Sustainable Electric Power

1
Sustainable Electric Power

• Scott Norr, PE
• EE 1001
• September 23, 2014

2
Electric Power Delivery and Consumption Getting
More Complex

• More Environmental Issues - SUSTAINABILITY
• Greater Population Density
• Larger Variety of Sources, Delivery Methods and
  Loads
• Aging Infrastructure Undergoing Life Extension
• New Technology Blended with Old Grid is Already
  Pretty Smart

3
ELECTRIC DEMAND
Demand growing 1 per year in U.S.
Source Energy Information Administrations
Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (www.eia.gov)
4
DO YOU FEEL LIKE AN ENERGY HOG?

• Would you want everyone in the world to use
  energy at a rate similar to yours?

5
World Energy Consumption
US 5 of population using 20 of world
resources
505 Quad In 2008
Source Energy Information Administrations
Annual Energy Outlook 2012 (www.eia.gov)
6
Electric Generation Changing to Meet Demand

• Large, Centralized Plants (Rarely, now)
• Small, Modular, Distributed Plants
• Also, Siting Renewable Generation where it makes
  Sense (and Profit)

7
Large Plants

• Environmental Issues
• Fossil Fuels
• Location/Siting
• Outlet Transmission

8
HydroElectric No Longer Clean Energy
3 Gorges Dam China 20,000 MegaWatts
Hoover Dam US 2,000 MegaWatts
Eoearth.org
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Large Plants (Cont.)

• Well See New Ideas for Big Plants
• Coal is dirty so Clean Coal!
• Wind and Solar are expensive and intermittent
  Large-scale and Storage
• Geothermal has limited application Low-Temp
• Biomass puts pressure on agriculture Cellulose
• Nuclear is nasty Gen IV Nuclear

10
Clean Coal 2 Growth in all Coal Gen, 345 GW in
2012 (Natural Gas is too cheap!!)

• Coal Gasification (Combined Cycle) - Low
  Emmissions
• Potential for Carbon Sequestration

11
WIND 25 growth, 60 GW in 2012

• Wind Generators currently very popular (Several
  Thousand MWs in Upper Midwest
• More and more Cost Effective
• (4 - 5 Cents/KWH)
• Not a Cure-All - never
• windy when you need it most
• Difficult to Dispatch

Source Town of Hendricks, MN
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Solar Electricity 80 growth, 11 GW in 2012

• Photvoltaics
• Electricity Directly from Sunlight
• Low Conversion efficiency
• Fairly High Cost
• Solar Potential
• US uses 100 Quad of Energy
• each year
• 38,200 Quad of Solar Energy
• hits the lower 48 each year
• BUT ONLY WHEN THE SUN SHINES

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New Solar Ideas

• 3-D PhotoVoltaic Cells
• New Breakthroughs in Nano-Materials greatly
  increase the effective surface area of a Solar
  Cell and its ability to catch reflected light
• Theoretically 50-70 efficient
• Very High Cost
• Solar Concentrators
• Simple Idea used in Space
• Collect More Sunlight for your Existing Cells
• - Combine Solar Electric AND Solar Thermal
• Graphene??

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Houston, We Have a Storage Problem
Renewables are not Dispatchable
Courtesy of Tom Ferguson
If we could Store energy when available for use
when its not.
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Energy Storage TechnologyWere not ready yet
Source Haresh Kamath, EPRI PEAC
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Geothermal 5 Growth, 3 GW in 2010

• Extract Hot Water from the Earth
• Use the Hot Water (low temp) or Flash to Steam
  (high temp)
• 11 GW installed capacity worldwide (2010)
• Capacity growing at 5 worldwide (5yr Avg)
• Excellent Idea for Home Use Ground Source Heat
  Pumps

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Binary-Cycle Plant (Geothermal)
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Nuclear .Is It BACK? 0 growth, 100 GW in 2012

• Updated LWR Designs are being permitted
• March 11, 2011 Earthquake in Japan, leading to
  nuclear reactor meltdown
• Next Generation Nuclear Reactors (Gen IV)
• Modular (example 25 MW Modules), add more
  modules to make a bigger plant
• Fuel Flexible Uranium, Thorium (More abundant
  resource)
• A Promising Design Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor
• Temperature moderated with Helium or Nitrogen
• Fuel encased in pebbles safe, easy to handle

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Pebble-Bed Reactor
Source Black and Veatch
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Levelized Electricity Costs for New Plants,2015
and 2030
Incremental Transmission Costs
Variable Costs, Including Fuel
Fixed Costs
Capital Costs
2015
2030
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DEMAND SIDE

• Conservation Through
• Market Pricing
• Efficient Products

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Market Pricing

• Energy Prices becoming De-Regulated
• New Equipment to Automate Pricing
• Smart Meters
• Smart Appliances

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Smart Meters

• Talks to Electric Company
• Talks to Consumer About Hourly Prices and Hourly
  Consumption
• Tells Appliances what current Price is
• Shops Around for a Better Rate?

Source elster.com and freefoto.com
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Efficient Products

• Smart Appliances run only when energy is
  cheapest, talk to each other and to the Electric
  Utility
• Passive Solar Thermal Designs and Devices
• Energy Efficient Home Designs and Ground-Source
  Heat Pumps

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Sustainability

• More than Conservation
• More than Smart Energy Use
• Being Responsible with ALL resources and
  Preserving Them for the Future
• 7th Generation Concept

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Sustainability at UMD
umdsustain.wp.d.umn.edu
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CONCLUSIONS

• New Social Pressures and New Technologies are
  both changing and complicating the way we convert
  and use energy
• In a World with 7.1 Billion People (9 Billion by
  2030), We MUST become more mindful of How and Why
  We Use Energy.
• (http//www.un.org/esa/population/publications/
  longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf)

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WEB References

• National Renewable Energy Labs
• http//www.nrel.gov/
• Electric Power Research Institute
• http//www.epri.com/
• US Dept. of Energy
• http//www.energy.gov/
• Energy Information Association
• http//www.eia.gov/