3 2014 Student Symposium On Renewable Energy

8-9 October 2014
2014 - 1st Student Symposium
Analysis of Renewable Energy

Sources at Remote Locations
Book of Papers and Abstracts
2014 STUDENT SYMPOSIUM ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

SOURCES AT REMOTE LOCATIONS
Swinburne University of Technology
8 9 October 2014, Melbourne, Australia
Editors
Reiza Mukhlis
M. Akbar Rhamdhani
Assessor Committee
M. Akbar Rhamdhani
Reiza Mukhlis
Hossein Sadafi
Parisa Amiribavandpour
Published in Australia by:

School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
ISBN 978-0-9875930-4-7
2014 Swinburne University of Technology
Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright
Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of the publisher.
Responsibility for the contents of the articles rests upon the authors and not the publisher. Data presented and
conclusions drawn by the authors are for information only and not for use without independent substantiating
investigations on the part of the potential user.
2014 Student Symposium Analysis of Renewable Energy Sources at Remote Locations

Table of Contents
LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTORS FOR SMALL SCALE DOMESTIC PURPOSES:
FEASIBILITY STUDY.............................................................................................................................................. 1
Thong Nguyen, Loretta Binder, Christopher Coach, Jia Jun Qin
ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TO SUPPLY REMOTE CITIES ..................................................... 12
Matthew Allard, Silvio Matas, James Merry, Walter Rozario
ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN KENYA AND AUSTRALIA .................................. 18
Christopher Balino, William Day, Nathan Kutka, Nelly Nganga
AN INVESTIGATION INTO SMALL SCALE RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES IN
REMOTE LOCATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 23
Lachlan Blake, Chao Ming Ma, Luke Sullivan
ANALYSIS OF CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY (CPV) APPLICATION IN
AUSTRALIA AND PAKISTAN ............................................................................................................................ 29
Monica Eguia , Louis Johnson, Alyanna Tenorio
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPLEMENTATION IN LAJAMU & CHAMAREL ...................... 35
Jean Christophe Etiennette, Hossein Mahdavi, Andrew Dix
PRODUCER GAS, A SOURCE OF RURAL DOMESTIC ENERGY ................................................................... 45
Wallace Ho, Thomas Joset UnterHolzner, Tim Simmons
ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF WIND ENERGY IN KUALA BESUT, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA
AND FLINDERS ISLAND, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA ...................................................................................... 51
R.J. Khoo, Andrew Kentish, W.H. Wong, Jordan Marshall
THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF BIOMASS ELECTRICITY IN RURAL AREA ....................................... 57
Ryan Martin, Junaid Salie, Luke Smith, Ash Williams
STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY APPLICATION IN AUSTRALIA AND MALAYSIA ......................... 61
Sabastian Aurisano, Callan Morey, Cameron Nicoll, Nigel Geikie
SUSTAINBLE ENERGIES IN BARROW ISLAND AND PLEIN BOIS .............................................................. 66
Tung Vinh Huynh, Simon Denier, Kei Ien, Jean Thomas Li Kwet Li Mow Chee
FEASIBILITY OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR REMOTE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS
IN BANGLADESH AND AUSTRALIA................................................................................................................. 75
Tanvir Khan, Thomas Baer, Cameron Kartaschew, Nitika Vaishnav
SOLAR ENERGY PRODUCTION IN REMOTE AREAS .................................................................................... 91
Ben Martin, Adam Gazzola, Alex Rutherford
ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF THE APPLICATION OF SOLAR POWER IN REMOTE TOWNS;

WALWA, AUSTRALIA AND TAKTSER, CHINA .............................................................................................. 96
Alex Nankervis, Katherine York, Peter Day, Robert Tomori
REVIEW OF CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION LITERATURE ........ 102
Anthony Santoro, Robert Logan
FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A DOMESTIC SCALE CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL
ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION SYSTEM WITH BATTERY STORAGE ........................................................ 111
COMPILATION OF ABSTRACTS ..................................................................................................................... 119
ii
LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTORS FOR SMALL SCALE DOMESTIC PURPOSES:

FEASIBILITY STUDY
Thong Nguyen, Loretta Binder, Christopher Coach, Jia Jun Qin
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Keywords: Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, Molten Salt Reactor, Thorium
enabling much higher thermodynamic efficiencies, over 40% [38]. This design also allows for many inherent safety advantages
over conventional nuclear reactors, the most common of which
are pressurized water reactors (PWR) and boiling water reactors
(BWR).
Abstract
With the rise in global demand of energy, it is becoming essential
to find a more sustainable alternative over conventional
production methods. This paper investigated the feasibility of
implementing a sustainable energy source to provide power for
two locations with a population of approximately 100 people;
these locations are Sandstone, Western Australia and Wabaching,
India. The selected energy source for this study is a molten salt
reactor design known as a liquid fluoride thorium reactor; a form
of nuclear energy. This energy source was shown to have many
advantages for its use but faced several difficulties in its
implementation. The feasibility of the energy source was further
analyzed to include geographical aspects, economic factors,
availabilities of resources, environmental impacts, social factors
and government policies or regulations associated with nuclear
energy.
Introduction
The salt composition varies slightly between each reactor design

but is approximately 71.7 LiF, 16.0 BeF2, 12.0 ThF4, and 0.3
U233F4 mol% [8]. Fluoride salts have a melting point between
360 to 459C and boiling point of approximately 1400 C [7, 8].
These properties are exceptionally advantageous over the use of
water as a coolant. The higher melting point allows for higher
operating temperatures and can improve efficiency, for example
all molten salt reactor designs incorporate a Brayton cycle, over a
Rankine cycle to produce electricity [7, 8]. Furthermore, the very
high boiling point of the mixture could also allow for an even
higher operating temperature which could be used to desalinate
water or even to produce hydrogen [4, 5, 7, 8].
This study mainly focuses energy required to maintain a specified

temperature for the homes at two chosen settlements. The two
settlements are Sandstone in Western Australia and Wabaching in
India. Both countries have great amount of thorium resources
available [1, 2]. Coupled with recent increase in the interest of
molten salt reactor technology for Generation IV nuclear reactors,
the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) was selected to be the
power source. The primary benefits of utilizing a LFTR as a
power source are safe, clean energy production, at a much lower
price when compared with many other power generation sources
and reliable as a base load power plant[22]. With LFTR, a handful
of thorium can supply an individuals lifetime energy needs; a
grain silo full could power North America for a year; and known
thorium reserves could power advanced society for many
thousands of years [23].
The fuel salt (ThF4-U233F4) is pumped through the reactor core,

where nuclear fission occurs, and produces heat. This heated salt
is pumped into a primary heat exchanger along with a heat
transfer salt mixture (LiF-BeF2). This heat transfer salt is pumped
into a secondary heat exchanger where a working fluid is heated
to a turbine inlet temperature. This working fluid varies in each
design, and is typically helium, nitrogen or supercritical carbon
dioxide. This working fluid is used as part of a Brayton (closed
cycle gas turbine) cycle and is under high pressure to produce
electricity. The expected thermal efficiency is expected to be over
40% and varies slightly between each individual design [3-8].
Advantages
Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that is three
to five times more abundant than uranium, which is used in
conventional nuclear power plants [1, 2]. Nearly 100% of thorium
found naturally is in the form of Thorium-232, which is the same
isotope that would be used in a LFTR [1, 2]. There is an estimated
6.3 million tonnes of thorium worldwide and is primarily acquired
as a by-product in the extraction of rare earth metals [1, 2]. This
abundance of thorium is a major advantage over uranium as a fuel
source for nuclear power.
The feasibility of the LFTR will be further analyzed to include

geographical aspects, economic factors, availabilities of resources,
environmental impacts, social factors and government policies or
regulations associated with nuclear energy.
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
LFTRs are a type of nuclear fission reactor that uses a molten,
fluoride-based salt mixture as both its fuel and coolant. This is in
stark contrast with conventional nuclear reactors which utilize a
solid fuel format. LFTRs have many advantages over
conventional nuclear reactors such as its safety features,
efficiency and economic benefits.
A major safety feature of LFTRs is that they are designed to be

operated at atmospheric pressure and high temperatures, and can
only operate when the fuel is in its molten state. This means that
core melt accidents, commonly known as meltdowns, cannot
occur [6-8].
The LFTR design is based on the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment

which operated between 1965 and 1969 at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, United States of America [3]. LFTRs operate at
atmospheric pressure and can achieve high operating temperatures
Further safety features of the LFTR are that of the fuel itself. The
first is that the molten salt mixture is solid at room temperature. If
the reactor vessel, piping or pump were to rupture and leak, the
fuel will spill out and solidify, and fission reactions will stop. The
1
LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTORS FOR SMALL SCALE DOMESTIC PURPOSES: FEASIBILITY STUDY
second feature is its high negative temperature coefficient of

reactivity [4-7]. This means that as the temperature increases
above the intended operating temperature, there will be fewer
nuclear fission reactions, due to the expansion of the salt, leading
to a drop in both power and temperature [5].
is the largest concern for the development of a LFTR in

Sandstone.
Description of Wabaching
Wabaching is a village in the state of Manipur in India. It is
located 38 km away from its state capital, Imphal. The village has
a population of 108 and 28 households [11]. Wabaching is 16.7
km away from Manipurs municipal council, Thoubal. Due to lack
of development, Wabaching does not appear to have any public
infrastructure such as roads, a major issue as LFTRs would need
to be constructed and fuelled.
An additional safety feature of many LFTR designs includes a

freeze plug, typically below the reactor core. This plug is a small
amount of the fuel salt mixture that is actively cooled below its
freezing point by an electric fan [5]. Should the entire facility lose
all power, the fan will stop cooling the freeze plug and causes it to
melt. Alternatively, if the temperature of the fuel rises above a
critical point it will also cause the freeze plug to melt. The
elimination of this freeze plug causes the fuel to immediately
evacuate from the core, into a separate drain tank or catch basin,
to safely solidify [5]. The solidified salt can then be melted again
and poured back into the main reactor vessel, when the facility
regains power. This is an intrinsic property of the molten salt fuel;
an inherent safety feature of the LFTR design.
The gross national income for India was only $1,803.22 per capita
in 2013 [14]. This is a major problem as a LFTR would be
expensive. However, India is currently investigating the use of
molten salt reactor technology as part of the third stage of their
nuclear power programme [18, 19]. India had begun its
construction of 300 MW Advanced Heavy Water Reactor
(AHWR) which uses solid thorium oxide as fuel in 2012 [16, 17].
This shows Indias commitment to utilizing nuclear technologies
to provide energy to its people and governmental funding may
allow for the construction of a LFTR. India also has great amounts
of thorium resources, approximately 846,000 tonnes [1, 2]. The
abundance of thorium could further attract Indias attention
towards building a LFTR particularly for larger scale use.
Description of Sandstone
Sandstone is a small town located in the Mid-West region of
Western Australia with a population of 105 and 44 households
[9]. The town is 734 km away from its state capital, Perth.
Sandstone has its own airport which allows for air freight
transport and road transportation can also be considered for the
transport of materials and fuel for a LFTR. Australia has 595,000
tonnes of identified thorium resources [1, 2]. A large proportion of
these thorium resources were found in Western Australia, this
could significantly reduce the costs of transportation as it would
not need to be imported from overseas.
Indias electric power consumption for India was 684 kWh per
capita [10]. A LFTR with a capacity of 200 kW would produce
much more electricity than Wabaching can use the excess of
which may be fed back into the energy grid.
The annual electric power consumption for Australia was 10,712

kWh per capita [10]. A LFTR with a capacity of 200 kW would
be able to provide the necessary amount of base load power for
Sandstone.
Figure 2. Identified thorium deposits in India, with Wabaching

marked in red [20].
Figure 1. Distribution of thorium resources, with Sandstone
marked in green [21].
Calculations
The median weekly income for family in Sandstone is $2,449 or

an annual income of $97,960 assuming a 40-week working cycle
per year [9]. Sustainable energy developments will be more than
likely to get support (manpower, research funding) from the local
council due to their commitment to achieve their sustainability
strategy [15]. However, the government is opposed nuclear
energy, although it is considered a sustainable energy source, and
The aim of this project is to maintain the temperature inside the

house at 23C. Through the entire year, each household in
Sandstone requires 4187.96 kWh to maintain at 23C utilizing
single glazed windows (double-door type wood-framed), while
Wabaching consumes 4957.85 kWh. Results were obtained from
equation 1 below:
(
)
(1)
It is assumed that heat loss only occurs through single-glazed

windows with a total area of 15m2 ( ). It is also assumed that this
is a one dimensional steady heat transfer operation with constant
thermal properties. Hereby,
is assigned to be 23C and
is
average monthly temperature of each chosen settlement. U factor
is a measure of thermal resistance and its value was 5.57 from
[12].
The initial capital, the ongoing maintenance costs and the fuelling
costs must be considered.
The initial capital required to fund the construction of a liquid
fluoride thorium reactor comes in at a cost of approximately $747
million for a 1 GW reactor, but as this exceeds the requirements
for both small towns, a much smaller unit has been adopted. The
cost of the reactor has been linearly extrapolated from the cost of
the 1GW reactor and gives a cost of $137,931 for a generation
capacity of 200 kW. This initial outlay is low for the output
specified when a LFTR is suitable to be a base load power station.
As opposed to conventional nuclear power, the fuel mixture in a
LFTR neither needs to be heavily enriched nor does it need to be
fabricated into fuel rods, resulting in significant cost reduction
[26]. A LFTR uses over 99% of the fissile material contained
within the fuel load. The reactor can also be tuned to consume
nuclear waste as a start-up fuel, allowing for the elimination of
current nuclear waste to be stored for large periods of time.
The cost of electricity is to be assumed at $0.095/ kWh. This leads

to an average total cost of $397.86 for each household in
Sandstone and $470.99 in Wabaching each year.
The single-glazed windows can be replaced with vinyl-framed
double pane windows with an air space of 6.4 mm. The U factor
drops from 5.57 to 3.2 as the sheath material being swapped [12].
This would result in an annual electricity consumption of 2406
kWh in Sandstone and 2848.32 kWh in Wabaching. The
electricity consumption differences between single-glazed
windows and vinyl-framed double pane windows were 1781.951
kWh for Sandstone and 2109.537 kWh for Wabaching. This will
be reflected on saving for each household by $169.29 and $200.41
for Sandstone and Wabaching respectively.
The fuelling costs must be considered when considering any form

of power generation. The fuelling costs for a thorium fuelled
power plant are relatively low when compared with many other
reactor types and are even low when paired against many of the
fossil fuel alternatives. Due to its abundance, thorium is a low cost
material. This coupled with its large energy density makes it a
perfect fuel for use in nuclear reactors. The fuelling cost for a 1
GW LFTR requires 1 tonne of thorium for fuel costs
approximately $344,828 per year, which is extremely low when
compared to a LWR of similar capacity using $50 to 60 million
per year in fuel [24]. Through the use of linear extrapolation, the
cost of fuel for a 200 kW LFTR is $70 per year.
The economic advantages associated with a LFTR are not limited
to those provided by the large increase in safety. The reduction in
the cost of electricity provided by the reactor would be a massive
benefit to the communities at Sandstone and at Wabaching. It is
estimated that a LFTR could provide electricity at a rate of
$0.03/kWh, which is much lower than the $0.095/kWh rate
currently being paid [24].
Figure 3. Monthly heat loss comparison in Sandstone per

household. Negative indicates heat gain from high temperatures.
Furthermore, many radioisotopes and medical isotopes are

produced, during the normal operation of a LFTR. From a 1 GW
LFTR, the isotopes produced yearly would be:
150 kg xenon
125kg of neodymium
15kg Pu-238
20kg medical molybdenum-99
20kg radiostrontium
Figure 4. Monthly heat loss comparison in Wabaching per

household.
These materials can be sold to provide additional revenue to the

operation of the plant [25]. For example, the most economically
valuable are the Pu-238, which batteries used in NASAs vehicles,
worth between $86 to 172 million; and the molybdenum-99,
which can be used to treat cancers, however, the monetary value
was not found [25].
Economics of a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors for the Communities
There are many economic factors to take into account when

considering which method of electricity generation to adopt,
especially in remote locations such as Sandstone and Wabaching.
Given that the derived capital costing for a 200 kW LFTR is

$137,931, the cost of fuel is $70 per year and the minimum
expected lifespan for it is assumed to be 30 years, the cost for
each community is $4,668 per year [28].
3
Assuming the Western Australian government changes its policies

regarding nuclear energies, the total cost including construction
and fuel for a 200 kW LFTR in Sandstone is $106.09 per
household, per year for 30 years. Economically both financial
solutions are feasible given the low capital cost of the reactor and
the comparatively high average income earned per household in
Sandstone.
Societies perceptions of nuclear power should not be neglected

when assessing the overall feasibility of this project. The
communities themselves must agree that a nuclear powered
solution is appropriate for their locations.
In Wabaching, the cost per household is slightly higher at $166.71

per household, per year for 30 years. Given the average income
earned, this amount could be considered as an affordable solution
for a reliable energy source to power the community.
Nuclear power is already used in used in India, supplying 3.7% of

Indias electricity needs, with plans to drastically increase to 25%
in 2050 [32]. The International Atomic Energy Agency have
calculated public acceptance index figure of 90%, meaning the
community of Wabaching are not likely to have reservations
implementing a nuclear based power [36].
Social Factors
To install a photovoltaic solar energy system of the same power

capacity, it would come in at a total cost of approximately
$522,000, significantly higher compared to the cost of a LFTR,
and without the benefit of being a reliable, base load power source
[29].
However, in Australia nuclear power is not used and there is a

strong social opposition to nuclear energies. Groups such as
Greenpeace and the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia
actively lobby against the use of nuclear power and waste storage
in Western Australia.
Environmental Considerations and Policies

Additionally, events such as the Fukushima disaster in 2011 have
decreased support for nuclear power. A nationwide survey found
that overall 41.1% of people opposed nuclear power after
Fukushima, compared to 31.7% before the event [37].
An important consideration when assessing the feasibility of a

sustainable energy system for Sandstone and Wabaching is the
associated environmental benefits or impacts that the energy
source may inadvertently cause.
Although the issues of nuclear weapons and possible meltdowns

are not possible with the use of LFTR, limited knowledge and
education on the thorium fuel cycle could possibly lead everyday
people, like those in Sandstone to associate all nuclear power
sources with these issues.
The LFTRs power production cycle itself does not emit any
greenhouse gases, making its use environmentally advantageous
over coal, oil and natural gas power plants that are utilized
globally [7]. Therefore, the use of LFTRs would not contribute to
climate change, and can greatly aid Sandstone and Australia in
reaching their 2020 total emission reduction targets [30].
Conclusion
Like with conventional nuclear reactors, LFTRs do produce

nuclear waste. However, the amount of this waste produced is far
less for the same power output due to the need for considerable
less fuel in a LFTR [5]. Additionally, the time at which the
nuclear waste from a thorium cycle needs to be stored safely is
between 10 350 years as compared to that from conventional
nuclear reactor, which is up to hundreds of thousands of years
[31]. Much of the waste produced is known to be able to be
separated and reused, however it still doesnt negate the fact that
adequate safe transportation and subsequent storage of the nuclear
waste needs to be considered at both remote locations [26].
This research paper has thoroughly investigated the feasibility of

LFTRs as a sustainable power source in the small towns of
Sandstone, Australia and Wabaching, India. We have identified
many advantages and many issues concerning the utilization of
LFTRs at these two locations.
India already has 21 conventional nuclear power plants in

operation with three separate facilities for nuclear waste storage
[32]. Therefore, the infrastructure and policies are already in place
to deal with the nominal waste that would be produced from a 200
kW LFTR in Wabaching. However, Australia has no such
permanent storage facilities. After a failed attempt to construct a
facility on indigenous land in Muckaty NT, a National
Radioactive Waste Management Act was brought into effect in
2012 to establish a legislative framework for future identified
locations [33, 34]. However, state level laws prevent the storage
and transportation of nuclear waste entirely [35].
Although seen to be economically viable, the fact that the small

scale domestic use of LFTR technology is still unproven and
currently unable to be produced on a mass scale, should not be
negated. Further funding for research would have to be invested in
both countries before a practical solution would be possible.
LFTR technology was found to be extremely advantageous in

respect to its safety features and economically to both
communities. However, the aforementioned practical issues that
varied with location would need to be resolved first before actual
implementation would be possible.
We conclude that the use of LFTRs in small scale domestic use is

not feasible until such a time when LFTRs are able to be scaled
down to capacities of 200 kW; are able to be mass produced at
those capacities and when nuclear power is much more socially
and politically accepted.
For a LFTR to be considered feasible in Sandstone, a permanent

nuclear waste solution must be identified. This would require
policy change with support from the local, state and
Commonwealth governments and furthermore, a solution that is
supported by the local community.
[14] Data.worldbank.org, 'GNI per capita, Atlas method (current

US$) | Data | Table', 2014. [Online]. Available:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD.
[Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
[15] The Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy',
Government of Western Australia, Government of Western
Australia, 2013.
[16] Deccan Herald, 'Coming: Safe N-plants that cities can host',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/286692/coming-safen-plants-cities.html. [Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
[17] Deccan Herald, 'India all set to tap thorium resources', 2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/246849/india-all-settap-thorium.html. [Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
[18] http://ibnlive.in.com/, 'Saurav Jha's Blog : The Thorium
Question - An interview with India's nuclear czar', 2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/sauravjha/2976/64847/thethorium-question--an-interview-with-indias-nuclearczar.html. [Accessed: 30- Sep- 2014]
[19] S. Bhardwaj, 'Indian nuclear power programme--Past,
present and future', Sadhana, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 775--794,
2013
[Online].
Available:
http://www.ias.ac.in/sadhana/Pdf2013Oct/2.pdf. [Accessed:
30- Sep- 2014]
[20] P. Bordia, Identified thorium deposits in India, with
Wabaching marked in red. 2012 [Online]. Available:
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph241/bordia1/image
s/f1big.jpg. [Accessed: 06- Oct- 2014]
[21] Geoscience Australia, Distribution of thorium resources,
with Sandstone marked in green. 2014 [Online]. Available:
http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/aimr/images/thoriu
m-fig2.jpg. [Accessed: 01- Oct- 2014]
[22] On the Practical Use of Lightbridge Thorium-based Fuels
for Nuclear Power Generation, 1st ed. Mclean, Va 22102
USA:
Lightbridge,
2010
[Online].
Available:
http://ltbridge.com/assets/23.pdf. [Accessed: 30- Sep- 2014]
[23] CA Energy Commission, 'Thorium LFTR', Principal
Business Development International, California, 2013.
[24] Horsting, W. (2014). Thorium LFTR Molten Salt Reactors
The Good Reactor. [online] California Energy Commission.
Available
at:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2013_energypolicy/documents/2
013-0619_workshop/presentations/12_Horsting_Thorium_Molten_
Salt_Reactors_Presentation_to_the_CA_Energy_Commissi
on_6-19-2013.pdf [Accessed 20 Sep. 2014].
[25] Liquidfluoridethoriumreactor.glerner.com,
(2012).
Economics of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors | Molten
Salt Reactors (incl Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor).
[online]
Available
at:
http://liquidfluoridethoriumreactor.glerner.com/2012economics-of-liquid-fluoride-thorium-reactors/ [Accessed
28 Sep. 2014].
[26] Liquidfluoridethoriumreactor.glerner.com, (2012). Molten
Salt Reactors (incl Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) | No
CO2, No High Pressure, No Loss of Coolant Accidents, No
Long-Term Radioactive Waste. [online] Available at:
http://liquidfluoridethoriumreactor.glerner.com/ [Accessed
28 Sep. 2014].
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, 'Uranium 2014: Resources,

Production and Demand', OECD, 2014.
World-Nuclear.org, 'Thorium', 2014. [Online]. Available:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Current-and-FutureGeneration/Thorium/. [Accessed: 20- Sep- 2014].
R. Robertson, 'Conceptual Design Study of a Single Fluid
Molten Salt Breeder Reactor', Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 1971.
R. Moir and E. Teller, 'Thorium-fueled underground power
plant based on molten salt technology', Nuclear technology,
vol. 151, no. 3, pp. 334--340, 2005 [Online]. Available:
http://ralphmoir.com/media/moir_teller.pdf. [Accessed: 24Sep- 2014]
R. Hargraves and R. Moir, 'Liquid Fluoride Thorium
Reactors: An old idea in nuclear power gets reexamined',
American Scientist, vol. 98, no. 4, p. 304, 2010 [Online].
Available:
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA257224415
&v=2.1&u=swinburne1&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=859
c652e83bb60f0d9025e540df42e47. [Accessed: 24- Sep2014]
K. Furukawa, K. Mitachi and Y. Kato, 'Small molten-salt
reactors with a rational thorium fuel-cycle', Nuclear
Engineering and Design, vol. 136, no. 1-2, pp. 157-165,
1992 [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/00295493(92)90124-e. [Accessed: 28- Sep- 2014]
A. Juhasz, R. Rarick and R. Rangarajan, 'High Efficiency
Nuclear Power Plants Using Liquid Fluoride Thorium
Reactor Technology', 7th International Energy Conversion
Engineering Conference, 2009 [Online]. Available:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/6.2009-4565. [Accessed: 28- Sep2014]
Y. Lee, M. Simones, J. Kennedy, H. Us, P. Makarewicz, J.
Neher and M. Prelas, 'Thorium Fuel Cycle for a Molten Salt
Reactor: State of Missouri Feasibility Study', 2014 [Online].
Available:
http://issuu.com/e_generation/docs/thorium_paper_revised_
3_17_14-3. [Accessed: 20- Sep- 2014]
Censusdata.abs.gov.au,
'2011
Census
QuickStats:
Sandstone',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getprodu
ct/census/2011/quickstat/SSC50696?opendocument&navpo
s=220. [Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
Data.worldbank.org, 'Electric power consumption (kWh per
capita) | Data | Table', 2011. [Online]. Available:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC.
[Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
Censusindia.gov.in, 'Census of India: Search Details', 2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/(S(kez53c55155ffmnuhh2by
i55))/pca/SearchDetails.aspx?Id=710681. [Accessed: 29Sep- 2014]
Y. Cengel and A. Ghajar, Heat and mass transfer, 4th ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011, p. P558.
United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency,
Australia Western Australia location map. 2010 [Online].
Available:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Australia_Western_Austral
ia_location_map.svg. [Accessed: 29- Sep- 2014]
[27] Moir, R. (2002). Cost of electricity from molten salt

reactors. Nuclear technology, 138(1), pp.93--95.
[28] IAEA.org, 'Extending the Operational Life Span of Nuclear
Plants',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2007/npp_extension.h
tml. [Accessed: 08- Oct- 2014]
[29] Dauvergne.com, 'DBI Reactors | Cost Comparison', 2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.dauvergne.com/costcomparison/. [Accessed: 08- Oct- 2014]
[30] Climatechange.gov.au, 'Australia's emissions reduction
targets',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climatechange/greenhouse-gas-measurement-andreporting/australias-emissions-projections/australias.
[Accessed: 08- Oct- 2014]
[31] D. Ginley and D. Cahen, Fundamentals of Materials for
Energy and Environmental Sustainability, 1st ed. United
States of America: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p.
191.
[32] World-nuclear.org, 'Nuclear Power in India | Indian Nuclear
Energy', 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.worldnuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-G-N/India/.
[33] Comlaw.gov.au, 'National Radioactive Waste Management
Act
2012',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012A00029.
World Nuclear Association, 'Radioactive Waste Repository
& Store For Australia', 2014. [Online]. Available:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/CountryProfiles/Countries-A-F/Appendices/Radioactive-wasterepository---store-for-Australia/http://www.worldnuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-AF/Appendices/Radioactive-waste-repository---store-forAustralia/. [Accessed: 08- Oct- 2014]
'Nuclear Waste Storage and Transportation (Prohibition)
Act
1999',
2014.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/pco/prod/FileStore.nsf/Document
s/MRDocument:1511P/$FILE/Nuclear%20Waste%20Stora
ge%20and%20Transportation%20(Prohibition)%20Act%20
1999%20-%20[01-b0-07].pdf?OpenElement.
[Accessed:
08- Oct- 2014]
International Atomic Energy Agency, 'Nuclear Technology
Review 2009', International Atomic Energy Agency, 2009.
Sciencedirect.com, 'Nuclear power in Australia: A
comparative analysis of public opinion regarding climate
change and the Fukushima disaster', 2014. [Online].
Available:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S03014215
13009713. [Accessed: 08- Oct- 2014]
APPENDIX A:
Sample calculations for October, Sandstone, Australia:
Electricity: $0.095/ kWh

Households in Sandstone, Australia: 44
For single-glazed window:
(1)
))
Negative result indicates the amount of energy required to cool the home to 23C
For vinyl-framed double pane windows:
(1)
))
|(
)|
Amount saved:
To determine the capacity of a LFTR required to sufficiently power the settlements:

Average annual electric power consumption (EPC), per capita, in Australia: 10, 712 kWh
However, this assumes no fluctuation in energy consumption and this value was presumed to be the minimum capacity. We decided to use a
200 kW system to allow for heavy fluctuations in energy use and as a margin of safety. We decided to use the same capacity for Wabaching
for simplicity.
APPENDIX B:
Sandstone:
Wabaching:
10
APPENDIX C:
Fig. 4. Above: Sandstones mean temperatures over the year
Above: Wabachings mean temperatures over the year

11
ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TO SUPPLY REMOTE CITIES

Matthew Allard, Silvio Matas, James Merry, Walter Rozario.
Keywords: Sustainable Energy, Solar, Heat Transfer, Heat Loss, Remote City
Abstract
These monthly averages will be used to determine the loading
required of the air-conditioner. To effectively analyze the
requirements of the air-conditioner, a co-efficient of performance
(COP) was required. Power Knot [1] implies that the COP is a
ratio between the output and the input of any given system,
defined as equation (1). Furthermore, Carnots theorem is used to
determine a maximum COP; this is defined as equation (2). This
concept was further verified by Al-Mofeez [2], who implied that a
COP value was vital in identifying the power conversion of a
system. A typical power consumption of a residential airconditioning unit can be estimated as one tenth of the maximum
COP [1].
Sustainable energy is an underused resource which could see the

end of the burning of fossil fuels. In the present study, it would
appear that two cities; Andamooka and Dhahran, on opposite
sides of the world, both pose opportunity to utilize renewable
energy. The feasibility of solar power as energy alternatives in the
two cities was studied. The comparison of the application and
practice in the two cities including cultural and social aspect,
transport availability, government policies and timing aspect were
discussed. The group found that the projects would cost $3million
and $3.6million respectively. The findings resulted in a financial
payback of 30-50 years; however this need not be the only
consideration of the project.
(1)
Introduction
Where:
This report will quantify heat transfer through the windows of a

residential building. The aim of this project is to analyze the
power required to maintain a house at a set temperature. Given
that all household appliances emit a form of heat, this
investigation has included reasonable estimations of their heat
output, where a heating/cooling system will run continuously to
maintain an inside temperature of 23C. This is an unreasonable
assumption in normal circumstances; as the power required is
enormous, however for the purpose of this analysis it will stand.
Finally, the findings of this analysis will be used to size a
sustainable energy project which would suit a location. Two
locations shall be compared, one in Australia and the other being
in Saudi Arabia, each having a suggested solution to fulfil the
towns electricity demand.
(2)
Heat transfer for these scenarios will be governed by equation (3)

as provided by Cengel & Ghajar [3].
(3)
(4)
The temperature values (T) are dependent on the location and the
time period, with interior temperature set as a constant mentioned
above. The change in temperature is also known as the driving
force, or (D), as shown in equation (4). Where there is a greater
temperature difference, the heat transfer rate will be stronger, this
is logical given mathematical form of the equation. The resistive
force of the equation consists of two parts; the inverse of both
Area and the heat transfer co-efficient. The value for the area of
the window (A) has been set as 15m2. As for the heat transfer coefficient, (h) value, the figures provided by Cengel & Ghajar [3]
were utilized. The (h) value, known as U-factor, describes the
level of resistance to heat transfer rate, where a higher value
implies less resistance, based on the inverse nature of this
relationship.
Monthly temperatures for each of the two locations will be used to

analyze the heat transferred through the windows of the house.
Figure 1 illustrates the average temperatures of both locations; it
is important to note that the two locations are on alternate
hemispheres thus undergo antithetical seasons.
Andamooka
The first city this research will be focused on is Andamooka,
located in the central region of Southern Australia. Andamooka is
a rural town famous for Opal trade, consisting of a population of
127 families [4]. This town is known to have a warm climate,
where temperatures can reach 46C, however overnight lows can
approach zero [5]. Given the temperature profile, the
implementation of solar panels to generate electricity would be
ideal. The panels would utilize the abundance of solar energy, and
can supply individual residences as well as the town grid [6].
Figure 1. Mean temperatures of both locations.
12
ANALYSIS OF SUS TAINABLE ENERGY TO SUPPLY REMOTE CITIES
Using the information discussed in the introduction, it was found

that Andamooka could benefit from utilizing double-glazing
technology for their window material. The calculations have
shown that each household would have a 15% saving on their
annual electricity bill, this equates to around $130. This was based
on all existing windows being single glazed glass
The key assumption in this case would be the continuous

operation of a heating/cooling system. This would not be logical
as the house would not require such temperature control.
Residents would generally only be home for around 12 hours per
day. The use of other technology to harness heat energy from the
environment would prove far more sustainable than running a
heating system constantly every night.
Project Capability
Cultural and Social Aspects
A solar panel solution will be explored to suit the needs of
Andamooka. A suitable supplier has been identified as Tindo
Solar, located in the outer suburbs of Adelaide, SA. Tindo were
able to quote a system which can be used to power the town of
Andamooka with the Karra-255 model panel. This panel is
capable of 255W output with an efficiency of 14.6%. The inverter
to supply the grid/town with electricity has a conversion ratio of
99%.
The town of Andamooka can be typified by the one main road,

Borefield Road, with one other artillery that leads to the centre of
town. With the town having its population centred on the artillery
road, much of the area outside of the town-centre is not populated.
It is safe to assume that if a solar panel farm were to be
implemented in the Andamooka area; it could be constructed
without disrupting locals, and can be located outside of the main
town.
As the estimations for this project would need to be made under

standard conditions, the data sheet for Tindos Karra-255 have
listed the specifications as standard test conditions where the
available irradiance is fixed as 1,000W/m2. This may not be the
case for Andamooka, however this will be the value used for this
investigation with an average of 10 hours of available sunlight per
day.
With standard appliances running throughout the day and
considering the heating/cooling requirement described in the
introduction, the 127 houses of Andamooka will require around
964 MWh of electricity per year, based on the houses utilized
double glazing materials for the windows. With the setup
proposed by Tindo, a solar farm consisting of 7,167 panels would
be able to service the town. This project would cost $3million and
would demand a square property with 118 metres of frontage.
This cost is for materials only.
Figure 3. Andamooka map [8].

As Figure 3 illustrates, the location of the site will can be
relatively remote in comparison to the town centre. This would be
best received by the residents of the area as the prospect of an
eye-saw can be avoided. The area surrounding the town centre
will be fairly accommodating to a construction project of this
nature; the land is fairly flat and features low levels of vegetation
[7].
The calculation method used implies a single house in

Andamooka has a significant power requirement. Figure 2
displays the electrical power required for the conditions explained
in the introduction.
In 2011, the South Australian Department of Energy implemented

an electricity tariff for Andamooka, which would see the residents
suffer a 20-60% increase in their electricity bills, furthermore,
commercial rates would see the increase equate to 80-130% [9].
This tariff impacted on all residents as all goods and services of
the local area will undergo a price rise to accommodate this tariff.
Implementing a solar panel farm for the town would create cost
savings that would help eliminate the effects of this tariff.
Reducing electricity costs would allow residents to decrease their
cost of living and increase their quality of life.
Transport Availability
The logistics required to have this project completed is fairly
expensive. An independent quote was sourced from FreightSeek
[10] which would carry the materials from the manufacturer to the
site in Andamooka for $57,954. The journey from the supplier is
just over 5 hours and will require a semi-trailer to move non-
Figure 2. Power required for single Andamooka house and heat

loss through window (to be offset by Heating/Cooling system
with typical COP).
13
standard pallets. A number of trips are required for the enormous

load.
A location on the central arterial, Borefield Road, would be ideal
to base the project. This would be an accessible site which is
segregated from the residential area. As discussed above, this area
is suitable for the project and requires little clearing or
preparation. The transport has been quoted to this location.
characteristics Dhahran is an ideal location to implement solar

power and reduce the dependency on grid power.
Government Policies
Project Capability
During a fiscally complex 2011, The Andamooka Press (2011)

reported that those who use more than 2,000 kWh per quarter will
see their electricity costs increase almost 37%. The
implementation of solar panels to the area can provide dampening
to these electricity costs through savings. This would no doubt
have a positive effect on the residents along with savings for the
government agencies currently providing electricity to the town.
Energy Matters [11] reported that there is a reimbursement of 9.8
cents per kilowatt hour for any excess solar energy produced by
the use of solar panels. Therefore, the solar farm could produce a
surplus of energy which could be used to increase the payback of
the project.
Similar to Andamooka, a solar farm solution will be investigated

for Dhahran. The panel selected for a reliable supply is a Solar
Frontier SF-170S model solar panel [17], with a maximum power
output of 170W. The power output used in these calculations is
closer to 23.46W for realistic operating conditions. Based on this
the average output of 1 solar panel across 12 hours of sunlight is
around
0.28
kWh
per
day.
Similar to Andamooka, calculations were carried out to analyze

the success of implementing double glazing to the residences. It
was found that the average house would save around 19% on their
annual electricity bill, which equates to around $138.
With similar conditions to the Andamooka calculations, the 100

houses of Dhahran require around 771 MWh of electricity per
year, again with the houses utilizing double glazing materials for
the windows. The panel selected for the project has resulted in
8,978 panels being required for the solar farm. The cost of such a
project would total $3.6million and require a property with around
125 metres of frontage. This is the cost for materials only.
Timing Aspects
When investigating the time required implementing the solar
panels required for Andamooka, relevant solar farm projects must
be considered. Stephens [12] describes how Ballarat, Victoria
implemented a 1780 solar panel farm near the local airport. This
farm park is rated to 300kW and was constructed within budget
whilst only taking 5 months. Furthermore, Australian Renewable
Energy Agencys [13] article explains how larger solar panel
farms are being implemented throughout Australia in 2014. One
example is the Moree Solar Farm in New South Wales which has
a funding value of over $100million and is expected to cost a total
of $164million. The time frame for this project is only a year, and
is expected to provide solar energy to 15,000 residents [13].
Comparing these case studies to the proposed Andamooka project
has not given an accurate indication of potential project period.
The Moree project appears to have been constructed quite
efficiently whereas the Ballarat project was somewhat slower.
When looking at progress rate of the two reports, the former
project is expected to be completed almost 100 times faster than
the latter. As this would inevitably be based on manpower, a good
estimate on completion time for the Andamooka project would be
8 months.
Figure 4. Power required for single Dhahran house and heat loss
through window (to be offset by Heating/Cooling system with
typical COP).
The results for a single house in Dhahran show slightly less usage
compared to Andamooka. Figure 4 displays the electrical power
required for the Saudi Arabian town using the conditions
explained in the introduction.
Dhahran
The second city to be analyzed will be Dhahran. This city began
as an oil production town in the 1930s, and is located in the
eastern province of Saudi Arabia. It is still a major contributor to
Saudi Oil production. The current population of Dhahran is
99,540 [14]. The project will be focusing on supplying energy
only for a 100 houses as a requirement of the project. The climate
for Dhahran is ideal as it is located on the Sunbelt; it is basically a
hot desert climate. Temperatures rise above 40C in summers and
have an average low of 11C during winter rarely dropping below
7C or above 45C [15]. Dhahran has high radiation and an
average energy of sunlight of 2200kWh/m2 [16]. With these

Currently in Dhahran there is already a large solar presence at the
North Park Aramco complex. Aramco, more formally known as
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the largest oil and gas petroleum
company in Saudi Arabia. Having a large fossil fuel company
operating a large solar farm out of its large Dhahran office
complex; the social impact of this project should not be great. The
residents of Dhahran should receive the concept of a solar farm
well.
14
The surrounding area of Dhahran is largely comprised of a harsh

desert climate, with most of the surrounding land free. This would
be suitable for large structures, such as solar farms, that would
ordinarily not be suited to residential or industrial areas.
according to journals by Bull [24] and also further supported by

Thornton [25]. With the given high setup cost of the solar farm,
when comparing it to normal electricity costs that include
government subsidiaries in the current policy. This will change
over a period of time and solar electricity will be a more effective
source of energy in the coming years. Building this solar farm is a
viable long-term plan, and a viable energy source in the future,
this statement is strengthened in the conclusion of the work by
Almasoud et al. [22].
Transport Availability
The best solution for transporting goods from the supplier to
location will be using a simple container transport company. The
cost from supplier to job site provided was $39,374 [18]. However
the cost of solar panels from manufacturer to supplier will need to
be considered and the cost was $166,991 [19]. This will result in a
total of $206,365. A suitable location has been found and is
located on Figure 5.
Discussion
The towns being considered for these projects appear to be
suitable to receive the work. The project sites have been placed in
logical areas to limit the need for new lines whilst maintaining the
landscape. One figure does stand in the way of these projects
being completely viable, payback.
Andamooka, having 127 residential buildings considered would
see a 33 year payback on the project. With Dhahran being scaled
to 100 houses, the payback for this project will be 49 years. The
costs of these two projects are $3million and $3.6million
respectively. Straight payback may not be the only factor
considered when discussing viability. In both cases, the
sustainable energy source will be ending fossil fuel reliance for
electricity. This project will imply enormous savings of CO 2
emissions as the power supply should be completely reliant on the
solar farm. As these payback figures only entail material cost,
transport costs (as listed for both projects), labour, management
and maintenance costs would exist for the project. These have
been disregarded as they can be flexible and will only increase the
payback period.
Figure 5. Potential site of Dhahran solar farm solution [20].

Distance of site from town centre is around 2km.
Government Policies
Saudi Arabia has been very welcoming of solar energy beginning
in the early 1960s. However, only in recent years, a large focus
has been placed into developing major solar power farms in an
attempt to become less dependent on oil. The result of this would
be twofold with export volumes being increased as well. Even
with the apparent support of solar energy there is no rebate system
that has been implemented in Dhahran. Estimates made in 2011
projected that there was a gain of 11% return on investment [21].
There is large investment by the government in developing solar
energy solutions like King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology in 1977, and the Ministry of Higher Education
created the Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy
with association of King Fahd University, the Farasan solar power
plant and the Saudi Aramco north park project [16].
The assumptions around the calculations suggest that the farm is

capable of a peak demand as defined by the power required. This
may not always be the case as demand fluctuates depending on
how a household will use appliances. The farm could be smaller
in size with larger energy stores for low use periods, thus
satisfying the high demand. A large reduction in project size is not
recommended however as the solar output calculations were not
intended to be modest. Whatever surplus energy is generated
through lower demand periods can be fed back to the grid and
take advantage of rebate costs mentioned in the above sections.
This report saw Dhahran scaled down for analysis purposes;
however the facts of this city provide some important learnings.
Given the city has a population over 100,000; the project required
would be much larger. The current electricity usage of the city
however, would be mainly dependant on fossil fuel based sources.
The city of Dhahran is evidently primed to the idea of solar
energy as demonstrated through the Aramco project. An
investment into a large scale solar farm would permanently reduce
the usage of oil thus increasing the volume of the citys main
export product.
Timing Aspects
The Greenough solar Farm completed installation of 150,000
photovoltaic panels including construction to coming online [23].
This took a total time period of four months with 150 people
working on site at a time for cabling and 12 people employed just
to install the mounting posts took 2 months. The estimates will be
made using this information. The time frame to install the farm for
100 houses of 8,978 panels in Dhahran will be possible in rough
estimate of 2 and 1/2 months. However, considering smaller
labour input; a recommended time frame would be around 6
months.
For the case of Andamooka, the town is isolated from the capital
city and relies on local electricity production. This method is
costly and cumbersome as it requires the supply of fossil fuels in
this case. The installation of a solar farm would provide a long
term sustainable solution for the town and, based on the above
findings, will not impact greatly on the residents.
The cost per KWh for solar has dropped from 90 cents/KWh to 20
cents/KWh and is expected to reach 5-10 cents/KWh by 2015
15
Some key aspects are absent from the pricing above. Labour cost
of the project has not been included; this does drive the timing of
each project. Where both project appear to be less than 1 year in
duration; a variable labour cost should be considered to target a
completion date. Other construction costs which were omitted
include some structural materials including buildings, shelters and
fencing as well as additional frame supports for the solar panels.
One large omission was sufficient line installation to link the
power to the main grid.
2.
3.
4.
Key errors in the analysis could consist of a few general

assumptions that were made. The average temperatures used, as
discussed earlier, will not accurately represent the heat transfer of
the household similarly to the estimation made of appliance usage.
The heat transfer equation (3) sourced in the introduction is not an
accurate representation of the actual energy transfer rate and is
used for demonstrative purposes. Unlike the work of Al-Mofeez
[2], this analysis was limited in complexity to focus on the main
concept of sustainable energy alternatives.
5.
6.
Regardless of the additional expenses or inaccuracies, the project

payback would not be sustainable for a local council or resident
funded project. Similarly, it does not have the commercial
attractiveness or viability for an established energy provider to
take up the project. Without a substantial contribution from a
Government or similar body, these projects do not seem viable for
a small population case.
7.
8.
9.
Aside from financial viability, one key aspect of the projects to
consider is the theme; sustainability. These projects will need to
be considered not for their financial benefits, rather to reduce
reliance on fossil fuels and ultimately CO2 emissions. The effects
of burning fossil fuels are twofold: they are a limited resource and
produce an unwanted byproduct. Where solar farm proposals do
not impact the local environment, they should be considered as an
option to lower the reliance on fossil fuels.
10.
11.
12.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Andamooka, South Australia, and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, are
both remote locations. When comparing the two, having Dhahran
scaled down to 100 houses, both cities have similar opportunity
for a sustainable energy project. Both towns would see that the
installation of a solar farm to supply electrical power would result
in a minimum 30-50 year payback. Currently, support of these
projects from government is building but not yet adequate to deem
the projects viable. Switching to a sustainable source of energy
production is a long term project which should be considered with
future generations in mind.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Acknowledgement
17.
The group would like to thank the teaching team of MEE40001
Thermodynamics 2 at Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne. Special thanks are due to A/Prof. Akbar Rhamdhani
and Mr. Reiza Mukhlis.
18.
References
1.
Power Knot, n.d., How Efficient is your Air-Conditioning

system?, Power Knot, viewed 03 October 2014,
19.
20.
16
<http://www.powerknot.com/how-efficient-is-your-airconditioning-system.html>
Al-Mofeez, I. A., 2007, Electrical Energy Consumption Pre
and Post Energy Conservation Measures: A Case Study of
One-story House in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia , Architecture
and Planning, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 1-11
Cengel, Y. A. & Ghajar, A. J., 2011, Heat and Mass
Transfer, New York.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007, 2006 Census Quick
Stats,
Census,
viewed
15
September
2014,
<http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getprod
uct/census/2006/quickstat/SSC43031?opendocument&navpo
s=220>
Weatherzone, 2014, Andamooka Weather, Weatherzone,
viewed
15
September
2014,
<http://www.weatherzone.com.au/sa/nwpastoral/andamooka>
Origin Energy, n.d., How do Solar Panels Work, Origin
Energy,
viewed
15
September
2014,
<https://www.originenergy.com.au/2617/How-do-solarpanels-work>
Bonzle, 2014, Map of Andamooka, Bonzle, viewed on
10/9/14
<http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&cmd=sp&p=
280577&st=&s=andamooka>
Google Maps, 2014, Andamooka, SA, viewed 7 October
2014,<http://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Andamooka+S
A+5722>
The Andamooka Press, 2011, Electricity Prices to Soar, The
Andamooka Press, viewed 15 September 2014,
<http://andamooka.sa.au/assets/document/1300927299andamooka_press_4.pdf>
FreightSeek 2014, 27 September
Energy Matters, n.d, South Australia Explore Unbeatable
Savings on Solar, Energy Matters, viewed 15 September
2014,
<http://www.energymatters.com.au/australia/solaradelaide-sa/>
Stephens, K 2009, Solar park goes public, The Courier, 27
November, viewed 7 October 2014, http://www.thecourier.
com.au/story/539901/solar-park-goes-public/
Australian Renewable Energy Agency, 2014, Moree Solar
Farm, Australian Government, 4 August, viewed 7 October
2014, <http://arena.gov.au/project/moree-solar-farm/>
Mongabay, 2012, Population of Dhahran Saudi Arabia,
viewed 07 October 2014, <http://population.mongabay.com/
population/saudi-arabia/107797/dhahran>
WeatherSpark, 2012, Average Weather For Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, viewed 07 October 2014, <https://weatherspark.com/
averages/32761/Dhahran-Eastern-Province-Saudi-Arabia>
Almasoud, A.H., 2014. Future of solar energy in Saudi
Arabia. Journal of King Saud University Engineering
Sciences , 1, 2
Solar-frontier.com, 2014, CIS Modules, viewed 25
September
2014,
<http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/
products/modules/S002210.html>
CBH, 2013, 2013/14 Pricing Schedule for the Container
Loading Services Agreement, CBH DMS PROD, 822386-v9,
1-3
<https://www.cbh.com.au/media/111306/container%
20loading%20services%20pricing%20>schedule%202013.
pdf>
Peiris, S.C, 2014. Pricing agent Sri Lankan Cargo
Google Maps, 2014, Dhahran, viewed 6 October 2014,
<http://www.google.com/maps/place/Dhahran>
21. Hargreaves, S, 2011, Saudi Arabia poised to become solar

powerhouse, viewed 25 September 2014, <http://money.cnn.
com/2011/11/21/news/international/saudi_arabia_solar/>
22. Almasoud, A.H & Gandayh H.M, 2014. Software Design of
Photovoltaic Grid-Connected Power Plants, Journal of
American Science, 8, 4 7.
23. Greenough solar farm, 2012, Building The Solar Farm,
Greenough Solar Farm, viewed 25 September 2014,
<http://www.greenoughsolarfarm.com.au/project/buildingsolar-farm>.
24. Bull, S.R., 2001. Renewable Energy Today and
Tomorrow. Proceeding of the IEEE, Vol. 89, No. 8, 2.
25. Thornton, J.P., 2009. Solar Technology Trends and
Costs. The role of extension in energy, 1, 1-3.
17
ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN KENYA AND AUSTRALIA

Christopher Balino, William Day, Nathan Kutka, Nelly Nganga
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Biofuel
and general economic considerations are also included in the
evaluation of the systems.
Abstract
An increased awareness of negative effects on the environment
from power sources such as coal and oil has increased desire to
implement more sustainable methods to ensure long-term
sustainability. The goal of this report is to determine the
feasibility of powering small isolated towns with sustainable
energy sources. The two sustainable energy sources selected and
their respective locations are biofuel in Kithimani, Kenya and
tidal power in Currie, Tasmania, Australia. Assuming the heat loss
only occurred through the windows, both methods were sufficient
to supply the towns with power. These methods were further
analysed, taking into consideration the geographic and logistics,
regulatory and economic, environmental and social aspects that
were relative to their respective area. Replacing the single paned
windows with double-paned windows was also considered, as it
would reduce the load on the system. The costs of running the
system based on power used were also considered and analysed. It
was concluded that both sources were viable, although there were
some factors that could discourage the use of the systems, such as
the area used by biofuel, however this was determined to be
within acceptable limits.
Background
Biofuel Power in Kithimani, Kenya
Biofuel in the form of wood is Kenyas main energy source,
accounting for 70% of national requirements [3]. This proportion
is forecast to grow in the future, with wood being a critical energy
source for small-scale rural industries, as well as being the
standard cooking fuel and currently providing 90% of rural
household energy needs [4]. Biomass (predominantly wood and
charcoal) also drives key large-scale industries, in particular
cement manufacture, food processing, and Kenyas lucrative tea
industry [5]. In rural villages, current fuel wood consumption is
estimated at 5-10kg per household per day [5]. Kenyas biomass
fuel sources include different forest formations such as
wood/grass lands, industrial plantations, farms with natural
vegetation and residues from crops and wood based industries [5].
Government agencies are exploring various development
proposals in order to capitalise on these resources and increase
biomass energy output.
Tidal Power in Currie, Tasmania, Australia
Introduction
Continued depletion of fossil fuels drives a growing need for
sustainable energy development. The damaging effects of largescale carbon dioxide emissions are increasingly apparent, and
governments and communities worldwide are experiencing
heightened urgency to slow and ultimately eliminate reliance on
harmful energy sources. Currently fossil fuels account for ~85%
[1] of the primary energy consumption worldwide with emissions
including many harmful greenhouse gases, heavy metals and other
pollutants as well as carbon dioxide. Although fossil fuels are
technically a renewable resource formed by natural processes,
consumption has far exceeded the natural formation rate in
modern times, leading to a situation of extreme environmental
impact as well as rising energy prices. Damage from pollutants to
the atmosphere, farmland and water sources, combined with
increasing economic costs as deposits shrink, is putting significant
pressure particularly on rural and remote communities where
conventional energy infrastructure is often impractical. This study
examines the suitability of two different renewable energy
systems for two hypothetical community settlements. The location
and energy sources to be analysed are a biofuel energy system in
Kithimani, Kenya and a tidal energy system located in the coastal
town of Currie, Tasmania. Each settlement has an assumed
(arbitrary) population with 100 homes, and energy calculations
based on maintaining constant temperature in a house subject to
heat loss through the windows. Average temperature data are used
to calculate energy input requirements, and these are compared
with the proposed renewable systems to draw conclusions about
their suitability. Geographic, logistic, regulatory, environmental
Currie, Tasmania is a township on the western coast of Island,

which is an Island south of the Australian mainland. King Island
is located halfway between Victoria and mainland Tasmania at the
western entrance to the Bass Strait. Currie has a population of
about 700 permanent residents, and the main energy source in the
town is diesel and wind power [6]. Most of Curries electricity is
generated by The Currie Power Station which includes one
1200kW and three 1600kW diesel generators, and Hydro
Tasmanias Huxley Hill wind farm which has three 250kW and
two 850kW wind turbines [7]. Currie has a mild climate, ranging
from 16.5C to 10.2C [8]. This mild climate reduces the
populations dependence on heating systems, so the energy
requirements for heating these homes are relatively low.
Methodology
Geographic and Logistical Considerations Kithimani
Kithimani is a region approximately 90km by road from Kenyas
capital and largest city, Nairobi, and it incorporates a cluster of
small villages. The Nairobi region is situated close to the equator
and at a relatively high altitude of 1700m meaning it has an
equable rather than tropical climate [9]. This means average
temperatures do not vary significantly throughout the year,
however, daily temperate ranges are fairly large, averaging around
10C in May and 15C in February [9].
18
As a result, most households use fireplaces for evening warmth.

