Renewable energy (Coursework Sample)

Renewable Technology Report
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation
Renewable Technology
Introduction
Renewable energy is becoming more popular across the world as the best solution to curb pollution. In different parts of the world, there are project to generate energy using renewable sources such as wind, solar PV, and geothermal energy. International donor corporations and national governments are working to increase the funding towards renewable energy to help in making the environment clean. The challenge facing many governments and local authorities is on the process of integrating the renewable energy into national or regional electric grid systems. This report evaluates the reasons that make it inappropriate and challenging to include the renewable energy into the national grid.
Environmental Impact
Renewable energy is safer to the environment in many aspect compared to nuclear energy and fossils fuel. Different research conducted on the barriers of integrating renewable energy has not identified the challenge of environmental impact. However, the integration of hydroelectric power into the electricity grid has proven to be an environmental risk in most cases. An example of a hydro power station that has created a lot of controversy because of its environmental impact is the Grand millennium dam in Ethiopia. Than (2013) reports that the hydro power station to be constructed on Blue Nile River will affect the flow of the river downstream. Neighboring countries that share the Nile River including Egypt, which depends on the Nile River are against the construction of the hydropower station to supply Ethiopia with electricity. Than (2013) also argues that the overdependence on hydropower in the region can be catastrophic because of the changing climate due to global warming. The integration of hydropower into national grids has also forced the displaced people and animals. A social economic analysis of Bujagali hydropower station in Uganda established that the station would change the flow of the river, cause sedimentation, erosion, and degradation of water quality effects as well as destroy natural habitats and resources (Bujagali Energy, 2013).
Costs Involved
The cost of integrating renewable energy into the national power grids is also a disadvantage. Several projects reports have identified cost as a barrier in the implementation of renewable energy. A survey by European Climate Foundation (ECF) on the cost of integrating renewable energy in Europe established that it would cost the continent €2,860 billion in capital cost and additional €5,705 billion in operational cost to have the renewable energy by the end of the year 2050 (Euractiv, 2013). The total cost of this venture would exceed the cost of using gas and oil fuels.
Load Balancing
Renewable energy is not compatible with the other sources of energy that offer stable power loads. Zahedi (2011) argues that in mixing different sources of energy, there is bound to be voltage variations that may be harmful to consumers. This occurs when the electricity grid with a standard measure receives power from different sources of energy with different voltage capacities. This creates an over voltage and under voltage scenario that is not easy to balance before it gets to consumers. Casten (2013) argues that the measurement of power in megawatt-hours does not yield equal results from the different types of energy sources. The MWh of an energy source will be determined by the location of the source, the technology used to generate and dispatch ability of the energy (Casten, 2013).
Reliability
Renewable energy is not reliable. Zahedi (2011) points the amount of energy supplied by most renewable energy sources is not reliable. For example, the amount of energy from solar PV depends on the strength of the sun rays while wind power also varies depending on availability of wind. This makes it a challenge for them to be included in the national grid. Experts have proposed the use of storage facilities to harvest the renewable energy. There is still a challenge of investing in storage in different parts of the world where the renewable energy is harvested in small proportions (Euractiv, 2013). The locations of renewable energy sources are also spread far apart making it a challenge to coordinate the distribution of power.
Conclusion
The report is clear that the integration of renewable energy sources into the national grid is not the appro...