M.T.O. Amanullah

Simulation and Optimization of Residential Grid-Connected PV System in Queensland, Australia

The use of solar photovoltaic (PV) in residential electricity generation is encouraged by Australian governments incentive. However, what extent of residents benefit from installing a grid-connected PV system is not fully understood yet. The purpose of this study is to investigate and optimize the economic, technical and environmental performance of grid-connected PV system in Queensland, Australia. Using the price of PV devices and accessories, grid electricity tariff and sale-back tariff as economic analysis inputs, and global solar irradiation as solar energy resource data, the system is simulated and optimized by HOMER software. The optimized system not only satisfies the typical residential load of 23 kWh per day but also meet the requirement of minimizing the total costs of system investment and electricity consumption during the system life (20 years). It is found that under the weather conditions of the eleven main cities of Queensland, a PV system is an effective way to reducing electricity bills and mitigating carbon dioxide emission.

Sustainability Indicator of Renewable Energy System Based on Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making Methods

Sustainability measurement of renewable energy system is complex, as is the system itself. The study proposes a general indicator to evaluate sustainability of a renewable energy system. In order to comprehensively assess the environmental, economic and social sustainability, eleven indicators with different dimensions are quantified and aggregated into a general indicator of sustainability (GIS) based on fuzzy decision making methods, such as fuzzy analytic hierarchy processing and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. The developed GIS is able to provide numerical results of sustainability for a renewable energy system. A case of a renewable energy system in Australia are presented to explain the application of the sustainability indicator. In terms of the four different combinations of grid, solar PV and wind renewable energy, the developed GIS is used to assess their sustainability.

Performance evaluation of hybrid earth pipe cooling with horizontal piping system

Earth pipe cooling technology is a building design approach for cooling a room in a passive process without using any customary units. It can reduce energy consumption of the buildings for hot and humid subtropical zones. This chapter investigates the performance of horizontal earth pipe cooling (HEPC) in combination with a green roof system. To measure the performance, a thermal model was developed using Fluent in ANSYS 15.0. Data were collected from three air-conditioning modeled rooms installed at Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. One of the rooms was connected to a HEPC system, the second to a green roof system, and the third standard room had no cooling system. The effect of air temperature, air velocity, and relative humidity of the hybrid earth pipe cooling performance were assessed. A temperature reduction of 4.26°C is predicted for a combined HEPC and green roof system compared to the standard room, which will assist the inhabitants to achieve thermal comfort and save energy in the buildings.

Economy of smart grid

Smart grid is generally characterized by high installation cost and low operating costs. Thus, the basic economic analysis is the one comparing an initial known investment with estimated future operating costs. Most smart gird requires an auxiliary energy source so that the system includes both renewable and conventional equipment, and the annual loads are met by a combination of the sources. In essence, renewable-based smart grid is bought today to reduce tomorrow’s electricity bill. The costs of smart grid include all items of hardware and labor that are involved in installing the equipment plus the operating costs. Factors which may need to be taken into account include capital cost, replacement cost, and operating and maintenance (O&M) costs, insurance, fuel, and other operating expenses. The objective of the economic analysis can be viewed as the determination of the least cost method of meeting the energy need, considering both renewable and non-renewable alternative. In this chapter, several ways of doing economic evaluation, with emphasis on the life cycle savings method are noted. This method takes into account the value of money and allows detailed consideration of the complete range of costs. In this chapter, the costs of smart grid, economic indicators of smart grid, design variables of smart grid, and a case study in Central Queensland are presented.