wind power

Singapore as a center for energy research

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:58:17 -0700

Description

During a workshop on the future of energy conducted at National University of Singapore, our experts were divided into several groups and asked to develop a model for a research center supporting transformative science and innovation. The question we put them was:

Imagine a major philanthropy has declared that they want to endow a set of institutions that will foster transformative discoveries or innovations in science. Your group has been invited to submit a proposal to create one of these institutions. These institutions can be located anywhere, and can attack any major problem or set of problems. Further, because they want to support paradigm-changing and transformative science, rather than incremental advances, they're willing to let you spend up to ten years building the program.

Two of the groups chose to develop scenarios for the future of energy research in Singapore.

SCENARIO 1: MOBILE ENERGY

The first group proposed a research center working on mobile energy. This could range from automobiles and planes, to medical implants, to sensor network components, to homes less-developed regions that don't have grids-- any energy use context that's off the grid and independent.

The research center would bring together scientists from physics, biochemistry, and mathematics, as well as people who know use domains-- e.g., people in surgery (who know implants and prosthetics), management (households), etc.-- around projects in basic research, integrative research, and applications. As one participant put it, "Energy have always used a place for unifying different skills in science."

Why could Singapore do this? Singapore already has lots of support for energy research: the NRF (National Research Foundation) already offers grants to promote energy research. As a small, highly-developed country with huge energy demands and a very mobile population, it's an ideal test market for mobile energy devices. At the same time, the country has easy access to bigger population centers (and markets) like Indonesia and India.

SCENARIO 2: ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

The second group's proposal focused on energy and infrastructure. The coming energy crisis-- driven by the combination of rising global demand, peak oil, and growing problems in storage and transmission-- will be one of the great challenges faced by mankind in this century.

The center would focus on renewable energy, in particular solar and ocean thermal power generation systems. The core researchers would include civil, mechanics, electrical and control engineers; marine scientists; and oceanographers. Expertise would have to be tapped from all over the world, for both practical and symbolic reasons. As one participant put it, "Energy is no longer a problem faced by one country. It's a problem that touches the whole world. It's a question of getting the best use out of the nature of your sources, and distributing the rest for the good of mankind."

The group thought about locating the research center in Indonesia, but finally decided to base it in Singapore, to be close to industrial players (including Singapore's deep expertise in designing and installing large open-ocean platforms), other research institutes, government infrastructures, and the more dynamic research environment that the government is trying to cultivate. However, the center would be trans-Pacific in its research projects. For ocean thermal experiments, the center might run prototype projects in Hawaii or Japan; for solar, Indonesia, which has lots of space, would be an ideal partner.

East and Southeast Asia: Science and Technology

Source

National University of Singapore expert workshop, 24 July 2008.

TU Delft tests windmill for seawater desalination

Sean Ness — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:16:27 -0800

Description

A traditional windmill which drives a pump: that is the simple concept behind the combination of windmill/reverse osmosis developed by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands. In this case, it involves a high-pressure pump which pushes water through a membrane using approximately 60 bar. This reverse osmosis membrane produces fresh water from seawater directly. The windmill is suited for use by, for instance, small villages in isolated, dry coastal areas.

The combination of windmills and desalination installations is already commercially available. These windmills produce electricity from wind power, the electricity is stored and subsequently used to drive the high-pressure pump for the reverse osmosis installation. The storage of electricity in particular is very expensive. Energy is also lost during conversion.
In the TU Delft installation, the high-pressure pump is driven directly by wind power. Water storage can be used to overcome calm periods. The storage of water is after all a great deal cheaper than that of electricity.

Robust
The chosen windmill is normally used for irrigation purposes. These windmills turn relatively slowly and are also very robust. On the basis of the windmill’s capacity at varying wind speeds, it is estimated that it will produce 5 to 10 m3 of fresh water per day: enough drinking water for a small village of 500 inhabitants. A water reservoir will have to ensure that enough water is available for a calm period lasting up to five days. Three safeguards (in the event of the installation running dry, a low number of revolutions or a high number of revolutions) are also performed mechanically so that no electricity is needed.

Prototype
The first prototype has been built and is already working at a location near the A13 motorway near Delft. This prototype is to be dismantled and transported to Curaçao the first week of March. There the concept will be tested on seawater.

Source

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Wind-powered cellphone stations spread in Africa

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:45:59 -0800

Description

Bergey Windpower notes the growing use of wind power in cell phone stations.

Safaricom (www.safaricom.com), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is the largest cell phone provider and the most profitable company in East Africa. As they have moved to extend their service range to the rural areas of Kenya they have encountered more and more sites for their base stations where no utility power is available. The normal practice at such sites is to use two diesel generators, one operating all the time and another serving as back-up. But, diesel power is far from ideal. Supplying fuel in areas where the roads are very poor and armed escorts are sometimes required is very expensive. Also, the diesel generators are under-loaded so they are not operating very efficiently and they require more frequent maintenance.

In 2005 Safaricom contracted with Winafrique Technologies in Nairobi to design and supply pilot wind/diesel hybrid systems at three very remote base stations. The systems consisted of a Bergey 7.5 kW turbine on a 24 m (80 ft) SSV tower, sealed batteries, and an inverter. These sites were installed and monitored for one year. The results showed excellent reliability and diesel fuel savings of 70-95%. Based on these positive results, Safaricom has contracted for six more sites, and has many other wind/diesel sites in the planning stage.

They go on to describe its use in a remote town, Laisamis:

Even though Laisamis is very remote and the household income is very low, the new Safaricom base station is already handling thousands of calls a day. In fact, the lack of electricity to charge local cell phones has emerged as a barrier and Safaricom will soon add a battery charging station to their base station facility. That too will be powered by the wind. Cell phones allow children to talk to parents who have gone to work in the major cities, law enforcement to spread the word on cattle thefts, and clinicians to seek the advice of doctors.

UPDATE, September 2007: Safaricom will have over 25 sites with Bergey 7.5 kW turbines installed by the end of 2007.

AfriGadget comments that "Hybrid systems that utilize renewable energy such as wind and solar are making it possible to extend wireless service in remote areas that are not connected to grid power." More recently, the systems have been adopted in Namibia.

Source

http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/12/05/more-wind-powered-cell-phone-base-stations-in-africa/
http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/07/02/wind-powered-cell-phone-base-stations/
http://www.bergey.com/Examples/Laisamis.html