Showing papers in "Renewable Energy in 2011"

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a brief history of energy harvesting for low power systems followed by a review of the state-of-the-art energy harvesting techniques, power conversion, power management, and battery charging.

TL;DR: In this article, the Compromise Ranking method is combined with the Analytical Hierarchy Process for weighting the importance of the different criteria, which allows decision-makers to assign these values based on their preferences.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the long and difficult steps of wind energy development from the California era to the construction of huge offshore wind parks worldwide, highlighting the prospects and the main challenges for wind energy applications towards the target of 1000 GW of wind power by 2030.

TL;DR: In this article, both conventional and most recent membrane technologies used in refining biodiesel have been critically reviewed, and the effects of catalysts, free fatty acids, water content and oil to methanol ratios on the purity and quality of biodiesel are also examined.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore fault data provided by the supervisory control and data acquisition system and offer fault prediction at three levels: (1) fault and no-fault prediction; (2) fault category (severity); and (3) specific fault prediction.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize the current status of the 2nd generation biofuel technologies including bioethanol from lignocellulosic materials and biodiesel from microalgae.

TL;DR: In this article, a combination of solar panels and food crops on the same land unit may maximise the land use, and the authors suggest to call this an agrivoltaic system.

TL;DR: In this article, a procedure to compare ORC working fluids based on their molecular components, temperature-entropy diagram and fluid effects on the thermal efficiency, net power generated, vapor expansion ratio, and exergy efficiency of the Rankine cycle has been proposed.

TL;DR: In this article, a coupled simulation method based on Monte Carlo Ray Trace (MCRT) and Finite Volume Method (FVM) is established to solve the complex coupled heat transfer problem of radiation, heat conduction and convection in parabolic trough solar collector system.

TL;DR: In this paper, an optimal condition-based maintenance (CBM) strategy for wind power generation systems is proposed, which is defined by two failure probability threshold values at the wind turbine level.

TL;DR: In this paper, a brief revision of the state of the art of offshore wind power is presented, followed by a critical discussion about the causes of the recently growth that is currently happening.

TL;DR: In this paper, the wake interference effect on the performance of a downstream wind turbine was investigated experimentally and the effects of these parameters on the total power output from the turbines were also estimated.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented some preliminary results from a research study conducted on solar energy resource assessment in Oman, where GIS-based spatial multi-criteria evaluation approach, in terms of the FLOWA module was used to assess the land suitability for large PV farms implementation in Oman.

TL;DR: In this article, a double slope solar still with mild steel plate was fabricated and tested with minimum mass of water and different wick materials like light cotton cloth, sponge sheet, coir mate and waste cotton pieces in the basin.

TL;DR: In this article, the role of wind turbines in a system's primary frequency control is discussed, and wind turbine control methods that enable frequency support and control are presented, the advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed.

TL;DR: Artificial neural networks in combination with wavelet transform for short-term wind power forecasting in Portugal is proposed, taking into account the results obtained with other approaches.

TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of using diethyl ether and ethanol as additive to biodiesel/diesel blends on the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine were evaluated.

TL;DR: In this paper, a BMP test was used to evaluate biogas production for raw biomass and hydrothermal treated waste, which showed that fruit/vegetable and food waste showed higher methane production than that of cow manure, pig manure, and municipal sewage sludge.

TL;DR: In this article, the storage and balancing needs of a simplified European power system, which is based on wind and solar power generation only, are derived from an extensive weather-driven modeling of hourly power mismatches between generation and load.

TL;DR: In this paper, the feasibility of utilizing solar and wind energy with hydrogen as a storage unit to meet the electricity requirements of the pilot region as a standalone system and in conjunction with the conventional grid based electricity is evaluated.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the energy situation and the status of the biogas technology and utilization in Ghana, and also present the potential benefits, prospects and challenges of the bio-diesel technology.

TL;DR: In this paper, the technical feasibility of floating residue (FR) utilization as a resource of renewable energy was investigated by dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment and further enzymatic hydrolysis.

TL;DR: A robust two-step methodology for accurate wind speed forecasting based on Bayesian combination algorithm, and three neural network models, namely, adaptive linear element network (ADALINE), backpropagation (BP) network, and radial basis function (RBF) network is presented.

TL;DR: In this paper, a new concept of hydrokinetic turbine using oscillating hydrofoils to extract energy from water currents (tidal or gravitational) is presented and tested in this investigation.

TL;DR: In this article, a comparative study of various methods for mathematical modelling of wind turbines, with reference to three commercially available wind turbins, with the help of an algorithm developed, is presented.

TL;DR: In this paper, a generator portfolio planning model is described that is capable of quantifying the carbon emissions associated with systems that include very high penetrations of variable renewables, including wind, centralized solar thermal, and rooftop photovoltaics, as well as hydroelectric, geothermal, and natural gas plants.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined several co-firing options including a novel option external (indirect) firing using combustion or gasification in an existing coal or oil fired plant.

TL;DR: In this article, the potential of grid-connected solar PV system in Bangladesh was estimated utilizing GeoSpatial toolkit, NASA SSE solar radiation data and HOMER optimization software.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the basic architectures and regulation techniques of MGs and study the islanding behaviour, mainly the different detection techniques and the inverters' control once islanded.

TL;DR: The authors discusses the economics of producing biodiesel fuel from algae grown in open ponds and presents an updated financial analysis of the production and economic conditions that could have a profound effect on the success of this important alternative fuel production process.