Renewable Energy - EE-590

Bio Energy Question:

Gasification is regarded as one of the practically effective energy conversion processes in renewable energy
applications.

Q1 Part 1- Gasification
a) Briefly describe the process of gasification?
b) Briefly describe the advantage of having gasification in energy conversion?
c) Name two practical applications, where gasification is a part of the energy conversion process?

Q1 Part 2- Retrofitting energy system

Calculate the following information related to the system operation.

d) Calculate the water content of the wood entering to the dryer as a percentage of mass?
e) Calculate the lower heating value (LHV) of moist wood after the dryer in MJ/kg
f) Calculate the amount of diesel required for running the engine with 100% diesel in litres/year
g) Calculate the yearly wood consumption before the gasifier if it replaces 90% of diesel in ton/year
h) Calculate the gas flow rate out of the gasifier in mn /h
3

i) What would be the amount of water removed in the dryer (ton/year)

j) What would be the annual electrical power consumption of the drying process (kWh/year)
k) What is the percentage of electricity consumed for drying process? (%)
l) What alternative is available to consider for reducing the internal energy consumption of drying process
(considering that the electrically driven mechanical drying is currently employed)?

Q2. Wind Power Question

Wind power system

Wind energy is one of the most attractive renewable energy sources and is growing largely in the current
global energy context. To establish a wind turbine at a specific location, several technical parameters are
necessary to be determined. Considering such a situation, answer the following.
a) For a given location, the wind speed at 10 m and 50 m heights above ground has been measured to be 4
m/s and 6.8 m/s respectively. Find the wind speed at 90 m height.

b) A wind turbine has a 1 MW rated power output at standard air density (15 ᵒC, 1 atm). Estimate the
change of rated power if the turbine operates at a freezing temperature of -10 ᵒC.

c) Again for the 1MW turbine estimates the change of the rated power relative to the sea level conditions, if
the turbine is installed at 2000 m altitude above the sea. Use the below graph for determining the variation
of air density with altitude.

(Take R = 286.9 J/kg K)

Solar Energy

Problem Description:
The Energy Department at KTH plans to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by maximizing its energy
efficiency. As part of the design, solar energy will be used to produce hot water.
For hot water production of the Energy Department, a solar thermosyphon system has been purchased. The
system has a collector for heating the water with a frontal area of 100m². The system has a water tank with
4000 liters of water. The collector is a single glass type with an average transmission τ G∗ of 0.9. The
absorption coefficient of the collector α A∗ is 0.95, the U-value on the front is 4.5 W/(m² K) and on the back
0.5 W/(m² K). The collector can be considered perfectly insulated (adiabatic) at the sides. The collector
efficiency factor F’ can be assumed as 0.94 and the mean ambient temperature as 18°C.
For the calculation of the thermosyphon measurement data of the DNI (direct normal irradiation = beam
radiation) form May 1st 2004 as shown in Figure 1 should be considered. Due to an error in the
measurement system the clock time is unknown. Use your knowledge of the solar time to relate solar and
clock time. In order to simplify the calculations this day can be can be divided into morning, noon and
afternoon (sections I, II, and III) with mean irradiance levels of 300 W/m², 625 W/m², and 350 W/m²,
respectively. The noon section can be considered twice as long as the morning and evening sections (these
two are equally long).

The solar collector of the thermosyphon system is placed due south with an inclination angle βc to harness
the maximum amount of solar energy during an entire year. As the direct beam radiation is quite strong on
this particular day the impact of the diffuse radiation can be neglected. Additionally, it can be assumed that
the cosine effectiveness of the solar collector is constant during the day and equal to the cosine
effectiveness of the collector at solar noon.

Important assumptions:
1. There are no losses in the water tank and no usage of water either. The water temperature in the morning
is the same as outdoor temperature 18°C.
2. After each section of the day the water in the tank is mixed to obtain a uniform temperature (the end
temperature of each segment represents the starting temperature of the next one).
3. The mean fluid temperature in the collector can be assumed as equal to the arithmetic mean value of the
start and end temperature of the water in the tank.