Rather than temperature, the four distinct seasons are classified
mainly in terms of the level of rainfall as seen in Table 1.
of slow energy grid expansion outside urban areas. A lack of

purchasing power means socioeconomic development will remain
limited unless alternative energy sources and business models are
explored. Given the simplicity of extracting energy from cropbased fuels compared to conventional oil and gas (no need for
expensive refineries and other infrastructure), poorer sections of
the population have the chance to pool funds and achieve realistic
economies of scale to help improve their access to energy. Biofuel
is a good alternative for assisting rural development, rather than
leaving control of energy production in the hands of a few large
companies.
Table 1. Seasonal Weather Characteristics in Kithimani [9]

Period
Weather characteristics
Mid-December Mid March
Warm, sunny, dry
Mid-March May
Main rainy season
June - Mid-October
Cool, cloudy, dry
Mid October Mid December
Secondary rainy season
Some other environmental concerns are the carbon footprint and

the greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of the wood,
which would adversely affect the global environment after some
period of time. The planting of new trees can help offset some of
these emissions, but the rate at which the trees grow is
considerably slower than the rate at which greenhouse gasses are
being emitted.
With fairly predictable temperatures, village residents in

Kithimani can accurately forecast how much biofuel is required
for a given period. The area is also serviced by a well-maintained
highway, allowing for steady fuel supplies to be delivered from
city suppliers or local plantations, as needed.
Regulatory and Economic Considerations Currie

While tidal power has great potential to work for Currie, it could
be cost-prohibitive to implement. The expense of the
implementation and maintenance of such new technology could
pose an issue. But, there have been other tidal power projects
funded by the Australian Government located in Tasmania, so
funding would not be difficult to obtain.
Environmental Considerations Currie
Regulatory and Economic Considerations Kithimani

The Kenyan government is strongly in favour of increasing power
generation from forestry sources and agro-industry residues.
Specifically, sugarcane bagasse (fibrous residue) has recently
been identified as a source of an estimated 200-500MW of energy
production, with some sugar producers already producing up to
25MW of surplus energy for input to the grid [4]. Low feed-in
tariffs (FiT) for off-grid renewables of US$0.12kW/h have
encouraged more investment, with new bagasse cogeneration
projects recently approved [4].
Some of the environmental considerations to take into account are

the marine life that resides in the water, and how adding a tidal
barrage could affect the ecosystem (i.e. the fish and other animals
that could get trapped in the turbines). Although the turbines have
been proven to cause very minimal effects to the marine life,
environmental activists still strongly oppose the use of such
technology.
In general economic terms, biofuel sources are favourable due to

their adaptability they can be used on large and small scales
(industrial and household) without special equipment or
processing. Kenya is pioneering new sustainable energy systems,
with further biofuel potential identified in sweet sorghum and
Jatropha crops, and the chance to capitalise on secondary
activities such as research work, and biotechnology consulting [4].
Results
System Requirements Kithimani
To maintain a house at the required temperature of 23C in
Kithimani (where the heat loss occurs exclusively through the
windows), the heat loss was calculated for both the mean low and
high temperatures, and then averaged to account for the wide
range of temperatures every day. Figure 1 shows the monthly
temperature averages.
Environmental and Social Considerations Kithimani

Unlike some other sustainable energy sources such as solar and
wind power (where the energy is abundant and the engineering
focus is on how to efficiently capture/harvest that energy), biofuel
sources can be rapidly depleted without proper management.
Therefore, biofuel could be considered potentially sustainable,
with the condition that supply and demand are both balanced
effectively. This is recognised by the Kenya Forestry Research
Institute, with supply and demand strategies being developed for
sustaining production. Supply strategies include development of
fuel wood plantations through the Forest Service, management of
rangeland and woodlands and enhancing on-farm tree planting,
while demand-side strategies promote more efficient cooking
stoves and charcoal conversion kilns [3].
As is the case in other African nations, there are many Kenyan
residents living in rural villages who are faced with the problem
Figure 1. Average Temperature in Kithimani
19
The heat loss was calculated utilising the following relation:

(
consideration. This type of energy would likely not be sustainable

for many years.
(1)
If the same houses were to install double-paned windows, the heat
loss would be reduced from 43 to 25 MW in the month of
January, a 43% decrease. Assuming the cost of power is
$0.095/kWh, this upgrade would save the average household
nearly $300 per year in energy costs (from both heating and
cooling). The heat loss was calculated according to Equation (1),
where the overall heat transfer coefficient U for this application
was 3.2 W/m2 C [12]. The money saved per month is shown in
Table 2.
where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient of the window

(taken to be 5.57W/m2 C for the Double Door Wood Frame with
3mm glass thickness) [12]. The surface area of the windows was
assumed to be 15 m2.
Table 2: Savings with Double-Paned Windows (Kenya)

Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
TOTAL
Figure 2: Heat Loss per 100 Houses in Kithimani

The heat loss ranges between 27MW in November and 43MW in
January per 100 homes, as seen in Figure 2. This indicates that the
system designed will need to accommodate a maximum energy
requirement of at least 43MW during the month of January.
Taking the efficiency of the generator into consideration (70%),
the effective value of power required at the maximum point is
62MW. Assuming the system is powered on 24 hours per day, the
maximum energy required is 46GWh/month for the entire
community.
Money Saved
$16.58
$13.96
$17.34
$21.40
$26.51
$29.18
$31.79
$31.41
$28.45
$26.89
$23.22
$20.10
$286.82
System Requirements Currie
The biofuel then needs to be combusted to heat steam and

generate electricity. Considering the chosen biofuel wood has an
energy content of 4.1 kWh/kg when the moisture content is below
20% [10]. Ensuring minimal water content is important to
increasing efficiency. This means that the wood will need to be
sufficiently dried by the sun prior to use. Figure 3 shows the mass
required of wood per 100 houses per month.
Tidal power requires there to be significant tidal ranges or flow

velocity. Located in the Bass Strait, Currie is in a position where
there is not enough of a variation in tidal range to create much
power. However, due to the flow velocity caused by the West
Wind Drift Ocean Current, the water entering the strait has the
potential to generate 3,000 MW of power from the current.
Harvested correctly, the power could be sufficiently converted
into enough electricity to heat the homes of Currie residents [14].
The use of tidal power is a good option for Currie because
residents would get power from the ocean and not have to rely on
the unpredictable wind power. Unlike wind power, tidal power is
more reliable because the tides are predictable, and relatively
constant. [15].
Assuming there are 100 homes, and each will need to be heated
from the average monthly temperature to 23C, the highest
demand for power will be in July, with a necessity for 78.6 MW
of electricity to compensate for the heat loss from the interior of
the home to the outside environment. Tidal power from the West
Wind Drift Ocean Current provides more than enough power to
heat this community throughout the year.
Figure 3: Mass Required of Wood per Month in Kithimani

Typically, trees can be grown at a density of 2.9 t/Hectare [11].
This would require approximately 3800 hectares per month to
accommodate the required energy per month. Considering that the
location for this biofuel is rural, this is a plausible amount of land,
but the environmental ramifications must be taken into
Equation (1) was once again utilised to calculate the heat loss (and
subsequently, the power required to heat the homes). The
temperature inside was to be maintained at 23C, and the outside
temperatures were found by taking the monthly average
20
temperature in Currie, Tasmania [8]. The graph for average

monthly temperature is given below in Figure 4.
Table 3: Savings with Double-Paned Windows (TAS)

Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Total
Figure 4: Average Temperature in Currie, Tasmania

Using this information, it was then possible to calculate the heat
loss using Equation (1). The results are depicted in Figure 5. A
sample calculation can be found in Appendix A.
Money Saved
$16.58
$13.96
$17.34
$21.40
$26.51
$29.18
$31.79
$31.41
$28.45
$26.89
$23.22
$20.10
$286.82
Discussion
The development of off-grid renewable energy sources is likely to
accelerate in the medium to long term in rural areas all around the
world. Continually declining fossil fuel reserves drive up the cost
of conventional energy sources, so communities and governments
will turn to renewable sources out of necessity. Sufficient energy
for rural villages can be harvested from a wide range of sources
using different technologies, however capturing renewable energy
in the most economical way means a comprehensive analysis,
centered usually on the local environment, is needed before the
most efficient technique can be chosen.
Figure 5: Power Required Heating 100 Homes (Currie)
Analysis of the two locations in this study revealed that both areas
have sufficient potential source energy for the given application,
with the most abundant energy sources being biomass and tidal
power in Kithimani and Currie, respectively. Kenya already has
strong momentum in setting up biomass energy systems, given its
abundant wood and agricultural product reserves, whereas the
coastal environment of Tasmania offers predictable and
essentially infinite tidal energy. As mentioned, Kenyan
government policies are effectively supporting local communities
to maximise the potential energy from rural landscapes and
industry byproducts, whilst the Tasmanian government is funding
tidal power projects. Each chosen technique fits logically within
the respective economies, with Kenya home to many small, offgrid farming communities needing low-cost systems and
Tasmania making use of Australias advanced technology
capabilities and access to capital needed for complex projects like
tidal power stations.
As previously stated, the peak heat loss occurs in July and the
corresponding power required is 78.6 MW, well within the
capabilities of the tidal power system (3,000 MW).
If vinyl-framed double pane windows with an air space of 6.4 mm
were installed instead of the single paned windows, the heat loss
would be reduced according to Figure 6.
Conclusions
Figure 6: Heat Loss per Home (Single vs. Double-Paned)
Both sources of energy that were chosen for this analysis proved
to be adequate for the regions that they would potentially serve.
For Kenya, biofuel is a feasible short-term option because it uses
readily available biomaterials and converts them to energy.
However, using wood for biofuel can prove to be detrimental to
the environment, thus, alternate sources of energy should be
sought. For Australia, tidal power is a good option because it is a
predictable and available source of power. An alternate source of
energy for Kithimani could be methane gas digesters that would
The heat loss per home is significantly reduced (approximately

3,000 kWh per 100 homes per year or 42.5%). Taking the cost of
electricity to be $0.095/kWh, the total savings is about $287/year
(per home) with the double-paned windows. The month-by-month
breakdown is shown in Table 3.
21
utilise human and animal waste to process methane gas (which

could then be converted to electrical energy).
Wood combustion
Wood combusted is at specified moisture content.
Efficiency of generator is 70% [10]
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Calculations
Heat loss/house
U.S.
EIA
International
Energy
Statistics.
<http://www.eia.gov/>
Nairobi weather averages. <http://www.worldweatheronline.
com/Nairobi-weather-averages/Nairobi-Area/KE.aspx>
Githiomi, J.K., 2012. Strategies for sustainable wood fuel
production in Kenya. International Journal of Applied
Science and Technology, Vol. 2. No. 10.
Energy
Regulatory
Commision
(Kenya).
<http://
renewableenergy.go.ke/index.php/content/29>
Kenya
Renewable
Energy
Association.
<http://
kerea.org/renewable-sources/biomass-2/>
Kings
Island
Information.
<http://www.kingisland.
net.au/information>
Energy In Tasmania Performance Report. 2012-13
<http://www.economicregulator.tas.gov.au/domino/otter.nsf/
LookupFiles/Energy_in_Tasmania_Performance_Report_20
12-13_FINAL_140212.pdf/$file/Energy_in_Tasmania_
Performance_Report_2012-13_FINAL_140212.pdf>
Climate Statistics for Currie, Australia. <http://www.
bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_098001.shtml>
Nairobi
City
Climate.
<http://www.meteo.
go.ke/customer/climat/index.html>
Biomassenergycentre.org.uk, (2014). Typical calorific values
of
fuels.
[online]
Available
at:
http://www.
biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,20041
&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL [Accessed 3 Oct. 2014].
Biomassenergycentre.org.uk, (2014). Potential outputs of
biofuels per hectare, per annum. [online] Available at:
http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid
=75,163231&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL [Accessed 3
Oct. 2014].
Cengel, Y. and Ghajar, A. (2011). Heat and mass transfer.
1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mpoweruk.com, (2014). Electricity Generation using Steam
Turbines. [online] Available at: http://www.mpoweruk.com/
steam_turbines.htm [Accessed 3 Oct. 2014].
Geoscience
Australia.
Ocean
Energy.
<http://
www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/energy/resources/
otherrenewable-energy-resources/ocean-energy>
Energy Central. The Age of Undersea Windmills Begins.
Valentine,
Henry.
(16
March,
2006).
<http://
www.energycentral.com/articles/article/1226>
For single glazed window in July:

Q loss, max = 5.57*15*(23-20.5) = 208.875 W/house
= 20.89 kW/100 houses
For double glazed window with 6.4mm gap
Q loss, max = 3.2*15*(23-20.5)
= 120W/house
=12 kW/100 houses
Effective Q required (after converted to electricity)
Q loss, max, single, effective = Q loss, max / Efficiency generator
=45.95/0.5
=91.9 kW/100 houses
Energy required in July:

Erequired = Q loss, max, single, effective *hours*days
= 91.9*24*30
= 66168 kWh
= 6.6 MWh
Wood required in July:
M wood, max, single pane =Q loss, window/ (E content*Efficiency generator)
= 661268/4.1
= 16139 kg/month/100 houses
= 16.14 tonne/month/100 houses
Table 3 shows the cost for operating over a year for double and
single-paned windows, based on energy costs of $0.095/kWh.
Appendix A Sample Calculations

Assumptions
No heat loss through walls due to insulation.
Windows are 3 mm thick and cover an area of 15 m2
U-factor of single and double-glazing with a 6.4mm gap

are 5.57 and 3.2 respectively Windows are double door
type wood framed [9].
-To is the average monthly temperature.
-Heat transfer is one-dimensional.
Steady operating conditions.
Energy from biofuel approx. 4.1 kWh/kg.
Throughout month constant heat loss

22
AN INVESTIGATION INTO SMALL SCALE RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES IN REMOTE

LOCATIONS
Lachlan Blake, Chao Ming Ma, Luke Sullivan.
Keywords: Renewable, Solar Thermal, Wave Energy
The climate is arid, with an average daily maximum temperature

of approximately 33C (Figure 2). Nullagine receives an average
annual rainfall of about 300mm, although rainfall is irregular,
mostly falling during the summer "wet", and the town relies on
bore water [3]. The Nullagine River is often dry for months or
years at a time, although it can also be the source of major
flooding [4,5].
Abstract
Renewable energy sources are ideally suited to power generation
applications in small remote communities where the incumbent is
generally diesel generation which is expensive and produces
carbon emissions. The suitability of different renewable energy
systems for various locations will depend on local conditions, in
particular the availability of the local renewable energy resource.
This paper investigates using a concentrated solar power system
and a wave energy system such communities. It finds that the
proposed solar power system is a viable choice for the study site.
However, wave power is not a practical solution for the study site
due to the paucity of the available wave power resource and local
environmental conditions.
Introduction
In this paper the authors will examine the feasibility of installing
two different renewable energy systems in small, remote
communities. The two communities selected for the purpose of
the study are Nullagine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia
and Pulau Babi (also known as Pulau Besar or Pulau Babi Besar),
a Malaysian island in the South China Sea. A renewable energy
system for each community is proposed based on its location and
likely abundant and reliable local energy sources. In the case of
Nullagine the system proposed is a concentrated solar power
design comprising parabolic trough collectors and an organic
Rankine cycle generator. For Pulau Babi a wave power system is
examined.
Figure 2. Nullagine Monthly Mean Temperature (1898 1984)

(data: www.bom.gov.au/climate/data).
Pulau Babi, Malaysia
Pulau Babi is located approximately 16km off the east coast of
West Malaysia in South China Sea. The island has an area of
approximately 4.5 km2 and, as at 2010, it had a population of 77
people living in 15 households [6]. Local industries include
fishing and tourism, and a gazetted marine park extends for 2
nautical miles (approximately 3.7km) around the island to protect
sensitive marine habitat.
Nullagine, Western Australia

Nullagine is located in the Shire of East Pilbara in Western
Australia, 296 km south east of Port Hedland and 1186 km north
of Perth. It was a thriving gold mining community in the 1880s
and 1890s but has since fallen into decline and is now a service
town for local mining and pastoral activities [1]. As at 2011 the
town had a population of 177 people living in 48 residences [2].
Figure 3. Satellite image of Pulau Babi (image: Google Earth)

Figure 1. Satellite image of Nullagine (image: Google Earth).
23
AN INVESTIGATION INTO SMALL SCALE RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES IN REMOTE LOCATIONS
Pulau Babi enjoys an even tropical climate with an average

maximum temperature of 31 and little variability throughout the
year (Figure 4).
where:
is the empirically derived heat loss coefficient
is the temperature of the absorber (C)
is the ambient temperature (C)
is the incident solar radiation (W/m2)
is the optical efficiency of the system, being the product of
the reflectance of the reflector surface, the transmittance of the
receiver, the absorbtance of the receiver and the intercept factor,
being the fraction of the reflected beam of solar radiation
intercepted by the receiver.
Figure 4. Pulau Babi Monthly Mean Temperature (data:

www.worldweatheronline.com).
Solar Power
Solar power is the general term for energy produced from
radiation from the sun. Solar power systems may be broadly
divided into two categories: photovoltaic systems that generate
electrical current directly and solar thermal systems that collect
the sun's heat and use it to heat a working fluid which is then
expanded through a turbine to generate electricity
Solar irradiance or flux is measured in units of energy per unit
area and it varies throughout the day and throughout the year. In
Australia, solar irradiance data may be obtained from Geoscience
Australia's Solar Energy Information System.
Figure 5. Parabolic trough collectors (image www.nep-solar.com)

One advantage of thermal solar systems when compared to
photovoltaic systems is that heat collected during daylight hours
can be stored relatively easily in tanks and used during times of
low irradiance or at night. Not only does storage capacity extend
the hours during which electricity generated from solar power is
available but it also allows constant thermal power supply to the
generator reducing maintenance costs and increasing efficiency.
Concentrated Solar Power Systems

All concentrated solar power (CSP) systems rely on a device such
as a mirror or a lens to focus incoming solar flux onto a receiver
that may be either an array of photovoltaic cells or a thermal
absorber. CSP plants can be sized from the very small (~10 kWe)
to the large (~390 MWe) and are therefore a candidate many
applications, from powering a single off-grid residence to utility
scale applications [7].
A second advantage of solar thermal systems is that the system

can easily incorporate a second conventional fuel source to
supplement the solar resource. The general layout of a parabolic
trough solar thermal system with storage and co-generation is
Figure 6.
There are a number of concentrator designs in use throughout the

world, the three basic types being the dish, linear collector and
tower. Most are designed to track the movement of the sun during
day so as to maximize the solar irradiance collected. Dish
collectors place the solar collector (e.g. photovoltaic cells or a
Stirling engine) at the focus of a parabolic dish that tracks sun
movement in three axes. Linear collectors such as parabolic
troughs and Fresnel mirrors focus incoming solar radiation onto
photovoltaic cells, an evacuated tube absorber (Figure 5) or a
hybrid system running the length of the trough. Tower collectors
are typically the largest of the three CSP devices and use a large
field of heliostats to concentrate radiation on a central tower
absorber (e.g. the Crescent Dunes plant in Nevada, USA). Linear
collectors are generally the lowest cost of the three basic designs
[8].
Figure 6: General layout of solar thermal system (image: [10]).

Waste heat generated by the CSP plant can be collected and used
for secondary purposes such as district hot water or absorption
cooling. Additionally, CSP systems may be dry cooled, an
obvious advantage in a water constrained location such as
Nullagine. However, a disadvantage of such systems is that they
often occupy a significant area (2 km2 in the case of the 50 MWe
parabolic trough Andasol plant in Spain) as solar irradiance is a
relatively diluted power source. Additionally, mirrors in the solar
Each different CSP design has different optical properties and

collects solar irradiation with varying efficiencies. In the case of
the parabolic trough collectors selected for the current
investigation the collector efficiency, , is [9]:
24
field can be expensive and fragile and, as they can present a large
sail area, troughs and heliostats often require substantial structural
support to withstand wind loads adding to their cost [7].
falling into one of three broad categories: point absorbers, linear

attenuators and terminators [14]. Point absorbers consist of a float
tethered to the seabed that is free to move as the wave passes it.
They may float on the surface or below it and move by the change
in pressure as the wave passes overhead. Point absorbers may
generate electricity internally or may produce an alternative form
of energy (such as hydraulic pressure) which is then used to
generate electricity onshore.
The majority of installed utility scale solar thermal plants operate

a Rankine cycle generator using steam as a working fluid. For
example, the SEGS plants in Southern California (using steam as
a working fluid) have a solar field efficiency ~40-50% and an
electrical conversion efficiency ~40%, resulting in overall
efficiency solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of ~15% [9].
Linear attenuators are slack moored floating devices that are

aligned normal to the wavefront of the wave they harvest. The
length of the WEC is greater than the wavelength of the incoming
wave. The motion of the wave as it passes the WEC is used to
drive on board turbines.
For smaller scale systems it has been suggested that a Rankine

cycle using organic working fluids has advantages over traditional
steam plants. Organic Rankine cycle generators work at lower
temperatures than steam operated systems, have fewer
components (meaning reduced maintenance costs) and the
working fluid does not form droplets during expansion. The
1MWe Saguaro organic Rankine cycle solar plant in Arizona,
which uses n-pentane as a working fluid, has a solar field
efficiency of 59% and a generator efficiency of 20%, giving an
overall plant efficiency of 12.1% [10]. Similar heat to electrical
conversion efficiencies are claimed by commercial organic
Rankine cycle suppliers using heat sources as low as 300C [11].
Both parabolic trough equipment and organic Rankine cycle
power block equipment may be sourced within Australia.
Terminators are a class of WEC that directly face the incoming

wavefront and collect energy from it. They include devices such
as reservoirs filled by wave surges which then feed the seawater
through a turbine or oscillating water columns where air displaced
by the motion of the wave is used to drive a Wells turbine.
In general the efficiency of WECs is modest [13] and published
efficiency data for sea-trialled devices is sparse. Moreover,
average operating powers delivered by such devices will often be
much smaller than the rated capacity of the device due to the need
for the device to be able to operate in extreme conditions. For
example, the LIMPET plant installed on the island of Islay in
Scotland which operated between 1991 and 1999 produced an
average power of 50kW despite its nominal rating of 500kW. In a
2012 study the CSIRO assumed a limit of 20% wave energy
extraction so as to minimize wave calming effects and the risk of
environmental and ecological harm. The CSIRO found that point
absorbers offer the lowest capital cost and levelized cost of energy
(LCOE) per kilowatt of installed capacity, although concluded
that terminators were the most preferable form of WEC for other
reasons [14].
Wave Power
Wave power refers to energy harvested from the motion of ocean
waves. A simplified model for the power density per unit length
of wavefront for an idealized wave in deep water is [12,13]:
(W/m)
where:
is the density of seawater (approximately 1025 kg/m3)
is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s2)
is the crest to trough wave height (m)
is the wave period (s).
Since wave power diminishes with increasing depth it is sensible

to place delicate or expensive components of the WEC at or near
the seabed where they will have least risk of damage in severe
weather. It can also be desirable to locate the WEC beneath the
surface so as to minimize visual impacts and reduce interference
with competing activities. For example, a subsurface point
absorber can be moored so as to allow small boats to pass over it.
In practice waves are irregular and an averaging process is used to

estimate the power density at any given location. The two critical
parameters are significant wave height
(m) which is 4 times
the root mean square wave height as measured by satellites or
buoys, and the zero-up crossing period
(s) being the average
time counted between upward movements of the surface through
the mean level over ten or more crossings. Using these parameters
the power density of the wavefront is approximately [9]:
(kW/m)
Nullagine Solar Resource

Australia, particularly northern Australia, generally has very high
levels of solar irradiation, making it ideal for solar power
installations. Direct normal solar irradiance (DNI) is a measure of
the energy received by a solar collector normal to incoming solar
radiation (such as a parabolic trough collector with tracking). For
Nullagine, the mean DNI per month is shown in Figure 7.
Wave power also varies with depth [14]:

(kW/m)
where
is the power at the surface (kW/m),
is wavelength (m).
is depth (m), and
Wave Energy Converters

There are a considerable number of designs for ocean wave
energy converters (WECs), and a number of ways of classifying
those designs into broad groups. WECs may be classified as
1
Behrens et al [14] give
.
25
Figure 7. Nullagine Daily Mean Direct Normal Irradiance

(1990-2013) (data: www.ga.gov.au/solarmapping).
Pulau Babi Wave Resource
Figure 10. Pulau Babi Significant Wave Height, 12.00 pm (UTC)

1 January 2014.
Wave power is an initially appealing energy source for a small

island, given that all power consumption must occur in close
proximity to the ocean. However research suggests that the wave
power density in the South China Sea is poor, being less than 5
kW/m.
Figure 8. Annual gross theoretical global wave power

(image: [15])
Figure 11: Pulau Babi Wave Period, 12.00 pm (UTC) 1 January
2014
Moreover, the resource displays considerable seasonal variation,

with ratio of minimum monthly wave power to annual wave
power in the range 20%-30%.
Sample ocean buoy data at 3 hourly intervals for significant wave

height and period were collated for 2013 and used to estimate the
average daily power of the wave resource at Pulau Babi for each
month of the year (Figure 12).
Figure 9: Seasonality of gross theoretical wave power (image:

[15])
Higher resolution ocean buoy data concerning significant wave
height and period (Figures 10 and 11) are available from
commercial operators, with the closest buoy located some 7km
northeast of the island.
Figure 12: Pulau Babi daily mean wave power, 2013.
26
As appears from Figures 13 and 14, the addition of double glazing

to the house more than halves the estimated heat gains and losses
during the day.
Site Energy Requirements

To estimate the energy requirements of households in the two
study locations and the size of the required sustainable energy
system an analysis was undertaken of the energy required to
maintain a house at a constant interior temperature of 23C. In
order to undertake this analysis the authors first estimated the heat
gained and lost over the course of each day for both locations.
This estimate assumed:
Further assuming:
that the only significant heat gains/losses for each house

were through windows (all other heat losses neglected);
each house had a total window area of 15m2 of single
glazed, double door, wood frame type windows (overall
heat transfer coefficient, , of 5.57 W/m2.C) [16]; and
outside daily minimum temperatures occur at 3 am and
increase linearly until the daily maximum temperature
at 2.00 pm before decreasing linearly to the daily
minimum temperature at 3.00 am the next day.
that all heating and cooling is electrically powered;

the cost of electricity is $0.095 per kW.h; and
a coefficient of performance for both heating and
cooling of 3.6,
an analysis of the savings per household per year from the

installation of double glazing was performed (Figure 15).
This analysis showed that houses the location exhibiting the
greatest range of temperatures (specifically Nullagine) will benefit
most from the installation of double glazed windows both in terms
of reducing energy gains and losses and the consequent saving in
heating and cooling costs.
On the basis of the above analysis and the available energy
density data for each renewable resource presented above, an
estimate of the size of the renewable energy system required in
each of the study locations was conducted.
Results from this analysis are Figure 13.
Location
Glazing type
Heating / cooling
cost (p.a.)
Single
$ 444.19
Double
$ 207.34
Single
$ 318.98
Double
$ 148.90
Nullagine
Saving (p.a.)
$ 236.85
Pulau Babi
$ 170.09
Figure 15. Estimated heating and cooling costs per annum.

Figure 13. Heat gains and losses per house per day, single glazed
windows.
The solar thermal system proposed for Nullagine performed well,

with a solar field of approximately 27 m2 required to supply the
town with energy for its heating and cooling needs under the least
favourable conditions. This estimate assumed a total solar field to
electricity conversion efficiency of 11% (55% solar field
efficiency and 20% power block efficiency) and a coefficient of
performance for both heating and cooling of 3.6. The relatively
modest size of the system required is encouraging, and it should
result in a reasonable installed cost. Given Nullagine's location in
remote Western Australia it is not likely that finding available
space for such a system would present insurmountable difficulties,
and a solar thermal system seems to be a promising candidate for
a renewable energy system in this location.
This estimate was recalculated assuming that both locations have

installed double glazed, reflective coated ( = 0.1), double door
type windows ( = 2.60 W/m2.C) [16]. Results from this analysis
are Figure 14.
However, the wave energy system proposed for Pulau Babi did
not perform well. The system was sized assuming that 20% of the
available wave flux would be harvested and the electrical
conversion efficiency of the WEC would be 10% and the houses
were single glazed. Analysis showed that a wave power system
collecting approximately 10km of wave crest was required to
satisfy the heating and cooling energy requirements of the island's
15 houses! This was a result of the generally poor wave energy
resource in the South China Sea and the unfortunate confluence of
the island's highest energy requirement with the lowest available
wave energy in June each year. Obviously, the cost of such a
Figure 14. Heat gains and losses per house per day, double glazed
windows
27
system will be prohibitive and, considering the other impediments

to implementing a wave power system for Pulau Babi such as the
presence of a costal marine park, wave power is a poor choice of
renewable energy system for this location.
[10] Quoilin, S. Orosz, M. Hemond, H. and Lemort, V. 2011,

"Performance and design optimization of a low-cost organic
Rankine cycle for remote power generation", Solar Energy,
vol. 85, pp. 955-966.
[11] Granex Ltd 2014, Granex Technology, viewed 3 September
2014,
<http://www.granitepwr.com/GRANEXTechnology#Relative-Performance>.
[12] Tidwell, J. and Weir, T. 2006, Renewable Energy Resources,
2nd edn., Taylor & Francis, Oxon.
[13] Tester, J.W. Drake, E.M. Driscoll, M.J. Golay, M.W. and
Peters, W.A. 2012 Sustainable Energy Choosing Among
Options, 2nd edn. MIT Press, Cambridge.
[14] Behrens, S. et al, 2012, Ocean Renewable Energy 20152050, CSIRO, Newcastle.
[15] Mrk, G. Barstow, S. Kabuth, A. and Pontes, M.T. 2010,
"Assessing the Global Wave Energy Potential", Proceedings
of the OMAE2010, ASME, New York.
[16] Cengel, Y.A. and Ghajar, A.J. 2011, Heat and Mass
Transfer, 4th edn (SI units), McGraw Hill, New York.
Conclusion
This paper has reviewed two types of renewable energy system,
specifically a solar thermal system and a wave energy system, and
investigated their suitability for use in two remote locations.
The solar thermal system proposed for use in Nullagine in remote
Western Australia appears to be a good candidate for electricity
generation at that location, due to the excellent solar resource and
consequently modest size of the power system required, local
availability of the required equipment and likely availability of the
required space away from the flood-prone Nullagine River.
However, the wave energy system considered for the Malaysian
island of Pulau Babi in the South China Sea was not promising.
The local wave energy resource is poor and as a result an
unfeasibly large wave energy system would be required to power
the island's small number of houses. Additional impediments such
as the presence of a marine park around the island mean that a
wave energy system is not suitable for this location.
References
[1] Sydney Morning Herald 2004, Nullagine: An Old Gold
Mining
Town,
viewed
30
September
2014,
<http://www.smh.com.au/news/western-australia/nullagine/2
005/02/17/1108500208611.html>.
[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011, Census of Population
and Housing Basic Community Profile, Nullagine
(SSC50599), cat. no. 2001.0, ABS, Canberra, retrieved 31
August
2014,
<http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/co
mmunityprofiles>.
[3] Water and Rivers Commission 1999, Nullagine Water
Reserve Water Source Protection Plan: Nullagine Town
Water Supply, Water and Rivers Commission, Water
Resource Protection Series No. WRP 18.
[4] Durrant, J.M. 2007, Nullagine River Flood Study, Nullagine
Townsite, Department of Water, Government of Western
Australia, Surface Water Hydrology Series Report No. 22.
[5] Department of Water Western Australia 2014, Water
Information Reporting, viewed 31 August 2014,
<http://kumina.water.wa.gov.au/waterinformation/wir/reports
/publish/710004/g02.htm>.
[6] Department of Statistics Malaysia 2010, Table 18.1: Total
population by ethnic group, mukim and state, Malaysia,
2010,
retrieved
31
August
2014,
<http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/download_Population/fi
les/population/05Jadual_Mukim_negeri/Mukim_Johor.pdf>.
[7] Py, X. Azoumah, Y. and Olives, R. 2013, "Concentrated
solar power: Current technologies, major innovative issues
and applicability to West African countries", Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 18, pp. 306315.
[8] Zhang, H.L. Baeyens, J. Degreve, J. and Caceres, G. 2013,
"Concentrated solar power plants: Review and design
methodology" Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
vol. 22, pp. 466481.
[9] Kreith, F. and Krumdieck, S. (eds) 2013, Principles of
Sustainable Energy Systems, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca
Raton.
28
ANALYSIS OF CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY (CPV) APPLICATION IN

AUSTRALIA AND PAKISTAN
Monica Eguia , Louis Johnson, Alyanna Tenorio
Keywords: CPV, concentrated photovoltaic energy, solar panels
The second proposed location is Multan, Pakistan. While Multan

is a large city of three million, this report focuses specifically on
the citys outskirts, composed of suburbs and small satellite
communities. Shifting the focus away from the urban center and
instead on a small, farming town of population 1,500 is more
consistent with our objective of providing energy to a small,
remote area. Multans industries include fertilizer, manufacturing,
cotton production and processing, and mills. In terms of economy,
the city functions as a commercial, industrial, and most
importantly, agricultural center.
Abstract
This paper discusses and studies the feasibility of the application
of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology as an alternative
energy source in remote locations. CPV technology generates
electricity by concentrating sunlight onto a small area of solar
photovoltaic (PV) cells using modern optics such as lenses or
curved mirrors. Based on heat loss calculations through homes,
both Nagambie, Australia and Multan, Pakistan can reap benefits
from CPV technology installations, as small, remote areas that
receive a high degree of direct normal irradiance (DNI). CPV
systems, while cost-efficient, do require advanced technology
through its components: multijunction solar cells, concentrating
optics, and dual-axis trackers. Though the installation of proposed
CPV systems naturally requires a large amount of initial
investment, residents of Nagambie and Pakistan could see savings
in hundreds of dollars each year once CPV technology reaches its
expected potential and growth by 2020.
Introduction
With the adoption of sustainable energy throughout the world
growing more relevant each day, this report investigates the
feasibility of using renewable energy to deliver power, in the form
of heating and cooling, to two specific, remote areas. This power
must be sufficient to maintain the inside of a house at 23 C.
Calculations, to be further discussed, regarding heat loss solely
through the houses windows serve as the basis of design for CPV
technology. Nagambie, Australia and Multan, Pakistan are two
model locations with relatively small populations in which CPV
technology may be beneficial.
Figure 16. Maps of the remote locations being assessed
Literature Review and Theoretical Background

As an emerging and viable competitor in the area of renewable
energy, CPV is a topic of heavy research with great potential for
further understanding.
CPV systems use a concentrator, like a refractive Fresnel lens or
curved mirror, to capture and focus sunlight onto small, highefficiency solar cells. To be specific, multijunction solar cells are
typically used: multiple cells that are constructed in tandem as a
single stack linked electrically in series [2]. A key feature of
multijunction solar cells is its composition of different
semiconductor materials, which work together to capture a wider
range of wavelengths. These solar cells are packaged and
integrated into a plate, which are held and aligned by a support
structure. A number of plates make up a single module, or panel.
Panels are placed on a high-performance tracker that
automatically tracks the sun throughout the day to maintain a high
concentration and absorption of sunlight onto the cells. Several
panels then constitute a CPV system [3].
Despite being a relatively new technology, CPV systems still

prove more cost-efficient than regular, non-CPV systems.
Concentrated photovoltaic systems require standard industry
materials and a smaller area of photovoltaic material in exchange
for high-efficiency solar cells. Foreseeable downsides of the
system could possibly be the initial costs of implementation when
considering Nagambie and Multans social and financial interests,
and the strict requirements that CPV systems impose, such as its
use of highly sophisticated technology. These issues will be
further identified and discussed in the report. However, CPV
proves to be an up-and-coming, long-term solution to capturing
solar energy.
The first proposed location is Nagambie, Australia. Nagambie is a
small, quiet town located in the state of Victoria in Australia, with
a population of 1,548 [1]. Its main industries include
manufacturing, grocery stores, restaurants, and wineries. The
town has a handful of parks and recreational areas.
CPV systems are divided into categories of solar concentration

amount, mainly low concentration PV (LCPV) and high
concentration PV (HCPV) [4]. Tracking and cooling requirements
become more specific as solar concentrations increase from 2 to
over 300 suns [5]. As a testament to the innovations in CPV
technology, the number of LCPV and HCPV installations
29
ANALYSIS OF CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY (CPV) APPLICATION IN AUSTRALIA AND PAKISTAN
continue to increase throughout the world [6]. Improvements to

CPV, such as higher volumes and better manufacturing processes,
are expected to result in an explosive growth of the number of
CPV installations by 2020 [7].
responsible for the most amount of heat gain and heat loss
because they are not as insulated as walls, roofs, or doors.
Assuming a typical home has a single-glazed window with an area
of 15 m2. To calculate how much energy is lost or gained through
a window, the following equation 9-67 from the book can be used:
Q UA(Tindoors Toutdoors)
where is total work, is a factor which can be determined from
Table 9-6 in the book, and is the area of heat transfer. The -factor
in this instance
would be 5.57.
In this particular instance, Tindoors is to be set at a comfortable 23

C. Toutdoors can be calculated by averaging the high and low
temperature together, since half the day would theoretically be at
a higher temperature and half the day would theoretically be a
lower temperature.
Finding the average high temperatures and average low
temperatures for Nagambie and Multan through various websites,
the following table can be generated from 2013 weather data:
Table 1. Comparison of T average and power input/day
Figure 2. CPV system components
To focus sunlight on such a small area of PV cells calls for the
higher costs associated with such advanced technology: solar
cells, lenses, mirrors, heat sinks, single- or dual-axis solar
trackers, and cooling systems. Maintenance, however, only
includes periodic cleaning of modules and basic gear and motor
maintenance of trackers [8].
As expected, CPV is ideal in dry areas that receive direct sunlight.
Opening markets for this technology can emerge from countries in
the Middle East, the North and South of Africa, or regions with
high-DNI (direct normal irradiance, the amount of solar radiation
received per unit area by a surface always held perpendicular to
sunlight) of 5-6 kWh/m2/day [9]. Benefits include high efficiency,
low system cost, and low capital investment to facilitate its start.
CPV technology also leaves a lighter environmental footprint than
its renewable energy competitors through its efficient use of land
(no site grading through shading) [10].
Multijunction solar cells, with high efficiencies of over 40% at
over 1,000 suns [11], are better than silicon solar cells (of low
20% efficiencies [12]) because they are less susceptible to
temperature-induced efficiency degradation. Commercial solar
modules are also reaching record high efficiencies of over 35%.
At the rate that CPV technology is progressing, cells with a
targeted 50% efficiency could reduce the cost of energy to less
than $0.05 kWh [13]. Current research and development are
making strides in improving CPV technology and its costs, in
order for it to compete with more common, non-concentrated PV,
such as solar thermal power, and other types of renewable energy,
such as wind power.
2013
Tavg
(C)
Nagambie
Power
input/day (kW)
Tavg
(C)
Multan
Power input/day
(kW)
Jan
30.80
21.46
15.70
16.04
Feb
29.40
18.05
19.15
13.74
Mar
27.95
17.34
25.55
15.74
Apr
21.95
12.53
30.75
15.54
May
17.90
12.63
36.75
27.57
Jun
14.40
17.24
36.10
26.27
Jul
13.90
18.25
33.50
21.05
Aug
14.60
16.84
31.30
16.64
Sept
18.15
12.33
32.55
19.15
Oct
22.85
18.35
29.10
15.24
Nov
24.35
19.55
22.45
16.74
Dec
29.80
25.67
17.35
14.74
Multiplying each month by its respective number of days, the

amount of power/month can be found. Summing the months
together, the power input/year for Nagambie and Multan
respectively would total 210.25 kW and 218.47 kW respectively.
For a small community of 375 homes, this would mean 2401 MW
and 2495 MW would be utilized in a year.
On the other hand, using double-pane windows will yield a much
smaller result. The U-factor for this application is 3.2 as opposed
to 5.57, making the original U-factor larger by 1.74 times. This
would mean that all results could be divided by 1.74 in order to
yield heat loss/heat gain. For a small community of 375 homes,
1379 MW and 1433 MW for Nagambie and Multan would be
generated.
Theoretical Principles and Calculations

Calculations via Average Temperature
The energy required to heat or cool a home can be directly
obtained by determining the amount of heat gain and heat loss
through the windows of a theoretical home. Windows are
30
Energy Consumption
Nagambie
Multan: Energy Consumption
Multan
Single-Pane
Usage(kWh)
Usage(kWh)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1000
500
0
Month
Month
Figure 5. Comparison of single- and double-pane window energy

consumption in Nagambie
Figure 3. Energy consumption/month
The energy consumption can also be split to show how much

energy is lost and gained through the window. By separating if a
high temperature or low temperature is above or below the Tindoors
the final Q measurement can be split proportionally to heating and
cooling.
In a theoretical situation of energy costing $0.095/kWh, the

following prices can be generated:
Table 2: Comparison of energy and money saved/month
Nagambie
Energy
Money
Saved
saved/month
(KWh)
Double-Pane
Multan
Energy
Saved
(KWh)
Table 3. Comparison of energy consumption used for cooling and

heating
Money
saved/month
Nagambie
Multan
Jan
283
26.89
212
20.10
Feb
215
20.43
164
15.55
Mar
229
21.73
208
19.72
Apr
160
15.20
198
18.85
Calculations via Degree Days
May
167
15.83
364
34.55
Jun
220
20.91
335
31.85
Jul
241
22.87
278
26.38
However, assuming that the heat loss and gain through a window
is equivalent to how much energy is needed is not always realistic.
More realistic approaches require utilizing concepts such as
degree days and coefficient of performance.
Aug
222
21.11
220
20.86
Sept
157
14.95
244
23.22
Oct
242
22.99
201
19.10
Nov
250
23.71
214
20.30
Dec
339
32.16
194
18.47
Totals
2724
$ 258.77
2831
268.95
Cooling
45.26%
74.90%
Heating
54.74%
25.10%
In order to calculate the heat loss and gain in a house over a given
day, degree days can be used. This method approximates the
average temperature difference between a set base temperature
and its surroundings throughout a given day through the use of
integration. However the end result can be approximated by the
use of the Met office method whereby the difference is
approximated by a series of 4 equations based off of 4 conditions
being met [14].
Table 4. Degree day formula criteria
Nagambie: Energy Consumption

