This dissertation investigates the distribution and transmission systems reliability and economic impact of energy storage and renewable energy integration. The reliability and economy evaluation framework is presented. Novel operation strategies of energy storage and renewable energy are proposed. The method for optimizing the energy storage sizing and operation strategy in order to achieve optimal reliability and economy level is developed. The objectives of the movement towards the smart grid include making the power systems more reliable and economically efficient. The rapid development of the large scale energy storage technology makes it an excellent candidate in achieving these goals. A novel Model Predictive Control (MPC)-based operation strategy is proposed to optimally manage the charging and discharging operation of energy storage in order to minimize the energy purchasing cost for a distribution system load aggregator in power markets. Different operation strategies of energy storage have different reliability and economic impact on power systems. Simulation results illustrate the importance of the energy storage operation strategies. A hybrid operation strategy which combines the MPC-based operation strategy and the standby backup operation strategy is proposed to flexibly adjust the reliability and economic improvement brought by energy storage. A particle swarm optimization approach is developed to determine the optimal energy storage sizing and operation strategy while maximizing reliability and economic improvement. A reliability and economy assessment framework based on sequential Monte Carlo method integrated with the operation strategies is proposed. The impact on the transmission systems reliability brought by energy storage and renewable energy with the proposed operation strategies is investigated. Case studies are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed operation strategies, optimization approach, and the reliability and economy evaluation framework. Insights into how energy storage and renewable energy affect power system reliability and economy are obtained.

Owing to the unfortunate accidents happened in Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan on 11th March 2011, renewable energy has again become one of the mostly referred issues in energy related discussions all around the world. Generally, the states are expected to give incentives to the renewable energy sources in order to help the development and spread of those clean energy technologies against the fossil based energy sources. However, the levels of state subsidy to renewable energy sources in Turkey which was announced in 2010 with an Amendment Law was not possible to understand by following the mentioned way of thinking. Unlike other studies in the field of renewable energy policies, the thesis problematizes the role of the states in the formation of renewable energy markets and prefers to use the critical theory while trying to understand how the renewable energy policies in Turkey are formed. The state policies are tried to be understood as a result of historical state and society relations rather than looking for linear reason and result relationships. State is seen not a unified actor but rather a battleground of competing projects each of which arise from a certain way of thinking or in other words, rationalities of government. Consequently, the traces of developmentalism, neoliberalism and neomercantilism are followed starting from the formation of the Turkish electricity market in the late 1990s and the preparation of Renewable Energy Law in 2005 until the aftermath of the recent Amendment to the Renewable Energy Law in 2010.

For more than two centuries, humans have been spewing “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and the development of land, causing the planet’s surface temperature to increase at an accelerated rate. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues that the world is facing today, and in order to combat the effects of climate change, it is necessary to adopt the use of more renewable technology, namely solar energy. The United States' best region for solar development is the Mojave Desert, and many large-scale projects are being built or proposed to be built in the area. However, the deployment of solar technology in the Mojave Desert comes with significant ecological, socioeconomic, and political impacts. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the issues surrounding solar development in the Mojave Desert.

Dedication. Acknowledgements. Preface. Chapter 1: Introduction. Chapter 2: Green Business and Carbon Offsetting. Chapter 3A: Case Study. Chapter 3B: Interview. Chapter 4: Case Study. Chapter 5: Conclusion. Bibliography.

The research focus of this thesis is on modelling techniques for river kinetic turbines, to develop predictive numerical tools to further the design of this emerging hydro technology. The performance benefits of enclosing the turbine in a shroud are quantified numerically and an optimized shroud design is developed. The optimum performing model is then used to study river kinetic turbines, including different anchoring systems to enhance performance. Two different turbine numerical models are studied to simulate the rotor. Four different computational fluid dynamics (CFD) turbulence models are compared against a series of particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments involving highly-separated diffuser-flow and nozzle-flow conditions. The risk of cavitation is briefly discussed as well as riverbed boundary layer losses. This study is part of an effort to develop this emerging technology for distributed power generation in provinces like Manitoba that have a river system well adapted for this technology. / May 2007

Electric energy conversion is an important issue in today's society as our daily lives largely depend on the supplies of energy. Two energy sources are studied for conversion in the present thesis, ocean waves and hydropower. The work focuses on the generator and the transmission of its output to the electric grid. Different approaches have been used, over the years, to convert the energy in ocean waves, and the method presently used is based on a point absorber (buoy) directly coupled to a linear generator on the seabed. A varying alternating voltage is induced with such configuration, where both the amplitude and the frequency changes continuously. The target is to connect several units in a farm, and thereby decrease the fluctuations in power production. This is shown to be possible to accomplish with a rectifier connected to each generator. Transmission systems can be designed with converters and transformers to connect the farm to the electric grid onshore. Several aspects of the concept are considered as well as interconnection issues. Analytical calculations verified by finite element simulations and measured data are used to model the behaviour of a linear generator. A series expanded expression for the ideal no-load flux and EMF (electromotive force) is derived, which can be developed into an analytical transmission design tool. Hydropower has been used for more than a century. Today many of the stations from the mid 1900's are up for refurbishment. Studies with finite element calculations show that a higher electric efficiency can be obtained with a high voltage cable wound generator.

