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Integrating Wind and Solar Electric Energy into Power System Teaching

Kala Meah*, Steven Fletcher, Sadrul Ula, and Steven Barrett

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Dept. 3295, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY-82071

Abstract

The global community as well as the USA is encouraging renewable electric energy production to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. The main renewable resources for electricity generation are conventional hydro, biomass, geothermal, wind, and solar systems. Wind and solar power are two available renewable resources worldwide and many power plants based on photovoltaic and wind turbine technology have already been connected to the grid. More photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbine (WT) facilities are coming on-line every year. Incorporating wind and solar electrical energy into power system teaching will enhance the student’s learning about renewable resources. This paper describes the modeling and the simulation of grid-connected PV and WT systems. The PowerWorld simulator and MATLAB/SIMULINK (registered trademark of the MathWorks Inc.) are used to conduct simulation, respectively. The PowerWorld simulator is mainly used for load flow analysis, and SIMULINK® is able to model, simulate, and analyze the dynamic and the non-linear systems. Two different scenarios are simulated in this paper: 1) PV with grid connection, 2) WT with grid connection. For the first scenario, grid-connected experimental PV analysis is compared using the PowerWorld simulation, and for the second scenario, the steady state and transient (transmission line faults) behaviors of WT are simulated and effects are analyzed using MATLAB/SIMULINK. This paper also presents a financial evaluation for the grid-connected PV and WT systems. This integrated simulation and economic study will help to enrich power system teaching, and the student will have a better understanding of the distributed power generation.

Introduction

Each kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated from renewable resources saves the environment from the burning of fossil fuels. The coal-fired and the natural-gas-fired power plants produce 2.11 lbs and 1.17 lbs carbon dioxide, respectively, to generate 1 kWh electricity1. Electricity generation from the renewable resources is completely pollution free, but many renewable power generation processes cost more than the fossil fuels processes except conventional hydro power. All possible hydro resources have already been developed and electricity generation from the conventional hydro is decreasing every year in the USA; for example, net generation from the hydroelectric conventional in 1995 and in 2004 were 310,833 and 268,417 thousand megawatt-hours, respectively, a decrease of 15.8%2. On the other hand, wind and solar are abundant renewable resources, and could be used to generate electricity to meet the future demand. Figure 1 shows the net electricity generation from wind and solar sources during 2000-2004. It can be seen from Figure 1 that between 2000 and 2004, net electricity generation from wind and solar increased by 153% and 17.36%, respectively3,4. The USA has an estimated wind electric energy potential of 10,777 billion kWh annually, but the total installed wind energy generating capacity is only 11,078 MW as of

* Corresponding author: Phone: 1-307-766-2702; fax: 1-307-766-2248; e-mail: kmsujon@uwyo.edu

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Meah, K., & Fletcher, S., & Ula, S., & Barrett, S. (2007, June), Integrating Wind And Solar Electric Energy Into Power System Teaching Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1466