Usage(KWh)
Single-Pane
Condition
Double-Pane
1000
Tmin>Tbase
Dheating=0
Dcooling=0
(Tmax+Tmin)/2>Tbase
Dh=(Tbase-Tmin)/4
Dh=(TbaseTmin)/2-(TmaxTbase)/4
Dh=Tbase(Tmax+Tmin)/2
Dc=(Tmax-Tbase)/4
Tmax>=Tbase
500
Tmax<Tbase
0
Month
Formula used
Dc=(Tmax-Tbase)/2(Tbase-Tmin)/4
Dc=(Tmax+Tmin)/2Tbase
For the MET method, the average temperatures per month were
calculated in terms of highs and lows, and from this the 4
conditions were used to calculate the average degree days needed
over the month, these degree days were then used to calculate the
Figure 4. Comparison of single- and double-pane window energy

consumption in Nagambie
31
KWhs by multiplying the degree days against the energy flow at

the temperature difference of 1 degree [15].
instead of relying on an average temperature, where only one type

of action would be accounted for.
The energy flow rate at a temperature difference of 1 degree was

calculated using U factors and a an overall window area of 15 m2
from this various assumptions were made [16]:
Nagambie: Energy Consumption

Single Glaze
Where
4 adults living in the house

Insulated frame and edges
COP of 3.8 for the heating/cooling system [17]
Usage(KWh)
Q U window Awindow (T ) in W.
The above information was used to compare the difference in

energy use between single glazed and double glazed windows; the
results can be seen below, with the full calculations shown in the
appendix.
Double Glaze
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Month
Table 5: Comparison of energy consumption and costs
2013
Energy
in
Heating
Jan
Figure 6. Degree day comparison of single- and double-pane

window energy consumption in Nagambie
Multan
Energy in
cooling
Total
single
panel
Energy in
Heating
Energy in
cooling
Total
single
panel
45876
539438
585
472997
11074
484
Feb
37150
402933
440
262907
42865
306
Mar
58531
371754
430
83842
245199
329
Apr
111756
47458
159
474579
475
May
341697
18983
361
870062
870
Jun
526630
527
802192
802
Jul
575823
576
664411
664
Aug
531528
532
525201
525
Sept
316896
19902
337
584804
585
Oct
147119
137628
285
385991
386
Nov
128596
211264
340
136250
102570
239
Dec
94916
525201
620
384409
390737
775
Total
/COP
Costs
2917
768
$72.91
2275
599
$56.86
5191
1366
129.8
1340
353
$33.51
5100
1342
127.49
6440
1695
161.0
Multan: Energy Consumption

Single Glaze
Usage(KWh)
Nagambie
Double Glaze
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Month
Figure 7. Degree day comparison of single- and double-pane
window energy consumption in Multan
Revised Energy Consumption

Nagambie
Multan
600
Usage(KWh)
The use of double glazing windows effectively reduces the overall

power consumption by a factor of 40% throughout the year, to
further improve the accuracy of these calculations various
improvements could be made surrounding the approximation of
the temperature difference throughout a given day, these are:
500
400
300
200
100
20 year average daily max/min temperatures used, this

would reduce irregularities in the temperature data.
Using the integration method, however this would
require more complete initial data such as hourly
weather readings.
Calculating convection instead of relying on -values
Month
Figure 8. Degree day comparison of energy consumption in

Nagambie and Multan
Overall, this method is more reliable as it displays the energy used

in both the heating and cooling done by an automated system
To further investigate the reduction of energy consumption, these

single-glazed windows were replaced by double pane, vinylframed windows with an air space of 6.4 mm. This application
32
saves the homeowner about $180/year, assuming the cost of

electricity for heating is $0.095/kWh.
Energy Consumption
Based on data of a typical 4-person household, the average
household electricity usage in Nagambie, Australia is the lowest
in the summer (16.4 kWh/day) and the highest in the winter (19.3
kWh/day). On a daily basis, energy consumption reaches 18.1
kWh/day or 6,617 kWh/year. This translates to 10,712.18
kWh/capita.
Comparison of Application
The following were assumed to properly design the CPV system
for both locations: because of similar population size, the CPV
systems in both Nagambie and Multan each serve a community of
1,500 people, meaning 375 4-person households. Instead of
single-glazed windows, each home contains the more costfriendly option of double-glazed windows. Each location also sees
an average of eight hours of direct sunlight in one day. The
coefficient of performance of the reverse cycle air conditioner in
each home is 0.8.
Less data is available for Multan, however the country shows a 90

billion kWh consumption each year, and 449.25 kWh/capita [18].
Logistics
In terms of logistics, the installation of a power plant in Nagambie
is very much feasible. Manufacturing facilities and transport to
install the system are both available, and in accordance with
government policies. In fact, Australias largest CPV facility, a
1.5 MW power station, was to be stationed close by in Mildura,
Victoria. However, the project was shelved in August 2014 after
rumors of the dismantling of the Renewable Energy Target, a
scheme designed to ensure that 20% of Australias electricity
comes from renewable sources by 2020. Regardless, Nagambies
power plant is at a smaller scale and would take advantage of the
countrys sunlight, especially at a time when Australia continually
receives criticism for producing such little solar energy despite its
advantageous and vast resources.
Like current CPV systems on the market, both proposed CPV

systems in Multan and Pakistan operate at 30% efficiency. The
proposed CPV systems contain a number of units, each unit made
of eight 10 kW panels. The area of one unit is 12 m2. Instead of
each home installing a number of units onto their roofs, the entire
CPV system will be mounted on open land space.
Based on these calculations, Nagambies single CPV system
consists of 4 units while Multans CPV system consists of 5 units.
For Nagambie and Multan, the differences in the application of
CPV technology then takes into account the following aspects:
Geography and Climate
With many in Pakistan receiving little to no electricity, the need

for this form of renewable energy is critical. Yet as a developing
country, Pakistans potential for renewable energy has yet to be
taken full advantage of. Regarding funding, fortunately, the
Pakistani government began to realize their large ambition of
harnessing solar energy by launching the countrys first largescale PV project in the same province of Punjab in September
2014. Otherwise, CPV technology is relatively new to the area.
Creating a CPV power plant, however, is feasible. Transport is
available, as Multan is well connected in road infrastructure.
Domestic manufacturers would require rapid investment in
capacity and machinery of international standards. Reflecting this
note, a CPV plant for Multan can reap great rewards in energy
supply as long as serious investment is spent.
Analysis (Results and Discussion)
The geography and climate of the two locations are integral to the
success of a CPV system that powers heating and cooling. While
both locations receive plenty of sunlight, the system must also be
able to function efficiently in the winter months lacking sunlight.
Nagambie sits 134 m above sea level. Water supply is constant
through its lake, lagoons, and wetlands supplied by the nearby
Goulburn River. Winter months from June to August are the
coldest, with the lowest average monthly temperature as 7.5 C in
July based on 2013 data. December through February are the
hottest months of the year, with the monthly average high
temperature reaching 42.6 C in December. Nagambie has a DNI
of 5.0 kW/m2/day. While the town does not necessarily receive
the most sunlight in the country, its status as a typical Australian
town makes it an ideal candidate in examining the feasibility of
creating widespread CPV systems. Nagambies CPV system calls
for a small area of land, over 50 m2, when considering that each
unit requires space to rotate when tracking the sun.
Analyzing our calculations, double-glazed windows are more cost

effective by an average of about $180/year (using degree days)
and about 1.72 times more effective at insulation. Both locations
would benefit in the long run by installing double-glazed windows
as opposed to single-glazed windows.
With an altitude of 216 m, Multan is a relatively flat and fertile

plain, perfect for agriculture. Its location makes for an arid climate
of hot summers and mild winters, with seasons opposite to
Australia. In the winter, from December to February, Multan
experiences the Western Disturbance, a global phenomenon that
induces mild rainfall. Average monthly temperatures reach a low
in January at 7.7 C. The long, summer months from May to
September commonly see dust storms. Otherwise, Multan
receives a majority of sunlight, with extremely high temperatures
that often cause summer heat waves. The highest average monthly
temperature is a whopping 44.6 C in May. Multans DNI is
approximately 5.5 kWh/m2/day. Multans system requires 61 m2
of land.
In Nagambie, the weather is much more moderate temperaturewise, having a low temperature of 7.5C and high at 42.6 C. the
overall average of 22.2C yields a 2.9 MWh/year/house usage for
heating and cooling.
On the other hand, Multan has an overall slightly hotter climate
with a temperature range average of 7.7C - 44.6C, and an
overall average of 27.5C. This would cause Multan to have a
slightly higher usage at 3.6 MWh/year/house for heating and
cooling.
33
Conclusions and Recommendations

Both Nagambie and Multan will benefit from CPV, largely due to
their high DNIs and room for expansion in renewable, sustainable
energy. CPV only requires an initial investment and is guaranteed
to last for 20 years with estimates reaching over 40 years, while
current energy sources require ongoing household charges in
addition to transport costs.
7.
8.
Current electricity costs around the Nagambie area costs around

$0.22/kWh, whereas CPV in a community could cost only $0.05$0.10/kWh. These costs are so low not only because the resource
is renewable, but because more raw energy can be directly
transferred to homes since the CPV systems would be sitting
within a community.
9.
10.
At a different and more personal perspective, both areas could
widely benefit from using double-glazed windows in each home
as opposed to single-glazed windows. Although the initial cost
would be more, installing double-glazed windows can save
upwards of $180 each year.
11.
If at further consideration, these two locations decide on other

forms of renewable energy, other possible solutions for both
Nagambie and Multan may include the usual, non-concentrated
photovoltaic systems and/or hydroelectricity. For nonconcentrated PV systems, the two locations still receive enough
sunlight, allowing more common PV systems to be the less
expensive route. However, CPV still ranks higher in efficiency.
With regard to hydroelectricity, both locations do have bodies of
water in the area that can be utilized for power generation.
However, the availability of water, a key constraint on the future
of hydroelectricity generation, may not be as widespread as
previously thought. For Australia, hydropower is created from
water storages the dams of major river valleys, making most
hydropower opportunities in the country already realized. Pakistan
has showed interest in hydropower, but their plans require larger
foreign investment.
12.
13.
14.
15.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2011). Nagambie 2011

Census QuickStats.
Australian Renewable Energy Agency, (2012). High
efficiency, multi-junction CPV solar cells on low cost large
area silicon substrates. Abbotsford, VIC.
Arzon Solar, L. (2014). Arzon Solar Technology. [online]
Arzon Solar. Available at: http://arzonsolar.com/technology/
[Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Green Rhino Energy, (2014). Concentrating Photovoltaics |
Solar
Power.
[online]
Available
at:
http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/technologies/pv_con
centration.php [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Royne, A., Dey, C. and Mills, D. (2014). Cooling of
photovoltaic cells under concentrated illumination: a critical
review.
[online]
Science
Direct.
Available
at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092702480
4003071 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
CPV World Map 2011. (2014). 1st ed. [PDF] Available at:
http://www.qualenergia.it/sites/default/files/articolo-
16.
17.
18.
34
doc/Mappa%20fotovoltaico%20a%20concentrazione%20nel
%20mondo.pdf [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Meza, E. (2014). Concentrated PV solar set to boom.
[online] pv magazine. Available at: http://www.pvmagazine.com/news/details/beitrag/concentrated-pv-solarset-to-boom_100013699/#axzz3FH0Deckb [Accessed 1 Oct.
2014].
Soitec, (2014). Concentrix Technology: Q&A. [online]
Available
at:
http://www.soitec.com/en/technologies/concentrix/questionsand-answsers/ [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
3 Tier, (2014). What is Direct Normal Irradiance?. [online]
Available
at:
http://www.3tier.com/en/support/solarprospecting-tools/what-direct-normal-irradiance-solarprospecting/ [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Semprius, (2014). CPV Technology. [online] Available at:
http://semprius.com/the-semprius-difference/cpv-technology/
Parkinson, G. (2014). Silex Systems sees CPV costs below
10c/kWh. [online] Renew Economy. Available at:
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/silex-systems-sees-cpvcosts-below-10ckwh-86400 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Montgomery, J. (2013). Raising the CPV Bar: New
Efficiency Records for Solar Cells And Modules. [online]
Renewable
Energy
World.
Available
at:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/201
3/09/raising-the-cpv-bar-new-records-for-solar-cells-andmodules [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Bullis, K. (2014). Startup Demonstrates Ultra-efficient
Stacked Solar Cells. [online] MIT Technology Review.
Available
at:
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529651/stackingcells-could-make-solar-as-cheap-as-natural-gas/ [Accessed 1
Oct. 2014].
Calculating Degree Days. 2014. Calculating Degree Days.
[online] Available at: http://www.degreedays.net/calculation.
Degree-Days - Energy Explained, Your Guide To
Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration.
2014. Degree-Days - Energy Explained, Your Guide To
Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration.
[online]
Available
at:
http://www.eia.gov/Energyexplained/index.cfm?page=about
_degree_days. [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
Home Heating Energy. 2014. Home Heating Energy. [online]
Available
at:
http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/heatloss.html. [Accessed 1 Oct.
2014].
MSZ-GE Series - 6.0 kW - 8.0 kW Inverter Split System Air
Conditioning - Mitsubishi Electric. 2014. MSZ-GE Series 6.0 kW - 8.0 kW Inverter Split System Air Conditioning Mitsubishi
Electric.
[online]
Available
at:
http://www.mitsubishielectric.com.au/MSZ-GE-8kw-airconditioner.htm. [Accessed 1 Oct. 2014].
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). 2014. U.S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA). [online] Available
at: http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=pk.
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPLEMENTATION IN LAJAMU & CHAMAREL

Jean Christophe Etiennette, Hossein Mahdavi, Andrew Dix
Keywords: Sustainable Energy, Photovoltaic Solar Power
creating more economic stability for the people of the town, and
helping to renew trust toward government.
The government is currently spending large sums on infrastructure
in communities around NT, one of which is Lajamanu. Work on
refurbishments and construction of new houses has commenced in
2012 for Lajamanu, Lajamanu now join 49 Northern Territory
communities and a number of Town Camps benefiting from the
Governments unprecedented level of investment in housing and
infrastructure., Local Indigenous people will have access to
employment and training opportunities as part of the housing
works, with a target of 20 per cent Indigenous employment over
the duration of the program [4]. While this is good for the
community, it places extra strain on the electricity requirement of
the town.
Abstract
Sustainable, renewable energy generation is quickly becoming
realized as a requirement for the future of the planet we live on. If
we do not begin utilizing the abundance of naturally occurring
power sources, and eliminating outdated heavily polluting
methods of power generation, Earth and mankinds future will be
bleak. We will be focusing on opportunities in Lajamanu,
Northern Territory, Australia and Chamarel, Mauritius:
Conducting a feasibility study to identify the possibilities of
investments into various renewable energy projects in these two
places. This paper addresses a proposal for eliminating need for
diesel power generation in Lajamanu, and coal power generation
in Chamarel with renewable and low emissions.
Accurate population data for Lajamanu is hard to secure, the

Government Implementation Plan 2011 [2] estimates 845
people - These numbers are based on the 2006 Census, adjusted
using Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates as the census
under-counted Indigenous populations. It estimates growth of
~38% by 2026. [2]. For the purposes of this study we will
consider the energy requirement to be meeting this projection of
population growth at 2026 (~1170 people). We will assume 3
people per house, which gives us ~390 homes to provide for.
Introduction
Tasked with considering possible renewable energy alternatives
for Lajamanu, Australia and Chamarel Mauritius, this paper will
outline a strategy to completely remove dependence on
environmental damaging methods of power generation in both
communities by means of environmentally sound generation and a
self-sustaining battery plant for periods of slow/no generation.
While Lajamanu already has some solar capacity, it was designed
to provide only ~30% of requirements for the community during
the day time period [1]. The rest of the power is generated via a
diesel power plant. It is our goal to analyse what would be
required to completely remove the need for the diesel plant in the
community, thus greatly reducing the environmental impact of
power generation.
Given the projection of growth of the community and that diesel

price will continue to rise. Lajamanu will need a more sustainable
source of energy than diesel for their environmental and economic
future.
Chamarel is a village in the southwest of Mauritius with a
population of 700. It is named after the Frenchman Charles
Antoine de Chazal de Chamarel, who lived in the area around
1800. Assuming, as we have with Lajamanu, that we have 3
people per house. This gives us a count of ~230 houses to provide
for.
Lajamanu is located in the northern part of Tanami Desert

between Alice Springs and Darwin. Being close to the center of
Australia, it has a hot, dry climate.
It is a community comprised mainly of aboriginal people (87%)
mostly of Warlpiri and Gurindji decent [2]. The town is governed
by a local tribal council in conjunction with the Lajamanu
Community Government Council. The town attempts to stay as
close as possible to traditional values, however, the EuroAustralian culture is very pervasive. The School ran a bilingual
Warlpiri-English curriculum from 1982 until 2008. In 2008 the
Minister for Education and Training, Marion Scrymgour, ruled
that all teaching would be in English only for the first 4 hours of
each day (Memorandum 2008/2527) [3]. Historical factors, mixed
with problems such as this have led to a community that does not
feel well represented or protected by the Australian Government
at large.
Chamarel is primarily known for its scenic locations and nature

attractions in its neighborhood. Among them are the Seven
Colored Earth, the Chamarel Falls and the Black River Gorges
National Park. The surrounding area is also known for its locally
grown coffee and for the famous Rhum distillery [5].
Mauritius does not have the capabilities and technology to
manufacture related equipment due to limited proportion of total
Government expenditure to high-tech services. Therefore, the
knowledge and technology must be obtained from worlds major
wind plant suppliers.
The country is exposed to very high winds from tropical cyclones.
These cyclones occur during the summer season and may be
harmful to wind turbines. As a result of the prevailing cyclones,
all wind turbines have to be of such a design that they can resist
such severe cyclonic wind conditions [6].
The implementation of a large scale solar park would create jobs,

helping toward one of the goals of the Council of Australian
Governments; closing the gap in indigenous disadvantage [2],
35
During 19871991 a few companies attempted to construct wind

power plants. Unfortunately, severe weather conditions destroyed
some of the turbines in the region.
The Maritius Government supports the development of wind
power in rural areas such as Chamarel. The government policy is
centered on removing the need for imported oil for power
generation. Wind power development is considered a priority, and
politically favourable. However, it seems the Government, due to
a lack of funds is only interested in external investment. The
Ministry of Public Utilities created a new pre-qualification notice
for wind power farms in the range of 1030 MW on a BOO basis
(Build Operate Own) in 1998 [7]. This means they have put the
onus entirely upon companies to invest, which will limit any
possibilities to those with the most profitability, rather than the
best environmental outcomes. A Memorandum of Understanding
will soon be signed with the Government of India, under which
Mauritius will benefit from the technical assistance of India in
terms of appropriate studies for the setting up of a wind farm in
the country [6].
given in this text are not accurate to either environment, they will
give us a reasonable guide with some minor error.
Table 1. U-Factors value
U-Factors (Double Door, Wood/Vinyl Frame) [8]
Figure 2.
Single Pane
5.57
Double Pane (Ins.)
3.09
Triple Pane (Ins.)
2.21
This lets us take an integral of ( ) over the day to form the
complete daily requirement for heat transfer to combat with
heating and cooling. (Some multipliers are required as t has been
modeled in hours).
24
()
0
[J/day]
(3)
Method
The basis for our calculation will be that houses need to be
maintained at a constant temperature of 23C, with heat transfer
considered only through windows. This requirement of a constant
temperature will create the correction factor required as we are
neglecting other heat transfer (ie. through walls, roof, etc). While
this is obviously an approximation, we believe relatively little
error will be found in the overall energy requirement values as it
is unlikely that users will keep their homes at these constant
temperature requirements.
Figure 2. Daily requirement for heat transfer

This is the basis for formulation of the tables in the appendix. It is
not exact by any means, however we believe it is a relatively
accurate model.
Weve modeled temperature change throughout the day as a

Gaussian function peaking at 13:30 to account for the changing
heat transfer throughout the day.
()
Where:
min )
(13 5)2
22
[C]
We have worked off the basis that a general household will use
approximately 10kWh (36MJ) per day before heating and cooling
and that 4/5 of houses will use gas heating, as electrical resistance
heating is terribly inefficient.
(1)
t time of day [hours in 24 hour time]

T is in C
The power plants need to be capable of supplying enough

electricity during maximum requirement periods. However, with a
battery plant, we can make sure that any down time in solar/wind
supply can be managed. With this taken into account usage
requirements on a per day basis will give us accurate
approximations of the real world requirements in both Lajamanu
and Chamarel.
Options for Powering Lajamanu
As irradiance is high in the area, we will only be considering solar
power; whether photovoltaic or thermal is the question.
Thermal Solar, while having the potential of providing a more
efficient conversion of irradiance to electricity than photovoltaic,
it is a more capital intensive method, and will require more
maintenance. Less research has been conducted around it, and it
has not yet been field proven on a large scale. It is also better
suited to a larger scale than a small community such as this.
Photovoltaic on the other hand has been field proven, the
technology is known, and relatively simple to implement;
therefore cost estimates should prove accurate, making an easier
sale to involved parties (ie. Government bodies).
Figure 1. Temperature change throughout the day

Taking heat transfer out of or into houses as only through
windows, using an approximate window area of 15m per house,
heat transfer for any given time can be modeled with the
equation: ()
()
[W]
(2)
Overall U-factors for transfer through known mediums are

defined via testing and computer simulation [8]. While values
36
As such we have decided a photovoltaic solar park is best suited

to the community.
This equates to a solar farm of ~5800 of the panels discussed.

However, as Lajamanu already has some capability in this regard;
30% when irradiance is available. Based on this we have assumed
this current capability is enough to do 15% of total daily
requirements, thus, extra paneling requirements to Lajamanu will
be ~4930 of the panels previously discussed.
Photovoltaic Solar Power in Lajamanu

The efficiency of photovoltaic cells can be taken as ~15% based
on using REC panels as used in the Chang Rai, Thailand 9.5MW
power plant [9].
Options for Powering Chamarel
One of the issues in the past with photovoltaic cells is degradation

of the cells efficiency, best shown in the Carrisa Plains plant built
in 1986, showing cell degradation at the rate of ~10%pa [10].
Wind energy is considered an important resource of renewable

energy, especially in regard to providing electricity for remote
communities. Wind power has the advantage over solar that it is
normally available throughout the day, that is, 24 hours per day
whereas solar is only available during daylight (~12hrs). However
wind energy availability is less predictable and is not constant
throughout the day. Hence proper power storage has to be taken
into consideration for the system. For Chamarel village, it has
been observed that wind turbine will be more efficient and
appropriate option for implementation.
Fortunately with improvements over the past two decades, we can

now expect at worst case only a 0.7% p.a. degradation as per the
10 year warranty given by REC on their panels [9].
Another consideration is the conversion efficiency from DC to
AC, as cells produce electricity in DC. In 2005 a conversion
efficiency of 73% could be expected [11]. However, with
improvements in technologies over the last decade, a minimum of
80% efficiency can be expected when using even the most
inefficient methods of conversion. We will use this figure for our
calculations.
Wind Power in Chamarel

A wind turbine has a theoretical maximum efficiency of 59.3%
according to Betz law for any wind turbine design extracting
power from the wind [12] and 47% for a three blade rotor design.
These efficiency losses are caused by different configurations,
turbine designs and rotor blades [13]. A grid-connected system
will fill the demand when the wind speed is less than average and
no power is generated. This will allow the user to send electricity
back to the grid when more electricity is produced than required
[14]. A grid-connected system will have an efficiency of ~88%
[15] due to the conversion of DC to AC. Temperature fluctuations
are not as high in Chamarel as we have seen in Lajamanu, as such,
maintaining the house at the required temperature of 23C will see
less energy loss (shown in appendix table B-1)
There is also a power requirement for driving panel movement to

capture the most irradiance possible by angling and directing the
panels. However, the amount of power used by this can be direct
from paneling, thus having no conversion loss from DC to AC.
This loss we believe will be small enough to neglect.
This equates to an overall efficiency from the degradation of
panels and conversion of irradiance to electrical energy combined
with the efficiency of the DC to AC conversion of:-
Electrical energy from solar panels:
[J/m2]
(4)
Paneling requirements:(5)
Data has been taken from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology

gathered at the Lajamanu Airport climate record site (014829).
Temperature data averaged from 1967 2014, Irradiance data
averaged from 1990 2014.
Figure 3. Typical wind turbine system overview (2010) [17]

The diagram above shows an example of a three bladed rotor
wind turbine mounted on a guyed pole tower, working directly to
a house. It can be seen that the electricity generated by the wind
turbine travelling to a controller making sure that it operates
within safe limits and then passes through an inverter where the
electricity is converted from DC to AC.
It is with the above requirements and considerations we have

calculated a requirement of 24.7m of paneling per household
after 10 years of panel degradation, based on houses having single
pane windows and the worst case scenario of mean maximum and
mean minimum temperatures and irradiance seen in Lajamanu.
This occurs in the winter month of June, as the available
irradiance is substantially less at 17.7 MJ per day. Although
household power consumption is not as high (due to less heat
transfer, based on our calculations), more paneling is required to
capture the available energy.
As shown in the appendix calculations, we are recommending 7m

diameter turbines, which are capable of producing at the worst
case wind speed averages ~0.57kW. Based on the equations
listed:37
If using triple pane windows with a 6.4 mm air space, insulated

interface and no coatings (giving a U-Factor of 2.21 W/m.K [1]),
we see a ~60% decrease in heat transfer with an overall energy
usage decrease of ~15.5%. When looking at the paneling
requirement per house, we see that a basic set up triple glazed
window gives a 20.2 m per household requirement. This is 15.7%
less than the requirement of single pane windows. In terms of
paneling requirement, this brings the requirement down to ~4800
panels (~1000 less): A substantial saving in the outlay for the
solar park.
(6)
Where:
(4)
It begs the question as to what is the most cost efficient and

sustainable method to attack the problem. A 15.7% smaller solar
park and battery plant is a large saving, however, as previously
mentioned our method of equating heat transfer through only the
windows leaves much room for error. It is likely a reasonable
example of real world requirements, based on the fact that we
would not expect people to so fastidiously maintain an interior
temperature of 23C, as such, the errors of neglecting transfer
through the walls and roof of the homes is somewhat taken into
account. However, changing the real resistance to heat transfer for
the homes will be a much bigger task than just changing the
windows. As such, nothing definitive can be drawn from these
numbers. They can only serve as a guide of what would be saved
if houses were more thermally efficient throughout.
Figure 4. Power produced vs wind speed
Power Storage Capability
As shown power produced is cubically proportional to wind

speed. This means at low wind speed we see substantial drops in
the power we can generate.
The main concern, if wanting to run a town on purely solar or

wind power, is that we need to be able to service power needs
while there is no available source of power generation. A battery
plant of 25,600 lithium-manganese cells, 5 MWh of storage
capacity, and cost six million euros was built recently in
Germany [16]. A plant such as this could provide the power
required during the down time we will see in Lajamanu or
Chamarel without concern.
In Lajamanu, capacity to allow for the 2026 predicted population,
assuming 12 hours per day of zero irradiance and based on our
worst case requirement in December of 51.8 MJ (14.4 kWh) per
day. To service the 390 houses in Lajamanu a 2.8 MWh battery
plant would be sufficient to have no power source for the
community other than the solar park discussed.
In Chamarel, the situation is very different. As power generation
is cubically proportional to velocity, if wind speed is to halve we
lose almost all power generating capability. As such, we need to
have enough back-up to last a day of no generation. The power
requirement exists in July at a magnitude of 43.1 MJ (11.97 kWh)
usage per house per day. To be able to provide power for the
population of 700, ~230 houses, we would require a 2.8MWh
battery plant. The same size as Lajamanu, even though the
requirement is for 160 less houses.
Figure 5. Power produced over the year
Possible Implementation Savings

The houses resistance to heat transfer plays a substantial part in
the power generation requirement for the area, if we are to
maintain a 23C interior temperature. As shown in the appendix
table A-1, 26% of total energy usage is attributed to
heating/cooling requirements induced by heat transfer.
This will cover the community requirements, under all conditions

the area will likely see, and eliminate the need for connection to
the coal plant power source.
If double pane windows with a 6.4 mm air space, insulated

interface and no coatings are used (giving a U-Factor of 3.09
W/m.K [8]), we lower the heat transfer per house by ~45%. This
equates to an overall energy usage of ~12% less energy required
to maintain a comfortable standard of living. This brings our
paneling requirement down to 21.8 m per household.
A cost-benefit analysis would need to be carried out in regard to

the maintenance cost of the community being connected to the
power grid to decide whether or not the expenditure would be
worth the outlay, but in an area where power is generated
primarily in diesel power plants (Lajamanu), or in Coal power
38
plants (Mauritius), avoiding the common methods is very

environmentally desirable.
7.
Discussion & Conclusion
As outlined the only issue working against the viability of the
proposal to implement sustainable, environmentally friendly
electricity generation methods in either community is cost. The
benefits are clear for all involved parties.
8.
For reasons described previously, decreasing losses due to heat

transfer on a community wide scale for either area will be more
expensive than creating extra capacity in the plants. It would
require a complete redesign of housing to achieve worthwhile
results and is simply not practical.
9.
However, the community of Lajamanu is expanding at a relatively

fast rate, which will require more housing: A possibility for
creating a more sustainable future is increasing requirements of
new housing in regard to resistance to heat transfer.
11.
10.
12.
Unfortunately in Chamarel, it seems unlikely that a complete
package of wind farm and battery plant will be introduced until
truly economically viable, rather than environmentally required,
due to the governments position on investment in the area.
13.
These sustainable energy alternatives are completely viable in

both communities. However, they would be very costly and
require government backing to succeed, as it is not currently
economically viable for companies to make these sort of
investments into energy that will take many years to pay off, when
other less environmentally friendly cheaper alternatives are
available.
14.
15.
16.
Reference
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Solar Systems, Queensland & Northern Territory

Installations,
viewed
6
October
2014,
<http://solarsystems.com.au/installations/hermannsburg,yuendumu-and-lajamanu>.
Hampton K.R. et al., Lajamanu Local Implementation
Plan, Northern Territory State Government (2011), 7-12.
Four Corners, Chronology: The Bilingual Education Policy
in the Northern Territory", Four Corners (2009), viewed 6
October
2014,
<http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20090914/langl
lan/chronology.htm>.
Burns C. et al., Leases signed for Hermannsburg and
Lajamanu, Northern Territory Government (2011), viewed
2
October
2014,
<http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/238323
Mauritius Attractions, The Village of Chamarel, Mauritius
Attractions,
viewed
2
October2014,
<http://mauritiusattractions.com/chamarel-village-mauritiusi-103.html>.
Sids Net, Mauritius NAR 2003 SIDSnet (2004), The Socio
Economic Context 5, viewed 2 October 2014,
17.
18.
19.
39
<http://www.sidsnet.org/docshare/other/20040113105550_M
auritius_NAR_2003.pdf>.
Palanichamy, C. et al., Renewable energy investment
opportunities in Mauritiusan investors perspective,
Science
Direct,
viewed
1
October
2014,
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148
103003057>.
Cengel, Y.A. & Ghajar, A.J, Heat and Mass Transfer:
Fundamentals and Applications, 4th Ed., SI Units,
McGraw-Hill (2011), 557-558.
REC Group Rec Peak Energy Series Panels, viewed 23
September
2014,
<http://www.recgroup.com/en/products/recpeakenergyseries/
Wenger, H.J. et al., Decline of the Carrisa Plains PV power
plant, Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1991,
Conference Record of the Twenty Second IEEE (1991).
Marion B. et al., Performance Parameters for GridConnected PV Systems, Photovoltaics Specialists
Conference 2005, Conference Record of the Thirty First
IEEE (2005).
Innovateus, What is Betz law, Innovateus (2013), viewed
6
October
2014,
<http://www.innovateus.net/earthmatters/what-betz-law>
Ragheb, M., Optimal Rotor Tip Speed Ratio,
Mragheb.com (2014), viewed 5 October 2014,
<http://mragheb.com/NPRE%20475%20Wind%20Power%2
0Systems/Optimal%20Rotor%20Tip%20Speed%20Ratio.pdf
Energy.Gov, Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Systems,
Energy.Gov
(2012)
viewed
2
October
2014,
<http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/grid-connectedrenewable-energy-systems>
Hau, E., Wind Turbines Fundamentals, Technologies,
Applications, Economics, 2nd Ed, Springer (2005), 488
Richardson J, 25,000 Cell Battery Power Plant Switched On
In Germany, Clean Technica (2014), viewed 1 October
2014,
<http://cleantechnica.com/2014/09/19/25000-cellbattery-power-plant-switched-germany/>
Enhar, Small Wind Turbine Consumer Guide, Office of
environment & heritage, NSW (2004) viewed 2 October
2014,
<http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/households/
NSWSmallWindTurbineConsumerGuide.pdf>
Enhar, Sustainability Victoria, Victorian Consumer Guide
to Small Wind Turbine Generation, Sustainability Victoria
(2010) viewed 4 October 2014,
<http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/~/media/resources/doc
uments/publications%20and%20research/knowledge%20arc
hive/small%20scale%20renewable%20technology/wind%20i
n%20urban%20areas/archive%20small%20wind%20generati
on%20jul%202010.pdf>
Wind
Finder,
Wind
&
weather
statistics
Plaisance/Mauritius, Wind Finder (2010), viewed 1 October
2014,
<http://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/plaisance_maurit
ius?fspot=riambel>
Appendix
40
41
42
43
44
PRODUCER GAS, A SOURCE OF RURAL DOMESTIC ENERGY

Wallace Ho, Thomas Joset UnterHolzner, Tim Simmons
Keywords: Gasification, Carbonaceous Matter
there are plenty of trees available. These include the likes of oak
and pine.
Abstract
Small rural towns suffer from a lack of affordable domestic
energy. Through the gasification of woody matter, power can be
created by combusting the produced gas in an internal combustion
engine connected to a generator to create usable electric power.
This power can in turn be used to heat and cool the homes of
nearby residences. The energy requirements of the two towns
considered was estimated through a simple thermodynamic
analysis of the heat lost to the environment through the windows
of a house due to the temperature difference between desired
temperature and environment temperature. The two towns
considered have very different power requirements due to both
number of residences and local average temperatures. The
suitability of gasification to supply the power needs of the two
towns is considered to be feasible in both cases, however in the
case of the overseas location some doubt exists concerning the
effects that might take place to the environment through the
removal of too many trees. Alternative energy sources considered
are solar and hydro. Hydro in particular is considered to be a
suitable solution to the power needs of both towns.
Introduction to Gasification
The process of gasification is one in which carbonaceous matter is
turned into a gaseous, combustible fuel source. When a
carbonaceous matter such as coal or wood is burnt with an excess
of oxygen the primary result is carbon dioxide given by the
formula:
C + O2 = CO2 -401.9 kJ/mol
However when combustion takes place within an environment
with a lack of O2 the result becomes carbon monoxide given by:
C + O2 = CO -283 kJ/mol
Carbon monoxide is a combustible gas which can be used to fuel
internal combustion engines, thus proving a useful source of
power. Presented below in figure 1 is a schematic of the general
layout of a gasification system with its key elements.
Introduction
In our group research paper we concentrated on the usage and
efficiency of producer gas in two small villages with different
needs. In general producer gas (also called 'wood gas') was used
in times of fuel shortages such as during wars. The raw materials
for gasification is easy accessed in most regions of the world in
comparison to other energy sources and can be simply carried in
vehicles for the most part. That is why there where about half a
million wood-gas vehicles in Germany after WW2 [1]. There are
different reasons why wood-gas is not used commonly, one of
them is that the power plants are not technically mature and so it
takes a lot of time and experience to use this sustainable energy.
We chose two different villages which have no good access to
mains power networks and no problems to provide the needed
amounts of woody matter required for gasification.
Figure 1. Typical Configuration of a Gasification System [3]

The make-up of the gas produced by a gasifier varies depending
on many factors such as; moisture content, size of matter, charring
properties and temperature of formation. However for the most
part, a gasifier will produce gas with approximately the following
composition:
Australian Location
Table 1. Typical producer gas composition [3]

Component
Wood gas %vol. Charcoal %vol.
Nitrogen
50 54
55 65
Carbon monoxide
17 22
28 32
Carbon dioxide
6 15
13
Hydrogen
12 20
4 10
Methane
23
02
Licola is a small community consisting of about 21 inhabitants.

The town is located about 250km to the east of Melbourne. A
general store forms the middle of the village, with a petrol station
and a post office, with a manageable amount of houses scattered
around it. One of its main industries besides tourism and farming
is logging, which makes producer gas to a good option in supply
of energy [2].
Producer gas may be used by itself as the source of fuel in spark

ignition engines or it can form up to 90% [3] of the composition
of fuel for compression ignition engines. That said, producer gas
has a far lower heat value [4] as compared to petroleum and as
such a significant power loss will result from its use in an
unmodified engine.
Overseas Location
Danba village is a charming cottage village in Sichuan, China. It
is quite isolated and the 150 families live mostly from agriculture
and tourism. Surrounding the village is mountainous terrain where
45
The volumetric efficiency of an engine is lessened as a result of

the pressure drop caused by the connection of the gasifier. To
counter this pressure drop in the inlet manifold it is common
practice to turbo or supercharge the engine used so as to create a
higher inlet pressure and as such increase the volumetric
efficiency and hence power available.
matter containing high amounts of ash also tends to cause

slagging difficulties.
Producer gas fuelled engines must be run at a lower operating

speed due to a low flame speed compared to petroleum [5]. This
in practice results in a maximum operating speed of fewer than
2500 Rpm [3].
The air fuel ratio is also important to get correct; otherwise the
engine will achieve poor fuel consumption. This is a difficult task
to achieve in practice because a gasifier doesnt produce the same
gas all the time. The gas composition produced is dependent on
the volume flow rate of air through the gasifier, thus a mechanism
needs to be present to constantly match air and fuel for the
particular load.
Figure 2. Down-Draught Gasifier [3]

Cross-draught: The cross-draught design is primarily designed for
use with charcoal, thus it produces low amounts of ash and tar
resulting in the need for far less filtering. The primarily feature of
the cross-draught design is that it uses the fuel as insulation from
the high temperatures produced by the combustion of charcoal.
The disadvantage of the cross-draught design is the need for good
quality charcoal which will produce few tars and which comes at
a price premium.
Further, gasifiers produce a considerable amount of tar and dust,

that if allowed to enter into an engine would very quickly ruin it.
For this reason extensive filtration needs to take place to limit the
amount of unwanted matter entering the engine.
Types of Gasifiers
The three main types of gasifier that have been adopted in recent
history for small scale gasification are; up-draught, down-draught
and cross-draught. The specific designs are discussed below.
Gasification Fuels
The primary fuels suited to gasification consist of; charcoal, wood
(sticks, mulch, chippings, blocks) and agricultural waste (husks,
shells, cobs and straws).
Up-draught: This design is the simplest form of gasifier to

produce. The basic configuration consists of air entering at the
base of the gasifier, where pyrolysis takes place of the fuel source.
The hot gases then move upwards through the supply of fuel,
heating it up in advance, thus minimising heat loss to the
environment. The cooled gases then exit the gasifier at the top, via
a cyclone filter to remove any large ashes present.
It is of primary importance to match a gasifiers design to the type

of fuel to be used and to what format the fuel will come in. Its a
common misconception that any biological matter can be thrown
in and satisfactory gas will come out. The use of a fuel source in a
gasifier not suited to that particular fuel will result in weak gas
and most likely excessive levels of ash and tars.
The disadvantages of the up-draught design are the excessive

amounts of fine ash and tar that come with the gas. The ash may
be removed by filters, however the tars are very difficult to
remove and thus make this design unsuitable for use with an
internal combustion engine. This design however is most suited to
external combustion engines or where heat is required directly.
The energy content of the fuel to be gasified needs also to be

considered. The energy content of various substances is presented
below:
Table 2. Typical Energy Contents of Fuels
Down-draught: This design is very similar to that of the updraught, yet results in far fewer unwanted ashes and tars in the gas
produced. A cross section is shown in figure 2 below. The air
enters near the base of the gasifier directly into the hearth zone
from where it travels downward through the reduction zone
resulting in a gas that is mostly tar free due to not passing through
the distillation zone where the tars are produced. Any tars
produced in the distillation zone also have to pass through the
very hot hearth and reduction zone thus cracking them into gases.
The resulting gas is then filtered to remove any trace dust and ash
particles, cooled and then sent to an internal combustion engine.
Fuel:
Petroleum
Charcoal
Wood
peat
Agricultural waste
Energy Content MJ/kg

44
30
20
13
15
The level of dust, tars and acids permitted to enter an internal

combustion engine without causing it undue harm is in the order
of:
Table 3. Permitted level of Contaminants
Disadvantages of the down-draught design are the difficulties

sometimes encountered with certain feed stock. Less dense matter
is prone to get caught up and cause excessive pressure drops. Also
Contaminant:
Dust
Tars
Acids
46
Permitted Level mg/m3

< 50 preferably 5
< 500
< 50
Presented below is an assessment of the suitability of various fuel

sources and the issues that they can lead to.
The basic concept revolves around finding out the heath load Bg.
The hearth load is defined as the amount of gas produced (or
required, m3/hr) divided by cross sectional area of the throat in
cm2. The hearth load can have a maximum value of 0.9. From this
the diameter of the throat can be found.
Charcoal: Charcoal is the ideal fuel source for gasification due to

its low level of ash and tar production. Further charcoal has a high
bulk density which results in longer periods of operation between
refuelling. The disadvantages of charcoal are its higher cost and
loss of energy during manufacture estimated to be up to 70% in
some cases.
Various graphs exist that relate throat diameter to other

parameters such as height of nozzles above the constriction and
number and diameter of nozzles required.
Wood: Wood and its derivatives in general result in ash

production of between 0.1% to 3% ashes per unit mass. Given that
on average 1kg of wood results in 2.5m3 of gas, this means that
extensive filtration still needs to take place to reduce ash levels to
an acceptable level. The production of tars in up-draught gasifiers
is of a level far above acceptable for use in engines. Tar
production in down-draught gasifiers however is very low and is
suitable for use in engines. Wood also has a high bulk density so
that refuelling can be delayed.
Hazards
The main constitute in producer gas is carbon monoxide which is
a colourless, odours and tasteless gas. It is also extremely toxic to
humans.
Haemoglobin bonds more easily to carbon monoxide than so
oxygen; which results in no oxygen to those parts of the body that
require a constant supply of it. For this reason only very small
concentrations of carbon monoxide in the air can be fatal to
humans. Table 4 below relates concentration to effects.
Agricultural waste: Agricultural wastes tend to cause difficulties

in operation due to the high ash levels, tendency to get caught up
and cause pressure drops and the sometimes present issue of
changing make-up of waste throughout the year. Success of using
agricultural matter has been recorded, however its not
recommended for use in internal combustion engines due to its
tendency to produce high levels of ashes and tars. Further,
agricultural matter tends to have a low density, which results in
short periods of operation and the need for constant refuelling.
Table 4. Effects of Carbon Monoxide on Humans [6]

Concentration Effects
Headache and dizziness within six to eight
35 ppm
hours of constant exposure
Slight headache within two to three hours;
200 ppm
loss of judgement
400 ppm
Frontal headache within one to two hours
Headache, dizziness, and nausea within 20
1600 ppm
min; death in less than 2 hours
Headache and dizziness in one to two
6400 ppm
minutes. Convulsions, respiratory arrest,
and death in less than 20 minutes
Unconsciousness after 23 breaths. Death
12800 ppm
in less than three minutes
Gas processing
The gas produced from a gasifier is typically quite hot and
contains a fair amount of dust. Cooling of the gas is required so
that the heating value can be increased to at least 4200 kJ/m3
required by internal combustion engines to operate effectively.
Further, water can condense out of the gas when mixed with fresh
air and cause issues within the engine manifold. For these reasons
various methods are taken to reduce the temperature of the gas
and remove as much condensate as possible prior to the gas
entering the engine. Methods used are as follows:
Presented below in table 5 are the levels of carbon monoxide

produced by various sources.
Table 5. Causes for Carbon Monoxide [6]
Concentration
9 ppm
5000 ppm
7000 ppm
Radiator: The gas can be routed through radiators which can

either be cooled via natural convection or via forced convection in
a manner similar to a regular automotive radiator. Care should be
taken however to allow for condensation to escape without
impeding gas flow.
Cause
Normal air
Chimney smoke from wood fire
Car exhaust Non catalytic converted
Given that the main aim of a gasifier is to produce carbon

monoxide, it is wise to take extreme care when operating this
equipment. For this reason it is recommended to install gasifiers
outdoors with a roof to keep the weather off.
Other hazards that exist with producer gas are those relating to
general safety around heavy equipment. Care should be taken to
avoid burns and entanglement.
Scrubber: Forcing the gas through a spray of water effectively

cools the gas and removes unwanted dust, however this approach
requires increased complexity due to the need to cool the water
and also filter the water from accumulated particles.
Design of Gasifiers
Australian Location
It can be assumed at this point that the gasifiers required for the
two locations will be of the down-draught type. The key part of a
down-draught gasifier is the dimensions of the throat section.
Various studies have taken place over the years to determine the
best operating parameters for this and have resulted in empirical
data based on first-hand experience as to what dimensions work
best.
Energy requirements
The energy required to be supplied to the township of Licola,
throughout the year to support its 21 households is estimated to be
between 2 - 32KW; based on the average high and low
47
temperature data recorded in appendix 1. Its believed that this

amount of energy is sufficient to sustain the township through the
majority of weather conditions.
to this cost along with the costs mentioned above. The final cost
will depend heavily on to what level of automation is desired.
The cost of the raw fuel is estimated by [10] to be in the range of
$100 per tonne. Additional costs may apply, due to the need for
transport to the site.
On certain days of the year it will be significantly hotter or cooler

than the mean temperatures and as such more power may be
required. In these events it will become necessary for the people
of the township to use other methods to heat or cool their
dwellings. In winter a fireplace is highly recommended to
supplement the heating needs. In summer the dwellings may
become temporarily hotter than the desired temperature.
In addition to these costs are those related to the running the

power to the individual homes of residents. This cost may well be
quite substantial, however will be incurred whether the homes are
powered by a central gasifier unit or are connected to the mains.
For this reason this cost will not be considered any further in the
analysis.
Energy source
Using a cost of $100 per tonne for woody matter to be gasified,
the daily cost of operation at peak load for an individual
household is $5.32. Comparing this to the cost per day at peak
load for mains electricity with a cost of $0.095 per kWh, results in
a cost of $3.94 per household.
Licola is in the coveted position of been located in an area of

Victoria where significant timber harvesting takes place. Heyfield,
a nearby town to Licola [7] is the principle source of hardwood in
Victoria and is home to the largest timber mill in the southern
hemisphere [8]. For this reason it is assumed that an arrangement
can take place to take delivery of significant amounts of hardwood
in a suitable format for gasification.
In reality this cost will be less due to not needing to run the
gasifier at peak loads all the time. However the costs will remain
approximately 1.4 times that of mains power unless a cheaper
source of fuel can be obtained.
Australian hardwoods are in general very suitable for the

gasification process [9]. Average properties of Australian
hardwoods, specifically eucalypt are given in table 6 below.
Alternative energy sources
Table 6. Properties of Australian Harwood [9]

Gross calorific value
Carbon content
Moisture content
Gross calorific value
Energy sources available other than gasification are:

Hydro: The Macalister River flows directly next to the township
of Licola. This combined with the mountainous terrain results in a
nearly ideal area for the implementation of a small hydro scheme.
Solar: There is currently one solar powered public phone out the
front of the general store in Licola. Adoption of solar as a primary
source of power is thought to be feasible however issues of cloud
cover and blocking of the sun due to the mountainous terrain may
make this option not as desirable compared to other energy
sources.
18 20 GJ/dry tonne
49 % dry weight
39 % fresh weight
11 12 GJ/fresh weight tonne
Implementing energy source

