Page 1 of 5 Assignment 2: Renewable Energy Due date: 6 June 2016 Weighting: 25% Marks: 250 Content and Page Limit There is a limit of 15 pages for this assignment. Your content must be focussed on addressing the questions. Please carefully review the marking schedule at the end of this assignment. You will see that in each question, marks are primarily awarded for the careful engineering analyses that you present. Your calculations and analyses must demonstrate that you have developed a clear understanding of the technical details. Verbose essays will not compensate for any lack of actual technical content and analysis in your responses. Your decisions and conclusions will be strongly informed by the calculations and analysis that you have done. Preparation and Submission Process Your assignment should be prepared using Word or some equivalent processor. However, it is acceptable for calculations or other mathematical analyses to be presented in handwritten form as it can be very tedious to type-set such elements. Such handwritten work should be scanned and embedded into your document. Your submission should be a single pdf file with a resolution that generates a file size no larger than 10 MB and contains selectable text (i.e. it is possible to copy and paste the text from the submission into any text editor). Your assignment will be submitted electronically and will include a Turnitin analysis of your work. Question 1: Solar Thermal Energy – 120 marks Analyse solar energy available for a thermal application at the place of your employment, or at some other specific industrial, commercial, or rural enterprise at a location within 50 km of the postal address you have registered with. You are required to briefly describe the enterprise, its location, building(s) and the space available for collection of solar energy. The application for the solar energy will be a thermal process/technology. Options include: (1) solar water heating; (2) solar thermal concentrating systems for power production; (3) solar thermal energy collection for air-conditioning / refrigeration applications; and (4) solar thermal energy for heating and drying applications. Direct electricity generation via photovoltaics is not a thermal technology and does NOT fall within the scope of this particular assignment question. (a) Present an annotated map/satellite image showing the location of the site/building(s) (latitude and longitude). Describe the site/building(s) and its location relative to the postal address you have registered with USQ. Define the maximum footprint available for installation of the planned solar thermal collector system. [10 marks] (b) What is the application for the thermal energy? Will a new service be offered through the solar thermal installation, or will the installation replace an existing service delivered through nonrenewable energy technologies? How will the enterprise benefit from this renewable energy initiative? Define the amount of energy required, when this energy is required (specifying the variations on a daily and monthly basis) and the temperature at which this energy must be delivered in this application. Clearly describe your assumptions. [20 marks] Page 2 of 5 (c) Describe the solar thermal collector technology which you are considering for installation at this site (e.g., flat plate, vacuum tube, tracking, concentrating etc.). Include specifications of collection efficiencies, operating conditions including working fluid mass flow rates and other relevant performance metrics for this technology. Define the meanings of the variables you have identified, citing your technical literature and other sources. [20 marks] (d) Analyse monthly-averaged solar radiation data to determine the solar energy/power available and its variation at the site location. Present a graph showing the average variation throughout the year. For the critical period, when the demand for the energy is highest and/or availability of the solar energy is lowest, also graph the average variation throughout the day. Be sure to describe your analysis, including the necessary assumptions, and define the meaning of the variables you have used in the analysis and presentation of the graphs. Cite the source(s) of your data. [20 marks] (e) Identify a suitable energy storage strategy. Compare the energy supply and demand cycles and assess the viability of the storage technology in this application through suitable engineering analysis. [20 marks] (f) Size an appropriate collection and storage system based on your results in parts (a) to (e). Through engineering analysis, define the system performance and demonstrate that the necessary quantity of energy can be delivered at the required temperatures during normal operation. Also highlight if the solar system is able to satisfy demand during periods of peak demand and/or troughs in solar supply. Is a back-up system operating on a non-renewable energy source required? Ensure you present your calculations and discuss your assumptions clearly. [20 marks] (g) Assess the viability or otherwise of the proposed system and/or identify limitations of your current work and identify further analysis which needs to be performed in order to fully assess the viability or otherwise of the proposed collection system. [10 marks] Question 2: Wind Energy – 80 marks Evaluate the wind-energy conversion capacity of the wind turbine specified below for use as an alternative energy source for a place of residence within 20 km of the postal address you have registered with USQ. The wind turbine to be considered is specified in the file: 1.3kW_Spec_Sheet.pdf. (a) Describe the