http://www.extra.rdg.ac.uk/eng/energy/book/msc05b.html

Energy Group
Research done as M.Sc Projects 2004/05

The research projects are done as part of the MSc and PGD course in Renewable Energy and the Environment

The list of project titles on which the students worked during the 2004/05 course is below. Abstracts and more details will be added when the students have finished their projects

The Panasonic trust gave a prize for the best project presentation this year, which was: Small wind turbines suitable for the urban environment market.


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• Investigating the application of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the 2006 Building Regulations Renewables Benchmark into an office building in London
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course with support from Roger Preston
Researchers: Kostas Papadopoulos and David Shipworth
Buildings in developing countries are responsible for the majority of the CO2 emissions. Appropriate legislation has been drafted in order to address this issue in a European and a UK context. The scope of this dissertation project is to investigate the technical and the financial feasibility of various low and zero carbon technologies for an installation in a large office building in London. We particularly aiming in achieving the low and zero carbon technologies benchmark regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions from the building. The forthcoming revision of the UK building regulation and the introduction of the European "Energy Performance of Buildings" directive early next year will shifts the interest of the industry to building integrated renewable technology hence, appropriate feasibility studies for different type of buildings are essential

Reference
Papadopoulos K. "Investigating the application of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the 2006 Building Regulations Renewables Benchmark into an office building in London", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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• Modeling and comparison of maintenance approaches for offshore wind farms
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course
Researchers: Ian Richardson and Tim Cockerill
This project models a lifetime energy production simulation of an offshore wind farm, in order to assess the impact of different maintenance strategies on energy production economics. The model uses a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo method to simulate the hourly wind speed and wave height series in order to both determine the energy production of the farm, and to determine when inclement weather conditions prevent access to the site for maintenance. The reliability of the turbine components is simulated and a failure model is used to determine when maintenance is required. The project determines that a preventive maintenance strategy may be beneficial if the lifetime of the components can be statistically predicted with some confidence. In this case, such a strategy can increase both capacity factor and energy production over the economic lifetime. The results also indicate that where component failures are unpredictable, a corrective strategy is more economic.

Reference
Richardson I. "Modeling and comparison of maintenance approaches for offshore wind farms", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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Note: Clicking on the pictures will give a larger version


• Small wind turbines for the urban environment market: State of the Art, Case Studies, & Economic Analysis
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course with support from IT Power
Researchers: Peter Robinson and Tim Cockerill
The current situation and prospects for small wind turbines (<50kW) in the UK urban environment are examined. Technical information was obtained from British and Irish manufacturers & designers of small wind turbines to assess the state of the art. The number & types of UK installations were collected, and a detailed questionnaire was designed and distributed to them. Models were created and information was collected to assess the economic viability. 31 turbines (including prototypes) were assessed, 92 installations were found of which 19 returned completed questionnaires, and economics for four situations were assessed in detail. The technology is promising, as are the experiences of wind turbine owners (although significant issues remain), but economic viability depends on a combination of factors including grants and good average wind speeds (the latter could be rare in the urban environment). The work was conducted with IT Power for the EC co-funded WINEUR project.

Reference
Robinson P. "Small wind turbines for the urban environment market: State of the Art, Case Studies, & Economic Analysis", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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Note: Clicking on the pictures will give a larger version


• Life cycle assessment of the production of biodiesel from Jatropha
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course with support from D1 Oil
Researchers: Joe Tobin and David Fulford
This study assessed the life cycle impact of biodiesel derived from Jatropha oil with respect to primary energy, CO2, CH4 and NOx. The life cycle impact is the effect on the environment resulting from the entire life cycle of a product, encompassing manufacture, supply, use and disposal. The assessment took the form of a case study of the London based biodiesel manufacturer D1 Oils who have organised Jatropha plantations in India. The production and supply stage of the assessment (Well-to-Tank) showed that biodiesel manufactured from Jatropha oil in India requires 36-41% of the primary energy (MJin/MJout) and 40-43% of the GHGs (CO2e) required to manufacture biodiesel from rape seed oil in the UK. The higher of the two figures is a result of transporting the fuel from India to Europe (by sea) prior to refining. When combustion is taken into consideration (Well-to-Wheel), biodiesel manufactured from Jatropha and sold locally or in Europe gives around 30% improvement in life cycle GHGs compared to fossil-based diesel. A sensitivity analysis was completed to assess the validity of data used.

Reference
Tobin J. "Life cycle assessment of the production of biodiesel from Jatropha", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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Note: Clicking on the pictures will give a larger version


• Performance evaluation of solar inverters on the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roof of the Engineering building
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course with support from Solar Century
Researchers: Matthew Uke and David Fulford
The performance evaluation of 3 inverters; the Sunny Boy SWR 1100E, Fronius IG 15 and Mastervolt Sunmaster QS 1200 were carried out on the BIPV of the Engineering Building at the University of Reading. The criteria used for evaluating the inverters include the start-up/shut down power and irradiance, the system yield, the performance ratio, the energy per unit weight and volume (energy density), the continuous wattage rating, the cost, the variation of efficiency with power output, and the influence of temperature on the performance of the inverter. The efficiency of the inverters increased with increasing levels of power output with the Fronius exhibiting similar efficiency levels at all power output. The start-up/shut down DC power and irradiance of the Mastervolt was the lowest while all three exhibited similar system yield, performance ratio and the influence of temperature on power output. The Mastervolt has the highest energy density while the Sunny Boy has the lowest cost per system yield. The Mastervolt and Fronius maintained a near constant continuous wattage rating as measured by the hourly efficiency.
Overall the Mastervolt showed a superior performance which could partly be contributed by its being oversized, while it also has the smallest cable run from its module string which means low DC power loss.

Reference
Uke M. "Performance evaluation of solar inverters on the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roof of the Engineering building", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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• Renewable energy resources for Longstock Parish
Sponsored by: Department - MSc Course with support from Bioplex
Researchers: Wafula Wilson and David Fulford
This report is a study of the renewable energy resources of Longstock Parish that include biomass from farms and growing of energy crops on set aside land, wind, solar photovoltaic, and micro hydro.
The study monitored wind speeds for three months that was extrapolated to year trend by using historical data, Distributed questionnaires to farms to collect data on biomass, Measured the roof area of the church building and the community hall for installation of solar photovoltaic, and surveyed the River test.
Energy systems were designed for the various technologies and their finances analysed from which the payback time on capital investment determined. The result showed that wind energy systems have the least payback time for large wind turbine without grant for 2 years, biomass for district heating and anaerobic digestion have payback time of about 2 and 15 years respectively, solar photovoltaic have the largest payback period of about 45 years with grants while the micro hydro resources are not technically available.

Reference
Wilson W. "Renewable energy resources for Longstock Parish", M.Sc Thesis, Sept 2005
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Renewables MSc course Administrator,
Engineering Building,
School of Construction Management and Engineering,
The University of Reading, Whiteknights,
Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AY UK
Tel: +44 (0)118 378 7560, +44 (0)118 987 5123 (ext. 7560) or +44 (0)118 378 8563
Fax: 44 (0)118 931 3327
or by e-mail to renewables.msc@reading.ac.uk

D.J.Fulford
02/10/2006
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