the renewable, sustainable energy transition and in accordance with the precepts of the circular economy for the search for new sources of energy. This idea needs to be encouraged around the world, including developing countries.

Mountain huts, as special, stand-alone, micro-grid systems, are not connected to a power grid and represent a burden on the environment. The micro-grid has to be flexible to cover daily and seasonal fluctuations. Heat and electricity are usually generated with fossil fuels due to the simple on-off operation. By introducing renewable energy sources (RESs), the generation of energy could be more sustainable, but the generation and consumption must be balanced. The paper describes the integration of a hydrogen-storage system (HSS) and a battery-storage system (BattS) in a mountain hut. The HSS involves a proton-exchange-membrane water electrolyser (PEMWE), a hydrogen storage tank (H2 tank), a PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) and a BattS consisting of lead-acid batteries. Eight micro-grid configurations were modelled using HOMER and evaluated from the technical, environmental and economic points of view. A life-cycle assessment analysis was made from the cradle to the gate. The micro-grid configurations with the HSS achieve, on average, a more than 70% decrease in the environmental impacts in comparison to the state of play at the beginning, but require a larger investment. Comparing the HSS with the BattS as a seasonal energy storage, the hydrogen-based technology had advantages for all of the assessed criteria.

The world is experiencing a dynamic shift in terms of energy production, with nations focusing more on renewable sources of energy. This is because renewable energy sources are eco-friendly, reserves of fossil fuels around the world are getting depleted, and unstable market prices of these fossil fuels. Here in Kenya, the revolution has been felt, especially with heavy investment in geothermal and wind power. Since hydroelectric, geothermal and wind power account for more than 70% of energy consumption in Kenya, it is evident that Kenya is taking strides in the correct direction. However, tidal energy is still left behind in this foray, despite its large potential due to the presence of Kenya’s coastline measuring 640 km long, and most notably, the predictability of this tidal energy. Due to the fact that tidal energy is directly related to the gravitational relationship between the earth and the moon, which is predictable, tidal energy can really help in terms of reduction of pressure and dependence on the hydro power generating seven forks scheme in Kenya. If well synchronized, tidal energy can help alleviate the chronic power rationing that occurs during the dry season in Kenya. By studying work done in other countries, large scale production of electric power from tidal energy can be achieved.

Africa is characterised by a very high solar potential, with a yearly sum of solar irradiation exceeding 2000 kWh/m2. Many African countries are heavily dependent on hydropower, however, increasingly frequent droughts have been severely affecting hydropower generation in the last few decades. The installation of floating photovoltaics (FPV) in existing hydropower reservoirs, would provide solar electricity to help compensate hydropower production during dry periods and reduce evaporation losses while helping to sustainably satisfy the current and future energy needs of the fast-growing African population. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential of FPV installation in Africa, by using highly accurate water surface data of the largest 146 hydropower reservoirs in the continent. In addition to the electricity production, evaporation savings and the potential extra hydroelectricity generated by these water savings are also estimated at reservoir level for four different cases and two types of floating structures. The results indicate that with a total coverage of less than 1%, the installed power capacity of existing hydropower plants can double and electricity output grow by 58%, producing an additional 46.04 TWh annually. In this case, the water savings could reach 743 million m3/year, increasing the annual hydroelectricity generation by 170.64 GWh.

The Turgo turbine is a relatively cheap, reliable and sustainable type of impulse turbine used in hydroelectric plants, which is generally suited for medium and high head applications. Nowadays, the development and use of technologies for harnessing very low-head water resources have become highly widespread due to the low negative impact generated on the environment. Additionally, the implementation of small innovative water-related projects can be an economical option for the generation of renewable energy in developing countries. Therefore, a low-cost Turgo turbine for low-head applications was designed and manufactured for evaluating the effects of several geometric parameters involved in the design and, subsequently, in the turbine efficiency. Among these parameters, the nozzle diameter, the number of nozzles and the jet impact location were studied. For this purpose, the response surface methodology based on a Box-Behnken design of experiments was used to determine the optimal operating conditions of the referred geometric factors aiming at the maximization of the turbine efficiency, as well as to investigate the effect of each parameter on the turbine efficiency. From the experimental design, a second-order regression model was generated, which was validated. The obtained findings indicated that the nozzle diameter had a considerable influence on the turbine efficiency in comparison with the other evaluated factors. Moreover, the results showed that the maximal experimental turbine efficiency was equal to 93.7% under optimal design conditions; i.e., when the nozzle diameter, number of nozzles and the jet impact location were equal to 16.685 mm, 2 and 60 mm, respectively. Therefore, the designed Turgo turbine reported a high efficiency, which could be used for the distributed power generation.