Basing the gasifier system on the energy requirements above, a
gasifier capable of supplying 32KW peak load is required. This
results in a gasifier with a throat diameter of 120.5mm with 5
nozzles located 114.5mm above the throat. The required fuel
consumption during peak load is estimated to be 41.1 kg/h.
Calculations and assumptions are presented in appendix 5.
Overseas Location
Danba Village is a historic site with beautiful architectural
buildings surrounded by forests in the mountains. It supports
itself through farming and tourism. As Danba is located in the
mountains it is very cold reaching temperatures of minus 10C
[11] in January making heating a very difficult task.
The gas once produced can be cooled, filtered and fed into an
internal combustion engine suited to operate on fuels with low
energy content, such as those produced by Cummins [10] which
are specifically designed for such applications.
Energy requirements
To ensure that a continuous supply of power is maintained for an

acceptable time period, it is necessary to provide a bunker of
sufficient size to last a set time period. In order to require
refuelling only once a day the bunker must have a capacity of 3.29
m3. Calculations and assumptions are presented in appendix 6.
Economic factors
Danba village includes a population of 150 families [12] and if we

were to assume there is 1 house per family then we would need to
supply power to 150 houses. If we assume they use single glazing
glass 3mm thick, then each household will consume around 2
kilowatts in January, the coldest month of the year and around 0.5
kilowatt will be consumed in July, the warmest month of the year,
which also happens to be the least energy demanding month in the
year. If the villagers instead used a more insulated glass such as
double glazing with 6.4 mm of air in between then the energy
used will drop quite significantly, each house will consume
around 40% less power.
The costs of operating on producer gas as opposed to mains

electricity come from two sources. The first is the cost of the
gasification system; which includes gasifier, generator set and
related equipment such as filtration systems, shelters and fuel
storage facilities. The second is the cost of the raw fuel to be
gasified.
It has been estimated by [3] that the cost of the gasifier only can
range from 300 800$/kW. The generator set will obviously add
48
Energy source
Comparison and Analysis
The energy needed over the course of the year in Danba varies
greatly, from very cold in weather to mild in summer, so it will
need a power source that can support the change in energy
demands. We decided to take advantage of the agricultural
plantations and the surrounding trees to supply power to the
village. For the village, producing power would require harvesting
local timber as well as the remains of any crops that they have left
over.
Locations
Both locations are in remote areas and are surrounded by timbered
mountainous terrain. In both cases a large river is also present
nearby which makes the use of hydro power a possibility. The use
of hydro power is particularly recommended for Danba given its
large power needs and lack of timber industry as compared to
Licola with the timber industry forming one of its primary
industries.
There are problems with the type of crops that can be used for the
gasification process which was mentioned above, however the
type of crops that are grown is unknown and so we cannot
determine their compatibility with this power source.
Energy Requirements
Its clear that Danbas energy needs far outweigh those of Licolas
due to both shear number of homes, but also due to extreme cold
weather in that region. Both locations experience a significant
change in power needs during the year as shown in appendix 9.
Implementing energy source

Basing the gasifier system on the energy requirements of
supplying 300KW and using two gasifiers, the result is a gasifier
with a throat diameter of 260.9mm with 7 nozzles located
143.5mm above the throat. The required fuel consumption during
peak load is estimated to be 192.5 kg/h per gasifier. Calculations
and assumptions are presented in appendix 7.
Implementing system
The basic set-up of the system is the same for both locations
however the scale of the two systems is clearly different. Due to
the large energy needs of Danba it became necessary to
implement two gasifier units for effective operation. This will
come as a benefit in times of low energy need, as only one gasifier
will need to be used and thus will perform more efficiently than if
a single larger unit were operated at this lower level of demand,
which would most likely result in large amounts of ash and tar
production due to a lower hearth temperature.
To ensure that a continuous supply of power is maintained, it is

necessary to provide a bunker of sufficient size to last a set time
period. In order to require refuelling only once a day each bunker
must have a capacity of 15.4 m3. Calculations and assumptions are
presented in appendix 8.
Economic factors
Licola on the other hand only required one gasifier, which in itself
was relatively small as far as gasifiers go. This poses a difficulty
however during refuelling operations, where it will be necessary
for the gasification system to be stopped so that refuelling of the
system can take place.
If we were to assume the cost of energy was $0.095 per kWh then
the average cost for heating a house in Danba Village in January
will be $4.47 per day using single glazing and $2.48 using double
glazing. This price may be unacceptable considering the cost for
one nights accommodation in January is around $23 [13] and
there are still other costs that need to be covered; for example the
cost of the gasifier unit.
The quantity of woody matter consumed to supply the needs of

Danba is quite significant and could pose a threat to the local
environment from causing a shortage of trees. For this reason the
possibility of using the nearby river for hydro power is highly
recommended.
Another notable implication of Producer gas in Danba Village is if

the village's energy needs require them to consume a large
number of trees in addition to their spare crops, then they may
start to destroy the forest around them. This is not only bad for
the local environment, it also has the potential to damage their
scenery, which their tourism will take a heavy hit from, leaving
them with even more problems.
Economic Factors
In both cases the assumed cost of fuel and electricity was $100 per
tonne and $0.095 per kWh respectively. The costs due to heat loss
in the two locations however were not the same, due to significant
differences in temperatures. The savings due to changing to
double glazing presented in appendix 11 are quite large for
Danba, thus this change is highly recommended. The savings for
residences in Licola were also significant and should be given
consideration.
Alternative energies
Solar: Solar energy is a viable option for power generation in
Danba, however due to the mountainous terrain there may be
issues with the sun getting blocked by cloud cover.
Alternative energy sources

Hydro: Hydroelectricity is also a viable option as the village is
near a large river which could be used to develop a Hydro plant to
supply power to the village.
In both locations the possibility of solar power is limited due to

the local terrain and weather conditions. However the possibility
of a hydro scheme is quite feasible in both locations and further
research needs to be carried out to determine the specifics of
operation.
49
from the removal of too many trees from the local area to supply
the power.
Current Research
Westinghouse Plasma Gasifier
Acknowledgements
Westinghouse Plasma Corp.[16] is currently working on a plasma
gasification system that can consume a huge variety of fuel
sources including the likes of; industrial waste, biomass, coal and
even car tyres. The resulting gas is very similar to that formed by
gasification of wood, with the main constitute been carbon
monoxide. Again similar to gasification the gas produced needs to
undergo significant cleaning operations to remove all the
undesirable contaminants that come with it.
We wish to acknowledge Associate Professor M Akbar

Rhamdhani for the knowledge that he has been able to pass to us
through his lectures. We wish to acknowledge Mr Reiza Mukhlis
for his guidance during compiling the paper. We wish to
acknowledge Dr Bernard Xu for his time spent in tutorials guiding
us through practical problems.
References
A benefit of using plasma is that the temperatures reach high

enough to melt metals and thus metals can be retrieved from the
reactor for recycling into new products.
1.
2.
3.
Tar Removal
In an article from the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry
Research, the removal of tars is being analysed. The researchers
used a Ni- and Fe-based catalyst and discovered that this
combination results higher H2-to-CO ratio and lower activation
energies. For this purpose a specific temperature and
concentration of the catalysts is needed along with other such
requirement
4.
5.
6.
Cracks in Refractory
The issue with modern gasifiers [17] is the slag that forms as a byproduct of the process that attaches itself to the walls of the
gasifier, when the temperatures change, the slag expands and
contracts, propagating any microscopic cracks into larger
problematic cracks. A few other ways to reduce slag penetration
is by; reducing the pore sizes, reducing the wettability of the slag
and/or the refractory and by introducing microstructures that will
seal the surface contacting the slag.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Another proposed solution [18] is to change the chemical

composition of the slag, by adding a small amount of phosphatebased material to the slag reducing the penetration to less than
one-fifth.
Summary
11.
12.
The use a gasification to supply energy to small remote towns

such as Licola in Australia and Danba in China is feasible as far
as been able to physically supply the energy needs.
The suitability of this source of energy works well in Licola due
to its close ties to the timber industry and its rather small energy
needs.
13.
The use of gasification in Danba is not considered to be as

suitable due to the high numbers of people and low temperatures
which come together to form the need for large amounts of woody
matter to be constantly fed into the gasifier to supply the energy
needs.
16.
17.
14.
15.
18.
Given the close proximity of large rivers to both towns and the
mountainous terrain surrounding both locations, the use of hydro
power is thought to be a viable alternative to gasification
particularly in Danba with the potential for environmental damage
50
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licola,_Victoria
FAO Forestry Department, 1986, Wood gas as engine fuel,
Rome[online]
Ch.
1-2,
Available
at:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0512e/t0512e00.htm [Accessed
20 Sept. 2014]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_of_combustion
William McK. Pardee, Lieutenant Commander, USN, 1953,
Variation of burn velocity with pressure, California Institute
of Technology.
Struttmann T, Scheerer A, Prince TS, Goldstein LA (Nov
1998). "Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning from an
unlikely source". The Journal of the American Board of
Family Practice
http://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/wopapub/senate/committee/
ecita_ctte/completed_inquiries/200407/nationalparks/submissions/sub153att4.ashx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heyfield,_Victoria
http://www.cummins.com.au/products/powergeneration/lean-burn-generators/
Trevor J. Hobbs, 2009, Reginal Industry Potential for Woody
Biomass Crops, FloraSearch 3c, pp19-20
http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Danba-weatheraverages/Sichuan/CN.aspx
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23665309@N02/5336486713
/in/photostream/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1795635d2094
350-Reviews-Dengba_Hostel_Danba
Danba_County_Sichuan.html
https://weather.yahoo.com.au/local-climate-history/vic/licola
Yunus A. Cengel & Afshin J. Ghajar, 2011, Heat and Mass
Transfer, 4th edn. McGrawHill, New York
http://www.westinghouse-plasma.com/
http://www.gasification.org/uploads/eventLibrary/GTC02041
.pdf
http://www.gasification.org/uploads/eventLibrary/GTC02042
.pdf
ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF WIND ENERGY IN KUALA BESUT, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA

AND FLINDERS ISLAND, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA
R.J. Khoo, Andrew Kentish, W.H. Wong, Jordan Marshall
Keywords: Wind turbines, Wind speed, Wind energy
Abstract
The search for sustainable energy to replace the rapidly depleting
fossil fuel deposits is the greatest test for the continued growth of
our generation. At the rate we are using our natural resources a
plan for the global conversion to sustainable energy needs to be
made. It is predicted that the sustainable energy market will
become the fastest growing area in the next decade, particularly in
westernized countries.
We chose wind energy for our study and resultant report, in
particular a wind farm made up of many horizontal axis wind
turbines. Horizontal wind turbines are the most common and
practical option for this application and geographical location.
This report was aimed to find a renewable energy source that
could provide enough energy to keep a sustained temperature in
homes in the small village. To keep the temperature inside the
home at 23oC we calculated what was lost through the single
glazed and then the double glazed window.
We have compiled a report from our research and analysis of the
energy equation for the village homes. We hope to provide insight
into wind energy as a viable solution for such small villages.
Figure 1. The interior of wind turbine

Wind energy generation is the fastest growing energy source
throughout the world, increasing at an average rate of nearly 30%
per year in the years between 2000 and 2008 (Arena, 2014).
While wind energy is the fastest growing source for sustainable
energy it only holds a market share of 0.2% in Australia.
Hopefully in years to come we will see a shift towards renewable
energy sources, such as wind power.
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to investigate the availability of
renewable energy in two rural areas and the use of turbines to
convert wind energy into power to provide energy to support
domestic purposes. This report will also aim to explain why wind
energy is the most feasible to use in energy generation with
calculations used to support theory used throughout the report.
Wind energy is chosen as the renewable energy in this
investigation because it can be obtained easily, in-evasively and is
incredibly abundant, also as air current flows throughout earth and
can be harvested anywhere and is currently one of the more
rapidly growing sources of renewable energy. This shows that
there are many reasons why choosing wind power is the most
educational and realistic choice for the topic of the report. The
locations that have been chosen are Flinders Island (Australia) and
Kuala Besut (Malaysia), both of which have sufficient wind
energy due to their geographical location. We estimated the
energy required from a household by analyzing the heat transfer
between a house and the environment.
Kuala Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia

Energy source requirements
Figure 2: Total Power required/month in Kuala Besut

The average outdoor temperature of each month is obtained and
used to find out the average heat loss through the single and
double glaze window. Due to the hot weather of Malaysia, heat
will transfer from the environment into the house. With the
highest average temperature of 33 degrees Celsius, 865.5 W of
heat is transferred through a single glazed window for a house and
the energy needed to maintain the house at constant temperature
will be 623.16 kWh. The heat transfer is lowered to 480 W when
a double glazed window is used and the energy needed is 345.6
kWh. Four turbines, rated at 3000W are needed to produce the
energy for the entire town of single glazed window, whilst only 2
Wind Energy
Converting wind currents into rotational force from the blades of a
turbine is how wind energy is harnessed in the most common
cases. In most cases these turbines are in a large wind farm that
are all connected into one main grid. Wind currents are created by
a series of physical and temperature effects from all around the
world. Wind energy is a fully sustainable source of power, there
are many on and off shore projects happening in Australia at the
moment.
51
ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF WIND ENERGY IN KUALA BESUT, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA AND FLINDERS ISLAND, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA
turbines with similar specification for double glazed window

would be required.
Geographical aspects
costs incurred will be eligible as the company is dealing with

issues concerning the power station. Besides that, Tariff Related
Incentives are available as well. Duty fees of importing raw
materials and components can be fully exempted. Sales tax and
duty on machinery and equipment can also be exempted.
Economic status
Most of the people in this town work as a fisherman and their
average income is around 300 dollars per month that is just 20%
of the Malaysias national income level. The fishermen received
around 66 dollars of subsidiary from the government to sustain
their fishing expenses. [Kuala Besut and oil royalty 2013, p.1]
The town facing strong competition from another fishing town
named Tok Bali that is doing particularly well compared to Kuala
Besut because they have more income to buy better fishing
equipment and boats. According to the calculations, 600 dollars is
needed every month to maintain the energy usage, but their
income could not afford to pay for it due to their poor economic
status. [Zurairi 2013, p.1]
Figure 3:.Map of Kuala Besuts location.

Kuala besut is located on the east coast of the Peninsular of
Malaysia that faces the South China Sea. This region experiences
high wind speeds as it's affected by the northeast monsoon season
during November to March and southwest monsoon season during
May to September. The wind speeds can reach nearly 15knots
during southwest moonsoon and 10 to 20 knot during northeast
monsoon. 30 knots can be achieved on the east coast of Peninsular
Malaysia when cold surges from the north period arethere.
Malaysia is a quite tropical country so temperature differences can
be quite small in comparison to that of Australia. The yearly
average highest temperature of Kuala Besut will be 32.5 degrees
celcius and 24 degrees celcius for average lowest temperature.
[MOSTI 2013]
Flinders Island, Tasmania, Australia

Energy sources requirements
Transport availabilities
Since Kuala Besut is a fishing town, it can be reached by sea
transport (ferries and speedboats). There are jetties for ferries and
speedboats to stop and depart. A ferry is able to take few hundred
tons of equipment and material to build the plant to supply energy.
Speedboats are able to transport people to the town in shorter time
as it can travel faster compared to ferries. The town can be
reached through ground transport like trucks, busses, and cars as
well. There are roads connected to Kuala Terengganu that is the
capital of that state with a distance of 110 Km from Kuala Besut
or even the capital of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur with a distance of
529.6 Km from Kuala Besut. [Ben 2014]
Figure 4. Total power required/ month in Flinders Island

The energy source requirements for Flinders Island in Tasmania
are calculated in a similar way to that of Kuala Besut, however in
this location the average temperature is slightly less and also
slightly less than that of the required temp of the house to be
heated/cooled. Thus in this circumstance heat will travel form the
house to the environment and the house will need to be heated.
Flinders Island has a highest average temperature of 16.233
degrees Celsius. Resulting in a heat transfer of -585.655W for
single glazed windows, the energy needed to maintain a house at
the desired temperature will then be 463.84 kWh. With the
addition of a double glazed window, the heat transfer becomes 324.8W and requires 257.2416 kWh of energy to heat the room to
the required 33 degrees.
Government policies
Malaysia is creating world-class business environment for its
investors to invest in, so the Federal and State governments are
implementing various different types of taxes, tariffs and
investment-friendly incentives to help investors to achieve returns
on investments (ROI) in the shortest amount of time. By bringing
new energy into Kuala Besut, more companies will become
eligible to obtain Pioneer Status under the Eastern Corridor
Economic Region (ECER) Special Incentive. Pioneer Companies
will only pay 15% of statutory income for a period of 5 years. In
effect, the company will only pay an equivalent of 4.2% of
corporate tax instead of 28%. In other words, the company will
only pay part of the income taxes that save them money in tax
paying. In the meantime, 5 years of infrastructure allowance for
Geographical aspects
Flinders Island is located just to the North East (54km North of
cape portland) of Tasmania, being close to coast lines and out at
sea the island experiences strong winds year round. The island has
a total area of 1,367 km squared and has a population of
approximately 700 people. The average wind speed for the island
is approximately 31.71 m/s year round; this number varies little
from month to month as consistent coastline wind is present and
52
only ranges between 27.78 and 36.39 m/s throughout the year.
The peak temperatures of the island are a maximum of 16.233
which peaks in March at 21 degrees Celsius and is lowest in
August at -1.6 degrees Celsius which an average lowest
temperature of 1.89 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
electricity bill. For an average household, that's about a dollar a

week". This one-dollar taken from the weekly wage of $1,122.90
shown above shouldn't affect most households vastly and given
how valuable the results are, should be seen as a great opportunity
to lead the world in a sustainable future.
Comparison between Kuala Besut and Flinders Island
One important thing that has to be remembered is that Kuala
Besut requires energy for cooling to keep the temperature of the
house at 23 degree Celsius. Flinders Island requires energy for
heating to keep the house at the same temperature. This is because
the outdoor temperature in Kuala Besut is higher than the indoor
temperature. Heat flows from the outside into the house, so
cooling is required. The outdoor temperature in Flinders Island is
lower than the indoor temperature. And so heat flows out from the
house, thus heating is required.
Kuala Besut results
Figure 5: Map of Flinders Islands location

Transport availabilities
Being an Island, transportation becomes one of the larger issues in
cost effectiveness of a wind power station operation as the only
ways in which to reach the Island will be by boat/ferry or by air
that cuts the cost effective transportation options out. The Island
has its own airport that will allow for larger aircraft to land
carrying supplies/equipment or personnel.
Figure 6. The graph of power required vs the power generated by
wind for single glazed window
Government policies
Government policies of wind power in Australia have recently
taken a turn for the worse as recently a policy of requiring a
minimum of 2km between wind turbines and residencies across
Australia has limited the locations available for wind farms.
Although there are still plenty of ways around this when
considering the amount of coastline Australia has where high
winds are often present and options such as building wind farms
out at sea far from residential areas. The other main policy the
effects the wind power in Australia is the renewable energy
targets made by the government. This policy is put in place to
ensure the before the year 2020, Australia's electricity will be
supplied by 20% renewable energy. Recent numbers have shown
that currently the electricity consumed in Australia is around
13.14% renewable energy sourced, of which 21.9% of this is
supplied by wind power contributing to a total of 2.4% of
Australia's total electricity consumption. This 2.4% represents
6342 GWh of electricity that is consumed within Australia.
Figure 7. The graph of power required vs the power generated by

wind for double glazed window
The total cost for setting up the turbine in Kuala Besut is either 4
turbines (72k) for single glazed window or 2 turbines (36k) for
double glazed windows. Because the wind speed is small, a bigger
turbine is required to produce a larger amount of energy. The
maximum power required will be in May where heat is gain
through single glazed windows will be 3084.642 MJ and 1710.72
MJ for double glazed windows. In May the power generated by
each turbine is 857 MJ, thus a minimum of 4 turbines that will
produce 3431.36 MJ will be enough to recover the heat gain
(3084.642 MJ) through the single glazed windows. Whilst for
double-glazed window, 2 turbines that will produce 1715.68 MJ
enough to recover the heat gain (1710.72 MJ) through the double
glazed windows.
Economic status
The average wage in Australia is currently $1,122.90
approximately which is one of the highest in the world, this gives
little excuse not to spend more than most other countries on
renewable energies and lead the way towards a renewable future.
The current government claim that renewable energy targets are to
expensive which can be quite clearly proven wrong by the fact
that the Australian Energy markets commission say "the
renewable energy target adds four percent to the average
53
Figure 8: Spending per month in Kuala Besut for Single glazed

window
Figure 11: the graph of power required vs the power generated by

wind for double glazed window
The total cost for setting up the turbines in Flinders Island is 1
turbine (18k) for both single and double glazed window. Because
the wind speed in Flinders Island is pretty high, a small turbine is
enough to produce large amount of electricity but for consistency,
the group decided to use the same turbine for both locations. The
maximum power required would be in July when heat lost through
the single glazed window will be 2961.25 MJ and 1642.29 MJ for
double glazed windows. In July the calculated power generated by
1 turbine is 881584.902 MJ. From the brochure of the turbine, the
peak powers that can be generated per month by a turbine are
10692 MJ. This means that theoretically calculated power
generated is much more than the peak power that the turbine can
generate. 10692 MJ (peak) is enough to support both single glazed
and double glazed heat loss. The turbine setting up cost for single
and double glazed windows are the same 18k.
Figure 9: Spending per month in Kuala Besut for double glazed

window
From the table above, the group found that the cost per year is
reduced by $4940.70 AUD for single glazed windows and
$3526.21 AUD for double-glazed windows. Although the saving
per year for single glazed is more than double-glazed, the settings
up cost are double compared to the double glazed windows. The
best ways to reduce these costs are to reduce the heat gained
through the windows by using the double-glazed windows. If we
using commercial power supply, the savings for changing from
single glazed to double-glaze is 8614.49 AUD per year.
Flinders Island results
Figure 12: Spending per month in Flinders Island for Single

glazed window.
Figure 10: the graph of power required vs the power generated by

wind for single glazed window
Figure 13: Spending per month in Flinders Island for Double

glazed window.
The savings per year calculated are 8707.72 AUD for single
glazed and 3225.77 AUD for double-glazed. If using commercial
power supply, the savings for changing from single glazed to
double-glazed is 5481.95 AUD per year.
54
Recommendations
Although both locations had proven in calculations that using
wind energy will cost less than using the commercial electric
energy available. The group decided that Kuala Besut is not
suitable for using Wind energy because:
1. The wind speed is relatively weak
2. The economic situation in Kuala Besut cant afford to set
up the turbine
6.
7.
While for Flinders Island, the group strongly recommends using

wind energy because:
1. The wind speed is strong all the time
2. The cost of setting up the turbine is small.
8.
9.
Conclusion
Kuala Besut and Flinders Island have ample wind speeds and
access to land available for wind turbines that makes them very
ideal for wind farms to be built upon. Calculations are performed
to find best values for the energy required to heat or cool a
household to a set temperature via heat transfer equations between
the house and the outside environment. The average temperatures
for these areas turned out to be just above and just below that of
which was needed for the household, which showed a good
comparison to the energy needed to heat a house to the ideal
temperature and the energy required to cool a household to the
required temperature. The largest factor that influenced the
decision upon which area was best suited to wind power and how
suited both areas were, was the geographical aspects of them, as
the amount of wind supplied to the area, the temperature and
height of the areas has a direct correlation to how much energy
can be produced from wind farms in the area. Flinders Island was
more suited to the use of a wind farm and the power that was
required to heat a house to the required temperature was much
lower than that of Kuala Besut. It was also a seen to be a more
suitable location due to its low population, remote location and
ability to place turbines in places such as the ocean where they
will have little to no effect on the public and boats/aircraft.
10.
11.
2532:kuala-besut-and-oilroyalty&Itemid=2#axzz3DeaB1Fgn>.
Wind energy | Australian Renewable Energy Agency. 2014.
Wind energy | Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
[ONLINE]
Available
at:
<http://arena.gov.au/aboutrenewable-energy/wind-energy/>, [Accessed 05 October
2014].
Australia Renewable Energy Agency, What is Wind Energy,
viewed on 3 September 2014,< http://arena.gov.au/aboutrenewable-energy/wind-energy/>
Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS 2014, Wind
Energy Guide, viewed on 24 August 2014,<
http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/index.cfm>.
Energy Matters 2014, How a wind turbine works, viewed on
23
August
2014,<
http://www.energymatters.com.au/components/windenergy/>.
"Proposal to extend expressway to Besut ..LD: KUALA
TERENGGANU, Wed. - The Terengganu Government will
propose that the East Coast Expressway run all the way to the
State's border with Kelantan in Besut, and not just to
Cendering as planned. Menteri Besar D." Asia Africa
Intelligence Wire 8 Apr. 2004. General Reference Center
GOLD. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.
Ben van, W 2014,Kuala Besut, viewed on 24 August 2014,<
http://www.malaysiasite.nl/kualabesuteng.htm>.
Appendix A
References
1. Oliver, W 2012, Insight: Australian Energy setback- tracing
origin of 2km rule, Renew economy, viewed on 20
September 2014, <http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/insightaustralias-wind-energy-setback-tracing-origins-of-2km-rule26731>.
2. Malaysian Meteorological department, 2013, General Climax
of Malaysia, viewed on 17 September 2014,
<http://www.met.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&tas
k=view&id=75>.
3. Chris, B 2014, The price of the power, ABC, viewed on 22
September
2014,
<http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbr
iefing/2014-04-27/5406022>.
4. Zurairi, AR 2013, Once a fishing icon, Kuala besut now a
shadow of it old self, 17 July, page 23.
5. Harakah, D 2013, Kuala Besut and oil royalty, Malaysia
Chronicle, viewed on 16 September 2014, <www.malaysiachronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=13
55
P = 12338.568 KWh
Total cost per month =
= $ 1172.16396
Turbine cost per month = $ 1200
Saving per month = $ 1172.16396 - $ 1200 = $ -27.83604
Double glaze window
A = 15
(
)
h = 3.2 2
(
Power require for a house (p) = Q = 288 W

Power require by all 33 houses in a month
Total cost in a month =

= $ 650.0736
Turbine cost per month = $ 600
Saving per month = $ 650.0736 - $ 600 = $ 50.0736
Appendix B
Single glaze window
A = 15
(
)
h = 5.77
(
Power require for a house (p) = Q = 519 W

Power require by all 33 houses per month
56
THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF BIOMASS ELECTRICITY IN RURAL AREA

Ryan Martin, Junaid Salie, Luke Smith, Ash Williams
Keywords: Biomass, Agricultural Waste
form of energy generation carbon neutral as opposed to clean

energy.
Abstract
We will examine the economic feasibility of using biomass
electricity in rural regions, as it is a robust way of generating
power from materials that may otherwise have gone to waste. In
the context of household heating and cooling, biomass electricity
will be assessed on its ability to meet the electricity requirements
of the regions, and if it does, it will be assessed from an economic
standpoint to determine if it would be feasible to switch to
biomass electricity. As the fuel stock is virtually free, the greatest
cost comes from the purchasing and installation of the biomass
electricity plant. Running and maintenance costs are assumed to
be negligible for the sake of our assessment.
Figure 1. Direct combustion / steam turbine system
Introduction
Description of the Australian Location - Maryborough,

Queensland
In this report we explore the economic feasibility of biomass

energy in South-East Queensland and rural Myanmar, as they
have contrasting needs and applications for the technology.
One of Queensland's primary exports is sugarcane, and to harvest
and refine sugar the plants must be burned. We intend to explore
the possibility that the burning of the sugarcane may be able to
fulfil the energy needs of the many small townships that support
the farms, such as Dumbleton or Maryborough. At the other end
of the spectrum is Myanmar, a developing country emerging from
civil war, where many rural areas do not have access to basic
amenities. The Shan State of Myanmar is home to a large number
of small, nameless rural villages supported by local agriculture,
namely the growing of rice and tea. It is therefore reasonable to
believe that biomass may be a cost effective and robust way to
provide some basic utilities for these areas.
For the purpose of investigating the economic feasibility of the

implementation of renewable energy, in Australia we have chosen
to investigate the Queensland town of Maryborough, and the use
of Sugarcane bi-products to generate electricity.
One of Queensland's oldest cities, Maryborough is located 255 km
north of Brisbane with a population of 27,000 and a population
density of 10 to 100 people per km2. For the purpose of this study
we will concern ourselves with the near-by town of Burrum Town
with a population of 406 people (Stats, 2006). Over the course of
a year the city experiences an average low of 15C and an average
high of 26C, however the record low for the city is 0C
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014).
Established in 1847, the port of Maryborough was primarily used
for the export of wool, wood and other local produce and is still
used for sugar cane today. The average household in the area
consumes about 2,100 kWh of electricity annually at a cost of
$435, with peak consumption occurring during the time of year in
which irrigation of the local crops occurs (Sunshine Coast
Environmental, 2012).
The local mill, run by Mitre Phol, processes an average of 700 800 kilotons of sugar cane from 100 growers in the region in a
season spanning from July to November (Sugar, 2013). From this
the mill can produce approximately 90 - 100 kilotons of sugar.
This means that there is approximately 600 - 700 kilotons of
Bagasse left that is capable for use as a biomass fuel (Sugar,
2013).
Biomass has two different potential benefits for each of the

selected areas of study. In Maryborough, South-East Queensland,
the implementation of biomass electricity has the potential to be
used as a supplement for electricity from the national grid when
making use of the bi-products generated from the local crop of
sugarcane. On the other hand, in Hsipaw, Myanmar the
implementation of biomass, making use of the local crop biproducts of rice husk and animal waste has the potential to
provide basic amenities to the region considering 51.3% of the
population don't have access to electricity (International Energy
Agency, 2014).
For the people of Hsipaw and Maryborough the implementation
of biomass energy could prove the most cost effective way for
them to produce what one may call environmentally friendly
energy. Biomass energy is as old as civilisation itself, since
simply creating a fire by burning wood falls into this category.
The only thing that has really changed is the fuel stock and
manner in which the thermal energy is put to use. In this regard,
biomass is a rudimentary means of power generation. Though the
burning of plant bi-products releases carbon into the atmosphere,
the carbon is processed by the next harvest of crop, making this
A biomass generator is considered for reducing energy costs.

Biomass will require a plant to be built which will add to initial
costs but, biomass is considered for this area due to the sugar cane
husk availability. In this area sugar cane grows for 12 to 16
months before being harvested between June and December each
year. (Australian Primary Industries, 2014)
57
The energy required could be reduced through the use of double

glassed windows. The comparison and savings can be found in
Appendix B2. The average daily power usage is the highest in
July and lowest in November. This lines up well with peak usage
months. As this is an operating power plant the amount of energy
that will be required is developed day to day. 644W (Appendix
B2) is the maximum average power required per day which
equates to 64.4kW for a population of 100 houses at the highest
average temperature.
In the instance of the double glazed window the

thickness is assumed to be 3mm with a 40mm air gap
and a vinyl frame.
The overall U factor obtained from Table 9-6, p.558
(Cengel and Ghanjar) is 3.2 in the case of the singleglazed and 6.4 for the double-glazed.
The energy per kg of Bagasse is 17.4 MJ/kg and 12.6
MJ/kg for Rice bi-products.
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia
A suitable generator based on availability and a population of 100

houses is an 80kW generator (Alibaba, 2014). This generator has
a cost equivalent to $17,300 AUD at current exchange rate. Using
available waste product the purchase and installation costs will be
offset within a year of time.
Description of the Overseas Location - Hsipaw, Northern
Shan State, Myanmar
Specific information on the small rural villages in Shan State is
unavailable, so for the purposes of our investigation the average
monthly temperature data for a town near to our chosen location
will be used. We have selected one of the many small, unnamed
villages in northern Shan State, within two days hiking distance
from a town called Hsipaw (Donenfeld, 2013), a popular tourist
destination. Located in northern Shan State, Myanmar, Hsipaw is
a popular destination among tourists who prefer the less beaten
path. It has a total population of 30,000 people but a population
density of only 83 people per km2 (IASC Information
Management Unit, 2007). The local trade is farming, with the
primary crops being rice and tea. The town centre has a train
station and caters to tourists, with numerous guest houses,
eateries, and tour packages including hikes into the mountains to
visit the small farming villages, hot springs and tours of the old
palace nearby
.
66% of Myanmars population is situated in the rural areas, and
48.7% of the total population has access to electricity. Electricity
is provided to Hsipaw town center by the national power grid, but
the small villages on the outskirts share their power from
generators. The average electrical power consumption in
Myanmar is 110 kWh per capita (International Energy Agency,
2014).
Figure 2. Rate of heat loss per month

According to information provided by Maryborough Sugar, the
waste products acquired from refining the sugar can be burned at
the sugar mills furnace, helping the mill produce carbon-neutral
energy for running the plant and also providing electricity for
surrounding townships (Sugar, 2013). Australian Sugar mill
council claims that some Queensland sugar mills have been doing
this for approximately 100 years, however the use of biomass fuel
by the mills is not being implemented as effectively as it could be.
With the introduction of the Australian Renewable Energy Target
in 2001, the Australian sugar industry has invested approximately
$600 million to increase the efficient use of biomass fuels at their
plants, from improvements made to the way Bagasse is stored,
through to improving the infrastructure used for transmission and
increasing the quality of the Bagasse through refinement
(Australian Sugar Milling Council, 2014). From this the energy
content of the Bagasse can be increased beyond the average of
17.4 MJ/kg, and based of our calculations, should be able to
address the heating needs of the township of Burrum Town.
Appendix A, produced by the Climate Research Unit, University

of East Anglia (Climatic Research Unit, 2014), shows the average
monthly temperatures in Hsipaw, ranging from 15.6C in January
to 25.1C in May. It is not unreasonable to assume that the rural
farming villages in the nearby mountains of this region, within
hours hiking distance from Hsipaw, would experience a similar, if
not identical climate. We will therefore be using this data in our
calculations.
Comparison and Analysis
Hsipaw, Shan State, Myanmar
General Assumptions:
-
Temperature of 23C desired

Monthly averages will provide an accurate estimation
The total window area in the house is 15 m2 and the
glass is 3 mm thick with a wood frame for the case of a
single glazed window (Ghajar, 2011).
Figure 3. Rate of heat loss for Hsipaw
58
This region was selected for this study due to its abundance of
renewable biomass resources, including wood and rice (Asian
Development Bank, 2012, p. 26). More than 90% of the biomasssourced energy in Myanmar uses wood, but we shall evaluate the
viability of using rice as a fuel source. Rice is the primary
agricultural crop produced in the region. Millions of tons of crop
residue such as rice husk and paddy husk are produced each year,
providing extensive potential for biomass energy (Asian
Development Bank, 2012, p. 27). One ton of rice paddy produces
220 kg of rice husk, which has a calorific value of 3000 kcal/kg
(12.6 MJ/kg) and is equivalent to 410 570 kWh of electricity
(Zafar, 2014). Based on this calorific value the annual mass of
rice husk needed per household is 452.26 kg.
30 households, comes to $8.33 per household per year ($0.69 per

household per month). This is far, far less than the households are
currently paying. Each household would be saving $142.05 per
year, at total annual saving of $4,261.40 for the 30 households,
meaning the digester will have paid for itself in 1 year and 2. 08
months.
While it is very expensive to introduce a biomass energy plant in

rural Myanmar, and the short run financial impact would be a
deficit as the cost per household is very high, the fuel stock is
virtually free as it is agricultural waste product, the maintenance
costs are extremely low as the device has a 97% rate of successful
operation (The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, 2004 - 2009),
or reliability, and after the initial costs are mitigated the village
will have access to free electricity. If the biogas digester can be
paid off in instalments, this solution would become much more
viable.
Rice husk can be used as fuel for either biogas digesters or steam
turbines (Asian Development Bank, 2012, p. 27). The biogas
digesters are a more attractive option for small scale use as small
steam power plants are very inefficient and difficult to maintain
(Zafar, 2014). The electricity output of digesters with capacities
ranging from 25 - 100 m3 range from 5 25 kW, enough to serve
172 villages with four hours of electricity a day, and research is
being undertaken to develop small-scale gasifiers for rural
villages, capable of producing 30 50 kW of electricity from rice
husk. Family-sized, fixed-dome type digesters have the added
bonus of producing 30 to 50 gallons (0.11 to 0.19 m3) of organic
fertilizer, which can then be used in the growing of more rice
(Asian Development Bank, 2012, p. 27). A 50 m3 fixed-dome type
biogas digester was installed in Northern Shan State in 2005, at
the cost of $ 5,000, and for the rest of this study we will be using
this digester in our analysis (Asian Development Bank, 2012, p.
28). Biogas digesters have an estimated useful life of 20 years and
an operational success rate of 97%, making them highly reliable
(The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, 2004 - 2009).
Comparison
Comparing the two proposed sites shows that biomass is
potentially feasible in both locations. Both places would be
utilising the waste products of the abundant agriculture industry in
their respective regions.
For Maryborough this is sugar cane, whose waste product is
bagasse, and given its properties it could provide sufficient
electricity for the heating needs of the inhabitants of the town. To
achieve this 516.64 kg of bagasse would be needed per household
per year, and Maryborough has access to this much of the waste
product. Economically the use of biomass generators in the town
is also feasible, which the cost of a suitably large generator
costing $17,300. This cost shared between 100 households is less
than the amount these houses would pay for conventional
electricity for the year.
The situation for Hsipaw is similar, except that the waste product
of the harvested rice, rice husk would be used to produce
electricity. Given the amount of rice husk the inhabitants of
Hsipaw would have available to them and its properties, rice husk
could be used to provide all of the power needed for heating their
homes. 452.26 kg of rice husk would be needed per household per
year, which could easily be achieved given the large amount of
rice grown in the region. After analysing the situation
economically, the situation is a little different to the one in
Maryborough. A suitable biomass digester would cost $5000
which, when this cost is shared across the households it would
service, would be greater that the cost of conventional electricity
for the year. If this needs to be paid off in a lump sum, it would be
very difficult for the residents of Hsipaw to come up with the
money, but if it could be paid off in instalments it would be
feasible.
In order for biomass electricity to be feasible, it must be capable

of catering to Hsipaws peak power requirement. The peak
monthly power requirement to maintain a constant indoor
temperature of 23C is 384.3 Watts (January). Even the smallest
biogas digesters, which produce 5 kW of electricity, would be
more than sufficient. The question then becomes whether it is
economically feasible to install such a system.
For the system to be economically feasible, the cost of the biogas
digester must be less than or equal to the current cost the users are
paying. The annual cost to maintain the indoor temperature at a
constant 23C is $150.38 per household. Interpolating from the
data for the 25 - 100 m3 digesters (5 25 kW), a 50 m3 digester
could generate approximately 11.67 kW, enough to supply 30
households. One of these 50 m3 digesters costs $ 5,000. The total
annual cost for 30 households is $4,511.28. If the cost of the
digester is shared amongst the 30 households, each household
would have to contribute $ 166.67. This means that each
household would have to contribute an amount greater than the
annual heating cost for that household. It would be very difficult
for the people of Hsipaw, farmers on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum, to come up with the money to introduce such
a system into their community.
Summary
After this analysis we have come to a number of conclusions. We
have determined that biomass electricity is capable of supplying
the annual household electricity requirements for heating and
cooling in the chosen regions, but our goal is to assess the
economic feasibility of implementing biomass electricity in these
regions. The fuel stock is free as it is a waste product of the local
agricultural process, so the only cost for implementing biomass
As the biogas digester has an estimated life of 20 years (The

World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, 2004 - 2009), it costs
$250/year (or $20.83 per month), which when divided among the
59
electricity is the cost of buying, installing, running and

maintaining the biogas digesters. For the region in Myanmar, a
digester would be considered a very expensive purchase, even
when the cost is shared by an entire village. If the biogas digester
would have to be paid for in a lump sum, it would be very
difficult for the villagers to come up with that much money, but if
they can pay it off in instalments, it becomes economically
feasible.
Sugar,
M.,
2013.
Local
Production.
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.marysug.com.au/index.php?category_id=27&page_id
=79
[Accessed September 2014].
Sunshine Coast Environmental, 2012. Electricity. [Online]
Available at: http://www.scec.org.au/campaigns/know-yourimpacts/electricity/
[Accessed 1 October 2014].
The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, 2004 - 2009. Nepal:
Biogas
Program.
[Online]
Available
at:
https://wbcarbonfinance.org/Router.cfm?Page=Projport&ProjID=
9596
[Accessed 30 September 2014].
Wbdg.org, 2014. Biomass for Electricity Generation | Whole
Building
Design
Guide.
[Online]
Available at: http://www.wbdg.org/resources/biomasselectric.php
Zafar, S., 2014. Biomass Resources from Rice Industry. [Online]
Available
at:
http://www.bioenergyconsult.com/biomassresources-rice-industry/
References
Asian Development Bank, 2012. Myanmar - Energy Sector Initial
Assessment, Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development
Bank.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014. 3218.0 - Regional
Population
Growth,
Australia.
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3218.0~201213~Main+Features~Queensland?OpenDocument
Australian Sugar Milling Council, 2014. Renewable Energy.
[Online]
Available at: http://asmc.com.au/policy-advocacy/renewableenergy/
Climatic Research Unit, U. o. E. A., 2014. Climate Change
Knowledge
Portal.
[Online]
Available
at:
http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm?page=count
ry_historical_climate&ThisRegion=Asia&ThisCCode=MMR
Donenfeld, J., 2013. Exploring the Mountain Villages of Northern
Shan
State,
Myanmar.
[Online]
Available at: http://jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2013/05/exploringthe-mountain-villages-of-northern-shan-state-myanmar/
[Accessed 26 August 2014].
Ghajar, C. a., 2011. Heat and Mass Transfer. Singapore: McGraw
Hill.
Google,
2014.
Google
Maps.
[Online]
Available
at:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hsipaw,+Republic+of+the+Un
ion+of+Myanmar/Lashio,+Republic+of+the+Union+of+Myanmar
/@22.7702959,97.5308394,47994m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!
1m5!1m1!1s0x3732c8810c3a57b5:0xea82d004cfe3b30a!2m2!1d
97.3003604!2d22.6236316!1m5!1m1!1
IASC Information Management Unit, 2007. Myanmar Estimated
Population Density 2000 with Townships and Urban Areas.
[Online]
Available
at:
http://www.altsean.org/Research/2010/Resources/Maps/Burma%2
0population%20density.pdf
International Energy Agency, 2014. Electric power consumption
(kWh
per
capita).
[Online]
Available
at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC
Stats,
Q.-.
L.,
2006.
QPZM.
[Online]
Available at: http://localstats.qpzm.com.au/population/qld/centralcoast/bundaberg-wide-bay/burrum-town
60
STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY APPLICATION IN AUSTRALIA AND MALAYSIA

Sabastian Aurisano, Callan Morey, Cameron Nicoll, Nigel Geikie
Keywords: Sustainable, Wind Power, Economic Viability, Hydro-power
have an issue as hydropower dams can cause harm to local fauna

and relocation for villages close to the site is a probability.
Abstract
The need to divert from traditional means of obtaining energy is
the most talked about topic of the 21st century. A more
sustainable source of energy is constantly being sought after as the
constant global demand for cheaper and more sustainable energy
supply increases. Many countries have different ways of
harvesting energy to power their grids but there is no definite way
of harvesting this energy as different countries have different
sources of energy and different means of harvesting this power.
Seeking a clean and sustainable energy source is not an easy task.
Wind power is not the most desirable source of energy due to the
amount of sound pollution that is generated and the physical
attractiveness is arguably unappealing to some. What many fail to
understand is that the cost effectiveness of the turbines and the
ability to harness energy from areas with high amounts of average
wind speeds can be very beneficial to the community and is an
underrated source of energy.
Introduction
The term Green energy comes from resources that can be
naturally replenished on a human timescale such as wind,
sunlight, tides, waves, geothermal heat and rainfall. These
naturally occurring phenomenons is then converted via
engineering applications such as turbine generators, solar panels
and other such energy converters to form electrical energy in the
form of electricity used to power high-power electrical grids
which is supplied to residential and industrial areas throughout the
world. According to REN21s most recent report, renewable
energy has contributed 19% of the total energy used and
continuing to increase with governments implementing attractive
packages for homes and industries opting to use greener energy.
While majority of renewable energy projects are large-scale, there
are many smaller options to suit the needs of rural areas and new
housing developments. According to analysts, the projection of
the renewable energy market will increase in the coming decade
and years to follow.
The towns that will be analysed are Tungamah, VIC, Australia

and Lingga, Sarawak, Malaysia. To provide some variance and to
optimise the application of each energy source it has been decided
to utilise hydropower in Malaysia due to the availability of rivers
and streams, but since Tungamah doesnt have these facilities it
was thought to implement a combination of wind and solar to
maximise the power output all day long.
Among the many types of sustainable energy available, the

preferred source of sustainable energy is solar and hydropower.
The advantages of harnessing solar power are the efficiency of
which solar panels are able to convert solar power into usable
electricity. Solar panels can be installed above roofs of structures
that are considered a waste of real estate. The other advantage of
solar panels is that they are relatively cost effective, as they
require minimal maintenance. The only downside to solar panels
is that they are only able to function effectively during days when
the sky is clear and the sun is bright. Solar panels cannot function
during nights and function poorly during cloudy conditions.
The details of each location are as follows:

Tungamah, Victoria, Australia
Hydropower on the other hand is another source of energy that is

very favourable to many due to its ability to harness energy from a
flowing body of water. The flow of water can be very constant
throughout the year and the amount of energy generated is
constant too. The downside to hydropower is the amount of
money needed to build a hydropower dam and the need for
experts to design such a project. Government bodies such as the
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and local councils may
61
Tungamah is a small town located in the state of Victoria,

Australia. It has a population of approximately 105 people with
numbers dropping from the latest census. They have an average of
1.8 children per household with 100% of the dwellings being
separate houses instead of townhouses or units (Census
QuickStats: Tungamah. 2014). For heat loss calculations we need
to consider the average temperature during the year, this
temperature data is averaged out considering the average high and
low temperatures for the year.
With the target temperature being 23C and all of the local
temperature data collected being above this value then we only
have to implement a cooling system that can cope with the heat
loss of these varying temperatures.
With the indoor target temperature being 23C and all of the
temperatures being above and below this then we have to
implement a heating/cooling system that can cope with the heat
loss of these varying temperatures.
Seasons
Dec-Feb
Mar-May
Jun-Aug
Sep-Nov
Ave High
32.0
32.3
31.7
30.3
Ave Low
23.3
23.0
23.0
23.0
Seasons
Dec-Feb
Mar-May
Jun-Aug
Sep-Nov
Ave High
22.8
14.5
22.7
31.3
Ave Low
9.1
3.8
7.8
14.9
(Weather and Climate: Kuching, Malaysia 2014)

Assumptions
For our power and heat loss equations we have had to make some
assumptions about the houses in the two locations as well as the
power usage that each home uses. This includes refrigerators,
heaters and other electronics that are required on a daily basis that
will be assumed to be a bulk power usage on top of the
requirements to keep the temperature inside the house at a stable
23 deg C.
General Assumptions:
(Climate statistics for Australian locations 2014)

Tungamah receives approximately 12MJ/m2 of solar radiation per
day in winter (worst case scenario) and the average wind speed is
between 10-13 km/h. (Victoria's Solar Resource 2014)
Target temperature for the house is 23 deg C.
Village population is 100 people and weve assumed 5

people in each home which leaves us with 20 homes per
Lingga, Sarawak, Malaysia
village.
12hr usage to calculate kWh.
Single-glazed windows were: Double-door wood frame with

a 6.4 mm glass (U-value of 5.57 W/m^2*K)
Double-glazed windows were: Double-door wood frame with

a 6.4 mm air space (U-value of 3.20 W/m^2*K)
250m^2 home size for 5 people.
Sunlight, infrared radiation is neglected from the heat loss

calculations.
Heat loss occurs entirely through ONE window and the area
of the window is 15m^2.
Tungamah Assumptions
Lingga is a small village located approximately 100km away from
the capital of the state of Sarawak. The village has an approximate
of 130 villagers and the main supply of electricity is a
combination of fossil fuel generators and grid-supplied electricity.
Lingga is also located next to a river known a Batang Lupar or

Lupar River which is famously known for the natural
phenomenon known as the Tidal Bore. This phenomenon occurs
between April and June where water from the mouth of the river
moves upstream and fills the river up rapidly in the course of 10
minutes. This strange movement of the water upstream then
produces waves up to 2 to 3 meters high and becomes a hotspot
for surfers worldwide.
Lingga receives approximately 13MJ/m2 of solar radiation per
day in winter (worst case scenario) and the average wind speed is
between 5-8 km/h. (Solar Energy 2014)
Malaysia Assumptions
Plan is use a split system air conditioning unit which has the
capability to heat and cool the houses and is to have a power
input of 28,000 btu(approximately 8.2 kW)
Plan is to use a cooling system air conditioning unit which

has the capability to cool the houses and is to have a power
input of 18,000 btu(approximately 5.3kW)
Climate and environmental analysis
To calculate heat loss and energy requirements it is essential to

perform a detailed analysis of the local weather and environment.
62
This will also ensure the best possible energy sources are chosen
for our two different locations. For simplicity it will be divided
into three month groups and well focus on temperatures, sunlight
availability, wind speed, rainfall and local river flow.
Optimal Renewable energy Selection

Tungamah, Victoria
Despite initial consideration for a hydro-system in Tungamah it
has been revealed that there is not enough flow and head pressure
from the local river system, particularly in summer when demand
is at its highest.
Tungamah, Victoria, Australia