Introduction: The mass print media are a widely-distributed, and often primary, source of health information for the public. Health information in newspapers can amplify or attenuate readers’ perceptions of risk depending on how it is presented. This thesis examines how health information related to wind energy was communicated in Ontario newspapers and includes separate analyses for the presence of fright factors, readability, emergent themes, and emotional tone and sensationalism. As an emerging technology, public understanding of and response to associated health risks and uncertainties towards wind energy can be influenced by media coverage. Methods: Five geographically discontinuous wind energy installations in Ontario and their surrounding communities were selected based on 2006 Canadian Census data. Newspapers serving each community were identified and searched for articles from May 2007-April 2011 on the topic of health effects from wind energy developments. A total of 421 articles from 13 community and 4 national/provincial newspapers were retrieved. In Study #1, a directed content analysis was used to develop a coding instrument based on fright factors known to affect the public’s perception of risk. In Study #2, each newspaper article was analyzed for text readability using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) readability formula. In Study #3, and as a qualitative component, a semi-directed content analysis was used to find emerging themes and subthemes. Finally, in Study #4, a list of loaded and positive words, informed from previous studies on sensationalism in media reporting and a random sample of newspaper articles included in this study, and the frequency of their appearance was used as a quantitative measure of sensationalism. Results: Study #1: The most commonly reported fright factors were ‘dread’, ‘poorly understood by science’, ‘involuntary exposure’, and ‘inequitable distribution’, occurring in 94% (n=394), 58% (n=242), 45% (n=188), and 42% (n=177) of articles, respectively. The fright factors of ‘dread’, ‘poorly understood by science’, ‘inequitable distribution’, and ‘inescapable exposure’ occurred more frequently in community newspaper articles than in national/provincial ones (p<0.001). Although the total number of occurrences of each fright factor increased following the Green Energy Act, only ‘dread’ (p<0.05) and ‘poorly understood by science’ (p<0.01) increased significantly. Study #2: The mean reading grade level (RGL) of 421 articles on wind turbines and health was at the post-secondary education level (X±SEM; 13.3±0.1). Articles from community and provincial newspapers were written at almost a full RGL lower (13.2±0.2 and 13.1±0.2) than those from national newspapers (13.9±0.2) (p<0.05). Additionally, opinion pieces such as editorial columns were written at a lower RGL than fact-based news articles (13.0±0.2 and 13.5±0.1, respectively; p<0.01). Study #3: The majority of newspaper articles described health effects of wind turbines in general, rather than specific, terms. The most commonly cited causes of health complaints were inadequate setbacks (27%, n=114), noise (21%, n=90), shadow flicker and vibrations (12%, n=49), and electrical exposure (6%, n=27). Other, non-health concerns such as environmental damage (28%, n=117), property values (20%, n=86), aesthetic concerns (18%, n=77), financial burden (18%, n=74), were prevalent and juxtaposed with health issues in 28% of articles (n=118). Concerns with the quality and availability of scientific evidence were frequent in the newspaper articles (34%, n=143), with many articles promoting a moratorium on wind energy developments until further research is conducted (25%, n=103). Study #4: Newspaper articles emphasized negative rather than positive/neutral tone, with community newspapers publishing a higher proportion of negative articles than provincial or national newspapers (X2=6.11, df=1, p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the health information related to wind turbines in Ontario newspapers contains a large quantity of fright factors that may produce fear and anxiety in readers, is written at a reading grade level that is too complex for the majority of the Ontario population to fully understand, contains inconsistent information on health effects that often links health concerns with non-health concerns, and is often negative in tone. The influence of the Ontario newspaper media on reader’s risk perceptions of wind energy in Ontario will be important to determine empirically.

