Search

Summary: In support of the use of more efficient and low‐carbon nuclear energy along with solar energy in power generation systems, the present paper presents a technical‐economic analysis of a nuclear renewable hybrid energy system (NR‐HES) case study for a given electricity and residential heat demand profiles of a typical remote community in Canada. The studied hybrid energy system is composed of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), a concentrated solar tower (CST), and a thermal energy storage (TES) unit. A fossil fuel backup energy source is also considered to generate excess electricity as needed. The CST and nuclear reactor both share the same TES system. Five different thermal storage fluids are examined: Therminol, Dowtherm, solar salt, Hitec salt, and Hitec XL salt. A transient thermodynamic mathematical model is developed in order to determine the overall configuration, performance, and operation strategy for the NR‐HES. The operational strategy of the NR‐HES is based on the steady‐state full‐power operation of the SMR, storing the excess energy in the TES system when the combined nuclear and solar power generation exceeds the power demand of the electrical grid and using the stored thermal energy during the periods of peak demand A detailed economic analysis of the NR‐HES is conducted for each operational scenario, including the annualized cost of the TES system and the NR‐HES plant, as well as annual revenue and profit generated by the TES system. The developed model is used to obtain the most economical thermal storage fluid and to optimize the size of TES system in order to minimize the use of fossil fuels and maximize profit. Parametric studies of reactor thermal power and CST's field area are conducted to determine their effect on the performance and configuration of the NR‐HES. Based on the current case study in terms of demand profiles, the results revealed that Therminol is the most economical thermal storage fluid for the present NR‐HES with a charging capacity and round‐trip storage efficiency of 237 268 MWh/year and 96%, respectively. The optimum Therminol storage tank size is evaluated to be 14 m in height and 10 m in diameter with a yearly average power cycle efficiency of ~36% and economic profit of 1 158 30 CAD/year. The parametric studies indicated that a larger TES size may decrease the usage of fossil fuel energy sources; however, it increases system total capital cost and decreases the power cycle efficiency and TES profit at given load. The results of this study indicate that an NR‐HES is a promising low‐carbon power generation system with the potential to meet the electricity and residential heat demand of remote communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Sustainable energy is one of the main options for resolving energy problems and climate change issues. Solar energy is one of the main promising renewable energy sources, which can be captured and converted to electrical energy through photovoltaic (PV) panels. In the open literature, it is shown that having two PV panels integrated into a back‐to‐back configuration placed on naturally reflective surfaces provides the potential of doubling the total power produced by a single‐faced PV panel with the appropriate location and orientation. This paper presents a case study of two‐PV panel systems for offshore power production. The relevance to offshore has the water surface as the reflective surface to produce power from the back facing panel. The city of Ottawa in Canada is selected as the location for a case study. Various conditions and operating parameters are considered in assessing the performance of the proposed system, including solar radiation intensity, system orientation, time of year in terms of months, and the variations in parameters throughout the day. The assessment of the proposed system is carried out through modeling and simulating the proposed double PV panels in the COMSOL Multiphysics software. It is found that the minimum improvement in the total power production over the single face conventional PV is 38% in January for the east‐facing PV front face. For the two PV systems, the optimal overall power production for the various time conditions and orientations, at the specified location, is found to be the north orientation of the PV panel. In this case, the power it produces is 89% of that of the east orientation. A similar trend is observed for the single‐faced PV panel, where the north‐facing PV provides 62% of what it could produce in the east‐facing orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Global warming is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced from the use of fossil fuel–based energy sources. Buildings consume about 30% to 35% of the global energy use, which makes buildings a major contributor to the global warming problem. A long‐term plan has been established at the Thermal Processing Laboratory (TPL) at McMaster University to investigate the use of various renewable energy–based technologies to achieve net‐zero energy buildings (NZEB) in Canada. This paper presents results of an investigation of the effectiveness of using a thermal buffer zone (TBZ) in real‐size buildings. A TBZ is a closed passage built around the building that allows air to passively redistribute heat energy from solar radiation received on the south side throughout the building. A TBZ offers an effective solution of the overheating problem usually experienced on the south side of the building, and at the same time, it helps in reducing the heating load of the north side of the building. An experimental setup employing TBZ in a lab‐scale model of a typical building floor has been built. An analytical model of the TBZ has been developed. The experimental data has been used to validate the developed analytical model, which then was used to predict the performance of the TBZ implemented in a real‐size building floor, considering four cases. Results of the first three case studies considering the use of TBZ in cold and hot climates, with and without thermal insulation, show that the predicted effectiveness of TBZ could reach 117% and 72.5% in the winter and summer, respectively. Results of the fourth case study considering the effect of integrating a fan with the TBZ show that a fan is beneficial up to a certain fan power, beyond which the use of the fan would not be feasible. Results presented herein confirm that the TBZ is an effective means of integrating solar energy into buildings, thereby reducing buildings' fossil fuel–based energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, the number of ammonia-related research conducted in the energy subject area in Canada (1385) depicts that the awareness of the characteristic of ammonia as an energy carrier is not on the desired level. For instance, life cycle assessment studies on ammonia show that ammonia synthesis from SMR emits 1.83 kg CO SB 2 sb /kg NH SB 3 sb , while the ratio can be decreased as low as 0.18 kg CO SB 2 sb /kg NH SB 3 sb with nuclear-based ammonia synthesis.6 Ammonia synthesis of Canada as fertilizer was 4804 metric tons in 2019.7 Canada also adopts the fossil fuel-based SMR method for ammonia synthesis. GLO:KPU/15nov20:er5931-fig-0003.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): 3 Perspective of Canada regarding ammonia-related publications over the last 50 years (data from Reference 8) [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] gl As of August 2020, 956 ammonia-related publications from Canada. The most common ammonia synthesis method is natural gas-based steam methane reforming (SMR), which contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions by 0.93%.5 It is now a great necessity to promote renewable-based ammonia synthesis to achieve a cradle-to-grave nature-friendly energy carrier. [Extracted from the article]

The World's energy consumption has increased drastically over the past several decades, particularly driven by increasing population and economic activities as well as rising living standards with technological advancements. As the world moves towards a low-carbon economy, energy storage systems are exepcted to even play a more critical role in extracting more energy from renewable resources.7 The intermittent characteristic of renewable resources, specifically solar and wind, is one of the major challenges ahead of a reliable and steady renewable energy supply. Since the major proportion of produced and consumed energy is heat around the world, TES systems carries a significant weight regarding the development of effective energy systems. Long distances between energy production and consumption places and daily and seasonal fluctuations of renewable energy sources make energy storage systems really vital to increase the penetration of these free and abundant energy. [Extracted from the article]