Cost-Benefit Analysis of Renewable and Conventional Energy Sources

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students excel in their studies.

Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is essential for the future because
of its unlimited resources
THE LONDON COLLEGE, UCK |

Table of Contents
LO1 Explore potential renewable energy resources, including current storage and generation
technologies.....................................................................................................................................2
Solar Energy Resource.................................................................................................................2
Hydro Energy Renewable System...............................................................................................3
Wind Energy Resource................................................................................................................4
Tidal Energy Resource.................................................................................................................5
The adoption rate of solar energy....................................................................................................6
Recommendations to adopt solar renewable energy....................................................................6
Wind energy adoption rate...............................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................7
LO2 Optimum combination and efficiencies of renewable energy technologies for a particular
location............................................................................................................................................8
Wind energy connection with local system.................................................................................8
Solar energy connection with local grid or body.........................................................................8
How renewable energy systems will bring benefits to the people living in a remote area......9
Location in UK...........................................................................................................................10
LO3 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis between renewable and conventional energy sources to
determine the most viable option...................................................................................................11
Designing a solar power system.................................................................................................11
Appliances..............................................................................................................................11
Calculation of watts................................................................................................................11
Selection of inverter...............................................................................................................12
Selection of PV modules for plant.........................................................................................12
Battery selection.....................................................................................................................12
Installation..............................................................................................................................12
Contrast the installation and construction costs.........................................................................12
Cost–benefit critical analysis.....................................................................................................12
Capital Cost................................................................................................................................12
Variable cost..............................................................................................................................13

LO4 Explain how socio-economic, legislative and environmental factors involved in the
consideration and selection of other approaches...........................................................................14
Socio economic factors..............................................................................................................14
Legislative factor........................................................................................................................14
Environmental factor..................................................................................................................14
Pestle Analysis and possible sources of conflicts..........................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
List of Figures
Figure 1: Solar energy schematic....................................................................................................5
Figure 2: Hydro energy schematic...................................................................................................6
Figure 3: Wind energy schematic....................................................................................................7
Figure 4: Tidal energy schematic....................................................................................................8
Figure 5: Wind energy connection with local bodies....................................................................10
Figure 6: Solar energy connection with local bodies.....................................................................11
Figure 7: Pestel analysis................................................................................................................16

LO1 Explore potential renewable energy resources, including current storage
and generation technologies
Solar Energy Resource
In this renewable energy system, the root source of useable energy i.e. electrical energy
is “sun”. This is also being considered as core cause to spread light and heat on the earth. PV
modules are used as a technology to generate the electricity in proper usable form. The solar
energy can be passive and it could be active, the specification of this characteristic depends on
how this energy was fetched and then distributed. Regarding operational procedure, the
Photovoltaic or PV cells are used to convert the rays of sun into the direct current. These
photovoltaic cells are made of silicon; a semiconductor element. The combination of PV cells in
excessive amount, and with proper arrangements, make this produced current useable to run the
home or industrial appliances. In below schematic diagram, the electricity generation process is
shown. Firstly, solar panels absorb the sun rays; these plates or panels then convert the sun light
into the direct current according to the capacity of PV cells (Lewis, 2006).
Figure 1: Solar energy schematic
Sun Rays
Combination
of Solar
panels
Solar
Charger
Grid Tie
Inverter
Utility or
Load.

Hydro Energy Renewable System
In this renewable energy system, the water is the primary source of electrical power
generation. Water of ocean, river and canal can be used for this purpose, but mostly rivers water
is used for this. Dam and reservoirs are built to create and maintain the pressure of water and a
large amount of water can be stored in them. There is complete procedure to produce the
electrical energy via hydro energy system and its main theme is described in the below schematic
diagram. Firstly, water is dropped from dam and then surge tank is the place where extra water is
stored to maintain the pressure, when the dam is at low level; the surge tank use its stored water
to run the turbine ahead. For the safety purpose, the valves are configured with the system. These
valves are used to stop the flow and also to reduce the speed of water when the water level is
high. In rainy seasons the water level is at peak and these valves, then, play their role to keep
safe the blades of turbine. Penstock is the pipe which works according to the direction of valves.
The turbine rotates and electricity is generated due to the production of magnetic flux.
Figure 2: Hydro energy schematic
Wind Energy Resource
In this renewable energy, the turbines are rotated by the flow of wind and pressure in that
flow. This renewable energy has total dependence on the climate and situation of weather. Just
Dam
Water drop
in Surge
Tank
Valve to
control the
flow of
water
Pen stock
Turbine
Electricity
generation

like other energies, the operation or production process, of electricity from it, is given in the
schematic diagram. The wind is key source and triggering element in all this process. In the
beginning, the driven train is running by the flow of air and it rotates the shaft of generators; as a
result electricity is generated.
Figure 3: Wind energy schematic
Tidal Energy Resource
Tidal is another vital and prominent renewable resource of energy. In this system, the
electricity generation is done with the primary source of “tides”. Tides are made of water so you
may assume that it is a type of hydro energy generation and drive train is used to rotate the
turbine and generator is used to generate the electricity in power stations. From power grid
station, the distribution process is started and ends at the home users. The complete process
diagram or flow schematic of this energy generation is shown in “Figure 04”, below (Egbert,
2000).
Flow of air
Drive train
Turbine to
generate
electricity
Power Grid
Distributio
n process
End User

