Climate change is expected to lead to changes in ambient temperature, wind speed, humidity, precipitation and cloud cover. As electricity demand is closely influenced by these climatic variables, there is likely to be an impact on demand patterns. The potential impact of future changes in climate on electricity demand can be seen on an hourly, daily and seasonal basis through the fluctuation of weather patterns. However, the magnitude of such changes will depend on prevailing electricity use patterns as well as long-term socio-economic trends. This thesis investigates how changing climate will affect Thailand’s short-term and long-term electricity demand. Its review of available literature across the climate change and power systems fields highlights that analysis of such impacts for developing nations is almost entirely lacking. It then presents a modelling approach to capture the influence of temperature on daily and seasonal demand. The models are initially used to examine the sensitivity of demand to uniform rises in temperature. More sophisticated modelling, based on temperature projections from the UK Hadley Centre climate model combined with socio-economic projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenarios, is used to project absolute changes in Thailand’s electricity demand across three future time periods. The specific climate and socio-economic scenarios considered here indicate that mean annual temperatures in Thailand will rise by 1.74 to 3.43°C by 2080, implying additional increases in Thai peak electricity demand of 1.5–3.1% in the 2020s, 3.7–8.3% in the 2050s and 6.6–15.3% in the 2080s. The implications of the changes are discussed in terms of Thailand’s approach to meeting future electrical demand.

This work examines some of the fundamental problems behind the control of wave energy converters (WECs). Several new perspectives are presented to aid the understanding of the problem and the interpretation of the literature. The first of these is a group of methods for classifying control of WECs. One way to classify control is to consider the stage of power transfer from the wave to the final energy carrier. Consideration of power transfer can also be used to classify WECs into families. This approach makes it possible to classify all WECs, including those that had previously eluded classification. It also relates the equations of motion of different classes of WECs to a generalised equation of motion. This in turn clarifies why some types of control are suited to some WECs, but not others. These classification systems are used to demarcate the boundary for the theoretical work that follows. The theory applies to WECs with governing equations of motion that are linear, and to control systems that are linear, aim to maximise power, and which regulate the PTO stage of power flow. Another important perspective is the new wet and dry oscillator paradigm, which is used to differentiate between frequency domain modelling and a commonly used technique, monochromatic modelling. This distinction is necessary background for many of the new ideas discussed. It is used to resolve an ongoing debate in wave energy research: whether frequency domain modelling can be applied to cases that are not monochromatic. It is the key to an extension to the theory of capture width, a widely used performance indicator. This distinction is also the rationale behind an improved method of presenting frequency domain results: the frequency responses due to both monochromatic and polychromatic forcing are represented on the same graph. These responses are different because the optimal control problem is acausal, a topic that is also discussed in depth. This visual tool is used to investigate and confirm various ideas about the control of WECs, and to demonstrate how the newly redefined capture width encapsulates the essential control problem of WECs. The optimal control problem is said to be acausal because information about the future is required to achieve optimal control. Another vantage point offered is that of the duration of the prediction interval required for optimal control. This is given by a new parameter emerging from this work, which has been termed the premonition time. The premonition time depends on the amount of knowledge required, which is determined by the geometry of the WEC, and the amount of information available, which is largely determined by the bandwidth of the sea state. The new perspectives introduced are the various systems of classification, the wet and dry oscillator paradigm, the presentation of monochromatic and polychromatic results on the same axes, premonition time, and the revised theory on capture width. These are all used to discuss the interrelationship between WEC geometry, the control strategy and the sea-state. The opportunities for, and limitations of, the use of intelligent control techniques such as artificial neural networks are discussed. The potential contribution of various control strategies and associated design principles is explored. This discussion culminates in a series of recommendations for control strategies that are suited to each class of WEC, and for the areas of research that have the potential to bring about the greatest reductions in the cost of harnessing energy from sea waves.

At present there is much debate about the impacts and benefits of increasing the amount of generation connected to the low voltage areas of the electricity distribution network. The UK government is under political pressure to diversify energy sources for environmental reasons, for long-term sustainability and to buffer the potential insecurity of uncertain international energy markets. UK Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) are processing large numbers of applications to connect significant amounts of Distributed Generation (DG). DNOs hold statutory responsibility to preserve supply quality and must screen the DG applications for their impact on the network. The DNOs often require network upgrades or DG curtailment, reducing the viability of proposed projects. Many studies exist that identify barriers to the widespread connection of DG. Among them are: suitability of existing protection equipment; rating of existing lines and equipment; impact in terms of expanded voltage envelope and increased harmonic content; conflict with automatic voltage regulating equipment. These barriers can be overcome by expensive upgrades of the distribution network or the expensive deep connection of DG to the higher voltage, sub-transmission network. This work identifies changes in network operating practice that could allow the connection of more DG without costly upgrades. The thesis reported is that adopting options for a more openly managed, actively controlled, distribution network can allow increased DG capacity without upgrades. Simulations have been performed showing DG connected with wind farm production time series to a representative section of the Scottish distribution network. The simulations include modelling of voltage regulation by network equipment and/or new generation. The cost and effects of the consequent network behaviour evaluated in monetary terms are reported. Alternative control strategies are shown and recommended, to reduce DNO operation and maintenance costs and the cost of connection to the developer with no reduction in supply quality.

Numerical and experimental investigations of tidal current energy extraction have been conducted in this study. A laboratory-scale water flume was simulated using commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. In the numerical model, the tidal current turbine is represented with an actuator disk, which produces a pressure drop associated with energy loss. The free water surface is considered in the model using a volume of fluid method and is allowed to deform freely. Numerical results identified that a localised wake is formed behind the tidal current turbine and there is considerable localised flow acceleration around and most especially, under the energy extraction device. A free water surface drop is visualised in the model results due to the energy extraction and this free surface drop is believed to have an impact on the recovery of turbine wake. The influence of other parameters like water depth, ambient turbulence and flow speed on the tidal current energy extraction are also testified, based on the numerical model. Numerical results demonstrated that, because of the existence of a free water surface, tidal turbine interaction with the flow is a complicated three dimensional problem. Therefore, completely using the theoretical methods of wind turbines for tidal current turbine study would be inappropriate. Two physical tests were deigned for the experimental investigation of energy extraction from tidal currents and were carried out under different testing conditions: one was in moving water using a natural open channel and the other was in still water using a towing tank. Comparing experimental and numerical results of wake velocity profiles, good qualitative agreement has been obtained, which proves that the proposed numerical model can provide essential insight into the mechanism of wake development behind tidal current turbines. Experimental results also confirmed that, although moving water is the real operational condition of tidal turbines, a towing tank is still an ideal facility for the experimental study of tidal turbines, especially at the early stages of understanding of the detailed physical processes governing the performance of rotors and turbine wake behaviour. This study is a comprehensive investigation into tidal current energy extraction at laboratory scale. Environmental impact of tidal current energy extraction is further recognized and an appropriate experimental facility for the model testing of tidal energy extraction devices is recommended.