Module 1:

5. Discuss renewable energy availability in India and worldwide

Worldwide Renewable Energy Availability

About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewable as shown in Figure
1.14, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4%
from hydroelectricity.

Figure 1.14 Worldwide renewable power capacity excluding hydro

New renewable energy (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and
biofuel) accounted for another 3% and were growing very rapidly. The share of renewable
energy in electricity generation is around 19%, with 16% of global electricity coming from
hydroelectricity, and 3% from new renewable energy. Potential for renewable energy is given
in Table 1.6.

Table 1.6 Potential for Worldwide Renewable Energy

More than half of the energy has been consumed in the last two decades since the industrial
revolution, despite advances in efficiency and sustainability. According to IEA world
statistics in four years (2004–2008), the world population increased 5%, annual
CO2 emissions increased 10%, and gross energy production increased 10%.

Renewable Energy in India

The year 2021 has seen India’s power sector move further along the path of meeting and
inspiring the aspirations of our rapidly developing nation. Universal access to affordable
power in a sustainable manner has been the guiding principle for the Power sector. The sector
is fully geared to address the challenges related to climate change through energy transition
initiatives which aligns itself with the commitments made by the nation on the global stage.
Therefore, India has twin goals, to ensure 24x7 adequate and reliable energy access and
simultaneously, accelerate clean energy transition by reducing the country’s reliance on fossil
based energy and shifting to cleaner and renewable energy sources.

During the current year 2021-22 (Upto January 2022), total electricity generation including
generation from renewable sources in the country was 1234.298 BU as against the generation
of 1137.850 BU during the corresponding period last year, showing a growth of 8.5%.

The electricity energy generation from Renewable Energy Sources (Solar, Wind, Hydro&
Bio Power) has increased from 193.5 Billion Units during 2013-14 to 306.3 Billion Units
during 2020-21 showing the CAGR of 6.8%. Share of generation from renewable sources
(including Hydro) in total Generation has been increased to 22.2% during 2020-21 from
19.0% during 2013-14.

During current year 2021-22 (Upto January 2022), Share of Renewable Energy Sources
(RES) Generation has further increased to 22.9%. Share of Generation from Non-Fossil Fuel
(Renewable Energy + Nuclear) in Total Generation has been increased to 25.3% during 2020-
21. During current year 2021-22 (Upto January, 2022), Share of Non-Fossil Generation has
further increased to 26.0%. The total generation (excluding Bhutan import) during the year
2021-22 (Upto January 2022) was 1227.0 BU as compared to actual generation of 1129.3 BU
during the same period last year. We have presently 41123.5 MW under construction out of
which 28460 MW is Thermal, and 12663.5 MW is Hydro. Thermal capacity is held up due to
various reasons. Our Renewable installed capacity is now over 152 GW and further we have
78 GW under installation and 25 GW under bid.

. (As per latest information available with MNRE) *Break up of RES all India as on
30.11.2022 is given below (in MW)

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 7. Write a short note on geothermal energy and wave energy.

Geothermal energy

There is a constant flow of heat from the hot interior of the earth, and a corresponding rise of
temperature as one go deep underground. In most places, this is too little to be useful with
present technology. However, some parts of the world are particularly favoured with very hot
water or steam with only a few hundred meters below the surface, where the hot fluid breaks
through naturally. Further, hot springs or geysers are found, and these have been used as heat
source for hundreds of years.

As the resource varies so much from place to place, a ‘world total’ is obtained by detailed
investigation of possible sites. The world total capacity for electricity production from
geothermal resources is about 8,000 MW. The World Energy Council estimates that in 1999,
about 68 TWh of energy came from geothermal sources, including both direct heat and
electricity.

Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly, but
has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological
advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for
applications such as home heating and opening a potential for widespread exploitation.
Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, but these emissions
are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels. As a result, geothermal power has
the potential to help mitigate global warming, if widely deployed in place of fossil fuels.

The International Geothermal Association (IGA) has reported that 10,715 MW of geothermal
power in 24 countries is online, which is expected to generate 67,246 GWh of electricity in
2010. This represents a 20% increase in geothermal power online capacity since 2005. The
growth of IGA projects is predicted to be 18,500 MW by 2015, due to the large number of
projects presently under consideration, often in areas previously assumed to have little
exploiTable resource.In 2010, the United States led the world in geothermal electricity
production with 3,086 MW of installed capacity from 77 power plants. The largest group of
geothermal power plants in the world is located at The Geysers, a geothermal field in
California. The Philippines follows the US as the second highest producer of geothermal
power in the world, with 1,904 MW of capacity online; geothermal power makes up
approximately 18% of the country’s electricity generation.

