Electricity Production from Renewable Energies

Energy and environmental issues have caused a marked increase in electricity production from renewable energy sources since the beginning of the 21st Century. The concept of sustainable development and concern for future generations challenge us every day to produce new technologies for energy production, and new patterns of use for these energies. Their rapid emergence can make the understanding and therefore the perception of these new technologies difficult. This book aims to contribute to a better understanding of the new electricity generation technologies by addressing a diverse audience. It presents the issues, sources and means of conversion into electricity using a general approach and develops scientific concepts to understand their main technical characteristics. Systems of electricity generation from renewable energy resources of small to medium powers are presented. The basic electrical concepts necessary for understanding the operating characteristics of these energy converters are introduced, and the constraints and problems of integration in the electrical networks of those means of production are discussed. Several exercises are provided to the reader for evaluation purposes. Contents 1. Decentralized Electricity Production from Renewable Energy, Beno t Robyns. 2. Solar Photovoltaic Power, Arnaud Davigny. 3. Wind Power, Bruno Francois and Beno t Robyns. 4. Terrestrial and Marine Hydroelectricity: Waves and Tides, Beno t Robyns and Antoine Henneton. 5. Thermal Power Generation, Jonathan Sprooten. 6. Integration of the Decentralized Production into the Electrical Network, Beno t Robyns.

Energy and environmental issues have caused a marked increase inelectricity production from renewable energy sources since thebeginning of the 21st Century. The concept of sustainabledevelopment and concern for future generations challenge us everyday to produce new technologies for energy production, and newpatterns of use for these energies. Their rapid emergence can makethe understanding and therefore the perception of these newtechnologies difficult. This book aims to contribute to a betterunderstanding of the new electricity generation technologies byaddressing a diverse audience. It presents the issues, sources andmeans of conversion into electricity using a general approach anddevelops scientific concepts to understand their main technicalcharacteristics.Systems of electricity generation from renewable energy resourcesof small to medium powers are presented. The basic electricalconcepts necessary for understanding the operating characteristicsof these energy converters are introduced, and the constraints andproblems of integration in the electrical networks of those meansof production are discussed. Several exercises are provided to thereader for evaluation purposes.Contents1. Decentralized Electricity Production from Renewable EnergyBenoît Robyns.2. Solar Photovoltaic Power, Arnaud Davigny.3. Wind Power, Bruno Francois and Benoît Robyns.4. Terrestrial and Marine Hydroelectricity: Waves and TidesBenoît Robyns and Antoine Henneton.5. Thermal Power Generation, Jonathan Sprooten.6. Integration of the Decentralized Production into the ElectricalNetwork, Benoît Robyns.

Foreword xiIntroduction xiiiChapter 1. Decentralized Electricity Production fromRenewable Energy 1Benoît ROBYNS1.1. Decentralized production 11.2. The issue of renewable energies 21.3. Renewable energy sources 91.4. Production of electricity from renewable energies 141.5. Bibliography 17Chapter 2. Solar Photovoltaic Power 19Arnaud DAVIGNY2.1. Introduction 192.2. Characteristics of the primary resource 212.3. Photovoltaic conversion 252.4. Maximum electric power extraction 492.5. Power converters 532.6. Adjustment of the active and reactive power 642.7. Solar power stations 652.8. Exercises 672.9. Bibliography 72Chapter 3. Wind Power 75Bruno FRANCOIS and Benoît ROBYNS3.1. Characteristic of the primary resource 753.2. Kinetic wind energy 823.3. Wind turbines 833.4. Power limitation by varying the power coefficient 953.5. Mechanical couplings between the turbine and the electricgenerator 993.6. Generalities on induction and mechanical electricconversion 1013.7. "Fixed speed" wind turbines based on inductionmachines 1033.8. Variable speed wind turbine 1123.9. Wind turbine farms 1353.10. Exercises 1373.11. Bibliography 146Chapter 4. Terrestrial and Marine Hydroelectricity: Waves andTides 149Benoît ROBYNS and Antoine HENNETON4.1. Run-of-the-river hydraulics 1494.2. Hydraulic power of the sea 1724.3. Bibliography 227Chapter 5. Thermal Power Generation 233Jonathan SPROOTEN5.1. Introduction 2335.2. Geothermal power 2335.3. Thermodynamic solar power generation 2525.4. Cogeneration by biomass 2645.5. Bibliography 268Chapter 6. Integration of the Decentralized Production intothe Electrical Network 271Benoît ROBYNS6.1. From a centralized network to a decentralized network2716.2. Connection voltage 2796.3. Connection constraints 2796.4. Limitations of the penetration level 2876.5. Perspectives for better integration into the networks2906.6. Bibliography 300List of Authors 305Index 307