Study of stand-alone and grid-connected setups of renewable energy systems for Newfoundland

• Main Author: Meghdadi, Seyedali
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2015
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/8473/; https://research.library.mun.ca/8473/1/thesis.pdf

Decreases in the cost of renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines, increasing demand for renewable energy sources to provide a sustainable future, and worldwide regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have made renewable energy sources (RES) the strongest candidate to substitute for oil/gas power plants. Rich natural resources in Newfoundland and Labrador have established the province as a resource-based powerhouse. Hence, study of renewable energy setups for this region is of prominent importance. Renewable energy systems are chiefly categorized into the small-scale stand-alone and large-scale grid-connected systems. Generally, the term “large-scale renewable energy” refers to any large renewable energy projects (e.g. 100 KW or greater) which can make a significant contribution to energy needs. However, in this thesis it refers to wind farms due to the small amount of annual solar radiation in the Newfoundland region. The term “small-scale or local scale renewable energy” refers to personal and communal renewable energy harnessing systems mainly located in rural areas far from the grid. The largest differences between local scale and large scale systems are installation and maintenance costs, the magnitude of the energy harnessing systems, resilience ability (the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function), and energy storage capabilities. These differences mean that system design and analysis will be different for each category. This thesis aims to model, simulate and analyze the stand-alone and grid-connected setups of renewable energy systems customized for Newfoundland in order to meet current and future electricity needs with environmentally friendly, stable, and competitively priced power. It details potential design improvements as follows: (1) Small-scale renewable energy systems can be combined with conventional generators and energy storage devices in Hybrid Power Systems (HPS) to overcome the intermittency and uncontrollability issues ...