According to the December 2011 report, India identified six most promising geothermal sites
for the development of geothermal energy. These are in decreasing order of potential:

1. Tattapani in Chhattisgarh
2. Puga Valley in Jammu&Kashmir—first geothermal power plant, with 2–5
MW capacity at Puga in Jammu&Kashmir is proposed.
Wave energy

Sea wave energy is now the vanguard in averting a world energy crisis not only on technical
grounds but also from economic, environmental, and political considerations. Solar and wind
energy fickle and widely diffused over the earth surface. However, nature has evolved a very
elegant system of gathering solar energy by the windward shores, thus solving at a stroke the
problems of collection storage and transmission of energy.

Technical system for the utilization of wave energy must always be developed with a view
to one single or a few possible applications for the generated secondary energy. This
approach promises maximum utilization of the generated secondary energy. Because of the
technical problem in foresight, it may be assumed that wave energy converters will, in the
beginning, attain only regional energy supplies.

Power Calculation for Ocean Waves

The distance between two consecutive troughs defines wavelength λ. Wave height H (crest to
trough) is proportional to wind intensity and its duration. The wave period T (crest to crest) is
the time in seconds needed for the wave to travel with the wavelength λ and is proportional to
sea depth. The frequency f = 1/T indicates the number of waves that appears in a given
position. Consequently, the wave speed is v = λ/T = λ/f. The ratio λ/2H is called the wave
declivity and when this value is greater than 1/7, it can be proved that the wave becomes
unstable and vanishes. Longer period waves have relatively longer wavelengths and move
faster. Generally, large waves are more powerful. Ocean waves transport mechanical energy.

The power associated with a wave of wavelength λ, height H, and a front b is given by

where
Then, power across each meter of wave front associated to uniform wave is given by

For irregular waves of height H (in meter) and period T (in second), an expression for power
per unit wave front can be derived as

Shale oil

Introduction

The rapid depletion rates of global reserves of conventional fossil fuel (oil) have led to an
increased focus on unconventional oil sources, many of which are associated with shale. Oil
shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains solid bituminous materials (called
kerogen, which is an organic matter) that release petroleum-like liquids (shale oil or gas)
when the rock is heated from which oil or gas can be extracted. All types of kerogen consist
mainly of hydrocarbons, smaller amounts of sulphur, oxygen, and nitrogen, and a variety of
minerals. They were formed millions of years ago by deposition of silt and organic debris on
lake beds and sea bottoms. Heat and pressure then transformed the materials into oil shale in
a process similar to that forms oil over long periods of time. Similar to traditional petroleum,
natural gas, and coal, oil shale and kerogen are also fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are developed
from the remains of algae, spores, plants, pollen, and a variety of other organisms that lived
millions of years ago in ancient lakes, seas, and wetlands.

Dr Chudamani Ratnam, former chief of Oil India Ltd, from 1990 onwards, repeatedly
claimed that India had a big treasure of shale oil in Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of the
northeast. He said these deposits could produce 140 million tonnes per year for 100 years,
making India a net oil exporter. However, the deposits looked uneconomic, so he was not
taken seriously.

Shale formations are best known for shale oil—a type of unconventional oil. Deposits of
oil shale are found in many areas around the world and large areas of the United States,
Russia, Argentina, Libya, Israel, and China are known to have shale oil and gas reserves. In
the United States, it is claimed that the Green River formation is an underground oil shale
formation that contains as much as 1.8 trillion barrels of shale oil. Despite the fact that not all
of this can be extracted, it is claimed that shale oil reserve in United States will be more than
three times the proven petroleum reserves of Saudi Arabia.
 Oil shale generally contains enough oil that it will burn without any additional processing,
and it is known as the rock that burns.

There are several different types of shale found throughout the world including oil shale
and bituminous shale. These two types are important sources of various grades of
unconventional oil. Shale oil was considered a more secure source of oil during the World
War II but commercial development started only in 1960s. However, difficulty of extracting
and producing oil from shale and environmental damage made it a less attractive resource
compared to oil from conventional wells.

