Hybrid Technology: Save Power Generation Cost

Donauer Al Badi Gulf is a joint venture between Germany’s Donauer and NAS International. Their latest technology is based on a hubrid solution for power generation. A state of art solution including solar based panels is developed for commercial use in Middle Eastern countries.

Due to shortage of electricity during summers, the dependency on diesel generators increases. The latest technology is a combination of disel generators and solar designs to produce electricity from the combination of the two processes. This way a saving of 30-40% generation cost will be seen. The solar process which is cheaper to produce electricity will produce electricity first. An artificial intelligence sensor will detect the deficit and automatically that demand will be fulfilled by the diesel generator.

Remote areas which are not connected to the power grid and which rely on diesel generators can also be benefitted from this technology. Also, such projects, if developed on a larger scale can produce employment for many in the villages. Compared to almost 5 years taken by diesel generator setup, solar projects can be completed in less than a year. Such innovative ideas help save the natural fuel of the nature which are presently used to generate electricity.

Development in Wave Energy Technology

The marine energy industry has been in a state of technological developments recently. Innovations to improve the existing technology we already have are growing by giant strides. The efforts of many companies are being rewarded by various Government organizations which provide financial aid to boost research so that the industry keeps developing forward.

The most recent announcement was made by the Scottish Government which said that a funding of 7.9 million pounds would be given to boost the developments of five marine energy developers. The marine energy market is developing rapidly and keeping that in mind The WATERS program (Water & Tidal Research Development and Demonstration Support) has been released. The Scottish energy market has a potential to benefit their economy by an amount of 4 billion pounds with wave technology. 

Here are some new technologies developed by big brand names in the field of marine energy development.

Albatern: WaveNET technology

Based on the technology of modules and associated nodes, this project has been granted 617,000 pounds under the WATERS2 scheme. With adevelopment and testing phase in the period of late 2012 to late 2013, this project is capable of becoming a 10MW energy proposition.

AWS Ocean Energy: AWS-III Wave Energy Converter (WEC)

Awarded with a grant of 3.9 million pounds, this project has a rated power output of 2.5MW. A full prototype plan is planned in 2014. The technology involved is a multi cell array of flexible membranes.

Nautricity:CoRMaT technology

Aimed to reduce the complexity of operations, the CoRMaT can deliver the tidal power without needing big and heavy supporting structures.

Oceanflow Energy: Oceanflow’s ‘Evopod’ tidal technology

The company’s strategy is to build an operating experience with its 35 kW mono turbine and 70 kW twin turbine Evopod units. The technology involves a semi submerged floating body that is tethered to the seabed by a multi-line spread mooring system.

Scotrenewables Tidal Power: SRTT

This technology features two contra rotating rotors that excite that extract the kinetic energy of the tidal flow, which is converted to electricity though a power take-off system.Company’s WATERS project will involve the design, construction and installation at EMEC of a commercial demonstrator SRTT rated up to 2 MW.

Future Growth

The UK has become a world leader in development of marine energy projects. The UK will be home to the first multi MW commercial array project. Tidal energy has been given due acknowledgment and is considered as a significant contributor the energy demand.Tidal power plays an important role in reducing the dependability on other sources like imported fuels.

Understanding Permanent Magnet Alternator

The output voltage of a permanent magnet alternator depends on the shaft rpm and the load. The higher the rpm, the higher is the voltage. The higher the load for a given rpm, the lower is the voltage.

Current & RPM when connected to load

The current (“amperage”) of a dc generator at any rpm is not governed by its rpm but only by the load put on it. This means that if you run a generator with no load, the current stays at zero no matter how high the rpm is. Only the Generator terminal voltage goes up, but no matter how high the voltage is, if there is no load, there is no current flow.

Frequency

Frequency is related to the rpm and the number of poles the generator has. The more the number of poles, the higher is the frequency at a given rpm.