In order to achieve our target temperature of 23C, heating will be
required more so than cooling (Appendix- Figure 1). This table
can be used as a guide, however it is important to note that we
must also consider the maximum and minimum values to
determine peek heating and cooling demands (Appendix- Figure
2). Temperatures vary greatly from our averages particularly
during the December-February period where there will be demand
for cooling energy throughout the day. During our energy
selection process it is important to keep in mind that solar energy
will perform at its peak during this time.
For this location it is a clear choice to take advantage of the

abundant sunlight by implementing a solar system as our primary
source of power. In conjunction with this there will be a wind
turbine system to satisfy demand when sun is not available. There
is also great potential to feed power back into the grid when there
is both sun and wind at the same time.
The selected systems are not only appropriate to the town but they
are also much more affordable option for a country with such a
high cost structure. After it has been implemented both these
systems have a relatively minimal maintenance cost. Fortunately,
land in this somewhat isolated location is both cheap and readily
available; a must for the space hungry system.
Located in central Victoria, this town has a unique situation in

terms of sun potential. Even in middle of winter the town still gets
over 8 hours of usable sunlight (Appendix- Figure 3), most days
of the year. In summer there is more than 12 hours of usable
sunlight.
For Tungamah, a split system air-conditioning unit of 8.2kW is

required to regulate the temperature of each house at 23 deg C as
the disparity of temperature per year is around 13 deg C. A heater
is needed to heat each house during winter that experiences a heat
loss of 1.17kW if a single glaze window is used. Air conditioning
is required during the warmer days during summer that
experiences a heat loss of 0.083kW assuming the same window
panel is used. If a double glazed 6.4mm spaced window were to
be used, the amount of heat loss and gained can be reduced to half
of that of a single glaze window. (Appendix Figure 7)
Whilst wind in the area isnt particularly strong, it is fairly

consistent and can be assumed to be 10-13m/s (Climate statistics
for Australian locations 2014).
Tungamah has an annual rainfall of just 502 mm and during the
summer, particularly the last five years, rainfall is almost nonexistent (Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.). This results in a
dismal flow of the local creek (Boozy Creek) passing through the
town. This combined with a head fall of just 2.3 meters per Km
(Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia.) means any kind of Hydropower option isnt viable.
From our analysis of the energy requirements per home under the
assumption that each house has 5 occupants and heating and
cooling is needed to maintain the temperature of the house to 23
deg C, it has been decided that each house would have 50 solar
panels which are 1.2m by 0.977m in dimension which will
generate roughly 170W at 13.8% efficiency, totalling 8500W per
home. In total for 20 homes, a total of 1000 solar panels supplied
by Solar Frontier, a company from Japan, to power the daily
usage for 100 people. Alongside that, 4 medium sized wind
turbines (6kW each) will also be required to fill in the power gaps
accompanied with weather conditions that do not meet the daily
power needs of each house. The initial investment to get 50 solar
panels on the top of each roof will amount to approximately
$50,000AUD which will bring a total investment of $1,000,000
AUD for the village. On top of that, each wind turbine will cost
approximately $20,000AUD which brings the total investment to
$1,020,000AUD.
Lingga, Sarawak, Malaysia

As demonstrated in (Appendix Figure 4) and (AppendixFigure
5) Lingga is more temperature consistent all year round and hence
the seasonal averages table becomes useful in our calculations of
household climate control costs. Being in such close proximity to
the equator only air-conditioning will be required in this warm
town.
According to WeatherSpark, the earliest sunrise is at 6:20am on
November 1 and the latest sunset is at 6:55pm on February 11.
The latest sunrise is at 6:51am on February 5 and the earliest
sunset is at 6:24pm on November 6. Solar energy is therefore a
viable option.
Over the course of the year typical wind speeds vary from 0 m/s
to 4 m/s (calm to gentle breeze), rarely exceeding 6m/s (moderate
breeze). The highest average wind speed of 2m/s (light breeze)
occurs around January 31, at which time the average daily
maximum wind speed is 4m/s (gentle breeze). (WeatherSpark).
Obviously wind is an unlikely power source here, many turbine
units would be required and hence other options should be
considered first.
Lingga, Sarawak
The river through the town has 24/7 flow all year round. The flow
reliability is a great asset for the town in terms of renewable
energy availability. Despite initial costs of a Hydro-power station,
it is being implemented in a lower cost area and has more than
adequate water volume flow to supply the small town. By
diverting only the water we need from the river through the power
station and back to the river downstream, we can use a smaller
63
power station (only as big as we require). Also there will be no

need for expensive dam overflow systems during the wet season.
a year for Tungamah and around $70 a year in Lingga. (Appendix

Figure 11)
References
For Lingga, an air-conditioning unit with a cooling capability is

required to regulate the temperature of each house at 23 deg C as
the disparity of the temperature throughout the year is very small
that is around 9.3 deg C. No heater is required as temperatures
never drop below 23 deg C. Calculated using thermodynamic
principles heat gained throughout the year remains constant at
0.389kW if a single glazed window were to be used and 0.224kW
if using a double glazed window. (Appendix Figure 8)
1.
2.
From analysis for energy usage and power requirements of a 5kW

air-conditioning unit, a micro-hydropower generator is adequate
for the task of supplying power to each of the 20 houses. The
generator can be installed at a location that is far enough upstream
and is high enough in elevation for a strong fluid flow for the
generator to work. This is the most cost efficient of method of
generating power as only a small portion of water is channelled
from the main river. The total cost of installing the microhydropower generator is approximately $24,000AUD with
minimal maintenance cost as the equipment is durable and simple.
This method is also preferable as it has little impact on the near-by
ecosystem. Migratory aquatic fauna can still move freely without
compromising their migratory routes as the generator does not
impact on much of the river.
3.
4.
5.
Conclusion & Recommendations

From the research conducted, it is evident that renewable energy
is the most viable option for obtaining energy for the future
regardless of the size of the town or the population. In our
research, we also found out that in different locations there are
different potentials for harnessing different types of renewable
energy, i.e. wind solar or hydro. In order to find the most efficient
energy source, all small scale options must be considered.
Excluding the big options such as nuclear and geothermal made
the options easier since the requirements werent looking to power
entire cities. It was concluded that in Tungamah, a combination of
solar and wind energy has to be considered to meet the power
needs of the town. Solar power was a no brainer for the Australian
site as the solar radiation and minimal rain during the year grants
big advantages when converting the sun's rays into electricity.
6.
7.
8.
Based on energy requirements estimated and heat loss calculated

using thermodynamic principles Tungamah was determined to
need approximately a $1,000,000 energy system comprising of
1000 solar panels and 4 wind turbines to operate effectively
throughout the entire year. For Lingga, a scaled-down version of a
massive hydropower dam called a micro-hydropower generator
was considered to be the most viable option. Wind power was
neglected due to low average wind speed for the area as well as
the high cost of implementation. Solar power, as attractive as it
was for this location the complexity and cost didnt make sense
when micro-hydropower has so much potential and value for
money. Lingga was then determined to need a generator that cost
approx. $25,000 to power the town which should generate up to
100kW all year round, this price however doesnt take into any
piping or earthworks but gives an idea as to the much cheaper
price level that the hydro generator operates at. It is therefore
recommended that the above systems be implemented as well as
utilising the double glaze windows that can save upwards of $100
9.
10.
11.
12.
64
Climate statistics for Australian locations. 2014. Climate

statistics for Australian locations. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_081124
.shtml [Accessed 04 October 2014].
Frequently asked questions about Tungamah in Victoria Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. 2014. Frequently asked
questions about Tungamah in Victoria - Bonzle Digital
Atlas of Australia. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=28&d=faq&cmd=sp&c
=1&x=145.87685&y=-36.16105&w=40000&mpsec=0
[Accessed 04 October 2014]
Average Weather For Wangaratta, Australia WeatherSpark. 2014. Average Weather For Wangaratta,
Australia - WeatherSpark. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://weatherspark.com/averages/34094/WangarattaVictoria-Australia [Accessed 04 October 2014].
Average Weather For Bintulu, Malaysia - WeatherSpark.
2014. Average Weather For Bintulu, Malaysia WeatherSpark. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://weatherspark.com/averages/34012/Bintulu-SarawakMalaysia [Accessed 04 October 2014]
2011 Census QuickStats: Tungamah. 2014. 2011 Census
QuickStats: Tungamah. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduc
t/census/2011/quickstat/GL_VIC2589?opendocument&navp
os=220 [Accessed 05 October 2014].
Victoria's Solar Resource - Technical Information - Energy
and Earth Resources. 2014. Victoria's Solar Resource Technical Information - Energy and Earth Resources.
[ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.energyandresources.vic.gov.au/energy/sustainabl
e-energy/solar-energy/what/victorias-solar-resource-details
Estimating Solar System Yields - Letitgo. 2014. Estimating
Solar System Yields - Letitgo. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.letitgo.com.au/solar-engineering/19--estimatingsolar-system-yields.html [Accessed 05 October 2014]
Weather and Climate: Kuching, Malaysia, average monthly
min and max Temperature (celsius). 2014. Weather and
Climate: Kuching, Malaysia, average monthly min and max
Temperature (celsius). [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-minmax-Temperature,Kuching,Malaysia [Accessed 05 October
2014].
Climate statistics for Australian locations. 2014. Climate
statistics for Australian locations. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_080015.
shtml [Accessed 05 October 2014]
Solar Energy. 2014. Solar Energy. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.sarawakenergy.com.my/index.php/r-d/solarenergy [Accessed 05 October 2014].
Energy Systems & Design. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.microhydropower.com/ [Accessed 05 October
2014].
Victorian Feed-in Tariff Schemes - Energy and Earth
Resources. 2014. Victorian Feed-in Tariff Schemes - Energy
and Earth Resources. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.energyandresources.vic.gov.au/energy/environm
ent-and-community/victorian-feed-in-tariff-schemes
13. SEDA PORTAL. 2014. SEDA PORTAL. [ONLINE]
Available at: http://seda.gov.my [Accessed 05 October
2014].
14. Ampair, (2010),
CD_3001_Ampair_Price_List_(rev_1_4_Oct_2010)
[ONLINE]. Available at:
http://www.ampair.com/downloads/CD_3001_Ampair_Price
_List_(rev_1_4_Oct_2010).pdf [Accessed 05 October 14].
65
SUSTAINBLE ENERGIES IN BARROW ISLAND AND PLEIN BOIS

Tung Vinh Huynh, Simon Denier, Kei Ien, Jean Thomas Li Kwet Li Mow Chee
Keywords: Solar Energy, Biofuel, Sustainability, Bagasse, Ethanol
Ethanol
Abstract
This report investigates suitable energy sources for two different
locations; solar energy for Barrow Island (Australia) and bio-fuel
for Plein Bois (Mauritius). This report explores the power
consumption of these two populations and discusses the feasibility
of these sustainable energy sources. Furthermore, the heat loss
through windows will be calculated to maintain the household at a
temperature of 23oC. The saving energy and saving cost will also
be investigated after changing to more efficient windows. The
research will discuss the suitability of a solar energy system on
Barrow Island. On the other hand, sugarcane will be analysed as a
biofuel for sustainable energy production in Plein Bois.
Ethanol is obtained from the biological process of fermentation.

When yeast consumes sugars for cellular energy, the process
produces ethanol and carbon dioxide as metabolic waste. Thus
ethanol production from sugarcane requires the main product,
molasses, as ingredient, which is also the ingredient in producing
sugar. Ethanol is the same substance found in alcoholic beverages.
It is also known as ethyl alcohol. Due to its highly volatile nature
and solubility, ethanol is usually mixed with petrol to be used as
fuel.
Introduction
Bagasse is a by-product of the manufacturing of raw sugar. It is

the fibrous leftovers left after all the sugarcane juice have been
extracted. On average, 10 tons of crushed sugarcane results in 3
tons of bagasse. To be used as a fuel, bagasse is usually stored
and processed further prior to usage. Similarly to ethanol, bagasse
is mixed, in this case, with coal. Thermal power plants with
cogeneration facilities are able to use this type of fuel. In fact,
most power plant of this type is within the sugarcane processing
plant itself. When burned in quantity, bagasse can produce
electricity not only for the processing of sugarcane but with
surplus which is enough to be transferred to a power grid.
Bagasse
Due to the development of technologies in the world, there have

been numerous innovations in the field of sustainable energy
which can be implemented by industry and society. This report
investigates the feasibility of different sustainable energies for two
locations, solar power has been chosen for Barrow Island
(Australia), and Bio-fuel for La Baraque village (Mauritius). Both
energies would be investigated in order to maintain 100 houses at
23C all year round. It is assumed heat loss mainly through single
glazed window (double door type wood-framed), the total window
area assumed to be 15 m2. This report will discuss energy
requirements and resource availabilities, as well as geographical
aspects for the selected locations.
Plein Bois Mauritius

Plein bois is a village located in Grand Port district of Mauritius,
more specifically, in the La Baraque region. It has a population
ofaround the hundred and has around 70 houses.
Bio-Fuel Plein Bois

Sugarcane history of Mauritius
Sugarcane was cultivated in Mauritius since the Dutch colonized
the island in the 1600s. Although at that time, sugarcane was
cultivated for the production of arrack, a distilled alcoholic drink.
It was not until the French colonization in 1721 that sugarcane
plantation was actually used to manufacture raw sugar. To the
present day, sugarcane is still one of the largest source of income
for Mauritius, with almost 500,000 metric tons of sugar produced
in 2013, 450 000 of which is exported to International markets.
Sugarcane as biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel that is produced from living organisms.
Biofuels are made from biomass conversion, where recently living
organisms, most commonly plants, are processed into fuels. Since
recent years, biofuel gained popularity due to the rise in petroleum
fuels and the need for sustainable energy sources.
Sugarcane is considered as a renewable source of energy with its
ability to be converted into biofuels. The most common biofuel
that can be obtained from sugarcane are ethanol and bagasse.
Figure 1. Plein Bois (Imagery 2014 CNES/Astrium Map data

2014 Google)
It is actually located 1km away from the Omnicane Milling
Operation Ltd, a sugarcane processing plant as well as a
cogeneration power plant.
66
Energy Source requirements
7486 kWh. A complete data calculated is available in appendix

B.1. The average monthly consumption was found to be 6767.55
kWh and 81210kWh yearly.
This report focuses on the energy requirement of such a village.

The following assumptions were made:
The number of houses were rounded to 100
Energy required is through heating and cooling only.

The indoor temperature of a house at 23 C
In order to determine the power consumption for heating and
cooling, temperature data were sourced for the calculations. We
will do further estimation by taking the average day and night
temperature on a monthly scale as shown in Figure 2 below.
Table 1 . Monthly power consumption Plein Bois

Month
Figure 2. Average Temperature graph for La Baraque (World

Weather Online)
From the data given, the heating calculations could be started.
Further assumptions were also made which were:
Heat for one house is loss only through single glazed

glass windows of area 15m2
Heat loss through radiation was ignored
Consuming 8 hours of heating daily
Power consumed for heating and cooling is assumed to

be the heat transfer from the windows itself
February
7486.08
March
6216.12
April
7018.2
May
7252.14
June
6015.6
July
6216.12
August
6216.12
September
6015.6
October
7252.14
November
7018.2
As mentioned above, Plein Bois is located within 1km of the

Omnicane Milling Operations processing plant. Omnicane
Thermal Energy Operation operates a 90MW thermal power plant
at La Baraque.
The project was to design a system to deliver energy to a village.
However, seeing that such a system already exist for Plein Bois,
we decided to evaluate the system. Currently, the power plant uses
bagasse as fuel to produce electricity. The use of ethanol instead
of bagasse can be explored.
Biofuel requirements
Bagasse: As mentioned before, bagasse is a by-product from the
manufacture of sugar from sugarcane. Bagasse has an energy
content of about 450 kWh/metric ton, which is similar to wood
and about half that of coal[1]. For the consumption of Plein Bois, it
requires an average of 15 metric tons of bagasse on a monthly
basis or 180 metric tons yearly to meet the requirements.
For single glazed windows, the heat transfer coefficient, U, was

found to be 5.57 W/m2K.
7252.14
Application of Biofuel
1. The rate of heat transfer for 1 house is given by:
( )
(1)
January
December
7252.14
See Appendix B.1 for full data from calculations
The calculations could be broken down into steps which were:

1. Calculate rate of heat transfer for both daytime and
nighttime
2. Average the rates of heat transfer of daytime and
nighttime
3. Multiply averaged rates by 8hours daily then by the
number of days in the specified month to obtain the
power consumed monthly.
2. The average heat transfer,
Power
Consumption
(kWh/month)
, is given by:
(2)
Ethanol: For the same volume, ethanol contains approximately

30% less energy than gasoline[3]. Pure ethanol fuel(E100) can
produce up to 7.46 kWh per kg[5]. Thus, for Plein Bois, an average
of 907 kg is required monthly or 10.9 metric tons yearly in order
to meet the estimated demands. It can clearly be seen that ethanol
has the clear advantage in terms of energy production per unit
mass.
3. The power consumed monthly for a total of 100 houses, , is

obtained from:
(3)
Complete explanation of the equations (1),(2) and (3) is given in
the Appendix A.2
For example, in the month of February,
for 100 houses
was found to be 33.2 kW, which gave a power consumed
of
67
Biofuel Availability
classified as a class-A nature reserve, this makes it one of the

most protected pieces of crown land in Australia. Since 1964
Barrow Island has been drilled for the extraction of oil, since
which it has become the leading source of oil for Australia. In
2009 approval was given for the extraction of gas from a field
60km north of Barrow Island. Given its proximity the island has
become the base for this operation, known as the Gorgan Gas
project. Upon its expected completion in the next 18 months this
project will harvest 1.1 Trillion cubic metres of Gas, making it the
largest resource project in Australia.[10]
The issue with bagasse is in its storage. Bulk storage of bagasse

may have impacts on communities and the environment [2]. There
are risks of spontaneous combustion of the bagasse stockpile.
Additionally, bagasse decomposes over time due to its sugar
content, degrading its capability as fuel.
Due to these disadvantages, bagasse is only stored short term and
is used as fuel only during the harvesting season. In Mauritius, the
harvest season starts in June and ends in December [4]. This is the
reason why the Omnicane thermal power plant uses a
cogeneration system where coal can also be burnt during the offcrop season so that a continuous operation is maintained.
In contrast, ethanol can be stored for an extended period of time,
similar to petrol. Thus, an ethanol based thermal power plant can
supply electricity non-stop as long as the biofuel is being
supplied.
Economic and Social aspects and impacts
Mauritius has a long history in sugarcane plantation. Having an
established sugar industry, Mauritius was able to integrate easily
the use of bagasse as biofuel. Currently, the thermal power plant
of Omnicane produces 40% of the countrys renewable bagassebased energy[6].
Figure 3. Barrow Island situated off West Australian coast [13]

Environment
The environment on Barrow Island lends itself to two forms of
renewable energy, solar and wind power. We found that wind
energy would not be suitable on Barrow Island as the soft, sandy
ground would require very large foundations for a wind turbine
which would not be approved given the islands Class-A nature
reserve classification. We have however decided that solar energy
would be a viable option on the island. Given the relatively flat
landscape and low level shrubbery which covers the island an
efficient solar farm would benefit greatly from little to no
obstruction from full sunlight. The Solar farm could be assembled
on the mainland and shipped to the island, the footprint for a solar
farm can be made quite small by mounting the panels on gantries
Switching to electricity production fueled by ethanol places a few

issues on the economy of Mauritius. The island depends heavily
on sugar exports in order to maintain its foreign currency. An
increase in ethanol production means a decrease in raw sugar
produced, reducing the export capabilities. Although increasing
the use of ethanol as fuel will decrease the nations dependence of
coal import, the lower energy production capability of the biofuel
will only increase the cost of energy production and will not be
able to compete with its fossil fuel counterpart.
Besides, a power plant fueled by ethanol requires new equipment,
making the investment cost incredibly high. Additionally, to build
a power station to only supply a village is uneconomical with such
high investment cost.
Population
The current population on Barrow Island is hard to accurately
attain as there is a series of major on and off shore construction
projects currently underway. This means that there is a huge
number of fly-in-fly-out workers who are based at Barrow Island
[12]. We have chosen to consider the population required for the
period after the completion of all current projects, expected to be
from late next year. This population is estimated to be 200
workers. The accommodation of the workers will be in dorm style
room which will have a smaller window area then a regular house.
However because we are unable to attain any accurate data for
window size and an accurate number of rooms we have analysed
the location as if it were a conventional small village of 100
houses with 15m2 of window area per house.
Decreasing power consumption

To be sustainable, one must not only look at the energy
production, but also at reducing the energy consumption. In order
to do so, the heating or cooling of the house should be reduced.
By reducing the heat transfer between the indoor and outdoor
environment, less energy is required to maintain the indoor
temperature at a constant 23C. For our study, the use of double
glazed windows will be explored.
When vinyl-framed double pane windows with an air space of 6.4
mm are installed, the heat transfer coefficient, , reduces to 4.77
W/m2K. With this type of windows, there will be a 15.5%
reduction in energy consumed, which allows an average savings
of $92.34 monthly. A detailed calculation is given in Appendix
B.2.
Energy Calculations
We obtained the climate data we required for Barrow Island
(above) then using the assumptions specified previously, and in
Appendix A.1, we calculated the heat transfer using formulas
(1),(2) and (3). These calculations can be followed in Appendix
Solar Energy- Barrow Island

Barrow Island is an island situated off the Pilbara coast of
Western Australia. The island, as well as its surrounds, is
68
A.2.These calculations resulted in the following heat transfer

through the single glazed, 15m2 glass windows.
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
where Tair is the expected average air temperature which can be

taken from Appendix C.1 as 29.85, the average between
maximum and minimum temperatures, NOCT is the Nominal
operating cell temperature, and G is the solar Irradiance, this is
taken as 1kW/m2. All of these values have been supplied as data
with the solar panel we have chosen to use, the Sharp NU-U240F2
solar panel. See Appendix C.4.
Averag
e High
Tempe
rature
We can now begin to calculate the actual output of the solar panel.
First derate the panel based on manufacturers tolerance of -5%
(8)
m
Next we can derate based on the inefficiency at the expected cell
temperature
m
(
)(
)(9)
Figure 4. Data above has been extracted from Appendix A.2

Table 2. Monthly energy consumption Barrow Island
Heat transfer
Month
(kWh/month)
January
13675.5
February
12913.5
March
14193.5
April
9725.2
May
6423.3
June
5514.3
July
6319.7
August
7666.5
September
7319.0
October
7977.4
November
7519.5
December
11085.4
See Appendix C.1 for full data from calculations
)(
(10)
It would also be advisable to consider dirt build up on the panels

which could result in a further loss we will consider this to be a
5% loss.
(12)
m
To calculate the number of solar panels which would be required

to supply the energy required to keep the house at the required 23
deg C we have used the data which is documented in Appendix
C.1. We have used this to calculate how many panels would be
required to meet our maximum energy requirement, this falls in
March at 14193.5 kWh/month.
Now using this value we can work out how many panels we
would require to power the heating and cooling requirements of
Barrow Island. Considering the average March energy
requirement as calculated using data in AppendixC.1the number
of panels required can be calculated.
Based on the data we have collected, Appendix C.3, 24.1 Mega

joules per meter square is the mean daily solar exposure for
March, this needs to be converted to kilowatts per meter square
which can be done by dividing by 3.6,
i
n
(4)
Peak sunshine hours is the number of hours where the irradiance
is at 1kW/m2 therefore we can calculate the number of peak
sunshine hours
(5)
in
(13)
Cost of implementation
Solar cells are incredibly sensitive to the temperature which they

are operating at it is possible to calculate the actual power which a
cell will be able to generate based on the surrounding temperature.
First we need to calculate the temperature of the cell
This is the expected actual output of each panel when exposed

perfectly direct at the sun. In most cases this is not practical as the
sun moves and the panel would then be at a far less efficient
angle. We would intentionally build our panels on a 2 axis follow
the sun system. A system such as this has been implemented on
the rooftop of Hilton Manufacturing in Dandenong, Melbourne
[9]. This allows the panels to follow the sun for the entire period
of the day. This system has been calculated to be 95% efficient.
this needs to be considered as well
(11)
m
Implementation of a Solar system
(7)
With a cost of $275 each for the NU-U240F2 solar panel [11] this
would work out to $108,900 for the panels alone. We would
estimate that given the cost of manufacturing the farm and then
transporting it to Barrow Island that this project, including
invertors and power storage, would cost approximately $750,000.
We believe that given the benefit of this clean renewable energy
(6)
69
to the delicate infrastructure of Barrow Island that this would be a

reasonable amount to invest into this project.
[7] - Cengel, Y., Ghajar, A. and Kanoglu, M. (2011). Heat and

mass transfer. 1st ed. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education.
[8] - Bureau of Meteorology, 2014, Climate statistics for
Australian locations, Barrow Island, viewed 24th September
2014,
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/
averages/tables/cw_005058_All.shtml
[9] - HIlton Manufacturing, 2014, Hilton Manufacturing Solar
Farm,
viewed
17th
September
2014,
http://www.hiltonmanufacturing.com.au/hilton-mfg-solar-farmshort-video/
[10] - Development, D.,2014, Gorgon Project (Barrow Island) Department of State Development, viewed 18th September 2014,
http://www.dsd.wa.gov.au/7599.aspx
[11] - Wholesalesolar.com, 2014, Sharp NU-U240F2 240 watt
Solar
Panel,
viewed
2nd
October
2014,
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/products.folder/modulefolder/sharp/sharpNU-U240F1.html
[12] - Gorgon Jobs, 2014, Life on Barrow Island, viewed 29th
September 2014, http://www.gorgonjobs.kjv. com.au/life-onbarrow-island/
[13] - Google Maps, 2014, Barrow Island, viewed 14th September
2014,https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Barrow+Island,+We
stern+Australia/@4.4490975,116.5672069,6z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s
0x2bf811ea0176a741:0xe7a33e37111c6248
Decreasing power consumption

As Part of our project we analysed the energy which could be
saved by changing to vinyl-framed, double pane windows with a
6.4mm air gap. We found that the heat transfer through these
windows was far lower which decreased our energy requirements.
For March the energy requirement with the improved windows
dropped to 12154.9kWh/month.Refer to Appendix C.2 for more
details. This reduced the number of solar panels which would be
required down to 340 solar panels.
Conclusion
In this report, we have analysed two locations, Plein Bois and
Barrow Island. The climate and population is similar to each other
but are suited to different kinds of energy. Both biofuel energy
and solar energy are forms of sustainable energy with high
efficiency of electricity generation. After the comparison we find
that the biofuel energy requires an incinerator and large fertile
area to grow sugarcane and solar energy requires high investment
cost. With the resources available in both locations the respective
energy sources could be viable options for renewable energy for
these communities.
This study has limitation in terms of the accuracy for energy
consumption. For simplicity, only the power consumed for
heating was considered. In actual life, the usage of electrical
appliances is a big factor. This study should only be considered as
an introduction to implement sustainable energy sources. Further
studies should be made if proper implementation of suitable
sustainable sources of energy is to be made. Sustainable energy is
a long term investment and has many benefits, both for mankind
and for the environment.
References
[1] - Renewable Energy World Editors, 2013, Tapping Brazilian
Bagasse for Electricity Production, viewed 1st October 2014,
http://www.renewableenergyworld
.com/rea/news/article/2013/07/tapping-brazilian-bagasse-forelectricity-production.
[2] - Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, 2012,
Managing impacts from the bulk storage of bagasse, viewed 27th
September
2014,
http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/licencespermits/business-industry/pdf/guide-bagasse-storage-em722.pdf.
[3] U.S. Department of Energy, 2013, Handbook for Handling,
Storing, and Dispensing E85 and Other
Ethanol-Gasoline Blends, viewed 27th September 2014,
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/uploads/publication/ethanolhandbook
.pdf.
[4] MSPCA, 2012, About Sugar Cane, viewed 28 th September
2014, http://www.mspa.mu/index.php? rubrique=43.
[5] About Autos, 2014, Fuel Energy Comparisons: Gasoline
Gallon Equivalents (GGE), viewed 28th September 2014,
http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/ resources/a/gge.htm.
[6] Omnicane, 2014, Thermal Power Plants, viewed 29th
September 2014, http://www.omnicane.com /thermal-powerplants.
70
Appendix A
A.1 Assumptions
Number of houses: 100 houses
Time range : 1 month
Temperature in house: 23C
Windows area: 15 m2
Using time: 8 hours/day
Power require is same for heat gain and heat loss
A.2 Sample Calculations [7]

Heatloss: Q=U. A. T
A= 15 m2
U=5.57 W/m2 .K
100 houses
Using hours: 8 hours/day
For January
Q= 5.57 * 15 * ( 33.3-23)*100/1000= 86.0565 kW
Average heatloss= [Heatloss (kW) + Heatgain (kW)]/2
=(86.0565+ 24.2295)/2= 55.143 kW
Heat transfer (kWh/Month)= Average heat loss * No of days* Using Hours
= 55.143 * 31 * 8= 13675.464 kWh/ month
Replacing by vinyl-framed double pane windows with an air space of 6.4 mm:
U= 4.77 W/m2 . K
Heatloss (kW)= (33.3-23)* 4.77*15*100/1000= 73.6965 kW
Energy saving = Previous heat transfer(kWh/Month)- New heat transfer (kWh/Month)
= 13675.464-11711.304= 1964.16 kWh/Month
Saving cost= Saving energy * Cost = 1964.16* 0.095= $186.60 per month
71
Appendix B
B.1
Calculations of heat transfer through 15m2 of single glazed window in Plein Bois
Month
Average
T High
Average
T Low
No of
days
Heat
gained
(kW)
Heat
loss
(kW)
Heat transfer
average
(kW)
Heat transfer
(kWh/
month)
January
30
23
31
58.485
29.2425
7252.14
February
30
24
28
58.485
8.355
33.42
7486.08
March
29
23
31
50.13
25.065
6216.12
April
29
22
30
50.13
8.355
29.2425
7018.2
May
27
20
31
33.42
25.065
29.2425
7252.14
June
25
19
30
16.71
33.42
25.065
6015.6
July
24
18
31
8.355
41.775
25.065
6216.12
August
24
18
31
8.355
41.775
25.065
6216.12
September
25
19
30
16.71
33.42
25.065
6015.6
October
27
20
31
33.42
25.065
29.2425
7252.14
November
28
21
30
41.775
16.71
29.2425
7018.2
December
29
22
31
50.13
8.355
29.2425
7252.14
B.2
Calculations of heat transfer through 15m2 of vinyl-framed double pane windows with 6.4mm airspace
altered
heatloss
average
(kW)
altered
heatloss
(kWh/
month)
energy
saved
(kWh/
month)
No of days
altered heatloss (kW)
altered
heatgain
(kW)
January
31
50.085
25
6210.54
1041.6
98.952
February
28
50.085
7.155
29
6410.88
1075.2
102.144
March
31
42.93
21
5323.32
892.8
84.816
April
30
42.93
7.155
25
6010.2
1008
95.76
May
31
28.62
21.465
25
6210.54
1041.6
98.952
June
30
14.31
28.62
21
5151.6
864
82.08
July
31
7.155
35.775
21
5323.32
892.8
84.816
August
31
7.155
35.775
21
5323.32
892.8
84.816
September
30
14.31
28.62
21
5151.6
864
82.08
October
31
28.62
21.465
25
6210.54
1041.6
98.952
November
30
35.775
14.31
25
6010.2
1008
95.76
December
31
42.93
7.155
25
6210.54
1041.6
98.952
Month
72
saving
cost ($)
Appendix C
C.1 [8]
Calculations of heat transfer through 15m2 of single glazed window on Barrow Island
Average High
Temperature
Average
Low
Temperature
Month
Heat transfer
(kW)
Heat transfer
(kWh/month)
33.3
25.9
January
31
86.0565
24.2295
55.143
13675.464
33.5
26.3
February
28
87.7275
33.2
26.5
March
31
85.221
27.5715
57.6495
12913.488
29.2425
57.23175
31.1
24.6
April
30
14193.474
67.6755
13.368
40.52175
27.4
21.2
May
9725.22
31
36.762
15.039
25.9005
6423.324
24.2
18.7
June
30
10.026
35.9265
22.97625
5514.3
23.6
25.2
17.5
July
31
5.013
45.9525
25.48275
6319.722
17.8
August
31
18.381
43.446
30.9135
7666.548
26.7
19.4
September
30
30.9135
30.078
30.49575
7318.98
29.4
21.7
October
31
53.472
10.8615
32.16675
7977.354
30.4
22.9
November
30
61.827
0.8355
31.33125
7519.5
32.2
24.5
December
31
76.866
12.5325
44.69925
11085.414
No of days
Heat
(kW)
Loss
Heat
(kW)
Gained
C.2[8]
Calculations of heat transfer through 15m2 of vinyl-framed double pane windows with 6.4mm airspace
Month
No of days
Heat gain (kW)
Heat
(kW)
loss
Heat transfer
Average(kW)
Heat transfer
(kWh/month)
Energy saving
(kWh/month)
Cost of saving
($/month)
January
31
73.6965
20.7495
47.223
11711.304
1964.16
186.60
February
28
75.1275
23.6115
49.3695
11058.768
1854.72
176.20
March
31
72.981
25.0425
49.01175
12154.914
2038.56
193.66
April
30
57.9555
11.448
34.70175
8328.42
1396.8
132.70
May
31
31.482
12.879
22.1805
5500.764
922.56
87.64
June
30
8.586
30.7665
19.67625
4722.3
792
75.24
July
31
4.293
39.3525
21.82275
5412.042
907.68
86.23
August
31
15.741
37.206
26.4735
6565.428
1101.12
104.61
September
30
26.4735
25.758
26.11575
6267.78
1051.2
99.86
October
31
45.792
9.3015
27.54675
6831.594
1145.76
108.85
November
30
52.947
0.7155
26.83125
6439.5
1080
102.60
December
31
65.826
10.7325
38.27925
9493.254
1592.16
151.26
73
C.3[8]
Solar Exposure on Barrow Island
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
27.9
February
January
Month
Mean daily solar
exposure (MJ/m2)
26.1
24.1
20.2
16.7
15.0
16.6
20.4
24.2
27.4
28.8
29.0
C.4[11]
Sharp Solar panel
NU-U240F2 and NU-Q240F2 Electrical Characteristics
Maximum Power (Pmax)*
Type of Cell
240W (+10%/-5%)
Monocrystalline silicon
Cell Configuration
60 in series
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc)
37.4V
Maximum Power Voltage (Vpm)
30.1V
Short Circuit Current (Isc)
8.65A
Maximum Power Current (Ipm)
7.98A%
Module Efficiency (%)
14.70%
Maximum System (DC) Voltage
600V
Series Fuse Rating
15A
NOCT
47.5C
Temperature Coefficient (Pmax)
-0.485%/C
Temperature Coefficient (Voc)
-0.351%/C
Temperature Coefficient (Isc)
0.053%/C
2
*Measured at (STC) Standard Test Conditions: 25C, 1kW/m insolation, AM 1.5
74
FEASIBILITY OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR REMOTE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

IN BANGLADESH AND AUSTRALIA
Tanvir Khan, Thomas Baer, Cameron Kartaschew, Nitika Vaishnav
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind, Remote Location
Abstract
township was 625 people (Australian Bureau Of Statistics, 2013)

made up of 283 Males and 342 Females. Refer Figure 1.
The two remote locations that have been studied are

Hermannsburg and Louhajang. Hermannsburg is located in
Northern Territory of Australia, 131km south of Alice Spring and
Louhajang is a remote farming sub-district of Bangladesh. Both
places house a small number of people with low socio economic
background. The aim of this project was to study and research the
feasibility of sustainable energy to meet the daily household
electricity requirement of the selected places. Initial study
suggested that based on geographic location of these two places,
renewable energy sources can be used to generate the required
electricity. The Location of Hermannsburg is suitable for Solar
and Geo-thermal energy. However, being on the bank of a major
river, Wind energy is promising for Louhajang along with solar
energy. This report presents extensive data and analysis on
feasibility of a renewable energy source for each location.
After calculating the effectiveness of the different options, it was
discovered that solar energy would be most applicable in
Hermannsburg and Louhajang.
Out of these 625 residents, 538 identified as being of Aboriginal

or Torres Strait islander descent. This represents about 86% of the
population of the settlement. The census also indicated that there
were approximately 111 private dwellings within Hermannsburg.
Due to the location of Hermannsburg, the variation in maximum
daytime temperature across the year is very large. Using the longterm data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorologys Alice
Springs airport temperature station (Bureau of Meteorology,
2014) which due to the close location, is assumed to have similar
weather conditions, it can be shown that the Maximum daytime
temperature varies between an average of 37.32C in summer and
22.29C in winter.
The Bureau of Meteorology also has data for the minimum daily
temperature. This data (Bureau of Meteorology, 2014) shows that
the average minimum temperature varies from the 20.71C in
summer to 6.28C in winter.
Introduction
In recent years, rising demand for carbon-free and sustainable
energy created a major leap in the advancement of renewable
energy sources. Researchers and engineers around the world
developed many novel techniques and systems of energy
generation from different renewable sources. Most of the systems
are still highly expensive to set-up, however for large scale energy
generation they are extremely efficient, such as Dam, GeoThermal, Tidal and Wave energy. Solar and small scale Windturbine are becoming extremely popular choices where the
demand for energy is minimal. These two renewable sources have
been proven to be excellent substitutes for conventional mobile
energy generation system like fossil fuel powered generator and
have been very effective in remote and outskirt locations.
As per the project criteria, the remote locations that we have
studied are Hermannsburg in Australia and Louhajang in
Bangladesh. Initial study on climate data helped us to shortlist 2
types of feasible renewable energy sources for each location out
of all the sustainable energy generation systems available today.
However, our aim is to provide a single cost effective energy
generation solution to these places that can be utilised without
much maintenance and sufficient for house-hold applications.
Details of two remote locations are given below-
Figure 1. Hermannsburg, located 1.5 driving hours from Alice

Springs
Louhajang, Bangladesh
Louhajang is located in Munshiganj district of Dhaka Division. It
is a small farming sub-district and mostly houses the people of
low socio economic background. This project focused on only a
small community of this sub-district which is known as Holodia
village consists of around 600 people (Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics , 2014). Refer Figure 2.
The selected community lives on the bank of the river Padma, one
of the major rivers of Bangladesh. As Bangladesh is a country
with small land area, most parts of the country sees very similar
weather patterns. The Capital, Dhaka is situated just 55.5 km
away and the data for solar radiation and wind flow has been
acquired from the weather station in Dhaka.
Hermannsburg, Australia
Hermannsburg is located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It
is approximately 130 km west-southwest of Alice Springs.
According to the 2011 Australian Census, the population of the
75
FEASIBILITY OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR REMOTE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN BANGLADESH AND AUSTRALIA
Average wind flow throughout the year is approximately 3.04

Km/h peaking monthly average 5 Km/h during the months of
April, June and July. However the maximum wind speed recorded
is 83 Km/h (Weather2, 2014). Having six different seasons, the
temperature fluctuates over the course of a year. Statistical data
shows that average monthly maximum temperature that was
recorded in recent years is 33.4C in May and average monthly
minimum temperature is 12.2C during January (Bangladesh
Meteorologica Department, 2014). Chart C-1 shows the monthly
average temperature.
geothermal energy extraction is known as the Hot-Dry Rock

(HDR) technique.
For the HDR technique to work many criteria exist that must be
satisfied. The main criteria is, however, that the temperature of the
core is at least 180C.
The figure in A-2 shows the temperature of the Earths crust at a
depth of 5km, this is a typical depth for a geothermal plant bore.
The figure is taken from Geoscience Australia.
The two smaller graphs show, respectively, the placement of
temperature measurements and the confidence level in the reading
(brighter means more confidence).
This figure in A-2 shows that the area in and around
Hermannsburg is in an area with higher than average core
temperature (the small yellow-red area slightly left of the centre of
Australia), which means that a geothermal plant in this area could
be viable.
Advantages of geothermal in Hermannsburg include the fact that
the operating cost of a geothermal plant is low (Barbier, E, 2002,
p.46), the plant can run all-day and night and the location is well
away from areas of tectonic plate movement.
Negatives of geothermal plants include the fact that the
technology is still not 100%, If not properly controlled, HDR
wells can release dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere and
that the installation costs of Geothermal are still high, compared
with fossil fuels.
Solar Energy
Solar energy is radiant heat and light that Sun produces and can be
harnessed using various equipment from sunlight. It is the most
abundant source of energy that is cleanest and sustainable.
Various techniques including Solar heating, Photovoltaic cell
(PV), Solar-Thermal electricity, Solar Architecture and Artificial
Photosynthesis are currently being used to convert solar energy to
other suitable form of energy, mostly electricity (International
Energy Agency, 2011) (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014).
Figure 2. Louhajang, Located 1.25 driving hours from Dhaka

district
Analysis of Energy & Renewable Sources
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal is the only form of renewable energy that is not
reliant on the suns energy, this because Geothermal energy refers
to the energy that is pulled from the heat of the Earths crust
(Barbier, E, 2002 p. 3). This heat comes from both the heat
generated in the formation of the earth and the heat generated by
the breakdown of long lived radioactive isotopes that are stored
within the core of the earth (Barbier, E, 2002 p. 11).
When being used as a renewable energy source, geothermal
energy refers to the removal of this heat in the form of steam. The
source of this steam is the major point of difference between the
major types of geothermal energy. Currently the majority of
geothermal energy is generated where the earths crust is thin
(allowing more heat through) and there is a natural aquifer. The
steam comes from this aquifer and it is heated by the higher
temperature of the crust in this area.
The second type of geothermal energy comes from where water is
injected into regions of higher temperature by pumps. To facilitate
this, two bores are drilled into the rock, one to send water into the
rock, and the other to receive the heated steam. This type of
About 8-15% of global energy production might rely on Solar by

2050 (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014). Renewable energy
accounts for about 20% of the total energy production currently
where solar energy is ranked 4th (Royal Society of Chemistry,
2014). Recent breakthrough in solar energy generation
technologies improved the overall efficiency of energy generation
(A-3) and conversion system which lead to cheaper production,
set-up and maintenance costs. The most established solar PV
technologies are crystalline silicon based systems (International
Energy Agency, 2011).
The core of a PV system is the PV cell which is basically a
semiconductor device that converts solar energy to DC electricity.
Interconnected PV cells are called PV module and can generate
electricity up to 200Watts. Other necessary equipment that are
required to complete a solar electricity generation unit are consists
of Inverters, Batteries, control and mounting systems. In addition,
PV systems are highly portable. Modular design can allow a
76
number of PV units to join together and generating electricity

ranging few watts to hundreds of megawatts.
(see the appendix for details on included items), the required

electricity is estimated for each Day. The Graph in B-4 shows the
realistic energy requirement data where approximate energy usage
data for each household appliances are taken from A-5.
Using Data obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology (Bureau of
Meteorology, 2014) we can see the average solar exposure per
month for Hermannsburg, peaking around 7.6KWh/m^2 each day
for the months of January, February and December. This graph
can be found in B-3.
Australia has the highest average amount of solar radiation per

unit area in the world (Australian Renewable Energy Agency,
2014). In addition to this, Australian government has financing
schemes to help with the costing of solar panel installation for
household applications. There are multiple companies distributing
highly efficient solar panels and accessories including installation
service currently in Australia making solar energy generation a
highly feasible sustainable energy source.
Assuming that the solar cell system installed on house has a

efficiency of around 20% (see table in A-3 for detailed
efficiencies) and that it has a surface area of 28 m^2 (7m x 4m)
then the electricity generated per month per house Vs power
required is shown in B-4.
Wind Power
Wind energy is one of the oldest forms of renewable energy, with
windmills having used the power of the wind to grind wheat,
pump water and provide mechanical power for many centuries. In
todays society, wind power is a pollution free way of generating
electricity, and the way in which electricity is derived from the
wind is by the use of wind turbines.
Figure B-4, in the appendix, shows energy criteria for a typical

house with 28m^2 of solar PV cells, with an efficiency of 20%.
This shows that an installation of this size on each house would be
able to cater for the needs of a typical family in Hermannsburg.
There are different sizes of geothermal plants that can be installed.
The only other operational plant in Australia, installed in
Birdsville, Queensland (Bertani, 2005, pg. 661) has a capacity of
150 kW. If a similar scheme was installed in Hermannsburg, the
output per month vs the required power for the town (157 houses)
is shown in B-5.
Wind Turbines convert the winds energy into electricity by first

making the wind turn propellers. These propellers are then
mounted to a central rotor; this rotor is connected by a high speed
shaft, via a low speed gearbox, to a central electric induction
motor. These turbines work in a similar way to steam and gas
turbines, except that the power is provided to the generator by the
wind, not steam or combustion (A. R . Jha, 2010). Typical large
scale wind turbine propellers spin at 30-60 RPM and their shafts
spin at 100 to 200 RPM.
The above results show that a geothermal power is not a good

choice for the community of Hermannsburg. A geothermal plant
of 150 kW output will only be able to cover the energy needs of
the township for 4 out of 12 months. However a Solar installation
on the roof of each house having an area of 28m^2 would be able
to cover the needs of the town for the whole year. Another benefit
to going solar is the overall cost of solar. The lifetime cost of
geothermal is large compared with solar. The cost of an
installation of a solar panel is between USD 2800/kW and USD
5500/kW depending on the size of the installation (U.S.
Department of Energy, 2012), whereas for geothermal it is
between USD 1700/kW and USD 3950/kW (International Energy
Agency, 2010).
A major problem exist with wind turbines in that the wind

arriving at the turbine is not constant hour to hour, so there is
never a consistent supply of electricity from the turbine. These
discrepancies in the wind cannot be always be accounted for by
previous years. I.E.: Just because it was windy on one day the
previous year, does not mean it will be windy the same day this
year.
The most visible type of wind turbine installation is the wind
farm. Wind farms are made up of multiple wind turbines and are
able to guarantee a minimum amount of power of which they can
produce. A major drawback of wind farms is the fact that they
produce high amounts of sound pollution. If they are located close
to communities they are often subject to major complaints.
Though this data suggests that Geothermal may be cheaper, it

does not take into account the fact that the 28m2 of solar panels
per house are oversupplying the community. This oversupply of
electricity could be used to sell electricity back into the grid or
could be stored by batteries for a later use, allowing a smaller area
of solar panels, which lowers the cost. Also, the operator of the
geothermal power plant would look to pass the cost onto the
consumers, this means that an extra cost would be incurred by the
community over the life of the geothermal plant. Using a cost of
energy of $0.095/kWh, it has been show in B-6 that the pay off
period for this solar installation would be approximately 10.5
years. This amount of time is within the expected lifetime of the
solar panels, and once paid off the extra money could be used by
the community in many different areas.
Results and Discussion

Hermannsburg
Using data taken from the Australian Bureau of meteorology we
can show the long term max, min and mean daily temperatures for
the Alice Springs Airport, though this is not Hermannsburg, it is
the closest reliable data. Please refer to B-1.
Using the mean daily temperature we can calculate the power
required to heat and cool a home located in Hermannsburg if the
house were required to stay at 23C. Assuming that the only heat
loss for the house is through the windows, a home with 15m2 of
single glaze windows (U = 5.57 Wm-2K-1) the heat loss per day
is plotted in B-2.
However, combining the realistic daily heating/cooling energy
required with the power required to use normal household items
Louhajang
Compared to Hermannsburg, the energy required for household
applications and maintaining constant temperature throughout the
year is approximately 81 MWh less per month in Louhajang (A4). This is mainly due to different climate cycle and low socio
77
economic society. The total energy required for every household

every month drastically varies due to different heating/cooling
requirements per month if the house were to keep at a constant
temperature of 23C (Refer to C-2). However, if implementing a
system that would supply continuous electricity to each house
without shortage, the realistic energy required for a month is
considered, which is 5.83KWh/day on average each month.
The analysis has also shown that solar is the best choice for
Louhajang. This is due to the fact that distributors of solar systems
are readily available in Bangladesh, whereas Wind power would
require the assistance of foreign companies.
As seen on C-3, monthly average daily solar radiation in

Louhajang peaks during the hottest month of the year, which is
5.76KWh/m^2 in April. This is the month we expect maximum
realistic energy demand due to additional cooling requirement.
However, the month of September has the least amount of daily
solar radiation being 4.03KWh/m^2. As the approximated
household energy requirement is based on average household
energy usage approximation of low socio-economic society (see
A-5, A-6 for more info) energy generated has to be more than
peak demand value. Therefore, based on standard 20% efficient
PV cell, a 7.5m^2 solar panel system is required to provide
necessary electricity throughout the year. C-4 has monthly
average daily energy generated vs required graph.
Overall, this report has shown that currently, solar systems are the
best choice available for small communities, whether in Outback
Australia or Regional Bangladesh.
The analysis also showed that a solar system is able to provide a

payback period of around 7.5 years.
References
A. R . Jha, P. (2010). Wind Turbine Technology. CRC Press.
Australian Bureau Of Statistics. (2013, 03 28). 2011 Census
Quick Facts - Hermannsburg. Retrieved from Australian Bureau
of
Statistics:
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/cen
sus/2011/quickstat/SSC70081
Australian Renewable Energy Agency. (2014, October 6). Solar
Energy. Retrieved from Australian Renewable Energy Agency:
http://arena.gov.au/about-renewable-energy/solar-energy/
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics . (2014, October 4). Statistics and
Informatics Division . Retrieved from Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics
:
http://www.sid.gov.bd/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/Socio_Economic.pdf
Bangladesh Meteorologica Department. (2014, October 4).
Temperature Data. Retrieved from Bangladesh Meteorologica
Department:
http://www.bmd.gov.bd/Content.php?MenuId=46&SubMenuId=6
4&SubSubMenuId=108
Barbier, E. (2002). Geothermal energy eechnology and current
state: An Overview. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
Vol. 6 no 1-2, 3-65.
Bureau of Meteorology. (2014, 09 30). Bureau of Meteorology.
Retrieved September 17, 2014, from Alice Springs AP Daily
Maximum
Temperature:
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsC
ode=122&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_stn_num=015590&p
_startYear=2013&p_c=-48737170
Bureau of Meteorology. (2014). Bureau of Meteorology.
Retrieved
September
17,
2014,
from
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsC
ode=123&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=2013&p_c
=-48737366&p_stn_num=015590
Debazit Datta, B. K. (2013). EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR THE
ESTIMATION OF GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION IN
DHAKA, BANGLADESH. International Journal of Research in
Engineering and Technology , Volume:2, Issue:11.
Efficiency Vermont. (2014, October 7). Electric Usage Chart.
Retrieved
from
Efficiency
Vermont:
https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/For-My-Home/ways-to-saveand-rebates/Appliances/Refrigerators/General-Info/ElectricUsage-Chart
International Energy Agency. (2010). Renewable Energy
Essentials: Geothermal Energy. Retrieved October 06, 2014, from
International
Energy
Agency
Free
Publications:
http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Geot
hermal_Essentials.pdf
Wind power densities measured to some adjacent locations were

recorded by a group of researchers in 2011 (Sanjoy Kumar Nandi,
2011). The peak power density of 200W/m^2 was recorded during
the month of June and on average it is around 30W/m^2 annually.
It is possible to achieve higher average Wind power density at a
height of 50m. The system has to be implemented as 100KW grid
system to be most efficient and cost saving (Sanjoy Kumar Nandi,
2011). However the initial setup cost would be $266250 AUD and
unit energy cost would be 7.3 cents per KWh (Sanjoy Kumar
Nandi, 2011). There are also ongoing maintenance cost which is
significantly higher compared to a modular solar panel system.
Initial set-up cost for a residential Solar-system is around USD
3500/kW (International Energy Agency, 2010). Also, once
installed, owners wouldnt have to pay any electricity bill
throughout the year and additional electricity can be sold back to
grid enabling the system to pay for itself within approximately 7.3
years (C-6 for details). There are few experienced distributors
who can supply and install highly efficient solar panels, whereas
100kW grid Wind Turbine would require foreign companies to be
contracted. Therefore, Solar-system would be an ideal sustainable
energy source for Louhajang.
Conclusions
The data has shown that for both Hermannsburg and Louhajang,
solar energy is the best source of renewable energy. This analysis
could be used to support the implementation of similar solar
systems into both outback Australia and Bangladesh.
The results have shown that solar is a very cost effective way of
generating electricity, due to its virtually zero operating costs and
the fact that the systems are owned by the homeowners and not a
corporation. This also means that spare electricity could be sold
back into the national grid, allowing an extra income into the area.
The thorough analysis has shown that solar is the best choice in
Hermannsburg due to the high amounts of solar radiation which it
receives across the year, and the fact that an individual houses
solar system could be paid off within approx. 10.5 years when
selling their spare electricity back to the grid.
78
International Energy Agency. (2011, October). Renewables.

