On the Physics and Economics of Renewable Electric Energy Sources : part II Engineering

• Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) are often recognized as expensive to install and maintain. Therefore they are also seen as less competitive relative traditional types of electric energy conversion systems. Even so, political and environmental concerns have lately led to increased installation of various RETs, especially wind power. To facilitate a faster diffusion of new innovations and installations of RETs in general, we argue that focus should be on the possible number of full loading hours since it strongly affects the economical output. This paper elaborates on this problem by exemplifying the interface between physics, engineering and economy for different RET plants, while others commonly attack it from the direction of policies and regulative frameworks [1] Grubb 1990, [2] Harmelink et al 2006 [3] Kaldellis et al. 2005, [4] Komor & Bazillan 2005, [5] Palmer & Burtraw 2005, [6] Panoutsou 2008. In part I of this article [7] Leijon et al define the "Degree of Utilization" and show why the amount of full loading hours are important for the renewable generation of electric energy. As part 1.1, this article elaborates further on the Degree of Utilizatoin and shows why it is crucial for the economical optimization of a specific RET system. The results show how the choice of renewable energy source and a correctly matched RET design affects the economy of a RET plant.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Renewable Energy Technologies

Renewable Energy Sources

Degree of Utilization

Engineering

Economy

Electrical engineering, electronics and photonics

Elektroteknik, elektronik och fotonik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)