Q3 Part 1 (Low temperature solar thermal and solar fundamentals)

a) Sketch a thermosyphon system and explain its advantages and disadvantages.

b) How many hours of sunlight are registered on May 1 in Stockholm? What clock time does the solar
noon correspond to and at which clock time does the sun rise and set, respectively.

c) What is the cosine effectiveness of the solar collector at solar noon? Therefore, it is necessary to
calculate the solar elevation and azimuth angle at solar noon.
d) What will be the temperature of water in the tank at the end of section I, assuming a fully mixed tank?
The heat capacity of water is 4200J/(kgK). (Hint: An analytic solution is preferred as the iterative solution
requires at least 3 iteration steps)

e) Taking the fully mixed water temperature at the end of section I as starting condition.

a. How long will it take until the water in the tank reaches a temperature of 60°C (assuming a fully
mixed tank)?
b. What will be the temperature of water in the tank at the end of section II, assuming a fully mixed
tank?

Part 2 - (Concentrating Solar Power Basics)

a) What is Concentrating Solar Power?

b) Sketch the layout of a Parabolic Trough Concentrating Solar Power Plant with an indirect two-tank
Thermal Energy Storage System, similar to the Andasol I Plant in Seville Please identify the solar field, the
thermal energy storage block and the power block together with the name of the main components in each
of them .

c) List one advantage and one disadvantage of solar tower CSP plants similar to Gem solar when compared
against parabolic trough CSP plants like Andasol.

d) In terms of the levelized cost of electricity, CSP is and will remain more costly than other renewable
technologies. However, it is still expected that CSP will increase its share in the generation mix in the next
future (by 2050). Please briefly explain why is this expected to occur?

Q4. Hydropower

A hydropower plant is planned to be built using an old dam already in place and constructed for irrigation
purposes. A 2m diameter concrete pipeline could be used as a penstock. The length of the penstock is 1100
m. the friction losses are 5% of the gross head. The gross head is 900 m.
You are involved in a feasibility study as a consultant to establish an operation plan for the plant. For the
project to be feasible the payback time should be less than 20 years. It is your task to evaluate if this will be
the case.
Assumptions:
• The electrical generator efficiency is 95%
• The plant operates 8760 h/year
• Parasitic losses are 1%
• Transmission losses are 1%
• Downtime losses are 4%
• A gas turbine using natural gas has a CO2 emission factor of 56 kg/GJ of fuel and an electrical efficiency
of 40%
• The price of electricity is 0.3210 USD/kWh
• The capital cost of the turbine is COST=3×10 6×P0.71×(H/0.3048)0.42 where P is the net power output
(MW) and H is the net head (in meters)
• The capital cost of the plant is twice the capital cost of the turbine
• The operational and maintenance cost of the plant is Cop = 2.4×10 4×P0.8 where P is the net power output
(MW)
Calculate the following.
a) What is the design flow of the hydropower scheme (m3/s)
b) What is the net head of hydropower scheme (m)
c) What is the efficiency of the hydropower turbine (%)
d) What is the hydropower plant power output at design condition (MW)
e) What is the annual energy production (MWh/y)
f) What would be the annual revenue of the power plant in USD
g) What is the payback time (years)
h) What is the amount (annual) of CO2 emissions avoided by using the hydropower instead of fossil fuel
plant?
i) What is your conclusion is the project feasible?

Q5. Geothermal Energy Question

A dry steam geothermal turbine operates at steam turbine inlet conditions, inlet pressure 6.5 bar, inlet
temperature 163°C and steam flow rate of 20 kg/s. The turbine exhaust is directly sent to the atmosphere.
The isentropic efficiency (Ƞis) of the turbine is known to be 0.84.
Data available:
From steam property tables and Mollier diagram, enthalpy of steam at turbine inlet conditions (6.5
bar/163°C) is read as 2810 kJ/kg and isentropic enthalpy at turbine exit is taken as 2490 kJ/kg.
a) Calculate the mechanical power produced by the turbine.

Calculation Aid:
P = mass flow rate (kg/s) ×(h1-h2) (kJ/kg)
Where,
= the turbine isentropic efficiency isη
h1 = steam enthalpy at the turbine inlet (kJ/kg)
h2 = steam enthalpy at the turbine exit (pressure=1.013 bar) (kJ/kg)
h2s = isentropic steam enthalpy at turbine exit (kJ/kg)
P = Mechanical power output (MW)