Issues Of Renewable Energy – According to McKinsey, in 2020, 27% of the world’s primary energy production will come from renewable technologies (wind, solar, tidal and hydro). In 2050, it is expected, and in fact, will increase to 73% in order for many countries to aim for sustainable goals. To achieve this ambitious goal, wind turbines will have to undergo a significant increase in installation and increase capacity and energy production efficiency – requirements that pose technical and commercial challenges.
In terms of technical challenges, despite the very large size of wind turbines and the harsh environment for wind operation, the industry needs at least 25 years of life for modern development, up to 35 years of operation using life-extending methods. High electrical output and acceptable acoustic behavior are also important factors for an efficient and environmentally friendly installation.
Issues Of Renewable Energy
In terms of commercial challenges, although wind power is the best source of renewable energy, traditional sources still have a significant market share. To be more competitive, it is important to focus on developing more powerful and efficient products with excellent operation and maintenance strategies. In short, to further improve the efficiency of wind energy, we need to reduce the surface cost of wind energy and increase its reliability.
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By applying technologies such as computer-aided engineering (CAE) to the rigorous engineering required by the renewable industry, Romax has been contributing to the development and operation of renewable energy with higher productivity and more sustainable and innovative technologies for the past 25 years. Now part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence Division, we help companies overcome business and technical challenges in developing renewable energy solutions, such as power generation costs, maintenance, reliability, efficiency and time to market. . MSC software, acquired by Hexagon in 2017, also has a long history of simulating various aspects of wind turbine design, such as blade dynamics, fluid aerodynamics and wind turbine positioning, aero and vibroacoustics, composite material models, fatigue crack models. , and gearbox, generator and electronic cooling.
Hexagon’s customer success stories show how we understand, simplify and monitor the turbine manufacturing process to ensure absolute precision of components and assemblies.
In the wind turbine development phase, in collaboration with Korea Aerospace University, we have lighter blades without compromising texture or durability. We have also helped engineers at CADFEM to develop more efficient wind turbines using fiber reinforced wind turbines. Researchers led by the Korea Energy Research Institute and CEDIC Ltd. have conducted exciting fundamental research using our Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools for building integrated wind turbines (BIWT) in large skyscrapers for on-site power generation and resulting in a reduced carbon Footprint
To minimize wind power costs and maximize efficiency and reliability, we partnered with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to understand gearbox failures, along with state-of-the-art drive designs. To collaborate and improve industrial design. . Processes, such as the use of journal bearings to reduce costs due to their simplicity compared to roller bearings. We have helped ZF Wind Power reduce energy costs by increasing the power density and durability of wind turbine drive shafts by adopting a simulation-led development process to design drive shafts with lower risk of noise in transit.
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Based on experience from 37+ DNV-GL certified wind turbine drive designs, we developed a complete, robust, compact and efficient gearbox design for NFAIC within 6 months, resulting in rapid market share gains. In cooperation with Wafangdian Bearing Group Corporation (ZWZ), we modified the bearing design with the latest CAE method and made a proposal to improve the performance in less than 2 months, which fully meets the OEM requirements.
To read all these stories in more detail and find out how our technology can be used to accelerate the use of wind energy, download our Wind Energy eBook and join our webinar series.
Dr. Xiaobing Hu manages the Hexagon Applied Solutions Group in Hexagon Design and Engineering. He has led teams in the design and development of multi-MW (up to 11MW+) wind turbine drive trains worldwide since 2007 and has helped clients achieve over 37 DNVGL certifications for their new wind turbine designs. As a Gates Scholar, Xiaobing earned a PhD in materials science from the University of Cambridge, with a prior engineering degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing. In September 2016, a gust of wind caused a power outage in the state of South Australia, leaving every home, business and factory without power for hours to days. Researchers later found that it could have been avoided if the state didn’t have so much renewable energy.
Yes, you read that right. Renewable energy from wind and solar makes the electricity grid less reliable. So why is that?
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One reason is the “stop” question. We can control the efficiency of most power plants by changing the rate at which fossil fuels are burned, the reaction rate of a nuclear reactor, or the flow of water through a dam. But we cannot control the sunlight or the wind. If a cloud passes overhead, electricity bounces off the solar panels. If the wind speed decreases, the power from the wind turbine also decreases. This is called a break.
A power grid is balanced when supply (electricity produced by power plants) matches demand (electricity used by consumers). If you tried to power the power grid with only solar panels or wind turbines, intermittent supply and demand would make it impossible to maintain a reliable balance.
However, all of South Australia was innocent on that fateful day. Strong winds at the time actually allowed the wind farm to meet about half of the state’s total electricity needs before the blackout. The South Australian case highlights another problem with wind and solar power: it weakens the “inertia” of the power system, reducing its ability to withstand disruptions. This term needs a little more explanation.
As I explained in my last blog (I recommend reading it if you haven’t already), most power plants generate electricity using large-scale generators that run at 60 revolutions per second or “frequency”. I compared this activity to a cyclist on an exercise bike as seen in the image below.
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If one of these cyclists suddenly connects, the sudden decrease in electricity will force the remaining cyclists to work harder to meet the community’s electricity needs. If it’s too much for other cyclists, their cadence (pedaling speed) will slow down until they stop to avoid injury. This is how blackouts happen. But since the other cyclists have very high rotational speeds, it will take some time (maybe a few seconds) for their frequency to decrease. This is the “inertia” of the power system, which gives the opportunity to avoid blackouts. When the network senses that the frequency is starting to decrease, it may decide to temporarily cut off the electricity supply to Community 1. This reduces electricity demand and allows the remaining riders to provide power to other communities until the loss of power is restored. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s better than a total blackout for everyone.
Unlike the above power plants, wind turbines and solar panels cannot be connected directly to the grid. Modern wind turbines rotate at different speeds depending on the wind speed, and solar panels have no rotating parts. With wind turbines and solar panels, an electrical converter must be used to match the electricity generated with other grid frequencies. This is shown below, where the red and green lines are converted to blue by the power transformer. If a coal plant is like a big bicycle with a lot of inertia, a power converter is like a small exercise bike with essentially no inertia, even though it produces more electricity than a coal plant. It increases the frequency of the network when there is a sudden power outage.
The 2016 wind storm in South Australia damaged several power lines, resulting in massive power outages. In a similar incident before, blackouts were avoided by temporarily shutting down the electricity supply to some consumers. But in 2016, the frequency dropped fast enough to take steps to prevent blackouts before they happened. why? Because by 2016, South Australia had decommissioned all its coal-fired power plants and built a large network of wind farms, significantly reducing the inertia of the state’s electricity grid.
So how should we switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy if it’s going to cause more blackouts? Fortunately, there are several possible solutions.
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A year after the 2016 blackout, Tesla built the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia. Batteries store large amounts of electricity to make the grid more reliable. It has been hailed as a huge success, eliminating network disruptions as well as providing many other benefits. In my next blog, I will explain how energy storage allows us to use more renewable energy without sacrificing reliability. Open Access Policy Open Access Basic Plan
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