Vi står inför en förändring, att minska vårt beroende av fossil energi till förmån för en ökad användning av förnybar energi. Incitament i form av ökade punktskatter på fossilt bränsle påskyndar omställningen för företag till förnybar energi och- eller energieffektivisering av sin produktion. Konsekvensen blir en successivt fördyrad kostnad för produktion av fjärrvärme med eldningsolja till tillverkningsindustrin. Punktskatt på eldningsolja stiger med 41 procent, från 2010 till 2015 för företagen. Att konvertera befintliga oljepannor med träpulverbrännare är en lösning för att hålla produktionskostnaden nere och behålla sin konkurrenskraft. I detta examensarbete utreds möjligheten att konvertera oljepannor i storleksklassen 5-10 MW. Studien tar ett helhetsgrepp om RMT´s fjärrvärmeproduktion för att söka svaret på, om det är möjligt att göra en konvertering ur ett tekniskt, hållbarhets och ekonomiskt perspektiv. Det kända behovet av spetslast från oljepannorna vid -3°C visade sig inte stämma utan brytpunkten hamnade vid -6°C. Resultatet pekar på att en 10 MW oljepanna kan konverteras till 5 MW träpulver men ändå behålla sin ursprungliga effekt genom en kombibrännare. Tidigare problem som fanns med träpulveranläggningar är åtgärdade och referensanläggningar i den aktuella storleksklassen finns i drift. Ett förfrågningsunderlag skickades ut för att få in budgetpris på konvertering av 5 och 10 MW oljepannor för utvärdering. Trots att alla leverantörer gavs samma förutsättningar så varierade budgetpriserna väldigt mycket. En stor överraskning var den korta payoff tid på konverteringar med liten värmeeffekt. Att en konvertering av en 10 MW OP har en återbetalningstid på 20 månader var rätt osannolikt innan studien utfördes. Denna studie kan även ses som en inspirationskälla till andra företag som har mindre spetslastpannor och vill fasa ut sitt fossila beroende med förnybar energi, samtidigt behålla sin konkurrenskraft. I fjärrvärmebranschen är dessa 5 och 10 MW oljepannor vanliga som spetslastpannor. Det finns ca 1000 oljepannor i storleken 5-10 MW i Sverige så det bör finnas en stor potential i att konvertera oljepannor till träpulver. / We are facing a change, to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels in favor of increased use of renewable energy. Incentives in the form of increased excise taxes on fossil fuels for companies accelerate the conversion to renewable energy or energy efficiency of its production. The consequence is a progressively more expensive cost for district heating with fuel oil to manufacturing industry. Excise tax on fuel oil rises by 41 percent, from 2010 to 2015 for those companies. To convert existing oil boilers with woodpowderburner is a solution to keep production costs down and remain competitive. In this thesis studied the possibility of converting oil boilers in the size range of 5 to 10 MW. The study takes a holistic approach to RMT's district heating to search the answer, if it is possible to do a conversion from a technical, sustainability and economic perspective. The felt need for peak load from oil boilers at -3° C appeared not to sue; it ended up at -6° C. The results indicate that a 10 MW oil boiler can be converted to 5 MW wood powder and while retaining its original power through a combination burner. Previously problems with woodpowderplant are taken care of and reference facilities in the current magnitude are in operation. An inquiry was sent out to get budget prices at a conversion of 5 and 10 MW oil boilers for evaluation. Even though all the suppliers was given the same opportunities so varied budget prices very much. A big surprise was the short payoff time on conversions of small oil boilers. The conversion of a 10 MW OP has a payback period of 20 months and that was rather unlikely before the study was performed. This study can also be seen as a source of inspiration to other companies that have small peak load boilers and want to phase out their fossil fuel dependence with renewable energy, and retain their competitiveness. In the district heating sector, these 5 and 10 MW oil boilers are ordinary peak load boilers. There are about 1000 oil boilers in the size from 5 to 10 MW in Sweden so it should be a large potential in converting oil boilers to wood powder

