AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OFCarlos Eduardo Teran Rivero, for the Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, presented on October 15, 2020, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: HYBRID RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS ANALYSIS VIA HOMER PRO AND ETAP: A CASE STUDY IN VENEZUELA MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Arash Asrari The main objective of this project is to design a realistic hybrid renewable energy system as a micro-grid in order to supply required power to the villages of Coche Island located in Venezuela. Due to the deterioration of Venezuela’s power system, the native people inhabiting in the island frequently find themselves without electricity when there exists a shortage in supply. Considering “Margarita” as an example, the priority of the supply is always considered for the larger communities where there is any relevant issue which will leave the small communities of the Coche Island without any power. The motivation of this thesis is to propose a hybrid micro-grid located in some of the larger villages in the Coche Island using renewable energy resources (RERs) such as photovoltaic and wind turbines such that the community of the corresponding villages can locally generate power in order to cover their basic needs in normal and emergency situations. Toward this end, this thesis presents a hybrid configuration integrated with RERs to address the aforementioned challenges. The suggested frameworks are developed via two different software including ETAP (electrical transient analyzer program) and HOMER (hybrid optimization model for electric renewables), and a comprehensive comparison between the obtained results is provided to validate the effectiveness of the both software in the field of designing hybrid energy systems.

I detta examensarbete har syftet varit att undersöka hur man kan minska behovet av att behöva köpa energi till en fastighet med tillhörande byggnader. Fokus har legat på att producera nog med energi för att täcka fastighetsägarnas konsumtion av el. Projektet har även berört energioptimeringsåtgärder av enklare slag. Efter detta gjordes en fysisk genomgång av byggnaderna där mätning också genomfördes dels som underlag för en energibalans, dels som underlag när det undersöktes vilka energisparåtgärder som var ekonomiskt genomförbara, såsom tillläggsisolering av vinden. Sedan samlades det in offerter och annan viktig information, såsom energiproduktion och priser, för att sedan analyseras. Alla delar jämfördes och ställdes mot varandra för att komma fram till det som passade fastighetsägarna bäst. Lagring och vindkraft hade en för lång återbetalningstid gentemot vad ägarna hade efterfrågat då de ville att det skulle vara återbetalat innan produkternas livslängd var slut. Resultatet av vindkraften visade att vindhastigheterna inte kunde fastställas helt eftersom den vindmätning som gjorts har skett 25 km därifrån, vilket leder till en osäkerhet i hur mycket el som kan produceras. Det mest lönsamma var den största av de fyra solcellsparker som jämfördes. Den och det lilla vindkraftverket tillsammans producerar tillräckligt mycket el för att täcka deras behov. Däremot rekommenderades varken vindkraftverket eller batterilagring på grund av återbetalningstiden. Ägarna kan alltså producera den mesta elen med hjälp av solceller, dock inte allt enligt de beräkningar som gjorts. Förutom Vattenfalls solceller rekommenderades att tilläggsisolera vinden samt en laddbox från Vattenfall. Eftersom teorin i examensarbetet skulle baseras på granskade källor och inte på vinstdrivande källor användes studentlitteratur, publicerade rapporter och rapporter från myndigheter. / The purpose of this thesis has been to examine how to reduce the need to buy energy for a property with associated buildings. The focus has been on producing enough energy to cover the property owners' consumption of electricity. The project has also involved simpler energy optimization measures. After this, a physical review of the buildings was carried out, where measurement was also carried out partly as a basis for an energy balance and partly as a basis when examining which energy saving measures were economically feasible, such as additional insulation of the wind. Then quotes and other important information, such as energy production and prices, were collected and then analyzed. All parts were compared to each other to arrive at what best suited the property owners. Storage and wind power had too long a payback period against what the owners had asked for when they wanted it to be repaid before the end of product life. The result of the wind power showed that the wind speeds could not be fully determined since the wind measurement made was 25 km away, which leads to an uncertainty in how much electricity can be produced. The most profitable was the largest of the four solar cell parks compared. It and the small wind turbine together produce enough electricity to meet their needs. However, neither the wind turbine nor the battery storage was recommended because of the payback time. The owners can thus produce most of the electricity using solar cells, but not all according to the calculations made. In addition to Vattenfall's solar cells, it was recommended to insulate the wind and install a charging box from Vattenfall. Since the theory in the degree project should be based on audited sources and not on profit-making sources, student literature, published reports and reports from authorities were used.