residence and its location, being specific with respect to the postal address you have registered with USQ. How many people reside here? [5 marks] (b) Develop a plot showing the probability distribution of wind speed at your location. Obtain this plot by analysing available data. The distribution should be representative of conditions averaged across a period of 1 year and should take the form of probabilities of the wind speed falling within four or more discrete bands. [30 marks] The level of detail available for wind statistics is likely to vary depending on your particular location. You are required to make and justify assumptions that facilitate the development of a sensible probability distribution at your location based on the available data. (c) Using the specifications provided, develop a plot of the power output as a function of wind speed on the assumption that the generator is being used to charge batteries and the cut-out wind speed is 20 m/s. [10 marks] (d) Based on results obtained in parts (b) and (c), over a period of 1 year, how many kW-hr of electrical energy can be generated at your residence? Estimate the fraction of the energy requirements of this residence that could be satisfied by installing this WECS. [20 marks] Page 3 of 5 (e) Discuss possible savings and the viability or otherwise of this or some other form of WECS at this location. [15 marks] Notes for Question 1 & 2 Whether or not building permission is likely to be granted for the installation of your proposed solar system (Question 1) or the wind energy conversion system (Question 2) is not a matter that needs to be considered for this assignment. If you have a similar postal address to other students in the class, you are still expected to work as an individual. The work you present in this submission should be yours alone, and sources for data must be appropriately cited. Question 1 and 2 require the identification and analysis of solar radiation and wind speed data at your location. For locations within Australia, suitable data can be obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology website: http://www.bom.gov.au/. Similar data is available from other websites for other countries. Question 3: Other Renewable Energy – 50 marks Evaluate the prospects of one of the following elective renewable energy technologies being applied at your place of residence or an industrial, commercial, or rural enterprise. Elective technologies (select one of):  Biomass digestion  Pyrolysis and gasification  Photovoltaics  Hydroelectric (a) Describe the residence or enterprise. Specify its location and the current energy requirement. [5 marks] (b) Describe the proposed application of the chosen technology in the residence or enterprise. [5 marks] For Photovoltaics only: (c) Estimate the cost of purchasing and installing the PV system, specifying your sources of information. Identify the current cost of electricity for the residence or enterprise and determine the viability or otherwise of the proposal on economic grounds. For any other (non-PV) technology (this has already been assessed in Question 1 for PV): (c) Describe the proposed renewable energy resource and quantify its availability. In particular, be careful to define the continuity or intermittency of the supply over long and short terms. [10 marks] (d) Identify a suitable size for the renewable energy conversion system, taking into consideration appropriate storage systems and/or back-up technologies. Show your working and calculations, and justify assumptions that you have made. [30 marks] Page 4 of 5 Question 1 Marking Marks Basis of assessment (a) Location 10 Map/image Latitude and longitude c.f. post address registered at USQ Footprint defined (b) Application 20 Description of application New service? Benefits? Energy and temperature demand variations Assumptions (c) Technology 20 Description Specifications: efficiencies, flow rates, operating conditions, other metrics Definitions of variables Quality of sources and citation thereof (d) Source 20 Presentation of analysis Description of assumptions Sufficient workings included? Requisite graphs presented Definition of variables Quality of sources and citation thereof (e) Storage 20 Strategy described Supply/demand assessed Engineering analysis applied Choices justified (f) Sizing 20 Engineering analysis / calculations Specified system can achieve targets? How are peak loads handled? Back-up system? Assumptions described. Reasonable? (g) Viability 10 Viability and/or limitations Sensible discussion informed by calcs? Page 5 of 5 Question 2 Marking Marks Basis of assessment (a) Location 5 Postal address registered with USQ Description of residence & location (b) Distribution 30 Data source(s) cited in detail Analysis method described Sufficient workings included? Assumptions stated/discussed Clear and meaningful plot Numerically accurate (c) Power output 10 Cut-in and cut-out shown Clear and accurate plot (d) Energy 20 kW-hr analysis method described Sufficient workings included? Numerically accurate? Estimate of energy requirements (e) Viability 15 Discussion of savings Assessment of viability Question 3 Marking Marks Basis of assessment (a) Description 5 Description of residence or enterprise Location & energy requirements (b) Application 5 Description of proposed application & chosen technology (c) Costing 10 Discussion of savings [PV only] Assessment of viability (c) Resource 10 Quantified availability [non-PV only] Quantified supply continuity (d) Sizing 30 Choices logical and justified Storage/back-up systems considered Calculations presented Assumptions & justifications shown