Distributed generation (DG) with a converter interface to the power grid is found in many of the green power resources applications. This dissertation describes a multi-objective control technique of voltage source converter (VSC) based on multilevel converter topologies, for integration of DG resources based on renewable energy (and non-renewable energy)to the power grid. The aims have been set to maintain a stable operation of the power grid, in case of di erent types of grid-connected loads. The proposed method provides compensation for active, reactive, and harmonic load current components. A proportional-integral (PI) control law is derived through linearization of the inherently non-linear DG system model, so that the tasks of current control dynamics and dc capacitor voltage dynamics become decoupled. This decoupling allows us to control the DG output currents and the dc bus voltage independently of each other, thereby providing either one of these decoupled subsystems a dynamic response that signi cantly slower than that of the other. To overcome the drawbacks of the conventional method, a computational control delay compensation method, which delaylessly and accurately generates the DG reference currents, is proposed. The rst step is to extract the DG reference currents from the sensed load currents by applying the stationary reference frame and then transferred into synchronous reference frame method, and then, the reference currents are modi ed, so that the delay will be compensated. The transformed variables are used in control of the multilevel voltage source converter as the heart of the interfacing system between DG resources and power grid. By setting appropriate compensation current references from the sensed load currents in control circuit loop of DG link, the active, reactive, and harmonic load current components will be compensated with fast dynamic response, thereby achieving sinusoidal grid currents in phase with load voltages while required power of loads is more than the maximum injected power of the DG resources. The converter, which is controlled by the described control strategy, guarantees maximum injection of active power to the grid continuously, unity displacement power factor of power grid, and reduced harmonic load currents in the common coupling point. In addition, high current overshoot does not exist during connection of DG link to the power grid, and the proposed integration strategy is insensitive to grid overload. / La Generació Distribuïda (DG) injectada a la xarxa amb un convertidor estàtic és una solució molt freqüent en l'ús de molts dels recursos renovables. Aquesta tesis descriu una técnica de control multi-objectiu del convertidor en font de tensió (VSC), basat en les topologies de convertidor multinivell, per a la integració de les fonts distribuïdes basades en energies renovables i també de no renovables.Els objectius fixats van encaminats a mantenir un funcionament estable de la xarxa elèctrica en el cas de la connexió de diferents tipus de càrregues. El mètode de control proposat ofereix la possibilitat de compensació de les components actives i reactives de la potencia, i les components harmòniques del corrent consumit per les càrregues.La llei de control proporcional-Integral (PI) s’obté de la linearització del model inherentment no lineal del sistema, de forma que el problema de control del corrent injectat i de la tensió d’entrada del convertidor queden desacoblats. Aquest desacoblament permet el control dels corrents de sortida i la tensió del bus de forma independent, però amb un d’ells amb una dinàmica inferior.Per superar els inconvenients del mètode convencional, s’usa un retard computacional, que genera les senyals de referència de forma acurada i sense retard. El primer pas es calcular els corrents de referència a partir de les mesures de corrent. Aquest càlcul es fa primer transformant les mesures a la referència estacionaria per després transformar aquests valors a la referència síncrona. En aquest punt es on es poden compensar els retards.Les variables transformades son usades en els llaços de control del convertidor multinivell. Mitjançant aquests llaços de control i les referències adequades, el convertidor és capaç de compensar la potencia activa, reactiva i els corrents harmònics de la càrrega amb una elevada resposta dinàmica, obtenint uns corrents de la xarxa de forma completament sinusoïdal, i en fase amb les tensions.El convertidor, controlat amb el mètode descrit, garanteix la màxima injecció de la potencia activa, la injecció de la potencia reactiva per compensar el factor de potencia de la càrrega, i la reducció de les components harmòniques dels corrents consumits per la càrrega. A més, garanteix una connexió suau entre la font d’energia i la xarxa. El sistema proposat es insensible en front de la sobrecarrega de la xarxa

The installation of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) technology on elementary and secondary schools has been undertaken around the world in an attempt to tie together positive environmental action, innovative environmental education, and potential economic gains. In Ontario, the advent of the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program and the increased focus on environmental education by the Ontario Ministry of Education has resulted in preliminary interest from some Ontario school boards in installing solar PV technology on schools. However, simply installing the technology on school roof-tops does not guarantee that the potential benefits of a school-based solar PV project will be realized. Drawing from the literatures describing the social acceptance of innovation and technology, the social acceptance of renewable energy innovation and technology, and the social acceptance of educational innovation and technology in schools, this thesis attempts to identify non-technical factors that may impede school-based solar PV project development, and ultimately, attempts to identify factors that help maximize potential benefits. The research was conducted in two distinct phases, with the results from Phase 1 informing the focus and design of Phase 2. Phase 1 consisted of nine key-informant interviews with individuals directly involved in school-based solar PV projects in Canada and the United States, and Phase 2 consisted of a case study in the Halton District School Board (HDSB) and the Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) (Ontario, Canada). Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in Phase 2 through 30 stakeholder interviews and 50 stakeholder surveys. Respondents in the HDSB and HCDSB generally have a positive perception of solar PV technology, but are concerned to some extent about the cost and economic viability of implementing this kind of project. Five funding models for school-based solar PV projects were evaluated by respondents to determine the effect of project funding models on overall project social acceptance. The results show that the project funding model does affect social acceptance, with 78.1% of respondents reporting that at least one of the five models would cause their support for the project to either increase or decrease. Respondents indicated a strong preference for the government/utility model, while the corporate funding model was shown to be the most controversial. This thesis recommends that a broad-based, inclusive, stakeholder-oriented approach to project development could improve trust and communication between project stakeholders, and thus improve the social acceptance for any of the five funding models. Additionally, with any funding model, teacher and administrative support and social acceptance is particularly important to help maximize the educational component of the project.