Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Efficient operation of an islanded microgrid (MG) with high renewable energy penetration requires maintaining system resiliency by minimizing frequency deviations and ensuring smooth load transitions. Integrating renewable energy resources (RERs) in primary frequency response can significantly improve frequency stability. However, to enable frequency support from wind and solar power, a portion of their output must be curtailed to create reserve power margins for load variations. Due to the inherent variability of RERs, dynamic adjustment of these reserves is necessary to balance energy utilization and enhance system stability. This paper proposes a decentralized variable power reserve-based droop control framework that enables real-time power adjustment for RERs, improving frequency response. The study highlights the significance of adaptive droop control and dynamic inertia emulation in mitigating frequency deviations and enhancing system stability under fluctuating renewable generation. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through simulations, demonstrating that enabling RERs participation in primary frequency response improves MG frequency stability by up to 38%. Additionally, incorporating variable droop control for wind and solar further refines frequency regulation by dynamically adjusting power reserves, achieving an additional 5% improvement.

Abstract Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a widely used technique for growing high‐quality carbon on metal surfaces such as Cu, Ni, and Si, particularly for energy storage applications. This work employs CVD to grow carbon on Ni foam, using iron chloride as a catalyst and acetylene as the carbon precursor at a temperature of 700 °C. The resulting carbon is thoroughly characterized using Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy, which reveals the morphology as multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) anchored with iron nanoparticles. Due to their high specific surface area and conductivity, carbon‐based materials serve as excellent catalyst supports in energy conversion and storage devices, including fuel cells, supercapacitors, and batteries. The present work investigates Fe/MWCNT nanostructures as cathode materials for zinc‐air batteries. The Fe/MWCNT structures achieve a cycle life of 330 cycles (20 min each) at discharge and charge current densities of 5.2 mA cm−2, which is three times higher than bare carbon black and five times greater than reduced graphene oxide (rGO). This highlights the electrocatalytic role of Fe nanoparticles in enhancing the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions during Zn‐air battery operation. These findings emphasize the significant potential of CVD‐grown carbon materials in advancing next‐generation energy storage technologies.

ABSTRACT Sri Lanka's energy issue is caused by underinvestment in renewable energy, resulting in rationing and power outages. Given its power output, offshore wind energy is a possible solution for a sustainable energy future. This study investigates the viability of an offshore wind farm by scrutinizing three potential sites, chosen based on wind speed, direction, and allied variables. Wind speed data from the ERA-5 repository and bathymetry information from the General Bathymetry Chart of Oceans support energy potential assessment for these locations. Employing the WAsP software, a technical analysis was performed to determine the energy output potential for water depths up to 50 m. Of the three sites, the western site emerged as the most productive, estimating an energy yield of 24.36 GWh from an 8 MW turbine. This calculation took into account a capacity utilization factor of 34.76%, with the levelized cost of energy approximating INR 7.70. The northern and southern sites trailed marginally, with estimated energy outputs of 20.31 GWh and 22.36 GWh, respectively. As evidenced by these findings, offshore wind energy holds promise as a dependable and steadfast energy source for Sri Lanka. It also highlights Sri Lanka's first offshore wind farm and future plans.

Energy storage systems play a pivotal role towards smooth and continuous energy supply. An energy storage system holds the generated energy for a short time and supplies it according to need. Therefore, an energy storage system is the most capable technology to meet the rising demand for energy. A device that accumulates energy is sometimes termed as an accumulator. This chapter presents a brief overview of various energy storage systems. Two experimental set ups with objective to proficient exploitation solar energy and store through solid storage systems to provide the power 24/7. A 1 MWe (3.5 MW thermal) solar power plant with 16 hours thermal storage capacity and A 1 kWe high energy density thermal energy storage for concentrated solar plant were experimented and found satisfactory results as per Indian climatic conditions. The plant operates on Rankin cycle principle. The Parabolic Reflector concentrates the solar radiation towards the in-house developed, highly efficient cavity receiver. The cavity of the Receiver which is made of monolithic cast iron acts as perfect black body and thus provides excellent thermal storage.

Social enterprises have become increasingly central in the field of energy poverty. As a result of market and government failures, an increased emphasis on social enterprises to address energy poverty has emerged. Still, there is limited theoretical understanding guiding the role of social enterprises in addressing the challenge of energy poverty. We apply theories of co-production and social capital to analyze the role of social enterprises in disseminating and implementing cleaner energy alternatives to resource poor communities. By combining implications of these theories, we argue that social enterprises act as honest brokers between communities and technologists, cultivate new social relationships, and change social structures to move poor communities to adopt and use cleaner energy systems. Understanding the role of social enterprises in addressing energy poverty through a theoretical realm will provide a guiding framework to undertake systematic empirical investigation.

The hot spot phenomenon is a relatively frequent problem with solar photovoltaic modules (SPV). The module installations in the recent year are increasing due to different technical and commercial improvements; however, their inspection and maintenance requirements are likewise demanded. As the SPV technology installed on various residential and commercial buildings, safety issues are also the prime concern; it should neither damage the structures nor harm the residents. This paper undertakes a systematic compilation of a simple procedure to examine the faults in four solar module technologies, i.e., interdigitated back cell (i), hetero-junction intrinsic thin layer silicon (HIT), and multi-crystalline (mc-si) and mono-crystalline (m-si) silicon modules using infrared inspection. The infrared images are accepted up to 10 min to ensure the relevant results and thermal stress over modules. The distribution of the temperature was reported in the paper for all the four technologies, including two high-efficiency SPV modules.