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MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / In the year 2002, the Zimbabwean government adopted a Rural Electrification Programme (REP) as a developmental strategy designed to improve villagers’ lives. Despite the government’s noble initiative to improve rural areas’ access to electricity, not much is known about the REP’s socio-economic benefits to grassroots communities in the country. Thus, a study was carried out to determine the REP’s socio-economic benefits accruing to villagers in Insiza South District located in Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe. Appreciative inquiry was undertaken following a mixed method approach. Data were collected through two sequentially integrated phases. Multistage sampling was applied to select respondents from 15 villages within three administrative wards 5, 7 and 12 of Insiza South District. Out of the 110 respondents who participated in the study, the eight key informants who participated in the first phase were drawn from the institutions that coordinated the REP. One hundred and two residents participated in phase two of data collection carried out through application of focus group discussions (FGDs). Thematic content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data collected in phase 1 of the study. Quantitative data was analysed using the International Business Machines, Statistical Product and Service Solution (IBM, SPSS) version 24 for Windows. More than 68 % of the respondents perceived basic uses (lighting, cooking, and for educational purposes) of electricity as the benefits accruing from the REP. Sixty six percent of respondents viewed modern uses (heating, cooling and air conditioning) of electricity as the benefits accruing from the programme. A much smaller proportion (31 %) of villagers singled out the benefits of electrification to be productive uses such as boiler making, manufacturing and mechanised farming. There were highly significant differences in perception among residents of the wards with respect to basic (P < 0.001) and modern (P < 0.01) uses. However, there were no differences in perception among male and female members of the three wards (P < 0.05). The collective community benefits included improved access to information, enhanced retention and attraction of teachers in rural areas, introduction of computer studies in schools and initiation of entrepreneurial projects such as welding and milling. Residents also benefitted indirectly from the REP through local electrified service centres. It was revealed that almost 91 % the local villagers were still using firewood while about 59 % of the villagers who could afford it had access to solar power. The study highlighted the need for a platform to deliberate on challenges relating to RE and its contribution to economy. The findings are crucial for rural development, policy reviews and academic research.

This paper explores how decision-making under uncertainty can address opportunities, risks, and uncertainties for sustainable development; how decision theory, resilience thinking, and scenario planning approaches can assist the decision-making process. The paper will focus on decision-making for sustainable development under uncertainty associated with energy development in Western Kazakhstan. The main goal of this work is to demonstrate how different decision-making approaches under uncertainty can facilitate sustainable development of the oil industry in the region. Recommendations for sustainable development are examined for how the different approaches can be used to better inform the recommendations.

Energy production systems are essential for human progress. They fuel the technologies that underpin economic growth and are prerequisite for efficient food production, education and healthcare. On the flip side, they also incur substantial eco-social costs. Hence, finding and promoting sustainable means of energy production is a key topic within the Environmental Sciences. This thesis examines the sustainability of nuclear power, by comparing its social, economic and ecological impacts to those of wind and solar power. The assessment is performed using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), with a Weighted Sum scoring system and a Distance-To-Target weighting scheme. The selection and the weighting of the indicators are grounded in the Planetary Boundaries framework, the Oxfam Doughnut Economics model and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and the technologies are compared on 9 axes of evaluation; greenhouse gas emissions, land-take requirements, material throughput, non-recyclable wastes, toxic and radioactive wastes, negative health impacts, economic costs, intermittency and energy return on energy invested. The thesis finds nuclear power to be the most sustainable option according to all but three indicators, and in the unified analysis, it outcompetes wind and solar by a factor of 2 and 3 respectively. Also notable is that solar power does not excel in a single impact category; it has the highest greenhouse gas emissions, the largest land-take, and it is costly, intermittent and energy-inefficient. It is also a source of toxic pollution, the effects of which cannot yet be determined. Although wind is more competitive, it consumes vast amounts of physical resources, generates a lot of waste, and its land-take is at least 10 times higher than that of nuclear power. In addition to the MCA, the thesis investigates three perceived threats that are often raised in criticisms of nuclear power; the risk of nuclear fuel depletion, the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation and the risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents. The results show that many popular arguments against the technology are loosely aligned with reality, and the thesis as a whole presents a challenge to the notion that nuclear power is a dangerous and unsustainable energy source.