This study aims to expand and enrich the research on the social gap regarding wind power development. We look into reasons for the malaise that people experience when confronted with wind power projects and propose that aspects of the Romantic era still prevail in and influence how humans relate to the world today. We show that the human relation to nature and technology is influenced by Romanticism providing one additional explanation for the social acceptance of wind power that has not yet been addressed in research. This is researched through a qualitative, exploratory multiple-case design that focuses on exploring personal stories and emotions about people’s relation to nature, technology and wind power. This resulted in the discovery of several paradoxes in people’s thinking, a nature paradox and a technology paradox which meet in the wind power debate. Our findings indicate that the malaise around wind power can be further understood by these paradoxes. Ultimately, people’s final decision on accepting wind power comes down to Romantic thinking versus Enlightenment thinking, in which the latter dominates.

The wind power industry is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy industries in the world. Since more energy can be extracted from wind when the density is higher, a lot of the investments made in the wind power industry are made in cold climates. But with cold climates come harsh weather conditions such as icing. The icing on wind power rotor blades causes the aerodynamic properties of the blade to shift and with further ice accretion, the wind power plant can come to a standstill causing a loss of power, until the ice is melted. How big these losses are, depend greatly on site-specific variables such as elevation, temperature, and precipitation. The literature claims these ice-related losses can correspond to 10-35% of the annual expected energy output. Some studies have been made to standardize an ice loss determining method to be used by the industry, yet a standardization of calculating these losses do not exist. It was therefore interesting for this thesis to investigate the different methods that are being used. By using historical Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) data for two different sites located in Sweden, a robust ice determining code was created to identify ice losses. Nearly 32 million data points are being analyzed, and the data itself is provided by Siemens Gamesa which is one of the biggest companies within the wind power industry. A sensitivity analysis was made, and it was shown that a reference dataset reaching from May to September for four years could be used to clearly identify ice losses. To find the ice losses, three different scenarios were tested. The three scenarios use different temperature intervals to find ice losses. For scenario 1 all data points below 0 degrees are investigated. And for scenario 2 and 3 this interval is stretching from 3 degrees and below versus 5 degrees and below. It was found that Scenario 3, was the optimal way to identify the ice losses. Scenario 3 filtered the raw data so that only data points with a temperature below five degrees was used. For the two sites investigated, the annual ice losses were found to lower the annual energy output by 5-10%. Further, the correlation between temperature, precipitation, and ice losses was investigated. It was found that low temperature and high precipitation is strongly correlated to ice losses.

Abstract Compressor station (CS) is an essential and an integral part of gas pipeline, providing gastransportation by means of power equipment, installed at CS. It serves as a control element in thecomplex of buildings, belonging to the trunk gas pipeline. It is by compressor station operationparameters the pipeline operation mode is defined. Presence of CS allows to adjust an operation modeof the gas pipeline at gas consumption fluctuations, using the maximum of the gas pipeline storagecapacity.During the operation of compressor station there can occur some infractions of gas pumping unit(GPU) electro-receivers power supply, leading to a forced or emergency stop of at least one GPU ofCS. Wind power plants can be used as a backup power supply. Years of national and internationalexperience show that the use of wind power plants of low power (up to 5-6 kW) is almost alwayseconomically feasible in areas with average annual wind speed VAV. AN. of more than 3.5-4.0 m/s. Theuse of high-power wind power plants is justified in cases when VAV. AN. exceeds 5.5-6.0 m/s.In the master's thesis the possibility of wind power plants exploitation for uninterrupted operation ofauxiliary power plant (APP), which is a part of compressor station, is considered.In the first chapter of the thesis the condition and reliability of CS power supply system of trunk gaspipelines (TGP) is examined. Besides the issues of energy supply and gas facilities stability areconsidered; the categories of electrical receivers, as well as factors, providing the sustainability andreliability of compressor station, are defined. In the last section of this chapter the volumes of powerconsumption at compressor station and auxiliary power plant are considered.The second chapter provides a classification of wind turbines, their design and wind flowcharacteristics, as well as the methods for wind climatic characteristics determination at a giventerritory. Particular attention is paid to offshore wind turbines as the most promising wind energyinstallations.The third chapter presents environmental aspects of wind power industry: an impact on fauna, acousticnoise, vibration impact, radio waves interference, air pollution, land use, visual impact, tourism andrecreation zones.The fourth chapter represents the consideration of wind turbine exploitation, including thedevelopment of a wind energy project, the power generation base cost definition, as well as the ways toreduce the costs of power generation and prospects of development and usage of wind power industryin the Russian Federation.

