Sustainability of Renewable Energy Systems with Special Reference to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Schemes

Authors

  • Subhashish Banerjee Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • Rahayu Binti Tasnim Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • Fikri Zhafran Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • Ms. Syafiqah Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • Sathiabama T. Thirugnana Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • Dato Ir. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia
  • A Bakar Jaafar Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, OTEC, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/nmms.v4i2.5023

Abstract

It was required to determine relative merits of commonly used renewable energy (RE) systems for which estimation of their individual sustainability percent achievable was chosen as the single criterion assessment tool. The methodology developed for estimating sustainability included identification of individual sustainability indices (SI) and examining the scope of sustainability percent input /kWh power generation for each of SI indices and summing them up estimating total sustainability accrued from respective RE systems. The RE systems studied included photo-voltaic (PV) cells, bio-fuels, on-shore & off-shore wind energy and OTEC schemes. Coal power plant being commercially viable was studied as the referral energy scheme. Nine SI indices identified for study included resource potential, greenhouse gas saving, influence on flora & fauna, effects on human health, land loss aspects, food and potable water security, economy evaluation, and improvement in quality of life from economic growth. Total sustainability achievable showed the highest in OTEC, followed by wind, bio-fuels and PV, respectively. SI index on quality of life showed RE schemes like OTEC & bio-fuels competing equally with coal power plant having poor sustainability with the least power generation cost; whence Hybrid OTEC showed the highest sustainability with high power production cost. Four fold approaches have been suggested for reducing power generation cost of OTEC. (i) Adopting economically viable scheme of not less than 40 MW. (ii) Heating up the working fluid with solar irradiation, terming SOTEC scheme. (iii) Saving cable laying cost, from hydrogen production utilizing the power generated. (iv) Hybridization of OTEC scheme.

Keywords:

Sustainability, OTEC, SOTEC, Bio-fuel, GHG emission, Flora and fauna, Quality of life, Hydrogen, Commercial acceptability

References

[1] Dincer, I., 2000. Comprehensive Energy Systems. 1, 546.

[2] Hong, B.D., Slatick, E.R., 1994. Carbon dioxide emission factors for coal. Energy information administration, quarterly coal report. DOE/EIA-0121(94/ Q1) Washington, USA. pp. 1-8.

[3] https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/108102. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[4] Dincer, I., 2000. Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development: A Crucial Review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review. 4(2), 167-175.

[5] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs—Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un- .org/. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[6] Sathiabama, T.T., Jaafar, A.B., Yasunaga, T., et al., 2021. Estimation of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Resources in the East of Malaysia. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 9, 22.

[7] McGraw Hill Encyclopaedia, 2002. 9th Edition. 16, 693.

[8] Gerbens-Leenes, P.W., Hoekstra, A.Y., Van Der Meer, Th.H., 2008. Value of water research report No 29. Water footprint of bio-energy and other primary energy carriers, University of Twente, Enschede. The Netherlands. https://waterfootprint.org/media/ downloads/Report29-WaterFootprintBioenergy.pdf. (Accessed 22Feb 2019)

[9] https://www.st.gov.my/en/contents/files/download/106/SABAH_ELECTRICITY_SUPPLY_INDUSTRY_OUTLOOK_2019 pdf>37. (Accessed on 22 September 2022)

[10] Pelc, R., Fujita, R.M., 2002. Renewable Energy from the Ocean. Marine Policy. 26, 471-479.

[11] Zolfagharifard, E., 2011. Solar Energy: Tropical Idea. Engineer (London). 26-27.

[12] Banerjee, S., 2011. PhD dissertation. Ocean Energy assessment; An Integrated Methodology. Coventry University, UK.

[13] Gunilla, J., 1996. LCA a tool for measuring environmental performance. Pira International. Surrey, UK.

[14] Odeh, N.A., Cockerill, T.T., 2008. Life Cycle analysis of UK coal fired power plants. Energy Conversion and Management. 49, 212-220.

[15] Peng, J.Q., Lu, L., Yang, H.X., 2013. Review on life cycle assessment of energy payback and greenhouse gas emission of solar photovoltaic systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 19, 255-274.

[16] Schleisner, L., 2000. Life Cycle Assessment of a wind farm and related externalities, Renewable Energy. 20, 279-288.

[17] Crawford, R.H., 2009. Life cycle energy and greenhouse emissions analysis of wind turbines and the effect of size on energy yield. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews. 13(9), 2653-2660.

[18] Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology, 2006. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn268.pdf. (Accessed 22 September 2022)

[19] Carreras-Sospedra, M., Williams, R., Dabduba, D., 2016. Assessment of the emissions and air quality impacts of biomass and biogas use in California. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association. 66(2), 134-150. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2015.1087892

[20] Banerjee, S., Duckers, L., Blanchard, R., 2015. Case study of hypothetical 100MW OTEC plant analyzingthe prospect of OTEC technology OTEC Matters, University of Boras. pp. 98-129.

