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AT present, most of the energy being generated in our country is through the burning of fossil fuels. In this article, the writer will present the various options and why selection of them would be a prudent approach for future power generation.
Electricity is one of the most useful inventions of modern living and life without it would be incomprehensible. As our dependence on it increases everyday, so does the demand for more power generation to meet our ever increasing requirements.
There are several methods of generating power, but are we using the best of the available ones or just relying on whatever we have inherited. Is it time to rethink our strategy.
The readers will be able to make that decision after going through the following article.
The main options for energy generation are the following:
1. Thermal, 2. Nuclear, 3. Hydro, 4. Renewable.
Thermal power generation is one of the most widely used around the world. In this method, fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal etc) are burned to produce power.
Countries which are rich in these natural resources bank heavily on this form of power generation but with evident side effects, more on that later. Countries like ours, who are not so much gifted in this natural resource, when follow the path of others blindly, end up with problems that outweigh the benefits.
Following are some of the reasons for avoiding dependence on fossil fuels:
1. Pakistan imports a major portion of oil to be consumed in power generation which costs millions of dollars annually.
2. Burning of fossil fuels generates emissions, which even the best of the equipment today, can’t avoid.
The emissions from burning fossil fuel degrade the environment.
3. Sooner or later, the reserves of fossil fuel will deplete which will make us look in other directions, maybe in haste.
4. Expansion in industrialization will put more demand for power generation, thus depleting the oil reserves faster.
Nuclear power generation has its own set of problems with the biggest being the disposal of the nuclear waste and the safety hazard involved in handling of nuclear power plants.
Hydro power plants are experiencing various bottlenecks which were not fully anticipated early on.
Building of dams for hydro power has its own set of problems like silting & excessive environmental burden on ecology.
Ocean wave electricity generation is progressing now and can be explored but commercially tested systems are not available as yet.
This leaves us with only the following options of renewable energy also called sustainable energy.
1. Wind
2. Solar
3. Biomass
I will not cover the potential of biomass in this article.
Solar and wind are two of the well known forms of renewable energy. Here, we will discuss the benefits of wind energy as solar electrical energy is not economically feasible as yet.
Keeping in view the vast and open land available in our country, the opportunities for wind and solar energy as separate or hybrid, are abundant and the potential for these needs to be exploited.
Wind energy is the fastest growing energy source in the world. The earlier concerns about renewable energy being economical or not have also been addressed steadily.
As you can see from the year 1996 data below, wind energy is economical:
Fuel-levelized costs (cents/ kWh) (1996) Coal 4.8- 5.5 Gas 3.9- 4.4 Hydro 5.1- 11.3 Biomass 5.8- 11.6 Nuclear 11.1- 14.5 Wind 4.0- 6.0
Following is the data about energy generation and distribution in the world:
The purpose of this article is not to present a rosy picture of wind energy, as it has its own set of problems, but the intent is to choose a form of power generation which has the least environmental impact, is renewable and indigenous too.
Following are the benefits and drawbacks of wind energy: Benefits:
1. Clean: wind turbines generate no emissions of CO2, SO2 and NOx.
2. Abundant: in coastal areas, wind is freely available.
3. Inexhaustible: beunlike oil and gas reserves, the wind will never end.
4. Domestic: It will never be subject to embargoes or “price shocks” caused by international conflicts.
5. Environmentally preferable: because it doesn’t create any pollution.
6. More jobs: every megawatt (MW) of installed wind capacity creates about 15- 19 jobs, directly and indirectly. (ref: European Wind Energy Association)
Drawbacks:
1. The cost of wind energy is strongly affected by wind speed and the size of a wind farm.
2. Wind energy is a highly capital-intensive technology
3. Aesthetics: some people feel that the wind farms don’t look attractive and appealing to the eye.
4. Noise: the wind turbines make a low pitched noise during operation because of the running of their blades.
5. It is suspected that birds mortality rate may increase due to wind turbines in an area.
Future:
Wind energy development in Europe started in the 1970s. After a slow start, the market within the EU is now the world’s largest and is expanding rapidly. By the end of 1997 some 4,700 MW had been installed - compared with just 473 MW in 1990.
Most of the advanced countries have realized the potential for renewable energy and are shifting their power generation load from hydro, nuclear and thermal generation to renewables.
Its about time that we learn from the experience of others and adopt what has been tried and tested.
As modernization continues, the demand for energy will only increase. So this field offers a great opportunity.
Following is the simplified two step action plan which can help in utilizing these gifts of nature to the fullest:
1. A thorough survey of the country to establish the regions with a potential for electricity generation using wind and sun.
2. Based on the survey, contracting out turn key projects for operating, maintaining & managing power generation for 5-10 years with deletion and technology transfer agreements.
We can’t afford to ignore this important energy resource as adopting it now will be rewarding both environmentally and economically, in the long run.
The writer is an environmental engineer at Saudi Methanol Company (Arrazi) Jubail, Saudi Arabia
