CE 575 Renewable Energy and the Grid

3 Credit Hours

Renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar power make up a growing share of the generation mix. Students develop skills in renewable resource assessment, technical design of renewable energy systems, economic assessment of these technologies, and evaluation of relevant policies. We explore fundamentals and practical aspects of commonly used renewable energy models and extensive energy and resource data sets.

Prerequisite

Graduate standing in engineering program.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Characterize wind resources using wind shear, wind power density, turbulence, speed frequency distribution, and wind rose development.
2. Calculate wind generation using wind resource data, wind turbine design attributes, and power curves.
3. Perform solar resource calculations using solar angles and shading assessments.
4. Calculate solar generation using solar resource data and solar project design (e.g., tilt, tracking, inverter loading ratio)
5. Calculate hydropower generation based on resource characteristics and project design.
6. Describe and evaluate public policies that influence renewable energy deployment
7. Calculate and interpret the levelized cost and levelized avoided cost of generation.
8. Critically evaluate the concerns from stakeholders pertaining to renewable project development
9. Calculate Weibull parameters using wind speed data.
10. Develop a renewable energy teaching case with explicit consideration of learning outcomes and instructional objectives.

Course Requirements

Problem sets and case assignments	30%
Exams	35%
Presentation	10%
Written project	25%

Course Outline

Module 1: Wind power: topics include wind resource assessment, estimating generation, wind turbine and windfarm design, calculating cost of generation, and understanding stakeholder issues
Module 2: Solar power: topics include solar resource calculations, estimating generation, utility-scale and distributed generation project design, calculating the cost of generation, and understanding stakeholder issues
Module 3: Other renewable or low emissions technologies: topics include geothermal, hydropower, biopower, nuclear energy, and carbon capture and storage
Module 4: Grid operations, planning, policies, and markets: topics will include long-term infrastructure planning, generation capacity treatment, power system operations, energy storage technologies, renewable energy mandates, incentives, and subsidies

Textbook

Course materials are provided.

Created: 10/29/2024