[21] Aziz, A.A., 2011. Feasibility Study on Development of a Wind Turbine Energy Generation System for Community Requirement of PulauBanggi Sabah. A report from the Mechanical Engineering Department, UTM, Malaysia.

[22] Anderson, J.H., 1985. Ocean thermal power, The coming energy revolution. Solar and Wind Technology. 2(1), 25-40.

[23] Roels, J., 1980. Food, Energy, and Fresh Water from the deep sea. Mechanical Engineering. 37.

[24] Pitcher, G.C., Figueiras, F.G., Hickey, B.M., et al., 2010. The physical oceanography of upwelling systems and the development of harmful algal bloom. Progress in oceanography. 85(1-2), 5-32.

[25] Takahashi, P., 2003. Energy from the sea: The Potential and Realities of Thermal Ocean Energy Conversion (OTEC.) [Lecture], Anton Bruun Memorial lecture. Paris: UNESCOHouse. https://argonautes. club/images/sampledata/Dossier-energie/pdf/patricktakahashi.pdf. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[26] Sorensen, H.C., et al., 2003. European thematic network on wave energy. NNES -1999-00438; WP 3.3-Final Report - Environmental Impact.

[27] Tsoutsous, T., Frantzeskaki, N., Gekas, V., 2005. Environmental impacts from solar energy technologies. Energy Policy. pp. 289-296.

[28] Munawer, M.E., 2018. Human health and environmental impacts of coal combustion. Journal of Sustainable Mining. 17, 87-96.

[29] Fritsche, U.R., Berndes, G., Cowie, A.L., et al., 2017. Energy and Land Use, Global land outlook working paper, UNCCD and IRENA 2017. United Nations. pp.1-60. http://www.globalbioenergy.org/uploads/ media/1709__UNCCD_IRENA__Energy__and_ Land_Use..pdf. (Accessed 28th Feb. 2019)

[30] Sahu, H.B., Dash, E.S., 2011. 2nd International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology IPCBEE vol.6 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ a646/8bae2719dc049caffeb299757dd16d982084.pdf. (Accessed 28 September 2022)

[31] Gnaneswar, G.V., Nagamany, N., Shuguang, D., 2010. Renewable and sustainable approaches for desalination. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review. 14(9), 2641-2654.

[32] Gleick, P.H., IWKA, M., 1996. Basic water requirement for human activities. Water International. 21, 83-92.

[33] Chandel, M., Agrawal, G.D., Mathur, S., et al., 2014. Techno-economic analysis of solar photovoltaic power plant for garment zone of Jaipur city. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering. 2, 1-7.

[34] Amin, A.Z., 2018. Renewable power generation costs in 2017. International Renewable Energy Agency. Contributors: Ilas, A., Ralon, P., Rodriguez, A. Taylor, M. (2018) www.irena.org/publications. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[35] Gnana, K., 2014. Lazard’s levelized cost of energy analysis—version 8.0. https://www.lazard.com/media/1777/levelized_cost_of_energy_-_version_80. pdf. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[36] Schmidt, O., Melchoir, S., Hawkes, A., et al., 2019. Projecting the future cost of electricity storage technology. Joule. (1), 81-100. https://www.lazard.com/ perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-and-levelizedcost-of-storage-2018/. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[37] Martin, B., 2021. Kumejima model workshop. Paper presented at the 2nd SATRAPS -OTEC training online.

[38] Gnaneswar, G.V., Nagamany, N., Shuguang, D., 2010. Renewable and sustainable approaches for desalination. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Review. 14(9), 2641-2654.

[39] US Energy Information administration, 2019. Levelized cost and levelized avoided cost of new generation resources in the Annual Energy Outlook 2019. https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/electricity_ generation.pdf. (Accessed on 28 September 2022)

[40] Banerjee, S., Musa, M.N., Jaafar, A.B., 2016. Desalination by OC-OTEC: Economy and Sustainability. Encyclopedia of Energy Engineering and Technology, Second Edition. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1081/E-EEE2-120053006

[41] Noboru, Y., Akira, H., Ikegami, Y., 2009. Performance simulation of solar boosted ocean thermal energy conversion plant. Renewable Energy. 34, 1752- 1758.

[42] Symes, M.D., Cronon, L., 2013. Decoupling hydrogen and oxygen evolution during electrolytic water splitting using an electron-coupled-proton buffer, Nature Chemistry. 5, 403-409.

[43] Banerjee, S., Musa, M.N., Jaafar, A.B., 2017. Economic assessment and prospect of hydrogen generated by OTEC as future fuel. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 42, 26-37.

[44] Sathiabama, T., 2021. Personal communication. (Accessed on 7th July, 2021)

Downloads

How to Cite

Banerjee, S., Tasnim, R. B., Zhafran, F., Syafiqah, M., Thirugnana, S. T., Ir., D., & Jaafar, A. B. (2022). Sustainability of Renewable Energy Systems with Special Reference to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Schemes. Non-Metallic Material Science, 4(2), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.30564/nmms.v4i2.5023