Brazils demand for electricity has been increasing in recent years and most of the electric energy is generated by hydroelectric plants. The country has the most renewable electrical matrix in the world. Besides, it has one of largest installed capacities for harnessing energy from hydraulic power. This work aims to present a perspective of electric power generation in Brazil, pointing to the expected development of electricity generation in the regions, the cost of operation, CO2 emissions and the energy exchange between those regions for the extreme demand situations expected to occur in 2022 and 2031. The results for the future scenarios were obtained through simulation using the ANAREDE program. Operating cost and CO2 emissions were calculated based on referenced average indexes. The results indicate that for 2031 the active electric power generation tends to grow from 20.7 % to 25.9 %, whereas the active load will grow an average 24.7 %. The share of renewable energy in the generation of electricity tends to increase in 2022, between 86.6 % and 94.3 %, while for 2031, the trend is for stability, around 82.6 % and 84.7 %. The operating cost per MWh in the National Interconnected System (SIN) tends to decrease in the years studied. The CO2 emission rates obtained ranged from 82.6 Kg CO2 MWh-1 to 92 Kg CO2 MWh-1. The exchange of electricity between regions was similar to that found in recent years, except between the Southeast / Midwest and the Northeast.

The projection of the renewable energy target in 2025 is 23%. The high production cost makes it difficult to compete with fossil plants. The strategy chosen to reduce the risk is to eliminate minor overhauls in power plants to increase production. To prove its effectiveness, hydropower was chosen by using markov chain method. It took samples for 26 months and divided plant into 3 states based on the operating performance. The test was between implementation of overhauls on schedule and eliminating minor overhauls when the status was good. The results of data processing obtained that the best decision is not to do minor overhaul elimination because of the potential to reduce 29.77% good conditions, 30.69% improvement in moderate conditions. Comparison between the 2017-2019 data show there’s no production cost reduction even though potential production increase. Calculation can be implemented into a web form using the PHP on the Laravel Framework

Hydroelectric stations are a renewable source of electricity, but social and environmental impacts have been hindering social acceptance of new projects. The hydroelectricity sector has been invest...

The facilities that energy delivers to social life and economic activities render it indispensable. Hence, it is equally critical that the energy cycle must have a sustainable structure. Therefore, it is an indisputable fact that developing and performing correct and consistent energy policies is vitally necessary. Energy consumption planning includes a continuous process to reassess existing and potential alternative energy approaches and strategies. The public and private decision-makers in charge of planning and managing energy consumption policies must adapt their strategies to novel and superior alternative resources according to sustainability and efficiency criteria. In this paper, the fuzzy EDAS method is used to address the best renewable energy consumption by taking political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) dimensions into account. The analysis of the paper indicates the most efficient renewable energy consumption is sourced by geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and biomass, respectively. By further investigation, it is concluded that the most optimum renewable energy consumption alternatives based on PESTLE dimensions are geothermal and solar energies.

Taking infrastructure as the means to control space, this paper analyses the large-scale hydroelectric dam project “El Quimbo” in Huila, South Colombia, and the environmental conflict it caused. The paper argues that instead of acting as a “technology of engagement” that extends vital infrastructure into marginalised territory, the dam functioned as a “technology of detachment” that destroyed the social and physical infrastructure in place, fragmented territory and marginalised affected populations further. While localised marginalisation can be considered an unintentional side-effect of a project, which otherwise serves the “greater good”, critical conceptualisations of the capitalist state see purpose behind these impacts. Governments use infrastructural objects as tools for social engineering, subjugating their population to control and discipline in line with their biopolitical project. The paper analyses how far this subjugation was visible in the El Quimbo dam case, and critically reflects on the promises of renewable energy. It brings novel insights to the infrastructure citizenship debate by highlighting that infrastructure can act as intermediary between state and citizens but, in the same way, can hamper citizenship formation. Publisher PDF

Today, due to the rapidly increasing environmental pollution, the importance of energy obtained from renewable energy sources is increasing. One of these important renewable energy sources is Hydro...