Most processes of shale oil production use significant amount of water and the chemicals
used may harm humans and animals. The process is energy intensive and can require the
burning of more fossil fuels in order to provide the necessary power supply.

8. Explain various extraction processes of shale oil.

Extraction of Shale Oil: Oil shale is underground rock formations that contain trapped
petroleum. The petroleum trapped within the rocks is known as tight oil and is difficult to
extract. Oil shale can be mined and processed to generate oil similar to oil pumped from
conventional oil wells. However, extracting oil from oil shale is more complex than
conventional oil recovery and currently it is more expensive.

1. Ex situ retorting: Since the oil substances in oil shale are solid and cannot be pumped
directly out of the ground, the following steps must be involved:
1. The oil shale must be mined and brought to ground surface.
2. The mined oil shale is then heated at a high temperature (a process called
retorting). It involves heating kerogen in a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis
is a form of heating without oxygen. At about 60°C–160°C, kerogen reaches
its natural ‘oil window’, and at 120°C–225°C, kerogen reaches its natural ‘gas
window’.
3. The resultant liquid must then be separated and collected.
2. In situ retorting: An alternative method of extracting shale oil under experimental
investigation is referred to as in situ retorting. During the in situ process, oil shale is
not mined or crushed. Instead, the rock is heated to its oil window while it is still
underground.

It involves the following steps:

1. Heating the oil shale while it is still underground

2. Pumping the resulting liquid to the surface

However, improvements in drilling technology, such as the emergence of directional

drilling, has made extraction of oil from shale less cost prohibitive. Production
companies use a variety of methods to extract oil from shale.

3. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking): It involves injecting pressured water and chemicals

into a well in order to break into underground reservoirs. Steam can be injected
underground in order to heat up oils in the surrounding shale formation, which then
seep into the well. Acids can also be injected in order to increase the permeability of
rock surrounding the well.
 4. Volumetric heating: In this process, the rock is heated directly with an electric
current. The heating element is injected either directly in a horizontal well or into a
fractured area of the rock, until the oil shale begins producing shale oil. The oil could
then be pumped directly from underground.
5. Combined technologies: Some methods are designed for both in situ and ex
situ extraction. The internal combustion process uses a combination of gas, steam, and
spent shale produced by ex situ processing. These compounds are burned for
pyrolysis. The hot gas is continually cycled through die oil shale, pyrolyzing the rock
and releasing oil.

9. Explain different types of oil shale

Classification of Oil Shales

They are often classified as follows:

I Depositional history: A sedimentary rock depositional history is the history of the

type of environment in which the rock developed. The depositional history of an oil
shale includes the organisms and sediments that were deposited, as well as how those
deposits interacted with pressure and heat.

The Van Krevelen Diagram is a method of classifying oil shales based on their
depositional history. The diagram divides oil shales according to where they were
deposited:

1. In lakes (lacustrine): Oil shales from lacustrine environments are formed mostly from
algae living in freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water. Lamosite and torbanite are the
types of oil shales associated with lacustrine environments. Lamosite deposits make
up some of the largest oil shale formations in the world. Torbanite deposits are found
mainly in Scotland, Aus tralia, Canada, and South Africa.
2. In the ocean (marine): Oil shales from marine environments are formed mostly from
deposits of algae and plankton. Kukersite, tasmanite, and marinite are the types of
marine shales. Kukersite is found in the Baltic Oil Shale Basin in Estonia and Russia.
Tasmanite is named after the region in which it was discovered, the island of
Tasmania, Australia. Marinite, the most abundant of all oil shales, is found in
environments that once held wide, shallow seas. Although marinite is abundant, it is
often a thin layer and not economically practical to extract. The largest marinite
deposits in the world are in the United States, stretching from the states of Indiana and
Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee.
3. On land (terrestrial): Oil shales from terrestrial environments are formed in shallow
bogs and swamps with low amounts of oxygen. The deposits were mostly the waxy or
corky sterns of hardy plants. Cannel shale, also called cannel coal or ‘candle coal’, is
probably the most familiar type of terrestrial oil shale. Cannel coal was used primarily
as fuel for streetlights and other illumination in the 19th century.