The increased fatigue loads and decreased power output of a wind turbine placed in the wake of another turbine is a well-known problem when building new wind power farms. In order to better estimate the total power output of a wind power farm, knowledge about the development and stability of wind turbine wakes is crucial. In the present thesis, the wake behind a small-scale model turbine was investigated experimentally in a wind tunnel. The velocity in the wake was measured with hot-wire anemometry, for different free stream velocities and tip speed ratios. To characterize the behaviour of the model turbine, the power output, thrust force and rotational frequency of the model were also measured. These results were then compared to calculations using the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method. New turbine blades for the model was constructed using the same method, in order to get an estimate of the distribution of the lift and drag forces along the blades. This information is needed for comparisons with certain numerical simulations, which however remains to be performed.By placing the turbine at different heights in a turbulent boundary layer, the effects of forest turbulence on wind turbine outputs (power and thrust) could also be investigated.The evolution of the tip vortices shed from the turbine blades was studied by performing velocity measurements around the location of the tip vortex breakdown. The vortices' receptivity to disturbances was then studied by introducing a disturbance in the form of two pulsed jets, located in the rear part of the nacelle. In order to introduce a well-defined disturbance and perform phase-locked measurements, a new experimental setup was constructed and successfully tested for two different disturbance frequencies. The mean streamwise velocity and the streamwise turbulence intensity was found to scale well with the free stream velocity and the spreading of the wake was found to be proportional to the square root of the downstream distance.  The comparison for power and thrust between measurements and BEM calculations showed good agreement in some cases but worse agreement when the pitch angle of the blades was small.The velocity measurements showed that the tip vortices can be susceptible to disturbances and an earlier breakdown could be detected. However, more measurements need to be made to fully investigate the dependance on disturbance frequency and amplitude. / QC 20120504

Renewable energy sources are in strong demand as the need for clean energy is increasing, driven by the need to reach the environmental targets. Offshore wind power is becoming an attractive source as the technology matures and cost decreases. With time all wind farms age and when the time comes one needs to consider end of life alternatives. The objective with this Thesis is to assess lifetime extension of offshore wind farms, with a focus on reliability, availability and maintenance. As of today there are few offshore wind farms reaching their end of life but one needs to be prepared. From the literature review it is clear that there is somewhat limited documentation around lifetime extensions. The reason for lifetime extension is to increase the return on investment (ROI) of the original project, with a limited additional investment. With capital expenditure (CAPEX) being a large part of the overall project cost it is beneficial to achieve more operational years to divide the cost over, one also need to consider increased operations and maintenance (O&M) cost with aging assets. In this Thesis, a Reliability block diagram (RBD) model was developed in ReliaSoft BlockSim to calculate wind turbine failures, their associated downtime and O&M costs to create an overview of the future behaviour and cost. To assess the wind farm economics a financial model was built, based on output from the RBD model, to evaluate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and internal rate of return (IRR) for several cases of lifetime extension. A case study was done for a generic wind farm of 30 wind turbines, assumed to be built around 2010 using 3.6MW rated turbines, to illustrate a relevant case. Focus was on O&M cost, and it was assumed the structural integrity of the wind turbines would be maintained for the lifetime extension for up to 10 years.