Figure 4: Tidal energy Process
The adoption rate of solar energy
In my opinion, the adoption rate depends upon the environment of the region, where
solar energy is being considered. The significance of solar renewable energy and its adoption can
be assessed by the fact that, now, international companies and groups are ripping of benefits of
solar energy. Such groups are including with brand names Apple, Ikea, FedEx, Toyota etc.; these
companies have converted their electricity consumption on solar and have been producing 338
Megawatt over the last year. Regarding the adoption rate; the rate of solar energy generation
comes at the top and US business grows 183 percent in four years. The means, as per report,
solar systems has been installed on commercial projects and ranked in the top corporate solar
power users. Actually the 1680 commercial systems were installed across the country in these
four years. Further, as per report, 970 Megawatt capacity of electrical power plants were added
in this regard. Now, these commercial projects can feed the national grid for power sharing. This
installed capacity can fed more than 158000 average loaded homes. All these statistics and
adoption figures show that Solar renewable energy is trending, primarily, in USA and,
secondarily, in other nations.
Drive
Train
Generator
Power Grid
Station
Distribution
End Users

Recommendations to adopt solar renewable energy
The countries where the summer season remains more the winter, solar energy will be the
best option for them. In rural and remote areas, where electricity distribution is not easily
available, solar energy can be installed there as a distributed generator. This a proven fact, now,
that distributed generators are more feasible for rural and remote areas because they save
distribution cost. According to my point of view, solar energy is the future of world, solar
energy is limitless and it can be fill the demand of world. So, I would recommend to adopt this
renewable energy as an alternative of conventional system for hot areas.
Wind energy adoption rate.
Second fastest adopted renewable energy, now, is “wind energy”. Wind energy is the best
renewable energy, as wind turbines work with the pressure of air and wind will never vanish
from our globe’s eco system. Just like other renewable energy, the wind adoption rate also varies
from region to region; because air is the main source in the production of wind energy and
patches having usually high wind pressures are adopting it more. This energy has adopted and
accepted worldwide, now, and its generation plant capacity has reached up to 600 Giga Watts
(GW); it is a remarkable number. In this capacity, 53.9 Giga Watts were added in recent last
years. Globally, all the installed wind turbines, till 2018, were sharing six percent of total
electricity’s demand of mankind. This percentage share, however, is increasing linearly.
Recommendations
In my recommendation, for the installation of wind turbine, the site should be fulfilling
some needed suitable wind characteristics. In those desired characteristics, the average air flow
rate is a top check. So we would recommend to install wind renewable systems on such sites so
that energy autonomy for user may be attained. We are not recommending this systems for other
areas because capital cost is high for such systems; and pay-off will be less in those areas. Now
with the advanced research, micro wind turbines had been developed successfully. So, for the
domestic users, the micro wind turbines can be installed at homes and sufficient electricity can
be gained from it.

LO2 Optimum combination and efficiencies of renewable energy technologies
for a particular location
Wind energy connection with local system
The connection diagram to connect a distributed wind generator with local grid is shown in
figure below. The procedure of connection with ‘local body’ starts from the wind turbine, which
is installed on a mounting pole. A wind turbine, having wind blades, generates the electricity and
it, then, is fed to an inverter which converts the DC current to AC. After the conversion this
electricity is provided to local grid, passing through a two-way meter, via high transmission lines
as shown in figure below. In the local grid, the schools, home, are offices are connected directly
which can be run, then, through wind energy indirectly.

Figure 5: Wind energy connection with local bodies
Solar energy connection with local grid or body
The solar system is connected with local bodies using same scheme i.e. using power
distribution lines. The connection diagram to connect and operate for local grid loads is shown in
‘figure 06’. Two scenarios of operation, while connecting with national grid, are shown in this
figure. First the sun rises and solar panels start their working; they provide the generated solar
power to grid and then this power is distributed to the local system. In market’s term it is also
called as “net metering”. Moreover, in the day time, the inverter provides the electricity to
appliances and at the same time it gives the extra power to utility. In simplest words, in such a
case, the inverter would be selling surplus electricity to grid users. In the night, the reverse
mechanism occurs; so the units of electricity which were sold to utility in day time would be
purchased back by customer.

Figure 6: Solar energy connection with local bodies
How renewable energy systems will bring benefits to the people living in a remote area.
Renewable energy has lot of benefits for remote areas and very limited drawbacks. These
positive sides are described below, bullet by bullet.
 Firstly, as discussed, the renewable energy will never be vanished because the sources are
natural. So the big advantage to remote people is: they don’t have to face the load
shedding problems and get a constant supply of energy.
 Next positive side is about economic side. Actually, the renewable energy saves a lot of
money because it is one time investment. Its operating and maintaining cost is very low.
 It also gives the enormous environmental benefits too, to the people of remote areas
because its systems do not emit any kind of hazardous gas. This is why we call it as
‘clean and green energy’.
 For renewable energy, there is also some relief on taxes which are imposed by
government otherwise.

Location in UK
In United Kingdom there is a location named Scotland which is generating electricity from
renewable energy sources. The good thing for this location, however, is that it has installed
enough generation capacity which is fulfilling the 100 percent demand at domestic level. The
people living there believe, majorly, in wind energy because it is enriched with windy beaches.
The combinations of such a grid stations are generating electricity and feeding by 39 Mega Watt
Hours to national grid station of Scotland. Coal power plants are also being used to generate
electricity there, but those are not of our interest because coal is a conventional source of energy.
At the start of this year, this place had unique number of installed renewable capacity, which is
10.9 Giga Watts.
LO3 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis between renewable and conventional
energy sources to determine the most viable option
Designing a solar power system
For the cost befit analysis, we would be designing a solar system for three bedroom property in
East London. This would be just a case study, so the steps are defined below;
Step 1
In the first step, I will consider the appliances that are being fed from renewable resources
Step 2