In this modern era, energy is a key element required for sustainable development and prosperity of a society. Pakistan is an energy deficient country facing problems due to the shortage of over 4000 MW of electricity. The national energy sector is heavily dependent on imported fossil-fuel resources. The energy crisis is negatively affecting all economic and business activities, and it is widely recognized as a severe obstacle to growth and poverty reduction in the country. Establishment of wind farms can help to overcome the energy crisis. In this research, a national level wind energy roadmap is developed through scenario planning. Multiple future scenarios are developed using the fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) approach. This research has extended technology roadmapping through FCM-based scenario analysis. Building scenarios with FCM is a very new approach, and for the first time FCM-based scenarios are developed for the wind energy sector of Pakistan. Based on these multiple scenarios, a technology roadmap has been developed. This research approach is applied to the wind energy sector of Pakistan as a case study. This approach has been used to establish objectives and national targets of the roadmap. Then in a systematic way, critical roadmap barriers are identified against each scenario, and appropriate action items have been proposed to overcome barriers and promote deployment of wind energy projects in Pakistan. The objectives and targets of the roadmap have been translated into action items. The technology roadmap has four layers: strategic objectives, targets, barriers, and action items. Expert panels have been utilized to develop scenarios and technology roadmaps. Validation of this research is also carried out using experts. This new approach has helped to develop a robust roadmap and enabled anticipation of a wide range of possible future outcomes. This research fills an important gap by combining scenario planning and technology roadmapping techniques in future studies, and it has enhanced flexibility of the developed roadmap. Moreover, for the first time multiple and plausible FCM-based scenarios are developed, which combine the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Moreover, the technology roadmap for the wind energy sector of Pakistan is developed with a comprehensive study of practical obstacles and barriers towards deployment of wind energy technology. The research findings suggest that policy, financial, economic, lack of competition with conventional power plants, and technical are the most critical barriers towards deployment of wind energy projects in the country. Appropriate action items required to overcome the roadmap barriers against each scenario are also proposed in the developed roadmap. The experts also assigned responsibilities for the key roadmap action items to the major stakeholders.

<p>In this research, a Split-Shaft Wind Energy Conversion System (SS-WECS) is investigated</p> <p>to improve the performance and cost of the system and reduce the wind power</p> <p>uncertainty influences on the power grid. This system utilizes a lightweight Hydraulic Transmission</p> <p>System (HTS) instead of the traditional gearbox and uses a Doubly-Fed Induction</p> <p>Generator (DFIG) instead of a synchronous generator. This type of wind turbine provides</p> <p>several benefits, including decoupling the shaft speed controls at the turbine and the generator.</p> <p>Hence, maintaining the generator’s frequency and seeking maximum power point</p> <p>can be accomplished independently. The frequency control relies on the mechanical torque</p> <p>adjustment on the hydraulic motor that is coupled with the generator. This research provides</p> <p>modeling of an SS-WECS to show its dependence on mechanical torque and a control</p> <p>technique to realize the mechanical torque adjustments utilizing a Doubly-Fed Induction</p> <p>Generator (DFIG). To this end, a vector control technique is employed, and the generator</p> <p>electrical torque is controlled to adjust the frequency while the wind turbine dynamics</p> <p>influence the system operation. The results demonstrate that the generator’s frequency is</p> <p>maintained under any wind speed experienced at the turbine.</p> <p>Next, to reduce the size of power converters required for controlling DFIG, this research</p> <p>introduces a control technique that allows achieving MPPT in a narrow window of generator</p> <p>speed in an SS-WECS. Consequently, the size of the power converters is reduced</p> <p>significantly. The proposed configuration is investigated by analytical calculations and simulations</p> <p>to demonstrate the reduced size of the converter and dynamic performance of the</p> <p>power generation. Furthermore, a new configuration is proposed to eliminate the Grid-</p> <p>Side Converter (GSC). This configuration employs only a reduced-size Rotor-Side Converter</p> <p>(RSC) in tandem with a supercapacitor. This is accomplished by employing the hydraulic</p> <p>transmission system (HTS) as a continuously variable and shaft decoupling transmission</p> <p>unit. In this configuration, the speed of the DFIG is controlled by the RSC to regulate the</p> <p>supercapacitor voltage without GSC. The proposed system is investigated and simulated in</p> <p>MATLAB Simulink at various wind speeds to validate the results.