Sharif Digital Repository

Photovoltaic-electrolyzer systems are one of the most promising alternatives for obtaining hydrogen from a renewable energy source. Determining size and the operational conditions are always a key issue while coupling directly renewable electricity sources to PEM electrolyzer. In this research, the multi objective optimization approach based on an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), which is employed to optimize the size and the operating conditions of a directly coupled photovoltaic (PV)-PEM electrolyzer. This allows the optimization of the system by considering two different objectives, including, minimization of energy transfer loss and maximization of hydrogen generation. Multi... 

Hydrogen is considered to be the fuel of the future. It is a cleaner alternative to the fossil fuels we consume every day. Of all the different hydrogen production pathways that exist, producing the gas by utilizing the power generated by renewable energy sources has been a topic of interest for many researchers across the world. The following work focuses on minimizing the energy loss by optimizing the size and the operating conditions of an electrolyzer directly connected to a photovoltaic (PV) module at different irradiance. The hydrogen, in the proposed system, is produced using a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. A nonlinear method is considered, because of the complexity of... 

In order to decrease CO 2 emission into the atmosphere and develop renewable energy sources for carbon capture, an integrated system is considered for co-production of electricity and methanol. In this research, methanol synthesis unit through captured CO 2 from fossil fuel power plant and produced H 2 from water electrolysis unit by wind renewable energy is developed. An oxy-fuel combustion carbon capture method is considered in large scale Matiant power plant based on utilization of oxygen from water electrolysis unit. Technical and economical analysis of the proposed system shows that when the price of natural gas is 7.8US$/GJ, the total CO 2 avoided cost is 93US$/(tonne of CO 2) and... 

A majority of remote power systems are going to be supplied by diesel-renewable resources such as wind and photovoltaic energy in the future. However, the unpredictable nature of wind generation increases the concern about the reliable operation of these isolated microgrids. Using energy storage systems (ESSs) is recently accepted as an efficient solution to the volatility and intermittency of renewable energy sources. In this paper, a stochastic programming based on the Monte Carlo approach is introduced for optimal planning of remote systems. So far, most literatures have focused exclusively on the energy storage initial sizing. However, capacity expansion of ESS through the time span can... 

In this paper, special focus is paid to the long-term adoption of renewable electricity technologies and their implications for emissions reductions in Iran. MESSAGE, as a bottom-up energy supply optimization model, is used to assess the lowest-cost technology options. The potential impacts of transitioning to a renewable electricity supply are quantified, and the investment requirement to achieve a low-carbon generation mix is estimated. Alternative scenarios are defined to evaluate the impact of fossil fuel prices, the carbon tax and government incentives on the utilization of renewable resources, national renewable targets, and emissions reductions. The prioritization of non-hydro... 

This paper investigates the role of parking lots in improving the reliability of renewable-based distribution systems, through provision of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) programs during outage events. In this regard, municipal parking decks are viewed as distributed energy storage systems and the amount of available energy from these units in random contingency events is probabilistically modeled for reliability studies. Appropriate stochastic models are also introduced to capture the volatility and intermittency of renewable sources. Moreover, it is discussed that how the adopted outage management scheme (OMS) in contingency events can affect the reliability level of customers. In response, several... 

The application of the renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, for thermal enhanced oil recovery methods as an economical and environmental valuable technique has received many attractions recently. Concentrated Solar Power systems are capable of producing substantial quantities of steam by means of focused sunlight as the heat source for steam generation. This paper aims to investigate viability of using this innovative technology in fractured reservoirs to generate steam instead of using conventional steam generators. A synthetic fractured reservoir with properties similar to those of giant carbonate oil reserves in the Middle East was designed by using commercial thermal... 

This paper investigates the role of parking lots in improving the reliability of renewable-based distribution systems, through provision of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) programs during outage events. In this regard, municipal parking decks are viewed as distributed energy storage systems and the amount of available energy from these units in random contingency events is probabilistically modeled for reliability studies. Appropriate stochastic models are also introduced to capture the volatility and intermittency of renewable sources. Moreover, it is discussed that how the adopted outage management scheme (OMS) in contingency events can affect the reliability level of customers. In response, several... 

Owners of electric vehicles (EVs) can offer the storage capacity of their batteries to the operator of a microgrid as a service called vehicle-to-grid (V2G) to hold the balance between supply and demand of electricity, particularly when the microgrid has intermittent renewable energy sources. Literature review implies that V2G has economic benefits for both microgrid operator and EV owners, but it is unclear how these benefits are divided between them. The challenge grows when the policy makers rely on the V2G revenue as an incentive for expanding the penetration of EVs in the automotive market. This paper models the interaction between microgrid operator and EV owners as a bargaining game... 

This paper aims to analyze Iran's long-term power sector development from economic, environmental, social, and sustainable perspectives. For this purpose, a linear programming model is developed, which includes three objective functions: minimization of costs, minimization of CO2 emissions, and maximization of created jobs. To provide a sustainable plan, analytical hierarchy process is employed to allocate expert-based weights to the objective functions. Moreover, to support the decision-makers, Pareto-optimal alternatives are explored by varying the weights of objectives. The multi-objective model is solved by applying a weighted method based on fuzzy membership functions. The results show... 