Retrieved
October
4,
2014,
from
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/solar2011SUM.pdf
Royal Society of Chemistry. (2014). Campaigning And Outreach.
Retrieved October 4, 2014, from http://www.rsc.org/campaigningoutreach/global-challenges/energy/
Sanjoy Kumar Nandi, M. N. (2011). Potential of Wind and Solar
Electricity Generation in Bangladesh. International Scholarly
Research Network, 2012, Article ID 401761, 10 pages.
U.S. Department of Energy. (2012, November). Photovoltaic
(PV)Pricing Trends: Historical, Recent, and Near-Term
Projections. Retrieved from National Renewable Energy
Laboratory(NREL): http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56776.pdf
Weather2. (2014, October 4). Climate Profile. Retrieved from
Weather2:
http://www.myweather2.com/CityTown/Bangladesh/Dhaka/climate-profile.aspx
79
80
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
August
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
28.95
27.85
25.05
20.4
15.65
12.4
11.85
14.35
18.95
22.9
25.8
27.8
497.12
405.22
171.28
217.23
614.09
885.63
931.58
722.71
346.73
8.36
233.94
401.04
250.65
459.53
417.75
417.75
334.20
375.98
417.75
250.65
41.78
250.65
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
401.76
26.784
49.104
44.64
44.64
35.712
40.176
44.64
26.784
4.464
26.784
Annual Total Energy
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
186.484
341.887
310.806
310.806
248.645
279.725
310.806
186.484
31.081
186.484
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
2.54
4.66
4.24
4.24
3.39
3.82
4.24
2.54
0.42
2.54
4.24
1.27
Savings /
house
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
55.17
5.05
4.11
1.74
2.21
6.23
8.99
9.46
7.34
3.52
0.08
2.37
4.07
Savings /
house
381.67
699.73
636.12
636.12
508.90
572.51
636.12
381.67
63.61
381.67
636.12
190.84
Annual
$ 5,725.08
Savings
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
Savings-total
population
Annual
Savings
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
8,662.13
792.31
645.83
272.98
346.22
978.73
1,411.51
1,484.75
1,151.84
552.62
13.32
372.85
639.17
Savings-total population
kWh Total Annual Savings $ 38.17
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
Energy
(Total Energy
saving/month for
kWh per month)
every house
53.1216 kWh
316.738
43.3008 kWh
258.181
18.3024 kWh
109.128
23.2128 kWh
138.406
65.6208 kWh
391.264
94.6368 kWh
564.272
99.5472 kWh
593.550
77.2272 kWh
460.467
37.0512 kWh
220.918
0.8928 kWh
5.323
24.9984 kWh
149.053
42.8544 kWh
255.519
Total Annual
580.77 kWh
Savings
Hermannsburg
36
66
60
60
48
54
60
36
6
36
Annual Total
Energy
Energy
Energy Saved
(Total Energy kWh
saving/month for
with thicker
per month)
every house
glass
417.75
60 W
44.64 kWh
310.806
125.33
18 W
13.392 kWh
93.242
Original Thin
Glass (W)
New thicker
Energy Saved
glass
with thicker glass
4.77(W)
425.72
71.4
347.02
58.2
146.68
24.6
186.03
31.2
525.89
88.2
758.43
127.2
797.78
133.8
618.91
103.8
296.93
49.8
7.16
1.2
200.34
33.6
343.44
57.6
214.65
393.53
357.75
357.75
286.20
321.98
357.75
214.65
35.78
214.65
357.75
107.33
New Thicker
Glass (W)
Outside Avg Original thin

Temperature glass 5.57(W)
26
28.5
28
28
27
27.5
28
26
23.5
20
March
April
May
June
July
August
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Month
18
21.5
Outside Avg
Temperature
Jan
Feb
Month
Louhajang
A-1 Energy and Cost saving using new Insulation

Appendix-A
A-2 Geothermal Energy
A-3 PV Cell Efficiencies
A-4 Total Maximum Energy consumption for each location
Total Monthly Energy consumption rate

MWh/month
150
100
Bangladesh
Australia
50
-
81
A-5 Total Household Energy Estimation (Efficiency Vermont, 2014)
Energy Consuming
Item
Fridge
Light Bulb
Television
Microwave
Heating & Cooling
Computers
Ceiling Fan
Washing machine
TOTAL
Monthly Average
Consumption Rate
56
10
49
11
375
1
12
9
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
Approx No of items in
House
Total amount of
consumption per month
Australia
Australia
1
10
4
1
0.8
4
0
1
21.8
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
Bangladesh
1
4
1
0
0
0.5
2
0
8.5
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
units
82
56
100
196
11
300
4
0
9
676
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
kWh
Bangladesh
56
40
49
0
0
0.5
24
0
169.5
Australia
Bangladesh
kWh
kWh
Population
kWh
625
600
kWh
Occupied House
kWh
157
150
kWh
Area average monthly
kWh
consumption rate (MWh)
kWh
kWh
106
25
A-6 General Assumptions
The windows U-Factor was referred from the textbook Cengel and Ghanjar table 9-6 page 558 descriptions of;
Initial being a single-glazed double door type wood-framed, and then replaced with vinyl-framed double pane window with an air
space of 6.4mm, these numbers were 5.57 and 4.77 respectively.
Assignment brief states to take assumption that the window area is 15
That energy to cool and heat households towards the desired temperature of 23
No citizen of Louhajang have air conditioning
80% of the population of Hermannsburg have an air-conditioning unit
House hold appliance assumptions were based on recorded data from an online source based in Vermont (America). This data of
2
is the same
each appliance per month was assumed to be used in replace of actual Hermannsburg (Australia) data, as both cities utilise the
same standard of technology and have similar needs.
Every house hold had a standard set of appliances, see appendix A-5 for specific details
The quantity of appliances of was assumed through understanding of living standards and how many people occupy a house on
average. See appendix A-5 for further details.
The population of Louhajang (Bangladesh) was taken to be 600 as this is a reasonable figure observed by neighbouring towns of
same geographical range and infrastructure.
Louhajang Temperatures were unobtainable at time of report, so neighbouring city within the same district of Dhaka was taken
and averaged out to make date more comparable.
Online statistical information about towns in question, showed diverse living situations so a standardisation was met.
Hermannsburg: Population of 625 People resulted in 157 identical houses
Louhajang: 600 people resulted in 150 identical houses
83
Appendix-B (Hermannsburg Data)

B-1 Annual Temperature Data
B-2 Heating and Cooling requirement per house (Keeping House @23C)
KWh
Monthly Heating/Cooling
Energy(Hermannsburg)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
B-3 Monthly Solar Exposure
KWh/m^2
Monthly mean Daily Solar Radiation

8
7.5
7
6.5
6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
7.6
7.4
7
7.4
7
6.6
6.2
5.6
5.3
4.5
4.1
Jan
Feb Mar Apr May Jun
84
4.4
Jul
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
B-4 Solar Energy vs Household requirement per house (Realistic Heating/Cooling)
Energy Generated Vs Required

45.00
40.00
KWh/day
35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Required
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Generated
B-5 Geothermal Energy vs total Household requirement
Geothermal Energy
200000
Energy (kWh per month)
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Required
85
Jul
Output
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Monthly Mean
Daily radiation
Month KWh/m^2
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
86
Installation cost
As s ume 1AUD=
.95USD
12,568.07
As s ume ins tallation

cos t of USD 3500/kw
Total Surplus per year

(savings + earned)
Pay off period
(Installation/surplus)
10.63290668
$1,182.00
PV cell
Area required to Each house
Dollar per
Dollars per
Energy Dollars Per Day
power per Required
Month saved Days per month Month earned
power house (m2) generated (kWh) Surplus earned
(Daily)
day
56.77
31 $
$68.57
$1.83
42.56 19.28
15.31871345
23.28
0.152
7.6
48.33
28 $
$55.94
$1.73
39.2 18.17
15.02222222
21.03
0.14
7
40.27
31 $
$68.57
$1.30
36.96 13.68
17.63973064
23.28
0.132
6.6
25.16
30 $
$64.22
$0.84
8.83
31.36
20.11904762
22.53
0.112
5.6
5.64
31 $
$68.57
$0.18
1.92
25.2
25.87160494
23.28
0.09
4.5
1.22
30 $
$64.22
$0.04
0.43
22.96
27.4796748
22.53
0.082
4.1
3.99
31 $
$68.57
$0.13
1.36
24.64
26.45959596
23.28
0.088
4.4
21.05
31 $
$66.36
$0.68
7.15
29.68
21.25786164
22.53
0.106
5.3
32.59
30 $
$66.36
$1.09
34.72 11.44
18.77777778
23.28
0.124
6.2
49.08
31 $
$66.36
$1.58
39.2 16.67
16.0952381
22.53
0.14
7
51.74
30 $
$66.36
$1.72
41.44 18.16
15.73273273
23.28
0.148
7.4
55.68
31 $
$66.36
$1.80
41.44 18.91
15.22522523
22.53
0.148
7.4
$391.52
790.48 Money earned per year
Money Saving Per year $
3.411333333
Average Generated
0.121833333
Average cell power
Hermannsburg
B-6 Solar System Cost
Appendix-C (Louhajang Data)

C-1 Annual Temperature Data
Average Monthly temperature

31
28.5
29
28
28
27.5
27
Temperature Deg C
27
28
28
26
25
23.5
23
21.5
21
19
20
18
17
15
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
August
Sept
Oct
C-2 Monthly Heating/Cooling Energy required per household (Keeping House @23C)
Monthly Heating/Cooling Energy(Louhajang)

300
250
KWh
200
150
100
50
0
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
87
August
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Nov
Dec
C-3 Monthly Solar Exposure
(Debazit Datta, 2013)
Monthly Average Daily Solar energy

6.00
5.59
5.76
5.30
KWh/m^2
5.50
4.92
5.00
4.50
4.53
4.36
4.22 4.27
4.03
4.28 4.29 4.21
4.00
3.50
3.00
Jan
Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov Dec
C-4 Solar Energy vs Household requirement per house (Realistic Heating/Cooling)
Energy Required Vs Generated

KWh/m^2
10.000
8.000
6.000
4.000
2.000
0.000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Required
Generated
88
C-5 Wind Power
(Sanjoy Kumar Nandi, 2011)

Table 6- 100KW Grid Connected Wind-Energy System. (Sanjoy Kumar Nandi, 2011)
89
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Monthly Mean
Required
daily radiation PV Cell
(Daily)
KWh/m^2
(kWh/m^2)
Day length
0.08717
4.36
10.71
0.09839
4.92
11.22
0.11178
5.59
11.86
0.11522
5.76
12.56
0.10600
5.30
13.15
0.09061
4.53
13.44
0.08439
4.22
13.31
0.08539
4.27
12.81
0.08061
4.03
12.13
0.08561
4.28
11.43
0.08583
4.29
10.85
0.08422
4.21
10.57
0.092935185
Average cell power
90
As s ume
.95USD
1AUD=
Installation cost
2,567.95
As s ume i ns tal l a tion

cos t of USD 3500/kw
Dollars Per Day

Energy
Each house
power house (m2) generated (kWh) Surplus earned
0.10
0.7 $
6.5
6.6979
5.838
0.29
2.1 $
7.4
5.3597
5.273
0.35
2.5 $
8.4
5.2232
5.838
0.41
3.0 $
8.6
4.9036
5.650
0.29
2.1 $
8.0
5.5079
5.838
0.16
1.1 $
6.8
6.2354
5.650
0.07
0.5 $
6.3
6.9184
5.838
0.10
0.8 $
6.4
6.6168
5.650
0.03
0.2 $
6.0
7.2426
5.838
0.11
0.8 $
6.4
6.5996
5.650
0.08
0.6 $
6.4
6.8019
5.838
0.09
0.7 $
6.3
6.7084
5.650
Money Saving Per year
0.697013889
Average Generated(kwh)
Area required to
Louhajang
Pay off period

(Installation/surplus)
Total Surplus per year (savings +

earned)
7.317941
$350.91
Dollar
Dollars
per
per
Month
Month
earned
Day/month
saved
31 $ 2.99
$ 24.98
28 $ 8.14
$ 20.38
31 $ 10.89
$ 24.98
30 $ 12.39
$ 23.39
31 $ 9.03
$ 24.98
30 $ 4.74
$ 23.39
31 $ 2.10
$ 24.98
31 $ 3.23
$ 24.17
30 $ 0.86
$ 24.17
31 $ 3.30
$ 24.17
30 $ 2.48
$ 24.17
31 $ 2.85
$ 24.17
$62.99
$ 287.92 Money earned per year
C-6 Solar System Cost
SOLAR ENERGY PRODUCTION IN REMOTE AREAS

Ben Martin, Adam Gazzola, Alex Rutherford
Keywords: Solar Energy, Remote Area
countries are slowly implementing renewable energy. Although

fossil fuels are produced naturally, they are classified as nonrenewable as they take millions of years to form.
Abstract
Technological advancements in renewable energy production
have created a practical alternative to the burning of fossil fuels
and creating carbon emissions contributing to Global Warming.
Sources of renewable energy such as solar, wind, geothermal and
tidal all have their own respective advantages and limitations, all
scientifically proven to have less impact on the environment. This
report investigates the feasibility of implementing solar energy
production in two different rural locations around the world. The
two proposed research sites are Menzies, Western Australia,
Australia, and Kwale, Kwale County, Kenya. These two small
settlements with limited population were selected due to the large
amount of sunlight available in the dry environment, amongst
other reasons that will be discussed throughout the report.
Assumptions were determined for the calculations, such as
maintaining the room temperature at 23C, U factor variations due
to outside temperature was deemed to be negligible and windows
were placed on a vertical orientation with 3mm thick glass. The
implementation of solar energy in comparison to connection of
the grid for these rural locations was determined to be much more
beneficial, especially the use of a decentralised source as oppose
to large scale solar plants. Although the high costs of the initial set
up and installation have proven an issue in large scale
implementation of solar energy resources, the financial aspect will
be reduced due to the savings of power bills, whilst lowering the
potential impact on the environment. With the additional support
from the respective governments, possible rebates have helped in
the increasing number of people using solar as a primary source of
energy.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of fuels conversion into electricity

Renewable energy is classified as a natural process that creates an
inexhaustible form of energy, meaning it can be naturally
replenished. These come in forms such as solar, wind, geothermal,
wave, tidal and others. Renewable energy currently provides only
21.7% of electricity generation worldwide, although this statistic
is steadily improving.
The objective of this report is to design a system to deliver energy
for domestic purposes in two remote areas by using a renewable
energy source selected by our group. This will give a greater
understanding of thermodynamic concepts, in particular
sustainable development in different countries. The two remote
locations to be analysed and evaluated throughout this report are;
Australia and Kenya.
The source of renewable energy to analyse was determined to be
Solar due to the following reasons;
The Sun emits more energy in one second (3.827 10 26 J)

than is available in all of the fossil fuels present on earth (3.9
1022 J)
Kenyans are the world leader in the number of solar power

systems installed per capita
In 2011, Kenya was also the first country in Africa to open

a carbon exchange
Although solar power technology has the potential to

supply energy to large numbers of people, and has been used
to generate power on a large scale in the U.S. and other
developed nations, its greatest potential in Africa may be to
provide power on a smaller scale and to use this energy to
help with day-to-day needs such as small-scale
electrification, desalination, water pumping, and water
purification.
Introduction
The fundamental principles of electricity generation were
discovered by British Scientist Michael Faraday in the 1820s.
Scientists have estimated the use of fossil fuels since
approximately 1000 BC, however it took until the Industrial
Revolution (1760-1840) where the use of fossil fuels, such as
coal, began to rise rapidly. This was due to the transition from
hand production methods to machine production methods, and
one of the most important inventions of the Industrial Revolution,
the steam engine.
Fossil fuels are formed through a natural process, the
biodegradable decomposition of remains from buried organisms.
These come in the form of coal, petroleum or natural gas, and
have been used by mankind for centuries. This process is
described in Figure 1.
Theoretical Background
Fossil fuels are the still the main energy sources, providing 78.3%
of electricity generation worldwide. However due to
environmental factors such as air pollution, global warming,
carbon emissions and the constant depletion of such fuels,
What is Solar? Solar power is a source of renewable energy where

electricity is generated by harnessing the radiant light and heat
91
emitted by the sun and converting to electricity. This can be

achieved through a range of technologies such as solar heating,
solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity, solar architecture or
artificial photosynthesis. Photovoltaics (PV) are categorised as an
active solar technique where electrical power is generated directly
by creating voltage or electrical current using a semiconducting
material upon exposure to light. This is also known as the
photovoltaic effect. The use of solar photovoltaics is considered as
one of the most clean and sustainable sources of renewable energy
as the sun is the most reliable and widely distributed renewable
energy source on the planet.
Measuring Efficiency
Maximising the amount of power generated by a solar panel is of
utmost importance. To determine the maximum amount of
possible energy conversion we have to look at the Solar
efficiency of a PV Panel. The solar efficiency of a given panel is
determined by a myriad of different variables. These include;
quantum efficiency, thermodynamic efficiency, reflectance,
conduction, charge carrier separation and fill factor.
Most of these variables are difficult to measure, so a rough
estimate is found through the fill factor (max power divided by
voltage and current), quantum efficiency (photons converted to
energy) and a VOC ratio (open circuit voltage ratio).
The term photovoltaic is a derivation from the two words photo

and voltaic. Photo is derived from the Greek meaning of light
and voltaic is derived from the term voltage, named after the
Italian physicist and inventor of the battery, Alessandro Volta.
Photovoltaic cells are generally composed of silicon, situated
under a thin sheet of glass.
Theoretically, the absolute maximum sunlight energy conversion

efficiency is 86%, however for PV cells we can expect a much
lower efficiency. Currently the highest efficiency ever achieved
for a PV Panel is 44.7%.
Literature Review
Simple steps to increase efficiency
Power Generation
There are a few physical things that can be done to a PV cell in
order to raise the conversion efficiency.
1. Orient the Panel perpendicular to the sun positioning a
cell 90 to the suns position in the sky allows more
photons to enter the PV panel and subsequently be
converted into energy.
2. Use mirrors to focus more light onto a panel Much
like orienting the panel 90 to the sun, this allows more
light to hit the panel and be converted.
3. Ensuring the panel doesnt over-heat As with most
electronic systems, over-heating is detrimental to a
circuits performance. Heat causes the current to increase
slowly and the voltage to decrease quickly. This in turn
lowers the power output significantly.
4. Keep the panel surface clean from debris Having a
dirty panel will decrease transparency and therefore less
light can be converted into energy.
Solar Power generation refers to energy harnessed from the sun.

This energy is collected and eventually converted into electrical
energy, which is utilised in many different shapes and forms.
There are two prevalent forms of solar energy collection;
photovoltaic and solar heat energy. Photovoltaic cells are special
cells, which directly convert the suns energy into electricity, while
solar heat cells harness the suns heat to warm water and drive
turbines through steam. For this Literature review we will be
specifically looking into Photovoltaic cells, as they are more
relevant to us.
Photovoltaic Cells
Photovoltaic cells generate power by harnessing the energy of
photons emitted from the sun. Photons carry enough energy to
excite flow within a crystalline silicone electrolyte, which then
produce electricity. This is due to the silicon material having 4
free electrons which can be knocked lose quite easily, creating a
current. PV cells are not made out of pure silicon however; they
are a blend of silicon with some impurities, which usually come
in the form of added phosphorous or boron. These impurities are
added on purpose to allow easier electron flow. This method is
known as doping. The electricity from a PV cell comes out as
direct current (DC) and would normally have to be inverted into
alternating current (AC) to be useful.
Energy Storage: Batteries and Flywheels

Energy harnessed from the sun has one major downfall, the fact
that energy cannot be harvested at night or during overcast days.
To combat this major drawback, the extra energy that is unused
needs to be stored for later use. There are two viable options for
reliable energy storage, batteries and flywheels.
A battery is a means of converting and storing electrical energy as
chemical energy. They allow electricity to be stored for extended
period of times without major losses in energy.
There are two types of batteries, primary and secondary cells.
Primary cell batteries can only be charged and discharged once,
while secondary can be recharged multiple times.
For use with solar panels, secondary batteries are required, as
constant storage and discharge are required.
Maximising Efficiency
Solar panels put out a proportional amount of power as is
inputted. That is, if you have a lot of sun, you have a lot of power.
This is what makes solar power so unreliable, as it has so many
uncontrollable variables. Usually it would be recommended to
have a backup power source in case there wasnt enough
generated by the PV cells. Usually (like in households) you would
be hooked up to the local electricity grid, only tapping in when
necessary. Another method to combat this uncertainty would be to
store the electricity for later through the use of batteries. This
would allow for excess power to be utilised later when the sun is
down or there is low emissivity.
A flywheel works much like a battery, however instead of storing

electrical energy as chemical energy; it stores it as mechanical (or
rotational) energy. Flywheels have significant moments of inertia,
which allow them to resist changes in rotational speed, meaning
that losses in energy are minimal.
92
For PV cells, flywheels would be inappropriate as the amount of

power they can store is minimal (compared to batteries); they lose
power over time and are quite large.
Advantages of Solar
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Renewable
Solar is arguably the most natural source of power
available to generate electricity due to the natural
replenishment from the sun
This creates a highly reliable source which is theoretically
infinite from the constant access to the sun
Extremely eco-friendly and sustainable
Reliable
In comparison to other energy sources, most notably wind
due to complex technological configurations
Pollution
Operation of solar electricity power plants will not
contribute to global warming whilst producing zero
greenhouse gas emissions
Solar does not rely on burning fossil fuels to generate
electricity
Accessibility
Ability to be easily harnessed to generate electricity is
extremely high
Allows remote areas to become energy self-sufficient by
living off a grid instead of the use of generators for energy
Cost
After initial financial outlay such as installation expenses,
solar will act as a free source of electricity
Ongoing maintenance is minimal as there are no moving
parts in a solar panel
Maintenance generally occurs annually to ensure solar
panels are working at maximum efficiency
Due to continual advancements, expenses and cost of
production are decreasing, whilst fossil fuel pricing is
increasing
Due to the improving technology, efficiency of the panels
are increasing thus creating a more cost effective system
Noise factor
Solar is a silent producer of energy as no noise is created
from the photovoltaic panels under operation whilst
converting sunlight into usable electricity
Versatility
Ability for power produced to be used on all electrical
items
Installation
Easy to install as it does not require wires, cords or power
sources
Areas with cloudy or foggy environments will

produce reduced amounts of electricity
o Available sunlight can obviously only be harnessed
throughout the day
o Houses covered by landscape such as trees or other
buildings may not be appropriate as they will not
have the ability to produce adequate amounts of solar
power
o Although the majority of Earth receives consistent
sunlight there is an exception of Antarctica and Polar
Regions
Pollution
o Although operation of solar power plants creates zero
emissions, most photovoltaic panels are made up of
toxic materials such as silicon, mercury, lead and
cadmium
o Existing pollution in the environment will decrease
the quality and efficiency of the photovoltaic cells in
operation
Inefficiency
o The amount of solar energy that can be harnessed on
any given day will be dependent on the weather
therefore will fluctuate and be inconsistent
o Most cells used in photovoltaic panels are single
junction type which have an efficiency of only 15%
o Current record is still only 40%, using multi-junction
cells, which still means 60% of the potential
harnessed sunlight is wasted
o Emerging technology may potentially increase the
efficiency to 80%, however this will dramatically
increase the price
Reliability
o Renewable sources such as wind can be operated
throughout the night, however as stated above, solar
panels become redundant during the night
Installation area
o The installation of the solar panels area will
correspond to the amount of area needed for larger
buildings, larger areas etc. in order to provide
efficient amount of electricity
o For larger buildings and areas, the solar panels area
will correspond
Location One
Australian Location
Menzies, Western Australia
Details
Elevation
o 426 metres
Population
o 56 (2006 census)
Coordinates
o 294117S 121213E
Average Household
o 2.60 persons
Limitations of Solar
Initial cost
o The major disadvantage regarding installation of
solar panels
o Expenses are extremely high upon purchase and
installation in order to harness the potential solar
energy
o New technology will hopefully reduce the cost of
solar panels due to increased use
Location
o The major factor in the generation of solar energy
Summary
Menzies is a small mining town 728 kilometres north-east of
Perth. The towns origins began during the gold rush that occurred
93
in the region in 1895 when a Canadian by the name of Robert

Menzies first discovered gold while prospecting. The town was
named in his honour and the gold rush lasted around 10 years.
During this period the population rose as high as 10,000 miners
and residents, yet as the gold disappeared so did the people and by
1910 the population declined to less than 1000. Gold is still mined
in the Menzies area today and the local population varies due to
miners coming and going, yet the number of residents in Menzies
rarely rises above 100.
using solar by 2016. This was available due to the $1.2bn

government investment, a plan to develop nine solar power plants
across the country. Solar power is much more readily available for
Kenya in comparison to other renewable sources such as hydroelectricity, which carries high prices due to the low water levels.
An economics professor from the University of Nairobi, Germano
Mwabu, believes that the introduction of solar will reduce
electricity prices by up to 80%. This would increase Kenyas
world ranking of solar energy generation from 46th to 3rd.
Solar Power Considerations
Comparison Analysis
Currently the Menzies area is not connected to the South West

Interconnected System (SWIS) where competitive energy
generation and retail exist. The largest energy generator and
retailer operating in the SWIS are Verve Energy and Synergy
respectively. Yet operating outside this area the only energy
retailer is Horizon power and over the past 10 years has
outsourced its electricity generation to independent groups.
Currently in Menzies the power supplied is generated through
Diesel conversion by Energy Developments Ltd. As shown in
figure 8/9 located in the appendix, most isolated towns rely on
fossil fuel combustion power generation. The cost for power in
Menzies as supplied by Horizon Power comes to $0.35/kWh.
Economic Values
At the moment Australia is not a strong leader in solar energy,
despite it having the greatest potential to be. Australia has a very
dry climate and large area give it substantial benefits for solar
energy generation. As seen in the below figure solar exposure
remains extremely high throughout the majority of the continent,
yet the highest areas remain remote and will be difficult to
implement proper facilities in these areas in the near future.
Currently Solar energy only contributes 1.1% of Australias total
energy production, yet over the past 5 years solar energy rates
have increase exponentially. This is due to the introduction of
Government provided rebate and the Solar Credit programs.
These allowed solar cells to be more affordable and give higher
returns when first implemented.
Location Two
International Location
Kwale, Kwale County, Kenya
Details
Elevation
o 402 metres (1319 feet)
Total Population
o 4200 (1999 Census)
Coordinates
o 41028S 392737E
Average household size
o 4.8 people (1999 Census)
Some of the main reasons that Australia has not made the switch
to solar energy are that an efficient and widespread national
electricity grid is already in place and because of this electricity is
affordable and reliable. Only in rural and country communities far
removed from larger townships would decentralised renewable
energy be suitable.
Kenya is the world leader in the number of solar systems installed
per capita. Each year more and more Kenyans make the switch to
solar power rather than connect to the countries grid. There are
two reasons for this happening, firstly is due to the high
connecting costs to the grid. For the average Kenyan the cost of
connecting to the countries aged grid is around $400. Secondly
being connected to the grid does not guarantee consistent supply.
Power outages are common place and the continual cost for
monthly bills is substantial.
Summary
Kwale is a small farming town located 30km southeast of
Mombasa. Home to the Digo and Duruma people, the town is
responsible for farm products, oranges, pawpaws, mangoes, bixa,
coconuts, vegetables and cereals. Research conducted in 2009
determined the number of households in the Kwale County using
solar to be 1522. This large number is due to Kenya being the
world leader in number of solar power systems installed per capita
due to the abundance of solar capability in the country. Although
the population of Kwale seems large, the county is spread out in
tribes of much smaller numbers, preventing exact data to be
found.
To improve the already aged and over extended grid would cost
far more time and money than to simply improve access to
decentralized renewable energy. As many of Kenyas citizens
live remotely away from access to the national grid, installation of
decentralised renewable energy sources such as solar power have
been shown to directly contribute to reductions in local poverty
levels. By providing energy for essential living and improved
business practises most causes preventing economic development
are removed.
Solar Power Considerations
Decentralized energy systems produce expensive kilowatt hours,

yet they cost less and function better with a dispersed and isolated
populace compared to on a billion-dollar distribution grid. This
becomes essential for community development when Kenyans
tend to gravitate towards their individuals tribes.
Currently the Kwale area has the option to connect to the

countries grid at high cost or switch to solar power. Solar is
currently the best available option for residents due to the push by
the government for renewable energy. Kenya is one of the world
leaders in solar with plans to generate over half of its electricity
94
19. Anon 2013, Solar Power Advantages and Disadvantages,

Sustainable Development Information, viewed 4 September
2014, <http://www.sustainabledevelopmentinfo.com/solarpower-advantages-and-disadvantages/>
20. Anon 2014, Disadvantages of Solar Energy, Conserve
Energy Future, viewed 8 September 2014, <http://www.
conserve-energyfuture.com/Disadvantages_SolarEnergy.php>
21. AbuBakr Bahaj 2013, Solar power is the only answer to light
up rural Africa, The Conversation, viewed 8 September
2014, <http://theconversation.com/solar-power-is-the-onlyanswer-to-light-up-rural-africa-19174>
22. Anon 2013, Timeline of Packers Relationship with Ndonyo
Wasin, viewed 8 September 2014,
<http://weblog.packer.edu/nwdatabase/files/2012/11/NWPStimeline-sum-2013-1xc2gxi.pdf>
23. Anon 2014, Why did fossil fuels become so popular?,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, viewed 8 September 2014
<https://www.mhiglobal.com/discover/earth/issue/history/history.html>
24. Anon 2014, Parks and Reserves of Northern Kenya, Audley
Travel, viewed 17 September 2014,
<http://www.audleytravel.com/destinations/africa/kenya/plac
es-to-go/parks-and-reserves-of-northern-kenya/samburunational-reserve/climate.aspx>
25. World Weather Online 2014, Kwale Monthly Climate
Average Kenya, World Weather Online, viewed 24
September 2014,
<http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Kwale-weatheraverages/Coast/KE.aspx>
26. World Weather Online 2014, Menzies Monthly Climate
Average Australia, World Weather Online, viewed 24
September 2014,
<http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Menzies-weatheraverages/Western-Australia/AU.aspx>
27. Robert A Freling 2010, Shining Light on Renewable Energy
in Developing Countries, Definitive Solar, viewed 24
September 2014,
<http://www.definitivesolar.com/_documents/ShiningLight_
DevelopingCountries.pdf>
28. Anon 2014, Solar Energy Lights up Lives in Kenya,Deutsche
Welle, viewed 24 September 2014, <http://www.dw.de/
solar-energy-lights-up-lives-in-kenya/a-17592421>
29. Gitonga Njeru 2014, Kenya to generate over half of its
electricity through solar power by 2016, The Guardian,
viewed 2 October 2014,
30. Climate Average [image], BOM 2014, viewed 9 September
2014,
<http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/solarexposure/index.jsp>
31. Installing renewable energy at your home [image], Horizon
Power, viewed 9 September 2014,
<http://www.horizonpower.com.au/documents/Installing_ren
ewable_energy_at_your_home_and_business3698394.PDF>
Conclusions
After analyzing the research conducted, it is evident the benefits
of solar energy production in remote areas across the globe. For
both locations as specified above, the implementation of solar in
these remote areas has proven theoretically feasible, whilst also
proving cost effective and creating sustainability for the region.
The two locations have high solar radiation throughout the year
and will allow the production of solar energy without too many
issues. Solar energy is clean, reliable and abundant source of
energy and would be implemented with ease in the proposed
locations. Other areas across the globe would need further
research conducted to prove viable for the location, as other
sources of renewable energy may be more beneficial for the
region.
Recommendations
Consideration of the region before implementing solar power
plants is a vital process as although solar has many advantages, a
different renewable energy source may work much more
effectively. Single and double glazed windows were studied, with
double reducing the overall costs. Photovoltaic cells were selected
for this study, with further research on the type of cell a
possibility for maximum efficiency. Government incentives and
aggressive marketing are vital to increasing the amount of people
and households using solar energy, while educating people on the
advantages of switching to a renewable energy such as solar.
Acknowledgements
On behalf of group W 1-5, we would like to express appreciation
to all those who provided assistance towards the completion of
this report. Special gratitude towards our convenor, lecturer and
mentor; Associate Professor M Akbar Rhamdhani, for teaching us
the concepts of Thermodynamics, which allowed us to apply the
knowledge to the research paper, and also for assisting in any
issues that arose throughout the timeline of the project.
Furthermore we wish to thank our tutor; Dr Bernard Xu, for
providing excellent education of the syllabus during our allocated
tutorial sessions and also providing direction and coordination
towards the scope of the project by conveying excellent ideas of
potential interest for the group to conduct further research.
Finally, we would like to express a big thank you to all colleagues
and friends for their guidance during the research project. The
offering of support through ideas and proof reading, allowed us to
finalise this report in a professional manner to the best of our
ability. This report has improved our skills regarding
communication, team work, presentation and report writing.
References
16. V Ryan 2005, What is Solar Energy?, Technology Student,
viewed 4 September 2014,
<http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/solar1.htm>
17. Bouncing Orange 2014, What is solar energy?, Greenough
River Solar Farm, viewed 4 September 2014, <http://www.
greenoughsolarfarm.com.au/solar-energy/what-solar-energy>
18. Shahan Zachary 2014, Solar Energy Advantages and
Disadvantages, Clean Technica, viewed 4 September 2014,
<http://cleantechnica.com/2014/09/22/SOLAR-ENERGYADVANTAGES-VS-DISADVANTAGES/>
95
ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF THE APPLICATION OF SOLAR POWER IN REMOTE TOWNS;

WALWA, AUSTRALIA AND TAKTSER, CHINA
Alex Nankervis, Katherine York, Peter Day, Robert Tomori
Keywords: Solar Power, Remote Area
Renewable energy is a form of clean energy that can be obtained

from natural resources and sustained through constant
replenishment. The deployment of renewable energy throughout
the planet has a substantial advantage with regards to energy
efficiency including energy security, climate change mitigation
and economic benefits. Sources of renewable energy include
ocean energy, bioenergy, geothermal energy, hydropower, solar
energy and wind energy.
Abstract
Solar power is viable source of renewable energy for many
households, particularly those situated in remote locations.
However, it could be argued that the utilization of this technology
does not come close to its full potential. The following report is a
brief analysis of the feasibility of solar power conversion in two
chosen towns; Walwa, Australia and Taktser, China. A
comparison of the remote towns gives a greater insight into the
current issues that are common in such conversions as well as
gaps in the research. It was believed that with modern research
methods as well as emerging solar technology, a plausible strategy
could be generated for a renewable energy source in each
location. Through basic thermodynamic principles, a general idea
of the system necessary to support the electrical energy
requirements for each location was found. Both areas were found
to be outstanding candidates for solar power in terms of the
sunlight availability, however a range of issues present themselves
for each location. An analysis of the current economic conditions
in each site revealed that the initial outlay of the system would be
an exceedingly prohibitive factor. Without assistance, its unlikely
both communities would be able to provide the funds required for
the new energy source, much less the ongoing costs associated.
The harsh climate conditions in Taktser will also have a large
impact on the viability of solar panels, simply due to the nature of
the panels properties. Since the storage device is the largest
contributor to the costs, panels only were recommended to assist
in the energy demand.
Recently, Chinas demand for energy has surged due to the rapid
industrialization it is currently undergoing. As a result of this
Chinas air pollution and other environmental degradation
statistics are among the worst in the world, and it is for these
reasons that China was selected as one country for this feasibility
study on the implementation of solar power in remote towns.
Locations
Walwa, Victoria
Walwa is a small town situated on the Murray River in northeast
Victoria. The town has a population of approximately 300 people
that inhabit 165 properties. The major industries include
agriculture, fishing and forestry.
Although this small town has access to grid electricity, natural
disasters such as flooding and bush fires are common and can
leave the town without power for several days. Backup power is
therefore necessary for many businesses that rely on power daily
such as the medical centre and dairies, most of which comes from
diesel generators. Walwa is a relatively remote town, and is
exposed to a suitable amount of sunlight each year making it a
perfect candidate for solar power.
Introduction
This assignment acts as an instrument to aid in our understanding
of thermodynamic principals and renewable energy. The outcome
of this project is to have developed a greater appreciation for
renewable energy and of the issues that may be faced in the near
future. This project also aims to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the group members and furthermore, explore and
present the cultural, global, social and environmental
responsibilities of a professional engineer. In this report, we will
investigate the power requirements, feasibility, and some factors
affecting the likelihood of installing renewable energy systems in
two remote towns, one being Walwa in Victoria, Australia and the
other being Taktser in Qinghai, China. Some details on the
effectiveness of window insulation in regards to paned windows
for both locations will also be touched on.
Surveyed power usage in Walwa Victoria was taken from

government sources and the amounted average for the town was
given as 18.3kWh per day (Energy Made Easy, 2014). More
information on the household requirements for power usage will
be detailed in the proceeding sections.
Further information on Walwa including average income,
household size, etc. can be found in the Appendix in Table (1).
Temperatures of the area can also be found in the Appendix in
Table (4)
Taktser, Qinghai China
Global energy consumption has increased steadily over the last

century particularly from the 1950s and onwards. By 2040,
global demand is expected to be 30% greater than current usage.
Since most of the worlds energy is currently produced by burning
fossil fuels, the needs for a more sustainable and clean energy
source are ever increasing.
This very secluded village (population: 200) in the Qinghai

province of China lies along the northeast Tibetan plateau. The
village owes its harsh environment to the high altitude
(approximately 3000 meters above sea level), which allows for the
cold winters and common sand storms. Rainfalls occur in the
96
ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF THE APPLICATION OF SOLAR POWER IN REMOTE TOWNS; WALWA, AUSTRALIA AND TAKTSER, CHINA
summer time with temperatures hovering around 15 21 degrees

Celsius. Throughout the winter, precipitation is so low the town is
considered to be semi-arid or arid, with temperatures ranging
between -18 and -7 degrees Celsius. Further details on the
temperature in the region can be found in Table (4) in the
Appendix
Another heavily researched technology for energy storage

involves combining a hydrogen system and a battery to store the
energy. The hydrogen system consists of a fuel cell, hydrogen
tank and electrolyser. Currently this is applied to hybrid systems,
which are a combination of two renewable energies; solar power
and wind power. A paper written at the Spanish Ministry of
Science and Innovation under Grant presented two separate
configurations for the hybrid system, one which had a very
positive result by improving the energy generated by the hybrid
system and the stored energy, and that resulted in reducing the
amount of energy that was not used, or wasted (Garcia, P,
Torresglosa, JP Fernandez, LM Jurado, F 2014). Further research
needs to be completed to assess if a hydrogen system and battery
combination would be a viable option for energy storage.
Though the Qinghai province is Chinas fourth largest province, it

remains Chinas third poorest area. Economic growth is slow;
however the resource rich province is showing promising signs of
development. The low amount of infrastructure required
accompanied by the generally low demand for electricity, makes
solar power one of the top contenders for a source of renewable
energy in the village.
Estimated power usage has been calculated through a survey
taken in 2002 over the Qinghai rural region. From the survey, it
was estimated that a maximum daily load for a rural household
would consume 1600Wh a day
(A Zhou, 2002). More
information on Taktser household power usage will be given in
the proceeding sections.
Solar Panels and Snow

Due to Taktser's weather, research into how solar panels can be
utilized in snowy locations was necessary. Current research into
this area is being conducted by a range of researchers across the
globe. One particular researcher, Bjorn Petter Jelle published a
research paper in late 2013 which looks into three ways to solve
snow and ice on solar panels. The first is to create a frictionless
surface between the snow and the panel, although very effective, a
downside of this is that it may lead to dangerous scenarios where
ice and snow are falling off roofs. Another is to create a solar
panel out a self-heating material which would mean that it would
take a bit longer to remove the snow or ice but it may be safer,
and the third option was to create a self-cleaning surface. Jelles
experimental results and findings showed that there is a hope for a
solution in the near future, although there is nothing commercially
available today (Jelle, BP 2013).
Literature review
Introduction to Solar Power
Solar panels are made from a mixture of elements such as silicon
(monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous), cadmium
telluride and copper indium gallium sulphide. When these
elements are exposed to sunlight, an electric current is generated.
In essence solar panels transfer the suns energy into electrical
current. Optimal conditions for a solar panel to run at its best
require a sunny position with clear skies. Although solar power
can be generated in winter, it produces a lot less energy than in
summer months. Due to changes in weather conditions in different
areas around the world we are looking into energy storage
solutions for the solar power created so that it can be used on
demand, and also looking into the current research of how solar
panels can still be used in snowy or icy climates.
Theoretical principals/calculations
Maintaining Temperature
To maintain household temperatures at 23C calculations were
made based on local weather data; found in Table 4. The average
temperature was used in calculations which were made to
compare the costs of maintaining a house at 23C which had
either single pane windows, or double pane windows with an air
space of 6.4mm. The windows would occupy a total area of 15 m2.
In both cases the heat loss to the outside environment was
calculated according to the following formula:
Energy Storage
There has been a large amount of research into different types of
energy storage devices, which is focused around different types of
batteries. For remote areas such as Walwa and Taktser these
devices may be considered as a means for supplying energy on
demand, not just when the sun is shining. The most recent
developments in batteries for the use of energy storage are in the
lithium Sulphur (Li-S) batteries. Li-S have a theoretical storage
capacity five times greater than Lithium-Ion batteries, which are
currently used in electric vehicles and personal devices (Chen, L,
Shaw, LL). If these new Li-S batteries were capable of storing
large amounts of electricity, they could be the element which
makes solar panel installations viable in remote areas. A gap in
current research of Li-S batteries is that all the work currently is
theoretical, there is a large gap in actually testing these batteries
for energy storage, memory loss (when the capacity of a battery
reduces over time), sustainability in creating these batteries
(within the manufacturing processes), and how long these
batteries will last, which plays a huge part in the viability of the
battery installations.
(
)
where T1 and T2 represent the inside and outside temperatures
respectively.
From here it is possible to calculate the energy required to balance
this heat loss as:
Assuming that the cost of electricity is the same for both areas,
and is 0.095 $/kWh, the monetary cost for each household is
determined by:
The results of all of these calculations for each of the twelve
months of a year can be found in Table 5 for the case of single
pane windows, and Table 6 for double pane windows. In these
tables Q, E and Money Required are calculated in the units of W,
kWh and $ respectively.
97
In comparing the two styles of windows it is clear that double

pane windows allow nearly half as much heat to be transferred to
the environment and as such the monetary cost of maintaining the
temperature at 23C is also nearly halved.
In 2004 a survey was conducted in China, which determined that

people living in Chinas urban areas made a gross income of
$1312 USD a year, while people living in rural areas made an
average of $350 USD per year (China Internet Information
Center, 2005). Therefore people living in rural China such as in
Taktser have a much lower annual income.
It is also worth noting that it is likely that the people of Taktser

would not want to maintain their household temperatures at 23C
as the maximum temperature of their year is only 25C. Therefore
a more comfortable temperature for these people would be much
lower, resulting in less energy required and cost to maintain the
houses at a lower temperature.
In the village of Taktser in Qinghai, where there are only 200

residents and a lack of information on industries around, it can be
reasonable to assume that the people who live there are quite poor.
It is unlikely that they would be able to build the solar panels
locally because the necessary infrastructure and materials are not
available. Also, because Taktser is located in a remote and
mountainous, it is unlikely that it would be easy for other
businesses to deliver and install the solar panels at an economic
cost.
Calculating Panel Requirements for Energy Usage and Storage

In order to estimate solar panel requirements for both towns,
information on energy requirements and resource availability is
needed for calculations. The calculations follow standard
measures to determine solar power wattage and required battery
storage. The methodology followed required calculating solar
panel wattage for both towns given the available solar irradiance
in the respective areas. Actual calculations for Panel and battery
requirements can be found in the Appendix.
To calculate panel wattage the following formulas can be used:
A number of schools in the Qinghai province dont have access to

electricity, which is why in 2011 Deutsche Bank agreed to
provide funding for solar power stations for rural elementary
boarding schools in Qinghai. This is to save the school money and
also to combat climate change (Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific,
2011). As more solar systems are set up in the province, it may
become more likely that towns like Taktser can gain access to this
technology at a reasonable cost.
When comparing Taktsers economy with the economy in Walwa

in Victoria there are some significant differences. The median
personal income in Walwa is $US18,624 pa (My Boot, 2011),
which is much greater than in Taktser where the closest estimate
available was $350 pa (China Internet Information Center, 2005).
The town of Walwa is also much easier to get to via main roads
and there are facilities such as clean water, mains power
connections, and internet available. There are also quite a few
local industries including dairy and a medical practice. These are
all signs that the residents in Walwa may be more likely to be able
to afford the solar panel installations, and if they are not built
locally, they can still be transported and installed in Walwa at a
reasonable cost.
The Standard Test Condition (STC) power density is taken as

