Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology
Introduction
Conventional energy sources based on oil, coal, and natural gas have proven to be highly effective drivers of economic progress. However, with the rapid depletion of conventional energy sources and increasing energy demand, worldwide primary energy consumption has grown by 1.8% in 2012 [1]. Due to certain environmental issues, many related organizations have encouraged intensive research for more efficient and green power plants utilizing advanced technology. Since environmental protection concerns are increasing, both clean fuel technologies and new energies are being intensively pursued and investigated. In fact, fossil fuel and renewable energy prices, social and environmental costs are moving in opposite directions and the economic and policy mechanisms needed to support the widespread dissemination of sustainable markets for renewable energy systems are rapidly evolving. It is clear that future growth in the energy sector is primarily in the new regime of renewable. Therefore, shifting to renewable energy can help us meet the dual goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thereby limiting future extreme weather and climate impacts, and ensuring reliable, timely, and cost-efficient delivery of energy. Investing in renewable energy can have significant dividends for our energy security.
Renewable energies are energy sources that are continually replenished by nature and derived directly from the sun (such as thermal, photo-chemical, and photo-electric), indirectly from the sun (such as wind, hydropower, and photosynthetic energy stored in biomass), or from other natural movements and mechanisms of the environment (such as geothermal and tidal energy). Renewable energy does not include energy resources derived from fossil fuels, waste products from fossil sources, or waste products from inorganic sources [2]. Fig. 1 shows an overview of renewable energy sources [3], [4]. Renewable energy technologies turn these natural energy sources into usable forms of energy—electricity, heat and fuels. Fig. 2 illustrates the ability of renewable energy sources to provide over 3000 times the current global energy needs [5].
Renewable energy markets – electricity, heating and transportation – have been growing sharply over the last five years. The deployment of established technologies, such as hydro, as well as newer technologies such as wind and solar photovoltaic, has risen quickly, which has increased confidence in the technologies, reduced costs and opened up new opportunities [6].
Global electricity generation from renewable energy sources is expected to grow 2.7 times between 2010 and 2035, as indicated by Table 1. Consumption of biofuels is projected to more than triple over the same period to reach 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d), up from 1.3 mboe/d in 2010. Almost all biofuels are used in road transport, but the consumption of aviation biofuels will make an inroad towards 2035. The use of modern renewables to produce heat will almost double, from 337 Mtoe in 2010 to 604 Mtoe in 2035. The share of renewables in electricity generation is higher than in heat production or Transportation road, as shown in Fig. 3 [7].
The goal of the paper is to present an overview of the different types of renewable energy resources, their current and future states, their share in different end use applications, and their benefits, growth, investment and deployment. Furthermore, power electronics and smart grid will be discussed as enabling technologies for different renewable energy resources.
Section snippets
Biomass energy
Biomass is the term used for all organic material originating from plants, trees and crops, and is essentially the collection and storage of the sun׳s energy through photosynthesis. Biomass energy (bioenergy) is the conversion of biomass into useful forms of energy such as heat, electricity and liquid fuels (biofuels). Biomass for bioenergy comes either directly from the land, such as from dedicated energy crops, or from residues generated in the processing of crops for food or other products
Renewable energy: Benefits, growth, investment and deployment
Renewable energy can provide a host of benefits to society, as shown in Fig. 20. In addition to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, governments have enacted renewable energy (RE) policies to meet a number of objectives including the creation of local environmental and health benefits; facilitation of energy access, particularly for rural areas; advancement of energy security goals by diversifying the portfolio of energy technologies and resources; and improving social and economic
Power electronics in renewable energy systems
Power electronics technology has gained significant maturity after several decades of dynamic evolution of power semiconductor devices, converters, pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques, electrical machines, motor drives, advanced controls, and simulation techniques. Power electronics deals with the conversion and control of electrical power with the help of power semiconductor devices that operate in switching mode; therefore, the efficiency of power electronic apparatus may approach as high
Smart grid enable renewables
The world׳s electric power systems face different challenges such as ageing infrastructure, continuous demand growth, integration of more renewable energy resources, in addition to, improving the supply security and lowering carbon emissions. Smart grid technologies offer ways not just to meet these challenges but also to develop a cleaner energy supply that is more energy efficient, more affordable and more sustainable. Fig. 32 demonstrates the evolutionary character of smart grid. Smart grid
Conclusion
Due to the shortage of inexhaustible resources, and environmental problems caused by the emissions, traditional power generation based on fossil fuels are generally considered to be unsustainable in the long term. As a result, many efforts are made worldwide for introducing more renewable energies in the energy mix. Renewable energy resources are innovative options for electricity generation and their potential is enormous as they can, in principle, meet the world׳s energy demand many times
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