In this paper, a hierarchical frequency regulation system is presented for real-time operation of the electrical grids. It includes a decentralized transactive energy system for clearing transactions of producers/consumers in real-time. The proposed system is implemented in a distributed fashion with small data communication requirement. It is proved that the proposed transactive energy system converges to the optimal power flow (OPF). An iterative method for optimizing control parameters of the proposed hierarchical frequency regulation system is also given. The proposed method is developed for high penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) as the sizes, locations, and uncertainties of... 

The introduction of microgrids (MGs) and renewable energy sources (RESs) has caused significant shifts in the operation of power systems. Despite many benefits, integration of RESs has emerged new issues in the power systems operation. One of the issues recently raised by some utilities, is the severe ramps which are seen in systems with high penetration of RES. On the other hand, the traditional flexible power plants could not provide the ramp required in these systems. As a result, flexible local resources in independent entities like MGs should be employed to tackle this issue in these systems. In this paper, a novel model is developed to investigate the effects of MGs and gas grid... 

This article provides an agent-based model of a hypothetical standalone electricity network to identify how the feed-in tariffs and the installed capacity of wind power, calculated in percentage of total system demand, affect the electricity consumption from renewables. It includes the mechanism of electricity pricing on the Day Ahead Market (DAM) and the Imbalance Market (IM). The extra production volumes of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES-E) and the flexibility of electrical consumption of industries is provided as reserves on the IM. Five thousand simulations were run by using the agent-based model to gather data that were then fit in linear regression models. This helped... 

Energy innovation is a key requirement to limit global warming and tackle climate change in the years to come. A better understanding of the public R&D mechanism is likely to improve allocation of resources for energy innovation. Thus, the present paper evaluates the impacts of public R&D and knowledge spillovers on the development of renewable energy sources. To achieve this goal, knowledge flow has been modeled as a function of public R&D expenditures, cumulative knowledge stocks and knowledge spillovers. To show the application of the model, the Nordic countries as one of the pioneers in renewable technologies have been chosen. Results show the cumulative knowledge stock will increase to... 

In this study, optimal offering strategy problem of a virtual power plant (VPP) as a price-maker player in day-ahead frequency constrained electricity market is presented. The optimal offering strategy problem is modelled as a bi-level optimisation problem. In the upper-level problem, the total profit of VPP is maximised. In the lower-level problem, the clearing conditions of frequency constrained electricity market are modelled. The proposed bi-level optimisation problem is reformulated as a mathematical programming with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) problem by using Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions. Then, the proposed MPEC problem, which is non-linear and hard to solve by commercial solvers,... 

Employing more flexibility in power systems is one of the main challenges brought about by integrating more renewable energy sources in power systems. A promising way to overcome this challenge is to have local sources of flexibility in distribution level. In this respect, a novel approach is introduced in this paper for multi-stage distribution system expansion planning which jointly considers expansion of the network assets as well as flexibility enhancement. To this end, construction and reinforcement of feeders and substations are considered as various alternatives for network expansion. Moreover, installation of conventional dispatchable distributed generation units is selected as the... 

Stand-alone hybrid power systems are an alternative to main electricity grids, where the grid extension is costly or the trifling local consumption would not justify its expansion. However, lack of consistency and uniformity in renewable energy sources, and the restrictions of energy storage systems make system sizing a challenging task. Optimum size of a stand-alone system depends on several factors including energy demand function. In this paper, different types of demand functions are addressed for optimising a solar-hydrogen supply system. Different parameters are defined to investigate the impact of household population on the power generation cost, and also to determine the optimum... 

Stand-alone hybrid power systems are an alternative to main electricity grids, where the grid extension is costly or the trifling local consumption would not justify its expansion. However, lack of consistency and uniformity in renewable energy sources, and the restrictions of energy storage systems make system sizing a challenging task. Optimum size of a stand-alone system depends on several factors including energy demand function. In this paper, different types of demand functions are addressed for optimising a solar-hydrogen supply system. Different parameters are defined to investigate the impact of household population on the power generation cost, and also to determine the optimum... 

With the proliferation of intermittent renewable energy sources, power systems need to withstand an increasing number of disturbances that may affect system frequency. In this paper, we focus on the effects of high penetration level of wind turbine-generators (WTG) on the power system operational planning from the frequency point of view. Specifically, an exact formulation for the minimum frequency calculation is presented to increase accuracy and speed of analyses. Then, the effect of WTG's frequency response on the power system frequency stability is investigated to compute the maximum acceptable generation outage as a function of penetration level. Finally, as an application to power... 

In recent years, there has been a rapid change in the portfolio of road vehicles. This transformation needs to be supported by reshaping fuel stations. The existing structures can be modified to supply multiple vehicle types while utilizing renewable energies. In this article, we introduce a hybrid fuel station (HFS) to supply both electric and natural gas vehicles. We incorporate an energy hub and thoroughly explain the structure and components in detail. The configuration of the proposed HFS includes renewable energy sources (RESs), a power-to-gas unit (P2G), a natural gas distributed generator (NGDG), an energy storage device, a compressor, and a gas storage device. The optimal operation...