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The industrial sector is not the one with the highest energy consumption but, together with, it represents the most, together with the transport sector, the most polluting ones. Photovoltaic Rooftop systems and battery energy storage systems are very strong candidates to include renewable energy, allowing greater grid autonomy and greenhouse gas mitigation. Therefore, this paper aims to outline it will be provided a methodology based on monitored data to analyze the potential of photovoltaic Rooftops with battery energy storage systems regarding self-consumption and self-sufficiency indices in the industrial sector. Direct self-consumption and self-sufficiency indices, either with or without storage, will be analyzed. In addition, the iso self-consumption and iso self-sufficiency curves are used, which allow us to evaluate the matching between the generation and consumption profiles considering either direct self-consumption or the use of batteries. In this sense, a large, medium, and small olive mill were selected in order to cover the entire spectrum of these industries. Olive mills are suitable candidates for the incorporation of photovoltaic systems since generation profiles match the consumption profiles. However, the size of these systems is highly dependent on the period of consumption to be faced. Regarding batteries, both during the harvest and off-harvest periods, the impact on self-sufficiency becomes significant, reaching increases of up to 10%, depending on the battery capacity used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the survival of society, an enormous amount of energy is required to sustain the economic and social development of communities. In addition, there is a pressing need to achieve significant reductions in climate change and the associated costs of implementing systems based on traditional energy sources, as well as addressing the issue of providing electricity to isolated areas. In rural environments, there is an alternative energy source with enormous potential, agricultural biomass, which can produce electrical and thermal energy and can progressively help to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The purpose of this work is to present a dynamic simulation model of a power generation plant that uses the Joule Brayton thermodynamic cycle, based on a gas turbine which is fueled by residual agricultural biomass; the cycle converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. The problem is approached through the characterization of the biomass, mathematical models of the plant components, and simulation of the system behavior in different scenarios. The simulations are processed in Matlab/Simulink, which allows the model to be verified, validating the equilibrium relationship between generation and load demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of Ethiopia's significant renewable energy (RE) potential and the dynamic interactions among the components of the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus, we attempted to incorporate solar and small-scale hydropower into the optimal design of an environmentally friendly microgrid with the primary goal of ensuring the sustainability of irrigation water pumping, while taking advantage of existing infrastructure in various small administrative units (kebele). Any additional generated energy would be made available to the community for other needs, such as lighting and cooking, to support health and food security and improve the general quality of life. The novelty of the study stems from the utilization of in situ social data, retrieved during fieldwork interviews conducted in the kebele of interest, to ascertain the actual needs and habits of the local people. Based on these combined efforts, we were able to formulate a realistic energy demand plan for climatic conditions typical of Sub-Saharan Africa agricultural communities and analyze four different scenarios of the microgrid's potential functionality and capital cost, given different tolerance levels of scheduled outages. We demonstrated that the RE-based microgrid would be socially and environmentally beneficial and its capital cost sensitive to the incorporation of individual or communal machines and appliances. Ultimately, the social impact investigation revealed the design would be welcomed by the local community, whose members already implement tailor-made solutions to support their agricultural activities. Finally, we argue that extended educational programs and unambiguous policies should be in place before any implementation to ensure the venture's sustainability and functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar panels installed on the ground receive wind loads. A wind experiment was conducted to evaluate the wind force coefficient acting on a single solar panel and solar panels arranged in an array. The surface roughness did not have a significant effect on the change in vertical force, which is the wind force coefficient acting on the vertical surface of a single solar panel. An examination of the change in wind direction angle showed that the largest vertical force coefficient was distributed in the 0° forward wind direction on the front of the solar panel, the 345° reverse wind direction on the rear side, and the 135° and 225° diagonal directions on the rear panel. Furthermore, an examination of the change in wind force coefficient according to the change in solar panel inclination angle (β) showed that the drag coefficient was the highest at the 40° inclination angle of the panel (β), followed by the 30° and 20° inclination angles. However, the lift coefficient and vertical force coefficient were not significantly affected by the inclination angle of the panel. The wind force coefficient of the panels arranged in an array was influenced by the wind direction angle and panel position. With the exclusion of the nearest row at a wind direction angle of 0°, all the panels in the array showed lower coefficients than those in the single-panel experiment. In the case of the panels placed inside, the wind speed was decreased by the surrounding panels. As a result, the wind force coefficient was lower than that of the single-panel experiment. This outcome is attributed to the small delamination at the end of the panels by the surrounding array of panels compared with that of the single-panel experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]