</p> <p>Next, to reduce the wind power uncertainty, this research introduces an SS-WECS where the system’s inertia is adjusted to store the energy. Accordingly, a flywheel is mechanically</p> <p>coupled with the rotor of the DFIG. Employing the HTS in such a configuration allows the</p> <p>turbine controller to track the point of maximum power (MPPT) while the generator controller</p> <p>can adjust the generator speed. As a result, the flywheel, which is directly connected</p> <p>to the shaft of the generator, can be charged and discharged by controlling the generator</p> <p>speed. In this process, the flywheel energy can be used to modify the electric power generation</p> <p>of the generator on-demand. This improves the quality of injected power to the</p> <p>grid. Furthermore, the structure of the flywheel energy storage is simplified by removing</p> <p>its dedicated motor/generator and the power electronics driver. Two separate supervisory</p> <p>controllers are developed using fuzzy logic regulators to generate a real-time output power</p> <p>reference. Furthermore, small-signal models are developed to analyze and improve the MPPT</p> <p>controller. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of such a system and its</p> <p>improved quality of power generation.</p> <p>Next, an integrated Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) is developed to support the</p> <p>new DFIG excitation system in the SS-WECS. The goal is to improve the power quality</p> <p>while significantly reducing the generator excitation power rating and component counts.</p> <p>Therefore, the rotor excitation circuit is modified to add the storage to its DC link directly.</p> <p>In this configuration, the output power fluctuation is attenuated solely by utilizing the RSC,</p> <p>making it self-sufficient from the grid connection. The storage characteristics are identified</p> <p>based on several system design parameters, including the system inertia, inverter capacity,</p> <p>and energy storage capacity. The obtained power generation characteristics suggest an energy</p> <p>storage system as a mix of fast-acting types and a high energy capacity with moderate</p> <p>acting time. Then, a feedback controller is designed to maintain the charge in the storage</p> <p>within the required limits. Additionally, an adaptive model-predictive controller is developed</p> <p>to reduce power generation fluctuations. The proposed system is investigated and simulated</p> <p>in MATLAB Simulink at various wind speeds to validate the results and demonstrate the</p> <p>system’s dynamic performance. It is shown that the system’s inertia is critical to damping</p> <p>the high-frequency oscillations of the wind power fluctuations. Then, an optimization approach</p> <p>using the Response Surface Method (RSM) is conducted to minimize the annualized</p> <p>cost of the Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS); consisting of a flywheel, supercapacitor, and battery. The goal is to smooth out the output power fluctuations by the optimal</p> <p>size of the HESS. Thus, a 1.5 MW hydraulic wind turbine is simulated, and the HESS is</p> <p>configured and optimized. The direct connection of the flywheel allows reaching a suitable</p> <p>level of smoothness at a reasonable cost. The proposed configuration is compared with the</p> <p>conventional storage, and the results demonstrate that the proposed integrated HESS can</p> <p>decrease the annualized storage cost by 71 %.</p> <p>Finally, this research investigates the effects of the reduced-size RSC on the Low Voltage</p> <p>Ride Through (LVRT) capabilities required from all wind turbines. One of the significant</p> <p>achievements of an SS-WECS is the reduced size excitation circuit. The grid side converter is</p> <p>eliminated, and the size of the rotor side converter (RSC) can be safely reduced to a fraction</p> <p>of a full-size excitation. Therefore, this low-power-rated converter operates at low voltage</p> <p>and handles the regular operation well. However, the fault conditions may expose conditions</p> <p>on the converter and push it to its limits. Therefore, four different protection circuits are</p> <p>employed, and their effects are investigated and compared to evaluate their performance.</p> <p>These four protection circuits include the active crowbar, active crowbar along a resistorinductor</p> <p>circuit (C-RL), series dynamic resistor (SDR), and new-bridge fault current limiter</p> <p>(NBFCL). The wind turbine controllers are also adapted to reduce the impact of the fault</p> <p>on the power electronic converters. One of the effective methods is to store the excess energy</p> <p>in the generator’s rotor. Finally, the proposed LVRT strategies are simulated in MATLAB</p> <p>Simulink to validate the results and demonstrate their effectiveness and functionality.</p>