Synchrone Messungen der Windgeschwindigkeit und die Leistung von Windkraftanlagen dienen der Ermittlung der Kennlinien der Anlagen. Die existierenden Vorschriften zur Vermessung enthalten bezüglich der Strömungseigenschaften des Windes nahezu keine Spezifikationen. Diese sind jedoch notwendig, um die erreichbare Genauigkeit und Repräsentativität der vermessenen Kennlinie zu quantifizieren. Messungen am Standort der AEOLUS II-Anlage in Wilhelmshaven dienten dazu, bei einer Anlagenvermessung die Eigenschaften der Strömung und die Kennlinie gemeinsam zu untersuchen. Es wurde gefunden, daß die Strömungseigenschaften wie die vertikale Windscherung, die Winddrehung über der Höhe, die turbulenten Schwankungen der Windgeschwindigkeit und der Windrichtung die Leistung von Windenergieanlagen bei gleicher mittlerer Windgeschwindigkeit erheblich verändern. Dabei wirken sowohl Standorteigenschaften als auch die Witterung auf die Ergebnisse der Vermessung. Am gleichen Standort können in anisotropem Gelände die Werte der Kennlinie auch bei mehrmonatigen Vermessungen wegen der Variabilität der Windrichtung Unterschiede von mehr als 10 % aufweisen. Der größte Einzeleffekt wird von der vertikalen Windscherung verursacht, die Wirkung der Drehung des mittleren Windvektors über der Rotorfläche ergab sich als kleinerer Effekt. Die Wirkung der turbulenten Schwankungen von Geschwindigkeit und Richtung weisen meist unterschiedliche Vorzeichen auf, so daß die Rolle dieser Schwankungen insgesamt meist klein bleibt. Die Vermessung einer Kennlinie mit einer kleineren systematischen Abweichung von im Mittel weniger als etwa 5 bis 10 % erfordert eine genaue Strömungsspezifikation sowohl für den Vermessungs- als für den Betriebsstandort, die bisher nicht in hinreichendem Maße in den entsprechenden Richtlinien und Vorschriften enthalten sind. / Power curves ofwind energy convetras need synchronous measurements of wind and power. The existing specification on the wind measurements are rather poor, however necessary. AEOLUS II-measurments and the wind measurments served to quantify the role of the different atmospheric parameters. Thus it was possible to define the influence on the power output of the machine as a function of the vertical wind shear, the wind veer with height, the turbulent fluctuations with the average wind speed being constant. As a consequence site properties and weather conditions both influence the measurements of the power curve. As a major result it was found that these factors may alter the power curve by as much as 10 %. The largest single effect is produced the effects of the vertical wind shear, The turbulent fluctuations are somewhat smaller in their effect, because speed and direction effects tend to compensate each other. lt may be concluded that a highly accurate power curve - meaning errors to be less than 10 % - requires a fully specified set of weather and site parameters.

The construction of wind power is strongly associated with negative local externalities in terms of noise, shadows, visual impact and effects on local environment. To compensate for these negative effects, wind developers seek to find methods to create more local value. The purpose of this study has thus been to identify and evaluate potential methods to increase the local value creation from onshore wind power projects, mainly in the Swedish context. Firstly, from the literature review and interviews, four different approaches to create local value has been identified. The four identified methods to create local value are (1) community funds, (2) local ownership, (3) modernization and (4) local content. Of these identified methods, local content is deemed to have most potential in creating local value. The use of local content has generally been strong in the UK, why this study comprises a field study that reveal that British wind developers manage to appoint up to 20-30 % of the total capital expenditure to local companies. Compared to Sweden, the same number is as little asone percent. The explanation to this significant difference could be explained by “three I:s”,, namely, (1) Identification of local companies, (2) Information of opportunities and requirements and (3) Incentive creation for the main contractors. For Swedish developers to overcome the problems associated with the three I:s, the study presents seven activities that are possible to implement directly into the development process of wind power. Together these activities create a comprehensive way of enhancing the possibility for local companies to be involved in the construction phase, and by doing so, increasing the local value creation.

The modern lifestyle is highly dependent on the electricity consumption, which demand is expected to continue growing worldwide, especially in those developing areas where the whole economy is transforming. Until now, most of this electricity demand had been supplied through the combustion of fossil fuels or nuclear power. But the utilization of these energy sources to power the human activity is unsustainable because of limitless of the resources and the hazardous emissions and wastes that they generate. That is why since few decades ago thewind power became one of the best-positioned renewable energy in terms of costs effectiveness as a viable alternative to the energetic model based on pollutant fossil fuels. This technology was firstly developed and implemented on those countries with a traditional environmental conscientiousness, but as the global warming issue increased new countries were interested to use wind power as a clean and sustainable energy source. The growing wind power demand of developing countries has changed in few years the entire industry, because new local manufacturers have appeared thanks to the government renewable policy, which main objective is to develop a strong domestic wind power industry capable of lead the world transformation to a clean energy model. The thesis defines the most commons renewable energy policies, and focus in the policy used in China with the aim to analyze if it is promoting or damaging the expansion of wind power use because of the priority is protect its own domestic wind power industry from international firms. The conclusions are that those protectionist policies are useful in the early stage of the industry development but the government must know the exact moment in which these subsidies and supporting mechanisms become counterproductive. If those are used during a prolonged period, then companies become dependent on subsidies and don’t act like in free markets where the innovation is the key to gain and maintain sustainable competitive advantage.