II. By their mineral content: Oil shales are classified into three main types based on their
mineral content:

1. Carbonate-rich shale: The deposits have high amounts of carbonate minerals.

Carbonate minerals are made of various forms of the carbonate ion (a unique
 compound of carbon and oxygen). Calcite, for instance, is a carbonate mineral
common in carbonate-rich shales. Calcite is a primary component of many marine
organisms. Calcite helps form the shells and hard exteriors of oysters, sea stars, and
sand dollars. Plankton, red algae, and sponges are also important sources of calcite.
2. Siliceous shale: It is rich in the mineral silica or silicon dioxide. Siliceous shales are
formed from organisms such as algae, sponges, and microorganisms called
radiolarians. Algae have a cell wall made of silica, whereas sponges and radiolarians
have skeletons or spicules made of silica. Siliceous oil shale is sometimes not as hard
as carbonate-rich shale and can more easily be mined.
3. Cannel shale: It has terrestrial origins and is often classified as coal. It is formed from
the remains of resin, spores, and corky materials from woody plants. It can contain the
minerals inertinite and vitrinite. Cannel shale is rich in hydrogen and burns easily.

10. Explain uses of shale oil and problems associated with shale oil production

Use of Shale Oil (Tight Oil)

Shale oil has been used for more than thousands of years by mankind for meeting their
energy requirements for road construction, caulking ship, and pipes leakage, and developing
burning arrows (Agni band) for use during battle and decorative mosaic. It is only after
World War II that shale oil got the newest attention.

1. Shale oil was used for a variety of products including paraffin wax.
2. R&D efforts proved that it can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded as a refinery
feedstock specification by adding hydrogen and removing sulphur and nitrogen
impurities similar to crude oil.
3. It is burned to generate electricity.
4. Shale oil is similar to petroleum and can be refined into many different sub

1. stances including diesel fuel, gasoline, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
2. Companies can also refine shale oil to produce other commercial products such as
ammonia and sulphur. The spent rock can be used in cement production.

Problems Associated with Shale Oil Production

1. High processing costs: The high costs of heating and drilling wells made commercial
oil shale production unprofitable, especially when the cheaper crude oil is available.
2. Environmental concerns: Mining for oil shale can have damaging effects on the
environment, such as the following:
1. When shale oil is combusted (heated), it releases carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.
3. Substances in the oil shale, such as sulphides, react with water to form toxic
compounds that are harmful to the environment and to human beings. Sulphides can
cause effects from eye irritation to suffocation.
4. Water containing toxic substances is unusable and expensive to decontaminate.
5. The ash by-product can pollute ground, air, and water sources.
6. Another environmental disadvantage is that extraction of shale oil requires enormous
amounts of freshwater. Water is necessary for drilling, mining, refining, and
generating power.
7. It causes land and underground water degradation.
Module:2

5. What is angle of incidence of a solar beam radiation? What is its significance? And
also write relation between angle of incidence and all other angles in solar geometry

solar incident angle: The solar angle of incidence on a tilted surface is the angle between the
incident sunlight and a line perpendicular to the surface.

Significance of solar incident angle:

The variation of the incidence angle over the year is an important parameter determined the
performance of the module. The standard orientation of the module or a PV system, the
perpendicular positioning of the sun to the module’s surface occurs twice a year.

When the Sun's rays are perpendicular to an absorbing surface, the irradiance incident on
that surface has the highest possible power density. As the angle between the sun and the
absorbing surface changes, the intensity of light on the surface is reduced. When the surface
is parallel to the sun's rays (making the angle from perpendicular to the surface 90°) the
intensity of light falls to zero because the light does not strike the surface. For intermediate
angles, the relative power density is cos(θ) where θ is the angle between the Sun's rays and
direct normal (or perpendicular) to the surface.

The incident angle is 0° if the sunlight is directly normal to the absorbing surface and cos(0°)
= 1, meaning that 100% of the available irradiance is absorbed by the surface. Similarly,
when the surface is parallel to the Sun's rays, the incident angle is 90°, and because cos(90°)
= 0, the surface absorbs no irradiance. In the above example, cos(15°) = .966, and so the
surface is absorbing 96.6% of the available solar power.

In designing photovoltaic (PV) systems, this question of how much available irradiance is
absorbed by the photovoltaic modules is very important, since the amount of energy the
system is able to produce is directly proportional to the amount of energy it absorbs from the
Sun. Some systems are therefore designed with trackers on them, which cause
the photovoltaic modules to follow the Sun's movement across the sky, maximizing the
amount of time that the PV modules are directly normal to the sunlight. it is important to
remember that the smaller incidence angle, the better radiation capturing.
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