Renewable Energy Clusters

Taking eleven countries in Europe, Canada, South Africa, America, Latin America and Australia, this book discusses recurring barriers to cluster development in the renewable energy sector. The authors look at the real-world dynamics and tensions between stakeholders on the ground, with a particular focus on the relationships between SMEs and other actors. This trans-regional study is unique in its scale and scope, drawing on a decade of field research to show how by learning from the successes and failures of other clusters, costs and risk can be reduced. The book fills a significant gap in the literature for policymakers, managers and economic developers in a key market.

This book analyses the potential for active stakeholder engagement in the energy transition in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) in order to foster clean energy deployment. Public acceptability and bottom-up activities can be critical for enduring outcomes to an energy transition. As a result, it is vital to understand how to unlock the potential for public, community and prosumer participation to facilitate renewable energy deployment and a clean energy transition – and, consequently, to examine the factors influencing social acceptability. Focussing on the diverse BSR, this book draws on expert contributions to consider a range of different topics, including the challenges of social acceptance and its policy implications; strategies to address challenges of acceptability among stakeholders; and community engagement in clean energy production. Overall, the authors examine the practical implications of current policy measures and provide recommendations on how lessons learnt from this ‘energy lab region’ may be applied to other regions. Reflecting an interdisciplinary approach in the social sciences, this book is an essential resource for scholars, students and policymakers researching and working in the areas of renewable energy, energy policy and citizen engagement, and interested in understanding the potential for bottom-up, grassroots activities and social acceptability to expedite the energy transition and reanimate democracies. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Advances in Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development focuses on cutting-edge research areas including renewable energy and sustainable development. As a leader in the global megatrend of science and technology innovation, China has been creating an increasingly open environment for science and technology innovation, increasing the depth and breadth of academic cooperation, and building an innovation community that benefits all people. These efforts make a new contribution to globalization and the building of a community for a shared future. The proceedings feature the most cutting-edge research directions and achievements related to Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development. Subjects in the proceedings include: Hydraulic Engineering Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering Energy Engineering and Energy Technologies Green Manufacturing Energy Policy and Economics Energy Security and Clean Use Geothermal Energy

Introduction to AI techniques for Renewable Energy System Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques play an essential role in modeling, analysis, and prediction of the performance and control of renewable energy. The algorithms used to model, control, or predict performances of the energy systems are complicated, involving differential equations, enormous computing power, and time requirements. Instead of complex rules and mathematical routines, AI techniques can learn critical information patterns within a multidimensional information domain. Design, control, and operation of renewable energy systems require a long-term series of meteorological data such as solar radiation, temperature, or wind data. Such long-term measurements are often non-existent for most of the interest locations or, wherever they are available, they suffer from several shortcomings, like inferior quality of data, and in-sufficient long series. The book focuses on AI techniques to overcome these problems. It summarizes commonly used AI methodologies in renewal energy, with a particular emphasis on neural networks, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms. It outlines selected AI applications for renewable energy. In particular, it discusses methods using the AI approach for prediction and modeling of solar radiation, seizing, performances, and controls of the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Features Focuses on a significant area of concern to develop a foundation for the implementation of renewable energy system with intelligent techniques Showcases how researchers working on renewable energy systems can correlate their work with intelligent and machine learning approaches Highlights international standards for intelligent renewable energy systems design, reliability, and maintenance Provides insights on solar cell, biofuels, wind, and other renewable energy systems design and characterization, including the equipment for smart energy systems This book, which includes real-life examples, is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students and academicians studying AI techniques used in renewal energy systems.

This thesis investigates the connection between environmental regulation, technological innovation, and export competitiveness in renewable energy equipment based on a large sample of 225 developed and developing countries from 1990 to 2012. The empirical analysis yields strong supporting evidence for the narrowly strong Porter Hypothesis as well as for the lead market theory. The results suggest that environmental regulation drives innovation and export volumes in solar- and wind-power-related goods. This is particularly the case for well-crafted (i.e. market-based, output-oriented, and clear) instruments such as carbon trading regimes. Moreover, the data show that early adopters of renewable energy support policies benefit most.

This book addresses the main challenges faced today in implementing the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) concept. The book starts with a chapter that addresses problems related to the energy demand and renewable energy sources available in the built environment, along with the restrictions and opportunities in developing sustainable, efficient and affordable solutions, also gaining aesthetic and architectural acceptance. Advanced solutions to cover the energy needs by using various renewable-based energy mixes are presented in two chapters. These two chapters discuss the problem of conversion efficiency at the level of components and systems, aiming at giving value to the variable renewable energy sources, in producing thermal and electric energy. The concept is discussed further in a chapter on advanced solutions for water re-use and recycling wastes as second raw materials. The need for new strategies and implementation tools, for education and training is addressed in the final chapter as part of the nZEB concept, towards sustainable communities. The sub-chapters of the book were openly presented during the 4th Edition of the Conference for Sustainable Energy, held 6-8 November, 2014 and organized by the R&D Centre Renewable Energy Systems and Recycling at the Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania. This event was developed under the patronage of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM), through the Technical Committee Sustainable Energy Systems.

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) has been at the epicenter of global energy markets because of its substantial endowment of hydrocarbons. Yet countries in the region have also stated their intent to be global leaders in renewable energy. This collection explores the drivers for the widespread adoption of renewable energy around the GCC, the need for renewable energy and the policy-economic factors that can create success. All six countries within the GCC have plans to include renewable energy power generation in their energy mix for various reasons including: a growing demand for electricity because of increasing populations, an increasing government fiscal deficit due to inefficient subsidies, the need to diversify the economy and global pressure to meet climate change requirements. However, the decision of when and by how much to introduce renewable energy is fraught with complications. In this book, a stellar cast of regional policy and academic experts explore the reasons behind these renewable energy plans and the potential impediments to success, whether it be the declining cost of producing energy from hydrocarbons, an infrastructure which needs to be updated, social acceptance, lack of financing and even harsh weather. Weighing up all these factors, the book considers the route forward for renewable energy in the Gulf region. The Economics of Renewable Energy in the Gulf offers an excellent examination of the adoption of renewable energy in the area. It will be of great interest to academic researchers and policy makers alike, particularly those working in the areas of energy economics, public policy and international relations.

This book provides an introduction to forecasting methods for renewable energy sources integrated with existing grid. It consists of two sections; the first one is on the generation side forecasting methods, while the second section deals with the different ways of load forecasting. It broadly includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, hybrid techniques and other state-of-the-art techniques for renewable energy and load predictions. The book reflects the state of the art in distributed generation system and future microgrids and covers theory, algorithms, simulations and case studies. It offers invaluable insights through this valuable resource to students and researchers working in the fields of renewable energy, integration of renewable energy with existing grid and electrical distribution network.