1kW/m2. Given the daily solar radiation, the amount of equivalent
sunshine in terms of hours can be calculated.
To calculate panel wattage in regards to power required, the
following formula can be used:
The amount of panels can then be calculated in order to meet the

wattage requirement.
For battery calculations the process follows these formulas:
With the battery amperage hours known, the number of batteries

required for the system can be calculated.
There is a vast difference in terms of the social and cultural

aspects between the Chinese village Taktser and the Victorian
town Walwa. Since the Qinghai province is one of the poorest
areas in China, lifestyle of the community members is greatly
affected and thus energy usage and needs are largely dissimilar. A
large issue in China is the lack of social services available to the
population as well as the impact these services have on the culture
within the communities. As no medical facilities are available in
the village, life expectancy is significantly lower than that of
Walwa. The Victorian towns access to electricity allows for an
adequate medical practice to exist, as well as other emergency
services, sewage systems and hot water that largely contribute to a
higher quality of life. The majority of schools in the Qinghai
province go without electricity, an element that would be
considered essential in the Australian education system.
Economic Values
Qinghai is classified as a western province of China, which has
slower economic growth than the eastern provinces of China.
Qinghai is one of the seven provinces which attributes to the 40%
of the poor population in China. In 2008, these provinces had a
poverty incidence at 11%, while the national average was 4.2%
(Rural Poverty Portal, 2014).
There are a few main causes of this poverty these include;
frequent extreme weather conditions like sand storms and
blizzards, a lack of community infrastructure, like roads and clean
water sources, geographically remote location which means a lack
of visitors and supplies to the area, lack of skills and a high
illiteracy rates particularly for women, and no access to inputs
like financial services, markets and value chains (Rural Poverty
Portal, 2014).
Modern technology that requires electricity to function plays a

large role in the day-to-day activities of Australians. Modern
devices such as fridges, mobile phones and microwaves rarely go
unused each day and would be considered fundamental for a
98
healthy lifestyle. Although the people in the Chinese village are

likely to have adequate means of cooking and other basics, the
large differences that stand out are mainly related to comfort,
communication and entertainment.
in the Appendix. The total cost for a household solar system is

approximately $2800 USD.
The total cost of the system for one household is an extremely
prohibitive factor for the application of this renewable energy.
The cost is almost eight times the average net income of a rural
Qinghai resident. (China Internet Information Center,
2014)Although the quoted prices for the system could be
considerably cheaper if the items were bought in large quantities
and sourced from Chinese manufactures, the overall cost is still
unreasonably large in relation to the rural Qinghai region average
income. Along with the expensive outlay, due to the system being
battery sustained, ongoing costs to replace the batteries
approximately every three years adds an either further financial
burden to the residents who might consider their options for solar
power. Without government assistance, the possibility of Taktser
rural residents receiving solar power would be minimal.
Tibetans do not merely see their rangeland as a commodity to be

exploited, but rather as part of a wide-ranging spiritual landscape
(Williams 2002). This belief could potentially limit the type of
renewable energy installations that could be placed in Taktser.
Many sources of renewable energy such as hydroelectric require
substantial changes to the landscape. Although solar farms have
little impact on the environment, visually it may not be
appropriate for the Chinese-Tibetan culture. Conversely in recent
history, Australians have made significant changes to the
landscape in the pursuit of clean and renewable energy.
Results and Analysis
Power Usage in Qinghai, China:
Power usage in Walwa, Australia
In order to assess the feasibility of solar power in Taktser,

approximate power usage requirements for the households in the
town are necessary. From a survey in the rural Qinghai region in
2002, power requirements were measured to range from 300wh
per day for low household consumption, up to 1600wh for the
higher end consumption. (A Zhou, 2002) Appliances considered
for use consisted of lighting, a radio, a small TV, farm tools, and a
small freezer. A distribution of the power usage can be found in
Figure (1).
Feasibility of solar power in Walwa is calculated in much the

same way that the feasibility of power in Taktser was calculated.
Daily energy requirements for households in Walwa average at
18.1 kWhrs a day, over ten times the amount of power expected to
be used in Taktser (Energy Made Easy, 2014). From solar
radiation information, the average solar radiance in Walwa
approaches 18MJ/m2 or 5kWhr/m2. (Bureau of Meteorology,
2014) With this average solar radiance, panels summing to
3.62kW would be required for the average household. For a
community of one hundred households, this number climbs to
362kWs of solar panel power.
Using the same supplier as used for the Taktser cost analysis, and
assuming that the power usage of the residents in Walwa would
not change with a change in the means of energy production, the
total cost for a Walwa household amounted to $25474 USD.
Costings of the components can be found in Table (3) in the
Appendix. The average income for Walwa has been recorded as
$18,624 USD per capita. Similar to the situation in Taktser, the
price of the batteries for the solar system is a huge outlay in
comparison to the rest of the system. If residents in Walwa were
to remain on the grid and use solar power as a subsidiary power
source, the investment in the renewable energy system would drop
from over $25000 USD to around $7000 USD due to the lack of
need for batteries. This number is far more reasonable and
feasible in terms of costing, and forgoes the upkeep costs of
replacing batteries. The economic feasibility of the solar system
as a stand-alone system is questionable, and would not be
available to most residents in the area without some form of
subsidy by a third party. A subsidised solar system however is
very much within most residents means of acquisition.
Figure 1. Power Consumption of rural residents in Qinghai (A

Zhou, 2002)
From surveyed data, it is easy to see that solar radiation in the area
of Qinghai is more than sufficient to power Taktsers needs. Solar
radiation in the Qinghai region is rated at 4-6 Kwh/m2/day making
it one of the highest areas for solar radiation in China (National
Renewable Energy Labratory, 2005). From calculations, 500W
worth of solar panels would be required to power a single
household at its peak consumption of 1600Whr a day. A total of
50KW in solar panel output would be required to power a village
with one hundred households. For cost analysis, prices of solar
panels and additional energy storage equipment were found from
current distributors. A list of equipment can be found in Table (2)
Heat Transfer through Paned Windows in Taktser and Walwa

Heat transfer in both towns in regards to the use of paned
windows was also calculated. The energy loss per month in kWhr
in Taktser reached its maximum in January reaching near
99
Heat loss through Single Pane Windows vs Double Pane Windows
Q (W)
3000.00
2000.00
Walwa Single Pane
1000.00
Taktser Single Pane

Walwa Double Pane
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Jul
Aug
Jun
Apr
May
Feb
Mar
Jan
0.00
Taktser Single Pane
Month
Figure 2. Heat Loss through single pane windows vs double pane windows
Cost of Energy; Single Pane Windows vs Double Pane Windows
Cost ($)
200.00
150.00
Walwa Single Pane
100.00
Taktser Single Pane
50.00
Walwa Double Pane

Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
Apr
May
Mar
Jan
Feb
0.00
Taktser Double Pane
Month
Figure 3: Cost of energy used in single pane windows vs double pane windows
1800kWhr of heat loss for a single paned window. This value
dropped to 1054 kWhr with the use of double paned windows.
The effect of the double paned windows resulted in a 41.5% heat
transfer reduction. For Walwa, the respective maximums per
month were 1100kWhrs and 632 kWhrs and occurred in July. The
percentage decrease was similar with a 42.5% decrease in heat
transfer due to the double paned windows. A month by month
break down of the heat transfer calculated for both towns can be
found in figure (2).
After considering the usage of solar panels, further research may

be beneficial in regards to determining the feasibility of other
sources of renewable energy. There are a range of alternative
renewable energy sources that could be considered. These include
geothermal, hydropower, and wind turbines. Geothermal works by
injecting water (into the injection well) into the earth where
there are extremely hot rocks and the water then flows back up
through the recovery well in the form or steam, which is used to
drive electric generators and produce a current (refer to Figure (4)
in Appendix). Hydropower works by harnessing the force of
flowing water, by letting it pass by a turbine that it the force
causes to spin. This spinning turbine is attached to a generator that
uses the motion to produce a current (refer to Figure (5) in
Appendix). Wind turbines work by allowing wind to flow past
turbine blades that subsequently start rotating. This motion is used
to spin a generator, which as a result, produces an electrical
current (refer to Figure (6) in Appendix). Some of these alternate
systems could be further explored to see if they would be
economically viable in these two towns.
Cost analysis assuming that the price of energy was $0.095 USD
per kWh for both towns was also conducted. As can be seen in
figure (3), the costs associated with heating for Taktser far
outweigh the costs for Walwa and would be completely
unreasonable for a populace with such a poor income. From the
calculations, prices near $180 USD per month were reached for
some months for Taktser with single paned windows. Some points
that should be considered when interpreting these results is that
the set temperature required for both town houses would most
likely vary due to the difference in cultural aspect. The maximum
temperature in the hottest months of Taktser is on average 25C,
only 2C hotter than the set temperature for the in house climate.
It would not be unfair to assume that a lower maintainable
temperature might be preferred in this region of China. In
hindsight, these calculations should only be viewed as a means of
measuring the cost reductions and energy savings double paned
windows can impart.
Summary
This research has looked at the viability of solar panel
installations in two remote towns; one in China (Taktser, Qinghai)
and one in Australia (Walwa, Victoria). Due to the social, cultural
and economic differences between the two towns the needs for
electricity and the cost of solar power systems varies significantly.
Despite many of residents of Taktser requiring little or no
electricity, the average household income required for the solar
100
power setup is currently far out of reach. A similar situation is

apparent in the Australian town of Walwa. Though the yearly
income is much higher, the amount of infrastructure required to
meet the current demand of electricity is difficult to justify,
particularly if the environmental costs of the batteries and panels
is considered. Without assistance, its highly unlikely both
communities would be able to afford the funds required for a solar
power system, much less the ongoing costs associated. The harsh
climate conditions in Taktser will also have a large impact on the
viability of solar panels, largely due to the nature of the panels
characteristics. Since the storage device was found to be the
largest contributor to the overall cost, its recommended that
panels only be used for both cases. As Walwa is currently
connected to the grid, any unused power will go back into the
mains to benefit the environment and locals. In regards to the
effectiveness of paned windows to reduce losses to the outside
environment, it was found that double paned windows could
reduce the heat transferred by up to 42% in some cases.
10. Energy Made Easy, 2014, Average Household Electricity

Usage, Australian Government, viewed 17 September 2014, <
http://energymadeeasy.gov.au/bill-benchmark/results/3709/4>
11. Garcia, P, Torresglosa, JP Fernandez, LM Jurado, F 2014,
Improving long-term operation of power sources in off-grid
hybrid systems based on renewable energy, hydrogen and
battery, Journal of Power Sources, volume 265, p.149-159
12. Jelle, BP 2013, The challenge of removing snow downfall on
photovoltaic solar cell roofs in order to maximize solar energy
efficiency Research opportunities for the future, Energy and
Buildings, volume 67, p.334-351
13. My Boot, 2011, Walwa VIC 3709, My Boot, viewed 16
September
2014,
<
http://myboot.com.au/3709/Walwa/demographics.aspx >
14. Mtholyoke, A diagram of the inner workings of a wind
turbine, How it works: How do wind turbines work?,
Mtholyoke,
viewed
16
September
2014,
<http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~walch20l/classweb/wp/howitwo
rks.html>
15. NanoBit Wallpaper, How Hydroelectric Energy Works,
How Hydroelectric Energy Works, NanoBit Wallpaper,
viewed
16
September
2014,
<http://nanobitwallpaper.com/how-hydroelectric-energyworks/>
16. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2005, Map Search,
viewed
25
September
2014
,
<http://www.nrel.gov/gis/mapsearch/>
17. Rural Poverty Portal, 2014, Rural Poverty in China, Rural
Poverty
Portal,
viewed
17
September
2014,
<http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/china)
>
18. Silicon valley, 2014, Global energy usage, The Levin
institute,
viewed
16
September
2014,
<http://www.globalization101.org/global-energy-usage/
19. Unknown, 2014, Average household electricity usage,
Australian government, viewed 15 September 2014,
<https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/billbenchmark/results/3709/3>
20. Unknown, 2014, Introducing Qinghai, Lonely Planet, viewed
16
September
2014,
<http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/qinghai>
21. Unknown, 2013, Renewable energy, Australian government,
viewed 16 September 2014, <http://arena.gov.au/aboutrenewable-energy/>
22. Unknown, 2014, Renewable energy, Wikipedia, viewed 16
September
2014,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy>
23. Victor C. Falkenhiem, 2014, Qinghai, Britannica, viewed 16
September
2014,
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607760/Qingha
i>
24. Xining Monthly Climate Average, China 2014, Xining
Monthly Climate Average, China, World Weather Online,
viewed
17
September
2014,
http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Xining-weatheraverages/Qinghai/CN.aspx>
Reference
1. A Zhou, j. B. 2002, Renewable energy for rural sustainability:
Lessons from China, Bulletin of Science, Technology &
Society , 22 (2), 123-131.
2. BBC UK, How a generation station creates energy,
Generating Energy: Geothermal Energy, BBC UK, viewed 16
September
2014,
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa_pre_
2011/energy/mainselectricityrev5.shtml>
3. Bureau of Meteorology, 2014, Daily solar exposure for
Australia,
viewed
26
September
2014,
<http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/solar/index.jsp?colour=col
our&time=latest&step=0&map=solarave&period=12month&a
rea=nat>
4. engel, Y & Ghajar, A 2013, Heat and Mass Transfer
Fundamentals and Applications, McGraw-Hill, New York, p.
558
5. Chen, L Shaw, LL 2014, Recent Advances in LithiumSulphur Batteries, Journal of Power Sources, volume 265,
p.770-783
6. China Internet Information Center, 2005, Qinghai 2005 The
Year in Review, China Internet Information Centre, viewed 18
September
2014,
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/ProvinceView/2039
56.htm%00>
7. China Internet Information Center, 2014, An Introduction to
China's Provinces and Municipalities and Autonomous
Regions,
viewed
20
September
2014,
<http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/ProvinceView/203
956.htm>
8. Climate statistics for Australian Locations 2014, Summary
Statistics TUMBARUMBA POST OFFICE, Australian
Government Bureau of Meteorology, viewed 17 September
2014,
<http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_072043.
shtml> .
9. Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, 2011, Solar Power for UnderResourced Schools in Qinghai Province China, Deutshe Bank,
viewed
15
September
2014,
<
https://www.db.com/asiapacific/en/content/Solar-power-forunder-resourced-schools-in-Qinghai-province--China.html >
101
REVIEW OF CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION

LITERATURE
Keywords: Concentrated Solar Thermal, Photovoltaic, Thermoelectric
Abstract
Types of Solar Collectors

Solar collectors are special kind of heat exchangers that
transform solar radiation energy to thermal energy of the
transport medium (Kalogirou, 2004, p. 240). The following
section will discuss both solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic
solar cells. This section discusses the single axis and multi axis
solar collector technologies currently available and their
respective applications.
Solar energy is highly abundant and reliable alternative to fossil

fuel for electricity generation. At present, photovoltaic systems
are readily available at low cost, allowing domestic consumers to
exploit the available solar resource. Unfortunately, due to
photovoltaic cell materials, manufacture and poor recyclability,
55 years of full time operation is required before photovoltaic
cells reach an environmental break-even (Zamfirescu, Dincer,
Stern, & Wagar, 2012). Concentrated solar thermal electricity
generation systems take advantage of the same solar resource,
often with higher efficiency, using mainly earth abundant and
recyclable materials. It is for this reason that the following paper
is purposed to review current literature of concentrated solar
thermal technology.
Single Axis Technology

Single axis solar collector technologies generally involve long
and narrow reflectors which track the movement of the sun about
a single axis (Mills, 2004). In general, reflectors rotate about a
north-south axis (Mills, 2004) to track the suns movement from
east to west (IRENA, 2012). The reflector will concentrate light
on a linear absorber at a focal point (Reddy et al., 2013) in which
a heat transfer fluid such as oil or water is heated. Two prominent
single axis technologies are widely discussed in academic
literature; the parabolic trough and linear Fresnel solar collector
systems, both will be discussed below.
Introduction
Solar energy is an abundant energy resource; the earth receives a
continuous 1.7x1017W of radiation from the sun (Goswami,
Kreith, & Kreider, 2000). The irradiance on only 1% of the earth,
converted with only 10% efficiency, could supply the energy
needs for a population of 10 billion (Goswami et al., 2000).
Parabolic Trough
Parabolic trough concentrated solar thermal receivers comprise of
long slender reflectors which are curved to form a parabolic
shape (Metwally, Makhlouf, & El-Gabry, 2011; Mills, 2004;
Reddy et al., 2013). The parabolic shape of the reflectors allows
the light rays to reflect to a single focal point, regardless of
incidence angle (Metwally et al., 2011) as shown in Figure 1
(left). A single parabolic trough can be a length of 100m or more
(IRENA, 2012).
Solar thermal electricity generation is a means of providing

useful electricity from the abundant solar resource. Many large
scale (hundreds of MW) solar thermal electricity generation
plants are currently in operation in countries such as Spain, Saudi
Arabia and the USA.
The following paper is purposed review current literature in the
field of concentrated solar thermal energy capture and related
subject areas such as heat engines, battery storage and geographic
implications of concentrated solar thermal energy capture.
Solar Thermal Electricity Generation
Solar thermal electricity is defined as a process by which
directly collected solar thermal energy is converted to electricity
through the use of some sort of heat to electricity conversion
device (Mills, 2004, p. 19). These systems are considered to be
the most promising and viable option for sustainable electricity
generation (Reddy, Kaushik, Ranjan, & Tyagi, 2013). Solar
thermal electricity generation systems generally consist of a solar
collector, heat engine and energy storage system (Reddy et al.,
2013). There are several types of systems currently in use, these
include parabolic trough, dish Stirling, central tower and linear
Fresnel (Franchini, Perdichizzi, Ravelli, & Barigozzi, 2013;
Hepbasli, 2008; Kalogirou, 2004; Mills, 2004; Reddy et al.,
2013); each will be described in detail in the following section.
Figure 1. Left: Parabolic trough technology schematic

(Kalogirou, 2004); Right: Example of parabolic trough linear
absorber (Metwally et al., 2011)
At the linear focal point, a working fluid is passed through an
absorber tube which collects thermal energy (Mills, 2004; Reddy
et al., 2013). The linear absorber tube is generally comprised of a
coated stainless steel linear absorber, within an evacuated
transparent enclosure (IRENA, 2012). An example of an absorber
tube can be seen in Figure 1 (right) above.
102
REVIEW OF CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION LITERATURE
The parabolic trough concentrated solar thermal collector is the

most commercially developed of all concentrated solar thermal
technologies, due to its simplicity and economic advantage
(Metwally et al., 2011). By 2011, approximately 1220MW of
installed concentrated solar thermal electricity generation used
parabolic trough technology (CSIRO, 2011; IRENA, 2012).
Two significantly different strains of this technology are

prevalent in solar thermal energy capture at present; the dish
receiver and the central receiver tower. These two technologies
will be discussed in detail below.
Dish Receiver Technologies
The dish receiver solar thermal reflector is a multi-axis, point
focus, collector that concentrates solar energy to the focal point
of the dish (Kalogirou, 2004; Reddy et al., 2013). Dish
concentrator systems can produce high concentration ratios of
between 600-2000 (Giostri et al., 2012; Kalogirou, 2004) and
thus high focal point temperatures (Giostri et al., 2012;
Kalogirou, 2004; Mills, 2004). For this reason dish collector
systems produce the greatest efficiency (Kalogirou, 2004). Solar
to electrical efficiencies of up to 31.25% are possible for some
dish-engine systems (Giostri et al., 2012). Various forms of dish
reflector designs have been developed, for example Boeing SES
dish (Figure 3 Left) but the present trend is for a parabolic shaped
reflector (Figure 3 Right)
Parabolic trough concentrated solar thermal systems can employ

either a direct or indirect cycle for electrical generation (Giostri et
al., 2012). A direct cycle parabolic trough system employs steam
as a heat transfer fluid, heated directly in the parabolic mirror
arrays. This steam is then used in a conventional steam Rankine
cycle engine for electrical conversion (Giostri et al., 2012). In an
indirect system, synthetic oil is pumped through the linear focus
to capture thermal energy which is then transferred to thermal
energy storage or used to superheat steam for electricity
production (Franchini et al., 2013; Giostri et al., 2012).
Linear Fresnel
Linear Fresnel concentrated solar thermal collectors are an
alternative single axis solar thermal collection system. The linear
Fresnel system comprises a series of long, slender, flat mirrors
which direct solar radiation to an absorber tube which is fixed in
space above the mirror field (CSIRO, 2011; IRENA, 2012; Mills,
2004). Each line of mirrors rotates about a single north-south axis
to ensure solar radiation is reflected on the linear receiver
optimally (IRENA, 2012). See Figure 2 for an example of a linear
Fresnel concentrated solar thermal electricity generation system.
Figure 3. Left: Boeing SES dish (Mills, 2004): Right: Parabolic

dish concentrator (Kalogirou, 2004).
Current trend in dish receiver technologies is to accompany the
dish with a small thermal engine for direct electrical production
(Kalogirou, 2004; Reddy et al., 2013). Given the relative small
size, efficiency and ability of a single dish to produce electricity
in the range of tens of kilowatts (Fan, Singh, & Akbarzadeh,
2011; Mills, 2004; Reddy et al., 2013), dish-engine solar thermal
systems are ideal for small scale distributed electrical generation
(Reddy et al., 2013).
Figure 2. Example of Linear Fresnel technology (Geoscience

Australia, 2010)
Linear Fresnel technologies hold significant advantages over
parabolic trough technologies in regards to cost (CSIRO, 2011;
IRENA, 2012). This advantage is due to the lower cost of
producing flat mirrors and reduction of structural material
(IRENA, 2012). Although despite this cost advantage, large
scale linear Fresnel power plants are not currently in operation.
Zamfirescu et al. (2012) describes a novel domestic application

for a dish receiver solar collector, shown schematically in Figure
4. This system incorporates a high concentration dish receiver
with a thermal engine and heat recovery to provide electricity and
hot water for a domestic residence. The greatest disadvantage of a
dish-engine system is the high cost of manufacture, maintenance
and thermal engine (Reddy et al., 2013).
Similar to the parabolic trough, a working fluid is pumped

through the absorber tube at the focal line to transfer solar heat to
thermal storage or steam for electricity generation.
Multi Axis Technologies
Multi axis solar thermal collector technology is categorised by
the ability of a reflector to rotate collectors about more than one
axis to track the movement of the sun (Kalogirou, 2004). In
general, this category of technologies features reflectors that are
significantly smaller than single axis technologies. Rather than
the linear absorber tube featured in the single axis technologies,
multi axis solar thermal collector technologies employ only a
single point focus (IRENA, 2012).
Figure 4. Schematic of domestic dish technology application

(Zamfirescu et al., 2012)
103
Central Receiver Technologies

Central receiver systems (commonly called solar towers)
comprise of a field of large reflectors called heliostats, which
concentrate incident solar irradiation onto a single focal point
atop a central tower (Romero, Buck, & Pacheco, 2002).
Heliostats are often in excess of 75m2 each, and individually
rotate about two axes to track the position of the sun throughout
the day (Quoilin, Orosz, Hemond, & Lemort, 2011). The energy
captured in working fluid is used to generate steam for electricity
production or stored for later conversion (Herrmann, Kelly, &
Price, 2004). A schematic of the typical central receiver layout
can be seen in Figure 5.
in turn, slows the flow of electrons and cause a lower output.

Despite this, commercially available modules claiming 10-14%
energy conversion efficiency, which is comparable to the mono
crystalline-silicon cells (Tyagi et al., 2012).
Thin-film solar cells are usually composed of a thin layer of
amorphous cells, which can be as thin a 0.3 m thick as they have
greater absorption qualities (Tyagi et al., 2012). This leads
toward vast reductions in cost of manufacture as they are sprayed
onto glass or a thin metallic substance which implies that the
production process is much faster (Tyagi et al., 2012).
There has been considerable research recently into the use of
organic materials in PV. It has been recognised as an
unsustainable expansion which needs to diversify into more
economically viable fields (Li, Zhu, & Yang, 2012). Organic PV
is a device that is based around low cost, carbon based materials
that have high performance characteristics (Li et al., 2012).
The field of PV is rapidly expanding into areas that contain vast
potential for growth such as tandem solar cells and stretchable
polymer cells that have shown possible areas for integration with
liquid-crystal display TVs (Tyagi et al., 2012).
Figure 5. Typical central receiver configuration (Romero et al.,

2002).
The unspoken drawback of PV cells is their environmental

payback period of greater than 55 years; this is due to the rare
minerals used in the production (Zamfirescu et al., 2012) and
inability to recycle cells.
Central receiver systems are easily scalable and have high

economies of scale (Behar, Khellaf, & Mohammedi, 2013). The
recently completed Ivanpah central receiver system in Nevada
features over 170,000 heliostats (Ivanpah, 2014). These large
numbers are required to access high concentration ratios of 200 to
1000 to create the high temperature required for electricity
production (Kalogirou, 2004). The high number of heliostats
required results in an economic disadvantage due to cost of
individual tracking mechanisms.
Electricity Generation from Solar Thermal

The following section will identify two distinctly different means
of electricity generation from collected solar thermal energy.
Conventional heat engines, such as Rankine cycle, Stirling cycle
and Brayton cycle, will be discussed with reference to their
application to a solar thermal heat source. An alternative
electricity generation means, thermoelectric generation, will be
discussed also.
Photovoltaic Electricity Production

The first instance of the photovoltaic (PV) effect was observed by
Becquerel in 1839 (Kalogirou, 2004). Electricity is produced
when the incident sunlight impacts the semi-conducting material
and the absorbed rays dislodge electrons from the atoms (Tyagi,
Kaushik, & Tyagi, 2012). These electrons are promoted from the
highest occupied molecular orbital to the lowest unoccupied
molecular orbital (Wang et al., 2009). It is these movements of
the electrons which produces direct current electricity (Singh,
2013). The most common semi-conductor material for PV
production is the silicon based cell with photoelectric conversion
efficiencies usually between 16-17% but can get as high as 22%
(Zhang, Jing, Zhao, Wei, & Guo, 2012).
Heat Engines
Conventional heat engines such as Rankine, Brayton and Stirling
cycle engines can be used to generate electricity from a captured
solar thermal energy. These heat engines produce mechanical
movement from a supplied heat (Abbas, Boumeddane, Said, &
Chikouche, 2011; Kongtragool & Wongwises, 2003), this linear
or rotational kinetic energy can then be converted to electrical
energy through a mechanically linked electrical generator (Abbas
et al., 2011). The application of each heat engine type is
described in Table 1.
There are four classifications of PV cells which are presented by

(Tyagi et al., 2012); Mono and Poly Crystalline-Silicon PV cells,
group III-V PV cells, Dye-sensitised solar cells and thin film PV.
Two main types will be discussed, mono crystalline-silicone and
thin-film cells.
Brayton cycle heat engines show conversion efficiency of as high

as 32% (Behar et al., 2013). This efficiency is high when
compared to the 16% to 21% conversion efficiency of Rankine
cycle systems (Kribus, Zaibel, Carey, Segal, & Karni, 1998).
Regardless of the low efficiency, Rankine cycle engines are the
most common heat engine utilised in solar thermal power plants.
Solar thermal plants such as the 354MW SEGS plant in
California (Pavlovi, Radonji, Milosavljevi, & Panti, 2012)
utilise such technology. Due to energy losses in solar collector
systems, the combined solar to electrical efficiencies of Rankine
and Brayton cycle solar thermal system will be much lower than
Mono crystalline-silicon cells are the most widely used

semiconductor due to the safety and abundance of the raw
material. The highest reported efficiencies of these cells are
24.7% with commercially available cells claiming to have
efficiencies in excess of 18% (Tyagi et al., 2012). Polycrystalline
silicon cells are less efficient than mono crystalline-silicon cells
as they consist of small grains of mono crystalline silicon which,
104
stated above. The combination of parabolic dish and Stirling

engine, such as the 12kW Omnium G (Fan et al., 2011) and the
24.9kW Boeing SES dish (Mills, 2004), provide the highest level
of solar to electrical efficiency of any technologies currently
available, with efficiencies of 31.25% possible (Giostri et al.,
2012).
Table 1. Heat engine applications
Thermal Source
Temperature
Output
~ 750 - 1000C
Tens of
kW
~ 400 - 700C
Hundred
s
of
MW
< 150 C
Tens of
kW
electron differential is created between the two semiconductors,

producing a current (Hamid Elsheikh et al., 2014).
The thermoelectric couples are P and N type semiconductors
(Goldsmid, Giutronich, & Kaila, 1979; Montecucco & Knox,
2014; Radousky & Liang, 2012; Sootsman et al., 2009), and can
be arranged in the form of a single couple or multi-couple
configurations, shown below in Figure 6.
Ideal Heat Engine

Small Air Brayton Cycle
Engine
(Mills,
2004;
Zamfirescu et al., 2012)
Stirling Cycle Engine
(Abbas et al., 2011; Fan et al.,
2011;
Mills,
2004;
Zamfirescu et al., 2012)
Steam Rankine Cycle Engine
(Kalogirou, 2004; Mills,
2004; Zamfirescu et al., 2012)
Organic
Rankine
Cycle
Engines (Metwally et al.,
2011; Mills, 2004; Vlez et
al., 2012; Zamfirescu et al.,
2012)
Figure 6. Left: Multi Couple Thermoelectric Cells (Goldsmid et

al., 1979); Right: Single Couple Thermoelectric Cells (Goldsmid
et al., 1979)
The thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) is a dimensionless
parameter to determine the performance of thermoelectric
materials (Zheng, Liu, Yan, & Wang, 2014). The materials used
more commonly since the late 1970s are Bismuth and Telluride
semiconductors in a P-N type semi-conductor layout within the
unit, producing a figure of merit of approximately
(Zebarjadi, Esfarjani, Dresselhaus, Ren, & Chen, 2012).
The potential increase in performance is upwards of 30%
efficiency and temperature gradients of greater than 1000C
(Zebarjadi et al., 2012). It is claimed that a
would be
required for effective practical applications at these temperatures
despite the commercial availability of cells with a ZT slightly
greater than one (Hamid Elsheikh et al., 2014).
Brayton cycle heat engines show conversion efficiency of as high

as 32% (Behar et al., 2013). This efficiency is high when
compared to the 16% to 21% conversion efficiency of Rankine
cycle systems (Kribus, Zaibel, Carey, Segal, & Karni, 1998).
Regardless of the low efficiency, Rankine cycle engines are the
most common heat engine utilised in solar thermal power plants.
Solar thermal plants such as the 354MW SEGS plant in
California (Pavlovi, Radonji, Milosavljevi, & Panti, 2012)
utilise such technology. Due to energy losses in solar collector
systems, the combined solar to electrical efficiencies of Rankine
and Brayton cycle solar thermal system will be much lower than
stated above. The combination of parabolic dish and Stirling
engine, such as the 12kW Omnium G (Fan et al., 2011) and the
24.9kW Boeing SES dish (Mills, 2004), provide the highest level
of solar to electrical efficiency of any technologies currently
available, with efficiencies of 31.25% possible (Giostri et al.,
2012).
Thermoelectric Applications
Thermoelectric generators are ideal for a wide variety of
electricity generation applications due to their ability to recover
energy from waste heat (LeBlanc, Yee, Scullin, Dames, &
Goodson, 2014; Tritt, 2011; Zebarjadi et al., 2012; Zheng et al.,
2014) over long lifetime (Zebarjadi et al., 2012) with silent
operation (LeBlanc et al., 2014) and a high level of simplicity
(Fan et al., 2011). Application of this technology has been seen in
aerospace, transportation, industrial utilities and medical services
(Zheng et al., 2014) as well as limited solar power applications
(Fan et al., 2011; Kraemer et al., 2011).
The significant inefficiencies of heat engines give rise to the

possibility of co-generation or waste heat recovery from the low
grade by-product (Zamfirescu et al., 2012).
Even though traditionally thermoelectric generation devices have

low efficiency, around 5-6% (Kraemer et al., 2011; Montecucco
& Knox, 2014; Sootsman et al., 2009), this should not be the
overriding concen when implementation is being considered. The
cost per watt produced should be the primary consideration with
energy technology (Zebarjadi et al., 2012), and given that
thermoelectrics can convert waste industrial or solar heat, the
efficiency of source heat is raised from 0% to 5-6% (Tritt, 2011).
Zebarjadi et al. (2012) suggests that the capital cost of
thermoelectric modules, around $2-$5 per watt, and the 15-20
year lifetime are not far behind other technologies.
Thermoelectric Generation
Thermoelectric Devices
A thermoelectric device can directly convert thermal energy into
electrical energy (Montecucco & Knox, 2014). This device relies
directly upon a temperature gradient within a material and an
intrinsic material parameter called the thermoelectric figure of
merit (Sootsman, Chung, & Kanatzidis, 2009). The phenomena
that describes the ability of a material to produce a voltage from a
temperature gradient is called the Seebeck effect (Montecucco &
Knox, 2014). The Seebeck effect occurs when a difference of
temperature is present across the junctions of two different
conductors or semiconductors (Hamid Elsheikh et al., 2014); an
Within the aerospace industry applications include radioisotope

thermoelectric generation devices featured in NASA deep space
exploration vehicles such as Voyager I and Voyager II (Fan et al.,
2011; NASA, 2014; Zheng et al., 2014).
105
Lithium based batteries
Sodium sulphur (NaS) batteries

Battery technologies are compared in Table 2.
Transportation applications include the extraction of heat from

automobile exhaust or radiator water for the production of
electricity for auxiliary or primary purposes (Zebarjadi et al.,
2012; Zheng et al., 2014). A prototype automotive thermoelectric
generation system was developed by BMW in conjunction with
Visteon and BSST which showed that a 10% reduction in fuel
consumption was capable (LaGrandeur & Crane, 2005).
Geographic Analysis
Given the obvious requirement for solar energy in solar power
production, global solar irradiance, Australian solar irradiance
will be discussed in the following section.
Thermoelectric generators are useful in applications where the

heat source is cheaply or freely available (Fan et al., 2011),
making them ideal for solar applications. Small scale solar
thermoelectric generators, often referred to as STEGs, were
initially discussed by Rowe (1981) and more recently by Fan et
al. (2011), Baranowski, Warren, and Toberer (2014), Kraemer et
al. (2011) and McEnaney, Kraemer, Ren, and Chen (2011). Large
scale applications of solar thermoelectric generation have not
been demonstrated (Kraemer et al., 2011).
Australian and Global Solar Irradiance

Australia receives the highest solar radiation per square meter of
any other continent (IEA, 2003) (generally measured in kWh/m2
per day or MJ/m2 per day). Figure 8 illustrates the high solar
irradiance in Australia compared to Asia, North America, Europe
and South America.
The Middle East and Africa have
comparable levels of solar irradiance to Australia (IEA, 2003).
Applications such as that described by Kraemer et al. (2011) and

Fan et al. (2011) rely on the concentration of solar irradiance onto
thermoelectric cells. Results from experimentation with solar
thermoelectric generation calculate that concentration ratios of
280 are ideal for these applications (Baranowski et al., 2014).
Thermoelectric system geometry bears a great effect of overall
efficiency (Kraemer, McEnaney, Chiesa, & Chen, 2012). For
example, module efficiencies can drop by 50% when ratio
between concentration area, module area and length from focal
point change by only 12% (Kraemer et al., 2012).
Figure 8. Global Solar Irradiance - (SolasGIS, 2013)
Mainland Australia receives an annual average solar irradiance of
between 12 and 24MJ/m2 per day, tending to be greater in
northern regions of Australia (Australian Bureau of Meteorology,
2014), as seen in Figure 9.
Figure 7. Parabolic dish concentrating thermoelectric generator

(Fan et al., 2011)
Battery
A battery is an electrochemical device which can provide electric
energy from chemical energy generated by electrochemical
reactions (Huggins, 2010). In general these electrochemical
reactions take place between two electrodes submerged in an
electrolyte when a load is connected to the battery terminals
(Hadjipaschalis, Poullikkas, & Efthimiou, 2009; Kousksou,
Bruel, Jamil, El Rhafiki, & Zeraouli, 2014).
Figure 9. Average Annual Australian Solar Exposure (Australian

Bureau of Meteorology, 2014)
Battery technology is divided into two categories, primary

batteries, which cannot be recharged, and secondary batteries,
which are rechargeable (McLarnon & Cairns, 1989). The
following discussion will review only secondary batteries, as
primary batteries are not viable for bulk energy storage
(Kousksou et al., 2014).
Significant seasonal variations exist in solar irradiance

(Geoscience Australia, 2010). Daily solar irradiance in mainland
Australia is an average minimum of 18 MJ/m2 and average
maximum of 30MJ/m2 per day during the summer months
(Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2014). During the summer
months, the highest concentration of solar exposure is realised
within central Australia and Western Australia (Australian
Bureau of Meteorology, 2014). During winter months, Northern
Australia receives the highest concentration of solar irradiance,
gradually reducing toward the southern region of Australia
(Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2014). The average
minimum and maximum solar irradiance during winter months is
significantly below summer averages.
Both mature technologies and novel technologies have been

found to be ideally coupled to solar thermal applications, these
include:
Lead acid batteries
Liquid metal batteries
Flow batteries
106
Table 2. Comparison of battery technology

Technology
Efficiency
Cost
Self-discharge
Cycle Life
Other Advantages
Lead Acid
70 90%
(Chen et
al., 2009)
5 15 years
(DiazGonzalez et
al., 2012)
Highly mature technology

(Chen et al., 2009; DiazGonzalez et al., 2012;
Kousksou et al., 2014)
Liquid Metal
Low
(Kim et al.,
2013)
Low
(Diaz-Gonzalez,
Sumper, GomisBellmunt, &
VillafafilaRobles, 2012)
-
Near infinite
(Kim et al.,
2013)
Easily scalable (6.4kWh

2MWh) (AMBRI, 2014)
Uses only earth abundant
materials (Kim et al., 2013)
Flow
Batteries
>95%
(Huskinso
n et al.,
2014)
No selfdischarge
(Hadjipaschalis
et al., 2009)
Lithium
Batteries
100%
(Chen et
al., 2009)
Low (5% per

month)
(Kousksou et
al., 2014)
Sodium
Sulphur
85%
(Hall &
Bain,
2008)
High
(Chen et al.,
2009;
Kousksou et
al., 2014)
Currently high
but expected to
fall with
increased
demand (Chen
et al., 2009)
No impact from deep

discharge (Hadjipaschalis et
al., 2009)
Some variations use only
earth abundant electrolyte
materials (Huskinson et al.,
2014)
High energy density
(Wakihara, 2001)
High specific energy
(Chen et al., 2009)
No selfdischarge (Yang
et al., 2008)
Up to 15
years (Yang
et al., 2008)
High energy density (Yang

et al., 2008)
>99% recyclability (DiazGonzalez et al., 2012)
Manufactured with earth
abundant materials (Yang et
al., 2008)
Other
Disadvantages
Harmful and toxic
heavy metals (Hall
& Bain, 2008)
High operating
temperatures
(Bradwell, Kim,
Sirk, & Sadoway,
2012)
Technology not yet
mature
(Hadjipaschalis et
al., 2009; Kousksou
et al., 2014)
High operating
temperatures
(Hall & Bain, 2008)
kilograms of CO2-equivelant emissions are produced per kWh of

electricity produced.
Electricity Production and Consumption in Australia

The demand for energy in Victoria has been steadily growing over
the last decade with an increase of over 11% to approximately
59,000 GWh expected in 2014 (Environment Victoria, 2010).
Renewable energy has been increasing significantly during this
period but still only provides approximately 6% of the total
Victorian energy produced annually (Environment Victoria,
2010). There is a significant incentive for the renewable energy
sources with the Australian Governments Renewable Energy
Target. It has been estimated, to meet the new target set, 1300
MW of new renewable energy projects need to be approved and
commissioned each year up until 2020 (Environment Victoria,
2010).
Figure 10. Grid Electricity Emission Factor (Department of

Industry Innovation Climate Change Science Research and
Tertiary Education, 2013)
The current production of Victorias energy is over 91% coal with

a further 4.5% in gas fired generation (Environment Victoria,
2010). With coal electricity generation providing over 98% of the
annual greenhouse gas emissions (Environment Victoria, 2010),
there is significant scope for reduction.
Discussion
Three key points of discussion have been chosen by the authors;
scale, region, solar thermal system specification.
Scale
To calculate the carbon footprint of energy production in

Australia, (Department of Industry Innovation Climate Change
Science Research and Tertiary Education, 2013) has produced
emissions factors for each Australian electricity network, see
Figure 10. The emissions factors are an estimate of the number of
Only a limited number of investigations have been identified

which focus on small scale solar thermal implementation. The
majority of the literature reviewed discussed components of large
scale grid level solar thermal applications, all with electrical
107
outputs in the range of tens to hundreds of megawatts. Limited

discussions were found with reference to the scalability of a solar
thermal system. Discussions of domestic scale solar thermal
systems were limited to only theoretical applications using novel
components (such as novel expansion component of Zamfirescu et
al. (2012) system), or are applied with only very small output
(such as Fan et al. (2011) 20V system). It is thus the opinion of
the authors that a significant knowledge gap is present in the
scalability, both technically and economically, of a solar thermal
system.
scalability and feasibility of concentrated solar thermal systems,

with particular reference to use in domestic applications.
Reference
Abbas, M., Boumeddane, B., Said, N., & Chikouche, A. (2011).
Dish Stirling technology: A 100 MW solar power plant using
hydrogen for Algeria. International Journal of Hydrogen
Energy, 36(7), 4305-4314. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.12.114
AMBRI. (2014). AMBRI Liquid Metal Battery. from
http://www.ambri.com/storage/documents/2014-Brochurev3.pdf
Australian Bureau of Meteorology. (2014). Solar Exposure Maps Historical Average Exposure. Retrieved 6 May 2014, 2014,
from
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/solarexposure/index.jsp
Baranowski, L. L., Warren, E. L., & Toberer, E. S. (2014). HighTemperature High-Efficiency Solar Thermoelectric Generators.
Journal of Electronic Materials, 43(6), 2348-2355. doi:
10.1007/s11664-014-3063-z
Behar, O., Khellaf, A., & Mohammedi, K. (2013). A review of
studies on central receiver solar thermal power plants.
Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 23, 12-39. doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2013.02.017
Bradwell, D. J., Kim, H., Sirk, A. H., & Sadoway, D. R. (2012).
Magnesium-antimony liquid metal battery for stationary energy
storage. J Am Chem Soc, 134(4), 1895-1897. doi:
10.1021/ja209759s
Chen, H., Cong, T. N., Yang, W., Tan, C., Li, Y., & Ding, Y.
(2009). Progress in electrical energy storage system: A critical
review. Progress in Natural Science, 19(3), 291-312. doi:
10.1016/j.pnsc.2008.07.014
CSIRO. (2011). Concentrating solar power drivers and
opportunities for cost-competitive electricity (1 ed., pp. 32):
CSIRO.
Department of Industry Innovation Climate Change Science
Research and Tertiary Education. (2013). Australian National
Greenhouse Accounts. 84.
Diaz-Gonzalez, F., Sumper, A., Gomis-Bellmunt, O., &
Villafafila-Robles, R. (2012). A review of energy storage
technologies for wind power applications. Renewable &
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(4), 2154-2171. doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2012.01.029
Environment Victoria. (2010). Fast-tracking Victoria's clean
energy future to replace Hazelwood. 1 to 37.
Fan, H., Singh, R., & Akbarzadeh, A. (2011). Electric Power
Generation from Thermoelectric Cells Using a Solar Dish
Concentrator. Journal of Electronic Materials, 40(5), 13111320. doi: 10.1007/s11664-011-1625-x
Franchini, G., Perdichizzi, A., Ravelli, S., & Barigozzi, G. (2013).
A comparative study between parabolic trough and solar tower
technologies in Solar Rankine Cycle and Integrated Solar
Combined Cycle plants. Solar Energy, 98, 302-314. doi:
10.1016/j.solener.2013.09.033
Geoscience Australia. (2010). Australian Energy Resource
Assessment. Canberra, Australia: Geoscience Australia.
Giostri, A., Binotti, M., Astolfi, M., Silva, P., Macchi, E., &
Manzolini, G. (2012). Comparison of different solar plants
based on parabolic trough technology. Solar Energy, 86(5),
1208-1221. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2012.01.014
Region
Several investigations into the application of solar thermal
electricity generation system were undertaken in various regions
around the world such as Saudi Arabia (Hepbasli & Alsuhaibani,
2011), Egypt (Metwally et al., 2011), Canada (Zamfirescu et al.,
2012), Spain (Torresol, 2011) and USA (Ivanpah, 2014). From
the geographical analysis of solar irradiance, it can be reasonably
argued that a solar thermal system may be highly suited to the
Australian climate.
Solar Thermal System
The discussion of solar thermal system literature will be broken
into two key sections; solar collectors and energy storage.
Solar Collector
It has been noted by the authors that all current solar collector
technologies (parabolic trough, central receiver, dish receiver,
linear Fresnel etc.) have substantial literature regarding many
aspects of their operation, implementation and manufacture. Many
examples of each solar collector technology are implemented in
large scale at present. It is the opinion of the authors that limited
discussions have taken place regarding the scalability of
efficiency and cost of collector technologies. A gap in knowledge
exists in which particular technology is most suited to domestic
scale applications, an ideal link to scalability discussion above.
Energy Storage
The addition of energy storage capabilities to solar thermal system
will increase the relevance of the system for a domestic or
commercial user. Several types of batteries were reviewed in the
literature, although limited discussions were identified regarding
the applications of particular battery technologies to solar thermal
applications.
It is the view of the authors that, although well researched and
documented, the application of battery technology is most ideal
for application within a domestic environment.
Conclusion
From the above literature review, it can be concluded that a
significant amount of knowledge is present in the field on
concentrated solar thermal energy capture and related subject
areas such as heat engines and geographic impacts on
concentrated solar thermal collection. Discussions regarding the
integration of particular components of a concentrated solar
thermal electricity generation system with a domestic residence
was limited to very few discussions. It is the opinion of the
authors that a gap in knowledge currently exists regarding the
108
Goldsmid, H. J., Giutronich, J. E., & Kaila, M. M. (1979). Solar

Thermoelectric Generation Using Bismuth Telluride Alloys.
Solar Energy, 24, 5.
Goswami, D. Y., Kreith, F., & Kreider, J. (2000). Principles of
Solar Engineering (2 ed.). New York: CRC Press.
Hadjipaschalis, I., Poullikkas, A., & Efthimiou, V. (2009).
Overview of current and future energy storage technologies for
electric power applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 13(6-7), 1513-1522. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2008.09.028
Hall, P. J., & Bain, E. J. (2008). Energy-storage technologies and
electricity generation. Energy Policy, 36(12), 4352-4355. doi:
10.1016/j.enpol.2008.09.037
Hamid Elsheikh, M., Shnawah, D. A., Sabri, M. F. M., Said, S. B.
M., Haji Hassan, M., Ali Bashir, M. B., & Mohamad, M.
(2014). A review on thermoelectric renewable energy: Principle
parameters that affect their performance. Renewable and
Sustainable
Energy
Reviews,
30,
337-355.
doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2013.10.027
Hepbasli, A. (2008). A key review on exergetic analysis and
assessment of renewable energy resources for a sustainable
future. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 12(3), 593661. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2006.10.001
Hepbasli, A., & Alsuhaibani, Z. (2011). A key review on present
status and future directions of solar energy studies and
applications in Saudi Arabia. Renewable and Sustainable
Energy
Reviews,
15(9),
5021-5050.
doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.052
Herrmann, U., Kelly, B., & Price, H. (2004). Two-tank molten
salt storage for parabolic trough solar power plants. Energy,
29(5-6), 883-893. doi: 10.1016/s0360-5442(03)00193-2
Huggins, R. A. (2010). Energy Storage.
Huskinson, B., Marshak, M. P., Suh, C., Er, S., Gerhardt, M. R.,
Galvin, C. J., . . . Aziz, M. J. (2014). A metal-free organicinorganic aqueous flow battery. Nature, 505(7482), 195-198.
doi: 10.1038/nature12909
IEA. (2003). Greenhouse Gas Research and Development
Program - The potential of solar electricity to reduce CO2
emissions. Paris: IEA.
IRENA. (2012). Renewable Energy Technologies: Cost Analysis
Series - Concentrating Solar Power. Volume 1: Power
Sector(2/5).
http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/RE_Te
chnologies_Cost_Analysis-CSP.pdf
Ivanpah. (2014). IVANPAH Solar Electric Generating System.
Retrieved 24 May, 2014, from http://ivanpahsolar.com/
Kalogirou. (2004). Solar thermal collectors and applications.
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 30(3), 231-295.
doi: DOI 10.1016/j.pecs.2004.02.001
Kim, H., Boysen, D. A., Newhouse, J. M., Spatocco, B. L.,
Chung, B., Burke, P. J., . . . Sadoway, D. R. (2013). Liquid
metal batteries: past, present, and future. Chem Rev, 113(3),
2075-2099. doi: 10.1021/cr300205k
Kongtragool, B., & Wongwises, S. (2003). A review of solarpowered Stirling engines and low temperature differential
Stirling engines. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews,
7(2), 131-154. doi: 10.1016/s1364-0321(02)00053-9
Kousksou, T., Bruel, P., Jamil, A., El Rhafiki, T., & Zeraouli, Y.
(2014). Energy storage: Applications and challenges. Solar
Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 120, 59-80. doi:
10.1016/j.solmat.2013.08.015
Kraemer, D., McEnaney, K., Chiesa, M., & Chen, G. (2012).
Modeling and optimization of solar thermoelectric generators
for terrestrial applications. Solar Energy, 86(5), 1338-1350. doi:

