Sharif Digital Repository

The present study investigates the possibility of using a small hydropower/PV hybrid power system for low-cost electricity production which can satisfy the energy load requirements of a typical rural-urban area. In this context, the optimal dimensions to improve the technical and economical performances of the hybrid system are determined according to the load energy requirements and the solar and hydro resources data using linear programming. The application of the model is demonstrated using a case study of a rural-urban area in Mazandaran province, Iran. Two scenarios were considered for optimizing the system components. In the first scenario, a stand-alone hybrid small hydropower/PV... 

Developing ocean energy extraction, including ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), has been of interest to researchers for many decades. OTEC is a free fuel technology and could be used as a baseline power generation. These advantages plus the engineering challenge have resulted in researchers striving to design and construct prototype devices. Making use of worldwide experience, all sections of a conceptual design including site selection, technical specifications and cost estimation were carried out for an Iranian OTEC power plant. A 5 MW closed cycle floating plant with an annual average temperature difference of 22°C was chosen at a 33 km distance from Chabahar harbour. Deep seawater... 

In the view of the latest status and the potential of developing wind energy in South Africa, the present study aims to perform technical–economic–environmental analysis on a wind turbine system with HOMER software using the 20-years average data of the wind speed obtained from NASA's database, for providing the electricity to residential buildings. The results showed that the Port Elizabeth station, had the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) with the value of -0.363 $/kWh when using the EOLO wind turbine, and the Bloemfontein station had the highest LCOE with the value of 1.601 $/kWh when using the Turby wind turbine. The results from the step-wise assessment ratio analysis... 

This paper describes the designing and evaluation of an alternative energy system which consists of PEMFC, PV, PEM electrolyser, methane reformer and hydrogen tank. In order to find out the minimum capacity of the components, a system sizing model is developed in MATLAB based on meteorological and electrical demand data. Three scenarios are considered based on different combinations of solar energy and fossil fuel energy as energy resources. The heating energy produced by the fuel cell is recovered for supplying domestic hot water while the system would supply electrical energy. Results show that system sizing strongly depends on scenarios and unit cost of electricity decreases through the... 

The present study was aimed at developing a model to optimize the sizing parameters and farm layout of wind turbines according to the wind resource and economic aspects. The proposed model, including aerodynamic, economic and optimization sub-models, is used to achieve minimum levelized cost of electricity. The blade element momentum theory is utilized for aerodynamic modeling of pitch-regulated horizontal axis wind turbines. Also, a comprehensive cost model including capital costs of all turbine components is considered. An iterative approach is used to develop the optimization model. The modeling results are presented for three potential regions in Iran: Khaf, Ahar and Manjil. The optimum... 

The aim of this study is to couple molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) stack with integrated gasification combined cycle fed by refinery residues, to remove CO2 from gas turbine exhaust gases that have CO2 emission rate of 14,200 ton/year. By applying multi-objective optimisation (MOO) using genetic algorithm, the optimal values of operating load and the corresponding values of objective functions are obtained. The MOO of the MCFC system regarding two scenarios is performed. The first scenario is minimisation of cost of electricity (COE) and CO2 emission rate. Objective functions of the second scenario are the same as in the first scenario while CO2 tax is taken into account. Results show that... 

The main objective of this work is minimizing the cost of electricity of solid oxide fuel cell stacks by decelerating degradation mechanisms rate in long term operation for stationary power generation applications. The degradation mechanisms in solid oxide fuel cells are caused by microstructural changes, reactions between lanthanum strontium manganite and electrolyte, poisoning by chromium, carburization on nickel particles, formation of nickel sulfide, nickel coarsening, nickel oxidation, loss of conductivity and crack formation in the electrolyte. The rate of degradation mechanisms depends on the cell operating conditions (cell voltage and fuel utilization). In this study, the degradation... 

The aim of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a combined cooling, heating, and power generation system with a micro turbine using biogas as the fuel to supply the heat and electricity demands in a real wastewater treatment plant. The plant is optimized using the system's total cost rate and the amount of the produced biogas as objective functions. The anaerobic digester is modeled using the ADM1 model. The optimization variables include digester hydraulic retention time, compressor pressure ratio, isentropic compressor efficiency, recuperator pinch time temperature, turbine isentropic efficiency, turbine input temperature, and the number of micro turbines. In the first scenario... 

Distributed Generation (DG) can help in reducing the cost of electricity to the customer, relieve network congestion, provide environmentally friendly energy close to load centers as well as promote system technical characteristics such as loss reduction, voltage profile enhancement, reserve mitigation and many other factors. Furthermore, its capacity is also scalable and it can provide voltage support at distribution level. The planning studies include penetration level and placement evaluation which are influenced directly by DG type. Most of the previous publications in this field chose one or two preferred parameter as basic objective and implement the optimizations in systems. But due... 

Considering the dramatic increase of greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide, reduction of these gases seems necessary to combat global warming. Fossil fuel power plants are one of the main sources of CO2 emission and several methods are under development to capture CO2 from power plants. In this paper, CO2 capture from a natural gas fired steam cycle power plant using oxyfuel combustion technology is studied. Oxy-fuel combustion is an interesting option since CO2 concentration in the flue gas is highly increased. The Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) developed by Carnegie Mellon University (USA) is used to evaluate the effect of this capture...