國立中央大學工業管理研究所

110 學年度第一學期

作業研究一 Operations Research (1)

﹙IA5001﹚
Unit 1

~ ~ Semester Project (part 1) ~ ~

授課教師 王啓泰/Instructor Chi-Tai Wang

 motivations
 The following motivate the design of this semester-long
project:
1. capabilities to acquire and apply new knowledge
through self-motivated learning
2. capacities to dream/imagine/innovate/create
3. capabilities to identify/define good research problems
and solve them with appropriate methodologies
4. capabilities to effectively work in a team environment
communicating interdisciplinary (跨領域) issues
5. solid language and presentation skills
6. tremendous significance of the project subject—
renewable energy & worldwide energy revolution
All of these are capabilities/skills expected from a graduate student!
Unit 1: Semester Project 2
 project statement
 You will be given the following information.
1. time-dependent energy which is expected to be
produced by a unit solar power generation capacity for
the entire year (一年四季各時段的單位太陽能發電
量)
2. levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for different solar
technologies (不同太陽能科技水平化單位發電成本)
3. area requirements and location limitations for each
solar technology
 Your task is to use all the above information to (1) design an
interesting and hopefully, also creative, OR problem by the
midterm (week 9) and (2) solve your problem with Python &
Gurobi by the end of this semester (weeks 17&18) !

Unit 1: Semester Project 3

Project Core Element

~ ~ Solar Energy ~ ~
(a quick overview)

Unit 1: Semester Project 4

 kW/MW vs. kWh/MWh
 Meanings
 kW/kWp (kilo-Watts 瓩 or 千瓦); MW/MWp (百萬瓦)
 measuring a device’s power generation capacity (i.e.,
its capability to produce electricity)
 kWh (kilo-Watt-hours 度); MWh (一千度)
 measuring the amount of electricity the device has
actually produced, which equals its power generation
capacity multiplied by the duration of time in which the
device was effectively functioning to produce power
 Example:
 If a 2 kW diesel generator is turned on for 5 hours, it
will generate a total of 10 kWh of electricity.
 (However, things are not so simple for solar energy!)

Unit 1: Semester Project 5

 kW/MW vs. kWh/MWh
 In reality, people use kW or MW in some occasions but
switch to kWh or MWh in others.
 kW or MW is often used to express the size of a power
plant, solar farm, or wind farm.

Unit 1: Semester Project 6

 basics of solar energy
 A solar panel is made of solar cells, which can convert solar
radiance to clean electricity (this energy conversion is done
with semiconductor technology).
 Example: Neo Solar Power Corp. (2018)

 How much electricity that solar panels can produce depends

on
1. intensity of solar radiance
2. solar cell’s efficiency
3. duration of time in which solar panels were receiving
solar radiance
4. size/area of solar panels

Unit 1: Semester Project 7

 basics of solar energy
 Example: a regular household solar energy system

converting solar energy from

(figure by 顏文治) DC to AC so it can be integrated
into the power grid

Unit 1: Semester Project 8

 basics of solar energy
 Standard Test Condition (STC) rating (rated power)
 it is the power generation capacity associated with each
solar panel, which is determined under a specific
condition called “peak sun” (equivalent to 1,000 W (1
kW) of power provided on each square-meter (m2) of
surface)
 … it is about the sun’s power received at the noon time
of a sunny day at the Earth’s equator
 typical rated power for current solar panels is 220 ~
350 W/panel
 example:
 If 4 solar panels with 250W of STC rating were
exposed under a peak sun for two hours, we would get
2,000 Watt-hours, or 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Unit 1: Semester Project 9
 basics of solar energy
 Solar energy in Taiwan
 Currently, installing 1 kW of solar panel requires an
average 10 m2 (約 3 坪) of surface area (clearance
included), which can generate 2.6~3.6 kWh of
electricity every day (depends on where you are).
 The average daily power requirement for each
Taiwanese household is about 10 kWh.
 Therefore, if every household has installed a 30 or 40
m2 of solar panels (getting a total 3 or 4 kWp of power
generation capacity), they can virtually be independent
from Taiwan Power Company for power supply!

Unit 1: Semester Project 10

 basics of solar energy
 How much electricity does a solar panel produce? (Solar
Power Rocks, 2018)

 Solar energy generated across Taiwan (顏文治)

(note: just reference, as

you will get different
numbers from different
info sources)

Unit 1: Semester Project 11

 Assignment 1

~ ~ Self-learning Solar Energy &

Designing a Good Project Problem ~ ~
(50% of project’s total grade)

Unit 1: Semester Project 12

 proposing your project problem
You will be working as a team to self-learn solar energy, and
then propose an innovative & well-defined solar energy problem
for your project in a 30-minute presentation on Nov 12 (week 9).
 Key success factor for the above task:
 ability to self-learn something about which you know nothing or
very little and then acquire just enough knowledge for doing a
good job!
 Such knowledge may include
 basic technical info on how solar energy is produced
 basic technical info on a solar system (key components,
their configurations, and perhaps their parameters)
 innovative cases in the real world to produce or use
solar energy, i.e., how solar energy has influenced our
daily lives—food, clothes, house, mobility, etc.
Unit 1: Semester Project 13
 solar energy in our lives
 Here is a typical way to produce solar energy:
 https://www.re.org.tw/news/more.aspx?cid=198&id=3607

Unit 1: Semester Project 14

 solar energy in our lives
 Solar energy can also be produced on the water:
 https://www.ciel-et-terre.net/

Unit 1: Semester Project 15

 solar energy in our lives
 Here is an interesting solar energy business:
http://www.tipps.com.tw/

Unit 1: Semester Project 16

 conducting effective info search
 You will find news medias such as this one very useful!
 http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/headlines/

Unit 1: Semester Project 17

 conducting effective info search
 You may also find this “Sustainability” journal quite useful!
 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Unit 1: Semester Project 18

 conducting effective info search
 Useful keywords … use combinations of the following
keywords for your information search:
 climate related
 climate change, global warming, extreme weather
 economy/industry related
 sustainable development, sustainability
 green economy, circular economy, low-emission growth,
solar economy, hydrogen economy
 green supply chain management (GSCM), sustainable
supply chain management (SSCM), zero-emission supply
chain
 decarbonization/decarbonization of industry, low-carbon
technologies, eco-innovation
 zero-emission building, smart intergrid

Unit 1: Semester Project 19

 conducting effective info search
 Useful keywords (cont.)
 renewables related
 renewables, green (or renewable or clean) energy (or power
or electricity)
 building-integrated solar PV/renewables
 innovative renewable startup/entrepreneur

Unit 1: Semester Project 20

 conducting effective info search
Science Citation Index
 Useful websites for paper search: Social Science Citation Index

 Web of Science (for searching “SCI” or “SSCI” papers)

 https://apps.webofknowledge.com/UA_GeneralSearch_
input.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&
SID=V1Hx5ye11nCKLphX2t5&preferencesSaved=
 Google Scholar (general search of academic papers)
 https://scholar.google.com.tw/?hl=zh-TW

 Note:
 Only use quality/authentic/validated information.
 Use of such materials as unpublished master/Ph.D.
thesis or project reports is forbidden!

Unit 1: Semester Project 21

 final important words
 Essential factors for successfully identifying a good project
topic:
 rich information sources
 proper work allocation among teammates
 regular team meetings (e.g., once every week)
 systematic info collection (to provide strong support to
your problem/topic definition) and continuous
update/reorganization of project info

Unit 1: Semester Project 22