10.1016/j.solener.2012.01.025
Kraemer, D., Poudel, B., Feng, H.-P., Caylor, J. C., Yu, B., Yan,
X., . . . Chen, G. (2011). High-performance flat-panel solar
thermoelectric generators with high thermal concentration.
Nature Materials, 10(7), 532-538. doi: 10.1038/nmat3013
Kribus, A., Zaibel, R., Carey, D., Segal, A., & Karni, J. (1998). A
solar-driven combined cycle power plant. Solar Energy, 62(2),
121-129. doi: 10.1016/s0038-092x(97)00107-2
LaGrandeur, L., & Crane, D. (2005). Vehicle Fuel Economy
Improvement Through Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery.
Paper presented at the DEER Conference, Chicago.
LeBlanc, S., Yee, S. K., Scullin, M. L., Dames, C., & Goodson,
K. E. (2014). Material and manufacturing cost considerations
for thermoelectrics. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews,
32, 313-327. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2013.12.030
Li, G., Zhu, R., & Yang, Y. (2012). Polymer solar cells. Nature
Photonics, 6(3), 153-161. doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.11
McEnaney, K., Kraemer, D., Ren, Z., & Chen, G. (2011).
Modeling of concentrating solar thermoelectric generators.
Journal of Applied Physics, 110(7). doi: 10.1063/1.3642988
McLarnon, F. R., & Cairns, E. J. (1989). ENERGY-STORAGE.
Annual Review of Energy, 14, 241-271.
Metwally, K., Makhlouf, A., & El-Gabry, L. (2011). Approach to
designing a solar concentrator for small-scale remote power
application. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy,
3(6), 063114. doi: 10.1063/1.3671649
Mills, D. (2004). Advances in solar thermal electricity technology.
Solar Energy, 76(1-3), 19-31. doi: 10.1016/s0038092x(03)00102-6
Montecucco, A., & Knox, A. R. (2014). Accurate simulation of
thermoelectric power generating systems. Applied Energy, 118,
166-172. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.12.028
NASA. (2014). Voyager - Radioisotope Thermoelectric
Generators.
Retrieved
15/April/2014,
from
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/instruments_rtg.html
Pavlovi, T. M., Radonji, I. S., Milosavljevi, D. D., & Panti, L.
S. (2012). A review of concentrating solar power plants in the
world and their potential use in Serbia. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(6), 3891-3902. doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.042
Quoilin, S., Orosz, M., Hemond, H., & Lemort, V. (2011).
Performance and design optimization of a low-cost solar
organic Rankine cycle for remote power generation. Solar
Energy, 85(5), 955-966. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2011.02.010
Radousky, H. B., & Liang, H. (2012). Energy harvesting: an
integrated view of materials, devices and applications.
Nanotechnology, 23(50). doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/50/502001
Reddy, V. S., Kaushik, S. C., Ranjan, K. R., & Tyagi, S. K.
(2013). State-of-the-art of solar thermal power plants-A review.
10.1016/j.rser.2013.06.037
Romero, M., Buck, R., & Pacheco, J. E. (2002). An update on
solar central receiver systems, projects, and technologies.
Journal of Solar Energy Engineering-Transactions of the Asme,
124(2), 98-108. doi: 10.1115/1.1467921
Rowe, D. M. (1981). A High-Performance Solar Powered
Thermoelectric Generator. Applied Energy, 8(4), 269-273. doi:
10.1016/0306-2619(81)90023-4
Singh, G. K. (2013). Solar power generation by PV (photovoltaic)
technology:
A
review.
Energy,
53,
1-13.
doi:
10.1016/j.energy.2013.02.057
109
SolasGIS. (2013, 2013). World Map of Global Horizontal

Irradiation.
Retrieved 14 May, 2014, from
http://solargis.info/doc/_pics/freemaps/1000px/ghi/SolarGISSolar-map-World-map-en.png
Sootsman, J. R., Chung, D. Y., & Kanatzidis, M. G. (2009). New
and Old Concepts in Thermoelectric Materials. Angewandte
Chemie-International Edition, 48(46), 8616-8639. doi:
10.1002/anie.200900598
Torresol. (2011). Gemmasolar Power Plant Picture. Retrieved
May
25,
2014,
from
http://www.torresolenergy.com/EPORTAL_IMGS/GENERAL/
SENERV2/IMG2-cw4e41253840d81/gemasolar-plantjune2011-2b.jpg
Tritt, T. M. (2011). Thermoelectric Phenomena, Materials, and
Applications. In D. R. Clarke & P. Fratzl (Eds.), Annual Review
of Materials Research, Vol 41 (Vol. 41, pp. 433-448).
Tyagi, V. V., Kaushik, S. C., & Tyagi, S. K. (2012).
Advancement in solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) hybrid
collector technology. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 16(3), 1383-1398. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2011.12.013
Vlez, F., Segovia, J. J., Martn, M. C., Antoln, G., Chejne, F., &
Quijano, A. (2012). A technical, economical and market review
of organic Rankine cycles for the conversion of low-grade heat
for power generation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 16(6), 4175-4189. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.022
Wakihara, M. (2001). Recent developments in lithium ion
batteries. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, 33(4),
109-134. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0927-796X(01)000304
Wang, X. C., Maeda, K., Thomas, A., Takanabe, K., Xin, G.,
Carlsson, J. M., . . . Antonietti, M. (2009). A metal-free
polymeric photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water
under visible light. Nature Materials, 8(1), 76-80. doi:
10.1038/nmat2317
Yang, B., Makarov, Y., Desteese, J., Viswanathan, V., Nyeng, P.,
& McManus, B. (2008). On the Use of Energy Storage
Technologies for Regulation Services in Electric Power Systems
with Significant Penetration of Wind Energy. Paper presented at
the 5th International Conference on European Electricity
Market, 2008, Lisboa.
Zamfirescu, C., Dincer, I., Stern, M., & Wagar, W. R. (2012).
Exergetic, environmental and economic analyses of smallcapacity concentrated solar-driven heat engines for power and
heat cogeneration. International Journal of Energy Research,
36(3), 397-408. doi: 10.1002/er.1811
Zebarjadi, M., Esfarjani, K., Dresselhaus, M. S., Ren, Z. F., &
Chen, G. (2012). Perspectives on thermoelectrics: from
fundamentals to device applications. Energy & Environmental
Science, 5(1), 5147-5162. doi: 10.1039/c1ee02497c
Zhang, L., Jing, D., Zhao, L., Wei, J., & Guo, L. (2012).
Concentrating PV/T Hybrid System for Simultaneous
Electricity and Usable Heat Generation: A Review.
International
Journal
of
Photoenergy.
doi:
10.1155/2012/869753
Zheng, X. F., Liu, C. X., Yan, Y. Y., & Wang, Q. (2014). A
review of thermoelectrics research - Recent developments and
potentials for sustainable and renewable energy applications.
10.1016/j.rser.2013.12.053
110
FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A DOMESTIC SCALE CONCENTRATED SOLAR THERMAL

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION SYSTEM WITH BATTERY STORAGE
Keywords: Concentrated Solar Thermal, Battery Storage
Upon completion of a solar thermal energy production study,
environmental study and cost study, it was concluded that
geographic location of the described system played an important
role in its feasibility. The inclusion of battery storage greatly
reduces the economic payback period due to a reduced reliance on
the electricity grid for storage and retrieval of energy during
period of production surplus or excess consumption. The
environmental payback period of the described system was
calculated to be significantly less than an equivalent photovoltaic
system.
Abstract
Solar energy is highly abundant and reliable alternative to fossil
fuel for electricity generation. At present, photovoltaic systems
are readily available at low cost, allowing domestic consumers to
exploit the available solar resource. Unfortunately, due to
photovoltaic cell materials, manufacture and poor recyclability, 55
years of full time operation is required before photovoltaic cells
reach an environmental break-even (Zamfirescu, Dincer, Stern,
& Wagar, 2012). Concentrated solar thermal electricity generation
systems take advantage of the same solar resource, often with
higher efficiency, using mainly earth abundant and recyclable
materials. It is for this reason that the following report is purposed
to review the feasibility of a domestic scale concentrated solar
thermal electricity production system.
Objectives
Based on the literature review discussion by (Santoro & Logan,
2015), it is the view of the authors that a significant gap in
knowledge is present regarding concentrated solar thermal energy
capture with the combination of a parabolic dish receiver,
thermoelectric generation, domestic scale implementation and
battery energy storage. Error! Reference source not found.
below displays the area for investigation of the present study
graphically.
This combination of technologies is considered ideal for domestic
implementation based on its scalability, ease of packaging, solid
state operation and is a novel system which is yet to be discussed
in any reviewed literature.
The present study has objectives to assess total system feasibility
based on the following key points of analysis:
o Energy production characteristics and trends of
system for Melbourne and Darwin
o Energy storage characteristics and trends of system
and batteries for Melbourne and Darwin
o Solar to electrical efficiency of the described system
compared to market ready systems
o Cost analysis including payback period and
comparison to market ready systems
o CO2-e emission reduction and environmental
payback of system from cradle to grave
Introduction
Solar energy is an abundant energy resource; the earth receives a
continuous 1.7x1017W of radiation from the sun (Goswami,
Kreith, & Kreider, 2000). The irradiance on only 1% of the earth,
converted with only 10% efficiency, could supply the energy
needs for a population of 10 billion (Goswami et al., 2000).
Solar thermal electricity generation is a means of providing useful
electricity from the abundant solar resource. Many large scale
(hundreds of MW) solar thermal electricity generation plants are
currently in operation in countries such as Spain, Saudi Arabia
and the USA.
The following report is purposed to investigate the feasibility of a
domestic scale, concentrated solar thermal electricity generation
system for use in two Australian locations. The calculated energy
production and battery storage characteristics of such a system are
reviewed with reference to economic and environmental
feasibility.
The feasibility of a domestic scale concentrated solar thermal will
be assessed in two Australian locations, Darwin and Melbourne,
which were chosen based on their differences in climate.
This system was studied based on the following 5 key points of
analysis:
o Energy production characteristics and trends of
system for both locations
o Energy storage characteristics and trends battery
charge level for both location
o Solar to electrical efficiency of the described system
compared to market ready systems
o Cost analysis including economic payback period
and comparison to market ready systems
o CO2-e emission reduction and environmental
payback of system from cradle to grave
From these points of analysis the results and analysis and

discussion below have been divided into three distinct sections;
energy study, cost study and environmental study.
Figure 1. Gap in knowledge to be addressed by the present study
111
FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A DOMESTIC SCALE CST ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION SYSTEM WITH BATTERY STORAGE
The maximum power output at any point throughout the calendar

year was observed to 10.28 kW at 2pm on a December day.
Methodology
Mathematical models were generated for to calculate half hourly
energy production and half hourly energy consumption for
domestic residences in two Australian locations, Darwin and
Melbourne. A large amount of data was utilised to perform these
studies, including daily solar irradiance from Australian Bureau of
Meteorology (2014b), daily sunshine hours from Australian
Bureau of Meteorology (2014a), household daily consumption
data from Energy Made Easy (2014) and emissions factors from
Research and Tertiary Education (2013).
The assumption was made that energy production occurs
according to a normal distribution during documented sunshine
hours only. Battery charge level trend and grid reliance were
calculated using a mathematical model based on data attained via
the half hourly production/consumption model.
Figure 2. Cumulative daily energy production - Maximum daily

energy production surplus - Melbourne
Cost study was compiled using real world componentry assumed

required for the described system. Costs were accurate as at
October 2014.
Environmental study included the use of Solidworks
Sustainability took kit for evaluation of procurement emission for
the described system.
Results
Energy Study Melbourne
System Efficiency
To calculate the required size of the described system, system
efficiency was calculated using the following values which were
discussed in Santoro & Logan (2015); inverter efficiency (0.92),
collector efficiency (0.95) and battery efficiency (0.9. Heat engine
efficiency was calculated to be 0.3607 based on individual
thermoelectric efficiency of 0.06 and 0.051. This thermoelectric
array configuration was calculated based on the required
maximum system output and array configuration discussed below.
The total system efficiency was calculated to be 28.37%.
Figure 3. Cumulative daily energy production - Minimum daily

energy production surplus Melbourne
The trend of daily electricity production surplus can be seen in
Figure 4.
Collector Size
It was calculated that a collector of 14.88m2 is required for a zero
net energy consumption for a domestic residence in Melbourne.
Daily Energy Output
The half hourly energy production and consumption was
calculated for a residence in Melbourne and in Darwin based on
the solar irradiance and consumption data for each location from
Australian Bureau of Meteorology (2014b). The power output
across each day and total energy produced per day can be seen to
greatly vary from month to month for the system located in
Melbourne. Maximum daily output of 29.90kWh is produced by
the system in January, with lowest daily energy production of
5.28kWh seen in July.
Figure 4. Daily energy production surplus/deficit summary

Battery Energy
Based on daily and half hourly energy production and
consumption data attained above, it was calculated that a 15kWh
capacity battery be ideally suited to a concentrated solar thermal
thermoelectric system located in Melbourne. 15kWh would allow
for sufficient energy storage to reduce energy cost and reliance on
the electricity grid. The calculations take into account the time
offset between peak energy production period and peak energy
consumption period. During the months of October to March, a
15kWh battery storage would allow reach full capacity during the
Graphs were generated for the daily energy production and energy
consumption for an average day in each month of a year.
Examples of these graphs can be seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3
where the maximum and minimum energy production surplus can
be seen.
112
afternoon each day, and reduce to below 20% capacity before

being refilled in the early afternoon of the next day. From April to
September, the battery will not achieve full charge due to the low
solar irradiance, and will not reach above half capacity during the
months of May to July. Figure 5 below shows the trend of energy
storage charge levels for the first three days of each month, it
should be noted that due to the monthly weather and consumption
data attained, the calculations result in two days of adjustment
between consumption/production rates, then from day 3 to day n
of each month the trend is repeated.
Figure 6. Average Daily battery capacity trend - Melbourne

Grid Reliance
With the addition of battery storage to the described system, the
reliance on the electricity grid to store and retrieved excess energy
is greatly reduced. For a residence in Melbourne, it is calculated
that a total of 5337.01kWh of energy and stored in and retrieved
from the grid on an average calendar year when not using battery
storage. The inclusion of battery storage reduces this grid reliance
to 1492.8kWh per year.
The daily trend of energy being fed into and drawn from the grid
is graphed for an average day of each month. Shown in Figure 7
and Figure 8 below are examples of the largest and smallest
reduction in grid reliance with that is achieved with the addition
of battery storage.
Figure 5. Battery charge level trend - 3 days per month Melbourne

Figure 6 compares the daily battery charge level trend for a
15kWh battery combined with the described system on an average
day of each calendar month. The comparison shows that the
maximum daily charge is reached at approximately the same time
for each day of the year, as expected. The trends then show that
battery discharges to its minimum during the peak consumption
period in the evening.
Table 1 highlights the number of hours that the battery storage
remains above 95% capacity (14.25kWh) and below 20% capacity
(3kWh). It is seen that excluding December, January and February
the battery storage spends greater than 50% of each day in the
highly discharged state.
Figure 7. Minimum grid reliance impact from battery inclusion

Melbourne
Table 1. Hours per day at maximum and minimum battery

capacity Melbourne
Hours above 95% per day Hours Below 20% per day
4
0
Jan
3.5
0
Feb
2
13
Mar
0
18.5
Apr
0
20
May
0
23.5
Jun
0
20.5
Jul
0
18.5
Aug
0
16.5
Sep
2
14.5
Oct
3
13.5
Nov
3.5
4.5
Dec
Figure 8. Maximum grid reliance impact from battery inclusion Melbourne

113
Energy Study Darwin

Using the method described in the energy study methodology
section above, calculations were performed to find the required
collector size and electrical output required for a solar thermal
thermoelectric system located in Darwin, Australia.
Collector Size
For the calculated system efficiency of 28.37% a parabolic dish
collector of 4.73m diameter (17.55m2) is required for a
concentrated solar thermal thermoelectric system that will result
in a net zero electrical consumption for a residence in Darwin.
Figure 11. Daily energy production surplus/deficit summary
Daily Energy Output

Maximum energy output in a single day for the system located in
Darwin is 31.13kWh, this maximum daily energy output is seen in
March, April, August, September, October and November. The
minimum daily energy output is seen in January, February, May,
June, July and December, and is 26.98kWh.
Battery Energy
Using data gathered from the daily energy production and
consumption results, it was calculated that an appropriate battery
storage capacity for a residence in Darwin is 20kWh. At a
capacity of 20kWh, the battery storage would be adequate enough
to greatly reduce the reliance on the electricity grid, but also cost
effective to purchase. A 20kWh battery storage system in Darwin
would be filled to capacity every day in all months except May
and December and be fully discharged each day in all months
except June, July and August. The battery storage will undergo a
full cycle in almost every day of the year. Figure 12 below
displays a summary of the trend of battery charge level for the
first three days of each month across a calendar year in Darwin.
Calculations show that from day three to day n of each month the
battery charge level trend is repeated due to the monthly solar
irradiance data used. Figure 13 shows the trend of battery charge
levels across an average day of each month of the year.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 are examples of the results gathered via

the energy output calculations, these graphs show the maximum
and minimum daily energy surplus for Darwin, -4.96kWh and
6.4kWh respectively.
Figure 11 displays a summary of where daily energy production
surplus are achieved throughout a calendar year.
The maximum power output at any point throughout the calendar
year was observed to 10.70 kW at 2pm on a March day.

deficit Darwin
Figure 12. Darwin - Battery storage capacity Trend - 3 days of
each month

surplus - Melbourne
Figure 13. Average Daily Battery Capacity Trend - Darwin

114
Table 2 displays the hours spent at the maximum (in this case
above 95% charge) and hours at minimum (below 20% charge)
for the average day each for month. It is seen that greater than half
of each day is spent in a charge state below 20% in all months
except July and August. The battery system reaches and remains
at 95% capacity for between 1.5 and 3.5 hours for each month
except May and December.
Table 2. Hours per day at maximum and minimum battery
capacity Darwin
Jan
Feb
Mar
April
May
June
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Hours above 95% per day

1.5
1.5
2
2.5
0
2.5
2.5
3.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
0.5
Hours Below 20% per day

16
16
15.5
15
15.5
12
10.5
10
14
14
14.5
15.5
Figure 17 - Maximum grid reliance impact from battery inclusion

- Darwin
Thermoelectric Array
To produce the required 10.70 kW maximum output required in
Darwin and 10.23kW output required in Melbourne and example
thermoelectric efficiencies, it was calculated that the
thermoelectric array should be comprised of 8 layers of
thermoelectric cells using two types of cells to take advantage of
the entire temperature range across the array. The first three layers
should consist of medium temperature range cells, the subsequent
five layers should consist of low temperature range cells. Example
thermoelectric cells such as the 32W medium temperature cell
(Kryotherm, 2014) and 12W low temperature cells (Kryotherm,
2014) were considered as part of calculations.
Grid Reliance
The addition of battery storage to the described system, the
reliance on the electricity grid to store and retrieved excess energy
is greatly reduced. For a residence in Darwin, it is calculated that
a total of 7831.19kWh of energy and stored in and retrieved from
the grid on an average calendar year when no battery storage is
utilised. The inclusion of battery storage reduces this grid reliance
to 844.59kWh per year.
An arrangement such as that in Figure 16a would be required for

the medium temperature thermoelectric cell layers. These cells
should be positioned in a 3 x 8 cell array, totalling 72 medium
temperature cells.
The subsequent five layers low temperature layers should consist
of low temperature cells arranged in 12 cell x 12 cell layers,
totalling 144 cells per layer and 720 low temperature cells in total.
This theoretical array will be able to produce a total of 11.09 kW,
allowing for use in both Melbourne and Darwin systems.
The daily trend of energy being fed into and drawn from the grid
was graphed for an average day of each month. Shown in Figure
14 and Figure 15 are examples of the largest and smallest
reduction in grid reliance that is achieved with the addition of
battery storage.
Figure 16. Suggested thermoelectric array schematic (a) Layer 1

to 3 medium temperature thermoelectric cells (b) Layer 4 to 7 low
temperature thermoelectric cells
Figure 14 - Minimum grid reliance impact from battery inclusion Darwin
Cost study results

Total Cost
An extensive cost analysis was undertaken for system
components, manufacture and installation of the described system.
Upon calculating total cost, two scenarios for each location were
considered; the described system with battery storage and the
system without battery storage. The removal of battery storage
from cost calculation allows for a direct comparison between the
described system and a market available photovoltaic system.
115
For the described system within Melbourne, it was calculated that

the total cost of procurement, manufacture and installation of all
components required will be AUD$21,490.53 with battery storage
and AUD$18,316.53 without battery storage. In Darwin, the
equivalent system is calculated to cost AUD$22,171.54 with
battery storage and AUD$18,517.54 without.
Table 3 below summarises all costs described in the preceding
sections and shows the total cost described above.
Table 3. Total system cost and economic payback period
Darwin
Melbourne
Material
(Stirlings Australia, 2014a, 2014b)
Battery
(Aussie Batteries, 2014)
Thermoelectrics
(Kryotherm, 2014)
Inverter
(Solar Online, 2014)
Installation
Tracking Mechanism
(Home CSP, 2014)
Manufacture
Total with battery storage
$1,367.54
$1,166.53
$3,654.00
$3,174.00
$7,945.00
$7,945.00
$5,580.00
$5,580.00
$2,400.00
$425.00
$2,400.00
$425.00
$800.00
$22,171.54
$800.00
$21,490.53
Total without battery storage
$18,517.54
$18,316.53
Gross Energy Cost Avoided
$2,117.33
$1,320.32
Cost from tariff difference with

battery storage
Cost from tariff difference without
battery storage
$88.07
$154.01
$786.15
$536.60
Net Energy Cost Avoidance with

Battery Storage
Net Energy Cost Avoidance
without Battery Storage
$2,029.26
$1,166.31
$1,331.18
$783.72
Payback period with battery

storage
Payback period without battery
storage
10 years
11 months
13 years
11 months
18 years
6 months
23 years
5 months
Figure 17. Distribution of Melbourne and Darwin system

emission sources
Using the cumulative energy produced in Melbourne and Darwin
and the energy production emission factors for each state, it has
been calculated that 7724.34 kgCO2-e and 7305.03 kgCO2-e of
emissions will be avoided annually in Melbourne and Darwin.
The environmental break-even point for the systems in Melbourne
and Darwin then equate to 123 days and 160 days respectively.
Discussion and Analysis
Energy study
The results published in the energy analysis section above show
that for concentrated solar thermal applications, the consistent
solar irradiance of Darwin is a significant advantage compared to
that of Melbourne. Longer sunshine hours in Darwin allows for a
longer period of collection of solar energy allowing for more
energy to be consumed simultaneous to production; for example
at 4.30pm on a June day, a family of four will be consuming
2.038kw while simultaneous production of 2.21kw is occurring.
This results in less energy being fed into and drawn out of the grid
or battery storage. In comparison, at the same time on a June day
in Melbourne, the 1.61kw of consumption is being drawn directly
from the grid as high quality sunshine ceased one hour prior.
The solar inputs in Darwin make it a much more ideal location for
implementation of a concentrated solar thermal electricity
generation system compared to Melbourne.
An economic payback period of 18 years and 6 months is possible

for a domestic residence in Melbourne with incorporated battery
storage, and 23 years 5 months without. In Darwin, the payback
period for a system with battery storage is 10 years and 11 months
and without battery storage 13 years and 11 months
The battery storage in Melbourne and Darwin play a significant

role in the reduction of grid reliance for the household. The
battery storage in Darwin undergoes an almost full charge cycle
each day of the year, compared to the battery storage in
Melbourne which remains at a low state of charge for 5 months of
each year. Although a 15kWh battery storage is recommended to
reduce the annual energy cost, the consistent partial charges may
reduce the lifespan of the battery. A smaller battery storage would
ensure that battery full cycles occur daily, although a significantly
higher reliance on the electricity grid will be seen.
Environmental study results

The carbon footprint of system procurement for Darwin and
Melbourne was found to be 3128kgCO2-e and 2591kgCO2-e
respectively. The results attained are broken down into material,
manufacturing, transport and end of life emissions in Figure 17.
The battery storage allows for a reduced reliance on the electricity

grid by enabling a residence to draw electricity from batteries
during period of low or no production, rather than from the grid.
During periods of excess production, the battery storage receives
charge rather than the energy being fed to the grid.
In Melbourne the amount of energy fed to and drawn from the
electricity grid is reduced from 5337.01kWh to 1492.8kWh and
from 7831.19kWh to 844.59kWh in Darwin with the inclusion of
battery storage.
The distribution of emission sources can be seen in Figure 17. It is

evident that the material extraction and processing attributes the
largest proportion of emissions for the described system.
116
Darwin experiences a significantly higher level of energy

consumption for all periods throughout a calendar year, it may be
that the very solar resource that is supplying high levels of energy
to produce electricity is also causing Darwin residence to use vast
amounts of energy for space cooling applications.
CO2-e and 3128kg CO2-e respectively. The larger diameter of the

dish required in Darwin attributed to the higher emission from
material procurement and manufacturing.
Although the domestic energy consumption in Darwin is much
higher than Melbourne, given Northern Territorys cleaner energy
source the total CO2-e emissions avoided annually is calculated to
be lower than that of Melbourne. The environmental break-even
point was calculated to be 123 days and 160 days for Melbourne
and Darwin, significantly lower than the 55 year environmental
break-even required for photovoltaic cells. The high recyclability
and manufacture from earth abundant materials results in a solar
electricity system that is an environmental benefit for the majority
of its working life. This result proves a significant environmental
advantage to using concentrated solar thermal domestic electricity
generation system compared to photovoltaic cells.
Although Darwin has a significant advantage in electricity

production, due to the higher energy consumption, the described
system in Darwin must be larger than the described system in
Melbourne to result in a household net zero energy consumption.
A collector dish 14.88m2 is required for a system in Melbourne,
while a collector of 17.55m2 is required in Darwin, an increase of
18% over the dish located in Melbourne.
Cost Study
The cost analysis demonstrated the high implementation cost of
the described concentrated solar thermal thermoelectric system,
inevitably resulting in lengthy economic payback periods. An 18
year 1 month economic payback for the Melbourne based system
with battery storage may render the system not economically
feasible to most buyers. Given the high amount of electrical
energy that is produced in Darwin, the payback period are
somewhat lower, although still high at 10 years 9 months
including battery storage.
Conclusions
It can be concluded that in regions with consistent solar
irradiance, such as Darwin Australia, a solar thermal electricity
production system such as the one described will feasibly
produce the required energy output for net zero annual grid
electricity consumption with an acceptable economic payback and
low environmental impact. The high solar to electrical efficiency
of the described system results in a relatively small parabolic dish
requirement, makes the system ideal for domestic residences. The
initial financial outlay for the described system is significantly
higher than an equivalent output photovoltaic system, although it
has environmental break-even point of substantially less than the
55 years associated with photovoltaic cells. It is the opinion of the
authors that with government incentives and economies of scale,
the described system will be financially competitive and thus
become a genuine alternative to photovoltaic cells. The
combination of solar thermal electricity generation system with
battery storage showed to greatly reduce the reliance on the
electricity grid and the cost associated with tariff differences.
With advances in battery storage technology and a reduction in
cost per kilowatt hour of storage capacity, the feasibility of the
described system will increase substantially.
Contrary to expectation, removing the costly battery storage

greatly increases the payback period given the higher reliance on
the electricity grid to storage and retrieval of excess capacity. The
payback period for the described system without battery storage in
Melbourne and Darwin is higher than the equivalent system with
battery storage. Although the initial outlay is lower, given the
increased cost due to the difference between electricity cost and
electricity rebate, less annual savings are achieved.
When compared to market available competitors such as
photovoltaic systems, the initial outlay is significantly higher. A
10kW photovoltaic system can be purchased and installed for
AUD$13,992.04 without battery storage (Energy Matters Pty.
Ltd., 2014), compared to the AUD$18,316.53 or AUD$18,517.54
for the concentrated solar system in Melbourne and Darwin
without battery storage.
Recommendation for further work
With a high adoption rate, the initial outlay may fall due to the
economies of scale. Government incentives may greatly increase
the economic feasibility for early adopters of the system.
It is the recommendation of the authors that the following aspects

of the described concentrated solar thermal electricity generation
system be further researched:
Environmental Study
Several limitations existed in the Solidworks Sustainability tool

used throughout the environmental study, thus the results attained
provide only approximate procurement emissions. Limitations
such as limited knowledge of exact material procurement and end
of life emissions may have provided results that vary from real
emission figures. Recommendations will be made at the
conclusion of the present study for future environmental studies to
be undertaken on the described system with more appropriate
emission modelling software for comparison and confirmation of
results attained.
The environmental emissions from procurement for the described

system in Melbourne and Darwin was calculated to be 2591kg
117
Battery storage system

o
Battery system longevity under continuous partial
charging
Thermoelectric cells
o Practical cell longevity under repeated heat cycling
o Feasibility of the desired peak power from
described thermoelectric array
o Investigate practical efficiency of thermoelectric
cells and compare to theoretical efficiency
o Investigate ideal electrical wiring configuration for
cells in described array
Solar tracking system
o Tracking mechanism and sun tracking software
investigation and development
Heat engine alternative
Feasibility study of alternative device for

conversion from thermal energy to electrical
energy
Waste heat recovery
o Investigate the feasibility of the recovery of waste
heat for use in domestic water heating
System level
o Investigate the practical feasibility of the described
system
o Perform a deeper investigation into the CO2-e emit
during system procurement using more
sophisticated and specialised software packages
Zamfirescu, C., Dincer, I., Stern, M., & Wagar, W. R. (2012).

Exergetic, environmental and economic analyses of smallcapacity concentrated solar-driven heat engines for power and
heat cogeneration. International Journal of Energy Research,
36(3), 397-408. doi: 10.1002/er.1811
Reference
Aussie Batteries. (2014). Aussie Batteries - Off Grid Solar
Batteries.
Retrieved 23 September, 2014, from
http://www.aussiebatteries.com.au/off-grid-solar/batterybanks/
Australian Bureau of Meteorology. (2014a). Australian Daily
Sunshine Hours - Monthly Average. Retrieved 2 July, 2014,
from
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/sunshinehours/
Australian Bureau of Meteorology. (2014b). Daily Australian
Solar Exposure - Monthly Average. Retrieved 2 July, 2014,
from http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/solarexposure/
Research and Tertiary Education. (2013). Australian National
Greenhouse Accounts. 84.
Energy Made Easy. (2014). Seasonal Energy Usage By Location.
Retrieved
3
July,
2014,
from
http://energymadeeasy.gov.au/bill-benchmark
Energy Matters Pty. Ltd. (2014). PV Solar System Installation
Quote - 10kW System. Retrieved 20 October, 2014, from
https://www.energymatters.com.au/solar-quotes/quotesystem
Goswami, D. Y., Kreith, F., & Kreider, J. (2000). Principles of
Solar Engineering (2 ed.). New York: CRC Press.
Home CSP. (2014). Home CSP Store - Concentrated Solar
Thermal Tracking Mechanism Kits. Retrieved 8 August,
2014,
from
http://homecsp.com/store/category.php?id_category=6
Kryotherm. (2014). Thermoelectric Cells For Power Generation.
Retrieved
10
September,
2014,
from
http://kryothermtec.com/thermoelectric-modules-for-powergeneration.html
Santoro, A. and Logan, R. (2015) Review of Concentrated Solar
Thermal Electricity Production Literature. Swinburne
University of Technology.
Solar Online. (2014). Solar Online Store - Grid Feed Inverters.
Retrieved
12
September,
2014,
from
https://www.solaronline.com.au/inverters-grid-feed.html
Stirlings Australia. (2014a). Stirilings Shop - Mirrored Stainless
Steel Sheet Price.
https://stirlingsshop.com/150/index.php?route=product/catego
ry&path=52_55
Stirlings Australia. (2014b). Stirling Shop - Stainless Steel Tube
Price Sheet.
https://stirlingsshop.com/150/index.php?route=product/catego
ry&path=168
118
COMPILATION OF ABSTRACTS
119
GEOTHERMAL POWER IN RURAL QUEENSLAND AND EAST CHINA

James McLaren, Sheshan Andrahennadige, Paul Ouwerkerk, Siegfried Chaloupka
Abstract
As we move into the future, the social trends of excess energy consumption increasing at an exponential rate dictate the necessity and
importance of sustainable energy sources. Geothermal energy has existed since the dawn of man and is a vastly underused resource that not
only has minimal emissions and is minimally invasive. It benefits remote and isolated installations, requiring minimal maintenance in both
large and small systems. This paper contains the basic theory of geothermal reservoirs and techniques of harnessing this energy, with
simple mathematical reasoning to illustrate the effect of certain variables on the system and the effect that these systems have on the
environment and economy. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness for Geothermal Energy by helping the reader understand basic
concepts and statistics.
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT ALICE SPRINGS-AUSTRALIA AND

BATAPUR-PAKISTAN
Justin Tile, William Shaw, Usman Khan, Muhammad Shaiks
Abstract
This report analyses the possibility renewable energy has to power two small villages, one in Australia and the other in Pakistan. The energy
source chosen was solar power; this report examines all of the implications and effects that solar power has on the environment and the
community. The two villages used in this analysis are Alice Springs in Australia and Batapur in Pakistan. Assessing two vastly different
locations on different side of the globe, but with similar weather and geographical conditions allows an evaluation upon the potential for
application and practices of solar energy in both Pakistan and Australia. This report focuses on the amount of heat loss from a house and how
much energy is required to maintain a home at a comfortable temperature throughout the year using a heater that could be powered by solar
power. Covering aspects all possibilities that would affect the end result of the project are considered in this report. It looks at energy source
requirements, cultural and social aspects, geographical aspects, economic values, transport availabilities, government policies,
manufacturing facilities, communication process and timing aspects. Evaluating the proposed costs of the application and environmental
impacts are also considered within this report. The current environmental standing on solar power is that it is one of the best sources of
renewable energy in the world, whilst it does not suit every application of energy production, solar power is quickly becoming one of the
largest and most sought after sources of energy due to its simple reliable nature.
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT ALICE SPRINGS-AUSTRALIA AND

TAKTSE-TIBET
Ericko Nilestyo, Max V Dongen, Sachin Kumar, Arshad H Syed
Abstract
The demand of Sustainable energy over the past decades has grown rapidly and will most likely continue to grow in the future.
When talking about sustainable and commonly used renewable energy, the first topic to come to mind is solar power. With the
benefits from and socioeconomic and eco-environmental perspective, sustainable and renewable energy is the future. In this report, we
venture the possibility of the use of solar energy systems for the purpose of space heating in two different areas of two different
continents in the world. Alice Springs of Northern Territory, Australia and the county of Taktse, in the Tibetan Autonomous
Territory are chosen as the regions of interest. This report gives a brief description of these selected areas and the commodities
associated with these regions. Explains the type and use of solar energy generating system and its benefits. The rough estimated costs
and savings of using such a system for space heating purpose, the feasibility of the use of such a system and the affordability of the
communities in questions were considered as well. Lastly, from the point of view of a potential company to establish this system in
the selected areas, some recommendations were also made.
120
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT MUTTABURRA-AUSTRALIA AND

AL-KHARJ-SAUDI ARABIA
Kumail Alkhuraidah, Michael Kaoud, Michael Lucas, Saad Alshammari
Abstract
Renewable energy is one of the most efficient ways to achieve sustainable development in this era. One of the most useable ways of
renewable energy is solar energy as it is present globally. The aim of this report is to discuss and investigate one or more renewable sources
of energy for two locations, one town in Australia (Muttaburra) and another in Saudi Arabia (Al-Kharj). The report concerns the most
appropriate and suitable renewable source of energy to allow the operation of electrical appliances within one of the above towns. Thus, for
either location, the decision on which one to choose will be made as per climate data analysis plus, keeping in mind the convenience and
cost of application at the selected location. In addition, both countries have respective factors of social and cultural aspects to be considered
in order to achieve a satisfying result. Renewable energy is the future, but still needs further development from an economical view point as
the cost of applying these systems are still too expensive. However, this report will deliver and provide the comparison of energy source
alternatives with the addition of providing a renewable energy system for a location.
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT NEWCASTLE-AUSTRALIA AND

MECCA-SAUDI ARABIA
Victor Yan, Mohammad Hossein, Mauricio Zabaleta Olivar
Abstract
The report investigated two renewable energy sources solar and wind power in two different locations. The locations were hypothetical
remote areas with a population of 100 people. The two locations were based of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and Newcastle in New South Wales,
Australia. The report focused on the heat loss or gained by the windows of houses. It was found that solar was feasible in both locations
and wind was only viable in Newcastle. The major limiting factor for both locations was the overall cost of the system. There were other
geographical, environmental, transportation and government factors that affected the viability of implementing the system. The report also
shows the savings generated from improving insulation from single pane windows to double pane windows and how effective it is to
reduce energy requirements.
USING SOLAR ENERGY TO POWER REMOTE TOWNS

Matthew Chaplin, David Zampatti, Sebastian Oyarce, Yuzo Makitani
Abstract
As global warming is a growing issue throughoutthe world, many countries have active plans in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
one of the techniques used is to harness many forms of sustainable energy that is always readily available and clean. Remote populations
away from large cities are beginning to harness these energies more and more; from solar panels to wind turbines and now even harnessing
the Earths geothermal properties. Our future is largely beginning to depend on harnessing these forms of sustainable energy. In two
selected locations Longonot village, Kenya and Kununarra Western Australia we attempt to harness the geothermal energy available in
these regions with the goal of converting this energy into electricity.
121
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT TITJIKALA-NORTHERN TERRITORY-AUSTRALIA

AND PHNOM AMPIL-CAMBODIA
Yan Pyaing Soe Han, Preet Inder Johar, Amila Debahapuwe, Nisal Vuthy
Abstract
Sustainability is the ability to grow and meet our current needs (energy, material, etc.) without compromising the ability of our future
generations to meet theirs. As of now, most of our global energy needs are met by burning fossil fuels which are known as non-renewable
resources of energy and these resources will eventually run out. Renewable resources of energy are the ones like solar, wind, hydro,
geothermal etc. which are plentiful, cleaner, won't run out or harm the environment during the energy production. This report examines two
feasible sources of energy for two different locations. One location was the Titjikala in Northern Territory; and another was Phnom Ampil
in Cambodia. More than 75% of Australia's energy comes from non-renewable resources (coal, oil and gas) out of which 56% is accounted
to electricity generation. Cambodia also relies on fossil fuels which are mainly imported from the global market. Hence the electricity costs
are increasing over a period. Renewable energy resources are becoming popular in both the target places as they are cheaper to run and
environmentally friendly. The main focus of the report is the heat losses or gained through house windows. The chosen two renewable
energy were solar panel in Titijikala, Northern Territory and Bio-mass using rice for Phnom Ampil in Cambodia. The feasibility of energy
was further analysed in several aspects and the number of solar panel required were discussed. The limitation of the report is the cost of
maintenance, Maximum power point tracker (MPPT). Out of all the renewable resources, solar energy is picking up pace as it can be
directly converted to electricity (throughout the year in most of the cases) and once setup the plant does not produce greenhouse emission.
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT REMOTE TOWNS IN AUSTRALIA AND CAMBODIA

Nicholas Seymour, Gabe Lavis, Jordan Browning, Xu Yang
Abstract
Within this report the broad term geothermal is explained in more detail. The use of geothermal energy, to produce power, which is then
used to heat a household, is discussed. Then two small locations existing in Australia and Cambodia are chosen, where the use of
geothermal energy may be possible. A general comparison of the two locations is made and the pros and cons are identified for each. The
decision on which is best suited for utilizing geothermal energy is made and the relevant information that helped the group come to this
conclusion is explained. Several different techniques for using geothermal energy are looked into. The paper compares the use of
geothermal energy for a single home, compared to large scale use that can supply towns and cities. Larger geothermal power generation is
focused on, as this type is most relevant to the briefing of, supplying to a small village of approximately 100 people. Using gathered data
that is relevant to both locations, such as the annual temperature, some calculations are made to compare the two locations and identify
each of the power consumption needs.
USING SOLAR ENERGY TO POWER REMOTE TOWNS

Luke Turner, Jun Jie Lu, Elie Harb
Abstract
This research is focused on using sustainable energy systems to provide electricity to small towns in two different locations; Mount Magnet
in Western Australia and Moran in Texas. These towns have low populations and are in dry, remote locations with little water but high
amounts of sunlight, because of this, solar energy was chosen as the ideal sustainable energy. Typically, remote towns are not considered
for sustainable energies as the set up costs and maintenance requirements were too high. However as time passes, costs of these sustainable
energies have lowered making them more applicable in these situations. This study will focus on not only if sustainable energy is capable
of providing sufficient electricity for the town, but also be cost effective to implement when in comparison to current energy production
systems.
122
ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AT MOUNT MURCHISON-QUEENSLAND-AUSTRALIA

AND TUVAS VILLAGE-KANAS-XINJIANG CHINA
Leigh Yelland, Daniel Stapelfeldt, Talisa Harris
Abstract
This report compares two locations, one from Australia and one from overseas, for the implementation of an appropriate renewable energy
source given each areas conditions. The Australian location is Mt. Murchison, and solar power was chosen for this town. The overseas
location is Tuvas Village, Kanas, in Xinjiang China, with the renewable energy source as hydropower. Both of these options, with the
assumptions applied, can be deemed feasible and appropriate for the regions chosen.
ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION OF SOLAR ENERGY AND WIND TURBINES IN SANDSTONE WA

AND BUKIT BESI MALAYSIA
Dean Reynolds, Wei Sen Hoh, Assad Najeem
Abstract
Energy is one of the most fundamental driving forces for any nation to develop. Sustainable energy sources and efficiency improvements
become essential for energy planning, resource optimization and environmental protection. The energy requirements of the world are
increasing at an alarming rate and the power demand continuously runs ahead of supply. Conventional resources, presently being used (i.e.,
coal, gas and petroleum) are being recognized as insufficient or unsuitable to meet this increasing demand. This report focuses on the
energy resources, power generation, energy consumption, renewable energy sources and the feasibility of sustainable energy in the
specified locations.
ANALYSIS SOLAR POWER APPLICATION IN MAREE-AUSTRALIA AND MEERWADA-INDIA

Alexander Criticos , Mohamed , Vinura Witharanage, Evangelos Karagiannakis
Abstract
The objective of this research is to explore whether solar powered electricity would be a viable option to provide power supply to small
villages and towns in remote areas with relatively low populations for domestic purposes (i.e. electricity, heating, hot water and cooling).
Solar energy output from the sun is processed into electrical energy by means of a series of devices like solar panels, an inverter and power
storage medium. The photovoltaic (PV) panels of a solar PV system capture sunlight and convert it into direct current electricity. The Solar
PV system, using an inverter, then converts this electricity into 240V alternating current electricity which can be used around houses. To
install and implement the above solar electric system, two remote villages have been selected; one is in South Australia called Marree and
the overseas location is Meerwada in Madhya Pradesh State, in Central India. Assessment of sustainable energy like solar powered
electricity has not been previously considered for remote areas, mainly due to cost issues; (a) Capital and (b) Operation and Maintenance
costs. The study will focus on analysing and comparing these two locations for suitability with a solar electric system in terms of socioeconomical, geographical, scientific and climatic aspects. The advantages and disadvantages of a solar powered system will be discussed
and supported by relevant tables, graphs and computations such as the loss of heat from the houses and energy consumption per month. The
outcome of such analysis combined with a financial review of the regions would facilitate to design a viable system and enable us to
determine the appropriateness of the system for use in both of the locations. This report concludes that generation of solar electricity
satisfies the global requirement for renewable energy whilst having the lowest negative environmental impact. With ongoing technological
advancement and overwhelming environmental concern, solar powered electricity is regarded as the optimum solution for small villages
and towns in remote areas.
123
ANALYSIS OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY APPLICATION IN AUSTRALIA AND KENYA

Matthew Chaplin, David Zampatti, Sebastian Oyarce, Yuzo Makitani
Abstract
As global warming is a growing issue throughout the world, many countries have active plans in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
one of the techniques used is to harness many forms of sustainable energy that is always readily available and clean. Remote populations
away from large cities are beginning to harness these energies more and more; from solar panels to wind turbines and now even harnessing
the Earths geothermal properties. Our future is largely beginning to depend on harnessing these forms of sustainable energy. In two
selected locations Longonot village, Kenya and Kununarra Western Australia we attempt to harness the geothermal energy available in
these regions with the goal of converting this energy into electricity.
124

3 2014 Student Symposium On Renewable Energy

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

3 2014 Student Symposium On Renewable Energy

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

8-9 October 2014

2014 - 1st Student Symposium

Analysis of Renewable Energy

2014 STUDENT SYMPOSIUM ANALYSIS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Published in Australia by:

2014 Swinburne University of Technology

2014 Student Symposium Analysis of Renewable Energy Sources at Remote Locations

ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF THE APPLICATION OF SOLAR POWER IN REMOTE TOWNS;

LIQUID FLUORIDE THORIUM REACTORS FOR SMALL SCALE DOMESTIC PURPOSES:

The salt composition varies slightly between each reactor design

This study mainly focuses energy required to maintain a specified

The fuel salt (ThF4-U233F4) is pumped through the reactor core,

The feasibility of the LFTR will be further analyzed to include

A major safety feature of LFTRs is that they are designed to be

The LFTR design is based on the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment

second feature is its high negative temperature coefficient of

is the largest concern for the development of a LFTR in

An additional safety feature of many LFTR designs includes a

The annual electric power consumption for Australia was 10,712

Figure 2. Identified thorium deposits in India, with Wabaching

The median weekly income for family in Sandstone is $2,449 or

The aim of this project is to maintain the temperature inside the

It is assumed that heat loss only occurs through single-glazed

The cost of electricity is to be assumed at $0.095/ kWh. This leads

The fuelling costs must be considered when considering any form

Figure 3. Monthly heat loss comparison in Sandstone per

Furthermore, many radioisotopes and medical isotopes are

Figure 4. Monthly heat loss comparison in Wabaching per

These materials can be sold to provide additional revenue to the

Economics of a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor

Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors for the Communities

There are many economic factors to take into account when

Given that the derived capital costing for a 200 kW LFTR is

Assuming the Western Australian government changes its policies

Societies perceptions of nuclear power should not be neglected

In Wabaching, the cost per household is slightly higher at $166.71

Nuclear power is already used in used in India, supplying 3.7% of

To install a photovoltaic solar energy system of the same power

However, in Australia nuclear power is not used and there is a

Environmental Considerations and Policies

An important consideration when assessing the feasibility of a

Although the issues of nuclear weapons and possible meltdowns

Like with conventional nuclear reactors, LFTRs do produce

This research paper has thoroughly investigated the feasibility of

India already has 21 conventional nuclear power plants in

Although seen to be economically viable, the fact that the small

LFTR technology was found to be extremely advantageous in

We conclude that the use of LFTRs in small scale domestic use is

For a LFTR to be considered feasible in Sandstone, a permanent

[14] Data.worldbank.org, 'GNI per capita, Atlas method (current

OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, 'Uranium 2014: Resources,

[27] Moir, R. (2002). Cost of electricity from molten salt

Electricity: $0.095/ kWh

To determine the capacity of a LFTR required to sufficiently power the settlements:

Fig. 4. Above: Sandstones mean temperatures over the year

Above: Wabachings mean temperatures over the year

ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TO SUPPLY REMOTE CITIES

Sustainable energy is an underused resource which could see the

This report will quantify heat transfer through the windows of a

Heat transfer for these scenarios will be governed by equation (3)

Monthly temperatures for each of the two locations will be used to

ANALYSIS OF SUS TAINABLE ENERGY TO SUPPLY REMOTE CITIES

Using the information discussed in the introduction, it was found