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African Government developed the REIPPPP to ensure the implementation of Green Economy and job creation policies, while mitigating the current power crises with the short lead times of RE technologies. Current South African literature is ambiguous when discussing the legitimacy of the REIPPPP and the overall understanding of the programme and its associated outcomes in terms of job creation, are therefore, vague. A need therefore exists to unpack the quantitative job creation submissions of the REIPPPP and to carry out an investigation into the opportunities and challenges associated with meaningful job creation. Through a non-linear iterative exploratory design, hinging on the researcher’s position within industry, this empirical research comprises of two components. Firstly, a literature study informs the development of a meaningful job creation framework which is used to analyse the programme’s bid documentation and publicly available data. Secondly, mixed-methods are utilised to collect quantitative data from the DoE and qualitative data from job creation stakeholders. The result is an enriched understanding of the REIPPPP in terms of meaningful job creation, identifying trends, similarities and unexpected outcomes across methods. The study concludes that the programme does create meaningful jobs yet data is misaligned and currently unavailable to the public. Secondly, since job creation is a feature of South African Government development policy, a more robust emphasis is required in the REIPPPP weighting and auditing process, which includes further research of intended benefits and suggested improvements to align job creation data. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Suid-Afrikaanse regering het die hernubare energie onafhanklike kragprodusent verkrygingsprogram ontwikkel om die voorsiening van die werksskeppingsbeleid en groen-ekonomiebelied te verseker. Huidige Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde is dubbelsinnig wanneer die wettigheid van die program bespreek word. Die algehele begrip van die program en sy geassosieerde uitkoms is dus vaag. Daar is n behoefte om die kwantitatiewe werkskeppingvoorleggings te analiseer en om ondersoek in te stel in die geleenthede en uitdagings wat geassosieer word met betekenisvolle werkskepping. Deur n nie- lineêre iteratiewe ondersoekende ontwerp, wat gebaseer is op die navorser se posisie in die industrie, bestaan hieride empiriese navorsing, uit twee komponente. Eerstens, lig n literatuurstudie die ontwikkeling van n betekenisvolle werkskeppingsraamwerk in, en word gebruik om die program se boddokumentasie en publieke data te analiseer. Tweedens, word gemengde metodes gebruik om kwantitatiewe data van die departement van energie te versamel asook kwalitatiewe data van werkskeppingbelanghebbendes. Die resultaat is n meer verrykende verstandhouding van die hernubare energie onafhanklike kragprodusent verkrygingsprogram in terme van betekenisvolle werkskepping asook die identifisering van tendense en onverwagse uitkomste. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die program nie betekenisvolle werk skep nie en is tans onbeskikbaar vir die publiek. Tweedens, aangesien werkskepping 'n kenmerk is van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering se ontwikkelingsbeleid, word 'n meer robuuste klem vereis op die hernubare energie onafhanklike kragprodusent verkrygingsprogram se ouditeringsproses en verdere navorsing van die beoogde voordele word voorgestel.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The electricity crisis presently affecting Africa is forcing govenments in the region to increasingly consider independent power developers as a means to help mitigate the imbalance between the demand and the supply of electricity. However, the success of this initiative will depend entirely upon governments' ability to create an environment that is conducive to developing private electricity generation plants. This paper focuses on Africa's independent power producer (IPP) market, evaluating the context in which it would develop. It also assesses how issues such as the complexity and uncertainty surrounding power purchase agreements, the current level of electricity tariffs, the incompleteness of power sector refonn as well as risk-sharing agreements between IPPs and the utilities are affecting the electricity market in the region. The analysis has broader implications for potential independent power projects as it not only questions the longterm sustainability of these but also provides strategic recommendations as to how to best maneuver in an environment fraught with major challenges. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die huidige elektrisiteitskrisis wat Suidelike-Afrika affekteer veroorsaak dat owerhede in die streek al hoe meer die moontlikheid van onafhanklike elektrisiteit produsente ondersoek om die wanbalans tussen elektrisiteit aanvraag en lewering te beperk. Die sukses van die initiatief is egter totaal afhanklik van die owerhede se vermoe om 'n omgewing te skep wat aantreklik is vir die ontwikkeling van privaat sektor kragsentrales. Hierdie verslag fokus op die Suidelike-Afrika onafhanklike elektrisiteit produsente mark, met 'n fokus op die konteks waarbinne dit moet ontwikkel. Dit ontleed verder die kompleksiteit en onsekerheid van krag aankoop kontrakte, die huidige vlakke van elektrisiteitstariewe, die tekort aan elektrisiteits sektor hervorming asook risiko-delende kontrakte tussen onafhanklike elektrisiteit produsente en nasionale elektrisiteitsverskaffers in Suidelike-Afrika. Die analise het breer implikasies vir potensiele onafhanklike elektrisiteit projekte aangesien die lang-termyn volhoubaarheid van sulke projekte bevraagteken word, maar gee ook strategiese aanbevelings oor hoe om die mark te betree met vele uitdagings.

Decentralized renewable energy procurement has gained traction in recent years for its potential to alleviate rural energy poverty and environmental degradation in developing countries. Hence, this study investigates if deploying renewable energy can mitigate rural energy poverty in developing countries as often claimed. Because any energy regime cannot be initiated or sustained without the conviction of local political leaders, the study also evaluates the extent to which government investments in the development of renewable energy technologies and the energy sector, affect the environmental quality (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions) of developing countries. Energetic theory and environmental inequality constitute the key conceptual premises guiding this study. Ordinary least squares regression is utilized to analyze the relationship between key variables. The results reveal that as of 2010, use of renewable energy can indeed support rural electrification. Higher GNI per capita and use of conventional fuels are also positively related to rural electrification, all else equal. As for environmental degradation in 2005 and 2008, R&D investments actually tend to increase GHG emissions; procuring energy from either renewable or non-renewable sources is however, found to be environmentally detrimental, net of all other variables. Finally, some evidence is found for the role of aid funds and multilateral debt in abating GHG emissions.

Au cœur de cette thèse réside l'application des méthodes d'optimisation et d'études empiriques pour traiter des questions de développement durable dans le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam pour les 30 prochaines années. On examine les moyens des options énergétiques durables pour le secteur de l'électricité. La thèse s'organise en deux parties. (i) Dans la première partie, nous développons le modèle " bottom-up " de planification intégrée des ressources (IRP) pour fournir une évaluation plus exhaustive de l'état actuel et des perspectives d'avenir pour le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam dans les trois prochaines décennies. Puis, en utilisant une analyse comparative et une analyse de la vulnérabilité qui est basée sur la simulation IRP, nous analysons les vulnérabilités auxquelles le développement du secteur devra faire face, en termes de dimensions économiques et socio-environnementales. Nous avons en outre développé le modèle IRP, représentant les coûts marginaux de réduction des émissions de carbone de manière réaliste en tenant compte des valeurs non nulles de carbone et de limitation des émissions de carbone, afin de simuler des options d'approvisionnement énergétique soutenables pour le secteur de l'énergie. (ii) Dans la deuxième partie, nous étudions les principaux obstacles contre une adoption plus large des énergies soutenables à l'aide d'enquêtes formelles parmi les experts nationaux. Ensuite, nous utilisons une approche d'analyse empirique pour examiner les différents outils politiques appropriés, y compris des instruments d'incitation / régimes et la réforme du secteur pour une telle durabilité du secteur de l'énergie. Pour la fin, nous analysons l'accès aux sources de financement possibles pour le développement durable dans le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam.