IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v15y2011i2p1182-1200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Methods and tools to evaluate the availability of renewable energy sources

Author

Listed:
  • Angelis-Dimakis, Athanasios
  • Biberacher, Markus
  • Dominguez, Javier
  • Fiorese, Giulia
  • Gadocha, Sabine
  • Gnansounou, Edgard
  • Guariso, Giorgio
  • Kartalidis, Avraam
  • Panichelli, Luis
  • Pinedo, Irene
  • Robba, Michela

Abstract

The recent statements of both the European Union and the US Presidency pushed in the direction of using renewable forms of energy, in order to act against climate changes induced by the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In this paper, a survey regarding methods and tools presently available to determine potential and exploitable energy in the most important renewable sectors (i.e., solar, wind, wave, biomass and geothermal energy) is presented. Moreover, challenges for each renewable resource are highlighted as well as the available tools that can help in evaluating the use of a mix of different sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelis-Dimakis, Athanasios & Biberacher, Markus & Dominguez, Javier & Fiorese, Giulia & Gadocha, Sabine & Gnansounou, Edgard & Guariso, Giorgio & Kartalidis, Avraam & Panichelli, Luis & Pinedo, Irene, 2011. "Methods and tools to evaluate the availability of renewable energy sources," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1182-1200, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:15:y:2011:i:2:p:1182-1200
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(10)00336-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fridleifsson, Ingvar B., 2001. "Geothermal energy for the benefit of the people," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 299-312, September.
    2. Aillery, Marcel P. & Gollehon, Noel R. & Breneman, Vincent E., 2005. "Technical Documentation of the Regional Manure Management Model for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," Technical Bulletins 33570, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Ondreka, Joris & Rüsgen, Maike Inga & Stober, Ingrid & Czurda, Kurt, 2007. "GIS-supported mapping of shallow geothermal potential of representative areas in south-western Germany—Possibilities and limitations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(13), pages 2186-2200.
    4. Pepper, Darrell W. & Wang, Xiuling, 2007. "Application of an h-adaptive finite element model for wind energy assessment in Nevada," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1705-1722.
    5. Acker, Thomas L. & Williams, Susan K. & Duque, Earl P.N. & Brummels, Grant & Buechler, Jason, 2007. "Wind resource assessment in the state of Arizona: Inventory, capacity factor, and cost," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1453-1466.
    6. Dhanju, Amardeep & Whitaker, Phillip & Kempton, Willett, 2008. "Assessing offshore wind resources: An accessible methodology," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 55-64.
    7. Rusu, Eugen & Guedes Soares, C., 2009. "Numerical modelling to estimate the spatial distribution of the wave energy in the Portuguese nearshore," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1501-1516.
    8. Alawaji, Saleh H., 1996. "Wind energy resource assessment in Saudi Arabia—I. Network design and description," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 319-328.
    9. Nobre, Ana & Pacheco, Miguel & Jorge, Raquel & Lopes, M.F.P. & Gato, L.M.C., 2009. "Geo-spatial multi-criteria analysis for wave energy conversion system deployment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 97-111.
    10. Henfridsson, Urban & Neimane, Viktoria & Strand, Kerstin & Kapper, Robert & Bernhoff, Hans & Danielsson, Oskar & Leijon, Mats & Sundberg, Jan & Thorburn, Karin & Ericsson, Ellerth & Bergman, Karl, 2007. "Wave energy potential in the Baltic Sea and the Danish part of the North Sea, with reflections on the Skagerrak," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2069-2084.
    11. Dunnett, David & Wallace, James S., 2009. "Electricity generation from wave power in Canada," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 179-195.
    12. Ramachandra, T.V., 2009. "RIEP: Regional integrated energy plan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 285-317, February.
    13. Batzias, F.A. & Sidiras, D.K. & Spyrou, E.K., 2005. "Evaluating livestock manures for biogas production: a GIS based method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1161-1176.
    14. Lackner, Matthew A. & Rogers, Anthony L. & Manwell, James F., 2008. "The round robin site assessment method: A new approach to wind energy site assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 2019-2026.
    15. Perpiñá, C. & Alfonso, D. & Pérez-Navarro, A. & Peñalvo, E. & Vargas, C. & Cárdenas, R., 2009. "Methodology based on Geographic Information Systems for biomass logistics and transport optimisation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 555-565.
    16. Bernetti, Iacopo & Fagarazzi, Claudio & Fratini, Roberto, 2004. "A methodology to anaylse the potential development of biomass-energy sector: an application in Tuscany," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 415-432, June.
    17. Prest, Robert & Daniell, Trevor & Ostendorf, Bertram, 2007. "Using GIS to evaluate the impact of exclusion zones on the connection cost of wave energy to the electricity grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 4516-4528, September.
    18. Alawaji, S.H. & Eugenio, N.N. & Elani, U.A., 1996. "Wind energy resource assessment in Saudi Arabia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 818-821.
    19. Cai, Y.P. & Huang, G.H. & Yang, Z.F. & Lin, Q.G. & Tan, Q., 2009. "Community-scale renewable energy systems planning under uncertainty--An interval chance-constrained programming approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 721-735, May.
    20. Aillery, Marcel P. & Gollehon, Noel & Breneman, Vincent E., 2005. "Technical Documentation of the Regional Manure Management Model for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," Technical Bulletins 184315, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    21. Hoogwijk, Monique & de Vries, Bert & Turkenburg, Wim, 2004. "Assessment of the global and regional geographical, technical and economic potential of onshore wind energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 889-919, September.
    22. Kinoshita, Tsuguki & Inoue, Keisuke & Iwao, Koki & Kagemoto, Hiroshi & Yamagata, Yoshiki, 2009. "A spatial evaluation of forest biomass usage using GIS," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-8, January.
    23. Carta, J.A. & Ramírez, P. & Velázquez, S., 2009. "A review of wind speed probability distributions used in wind energy analysis: Case studies in the Canary Islands," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 933-955, June.
    24. Folley, M. & Whittaker, T.J.T., 2009. "Analysis of the nearshore wave energy resource," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1709-1715.
    25. Voivontas, D. & Assimacopoulos, D. & Mourelatos, A. & Corominas, J., 1998. "Evaluation of Renewable Energy potential using a GIS decision support system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 333-344.
    26. Harrison, Gareth P. & Wallace, A. Robin, 2005. "Climate sensitivity of marine energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 1801-1817.
    27. Mueller, Markus & Wallace, Robin, 2008. "Enabling science and technology for marine renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4376-4382, December.
    28. Jingura, Raphael M. & Matengaifa, Rutendo, 2009. "Optimization of biogas production by anaerobic digestion for sustainable energy development in Zimbabwe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1116-1120, June.
    29. Frombo, Francesco & Minciardi, Riccardo & Robba, Michela & Sacile, Roberto, 2009. "A decision support system for planning biomass-based energy production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 362-369.
    30. Pohekar, S. D. & Ramachandran, M., 2004. "Application of multi-criteria decision making to sustainable energy planning--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 365-381, August.
    31. Barbier, Enrico, 2002. "Geothermal energy technology and current status: an overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 3-65.
    32. de Vries, Bert J.M. & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & Hoogwijk, Monique M., 2007. "Renewable energy sources: Their global potential for the first-half of the 21st century at a global level: An integrated approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2590-2610, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Calvert, K. & Pearce, J.M. & Mabee, W.E., 2013. "Toward renewable energy geo-information infrastructures: Applications of GIScience and remote sensing that build institutional capacity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 416-429.
    2. Cuadra, L. & Salcedo-Sanz, S. & Nieto-Borge, J.C. & Alexandre, E. & Rodríguez, G., 2016. "Computational intelligence in wave energy: Comprehensive review and case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1223-1246.
    3. Rusu, Liliana & Guedes Soares, C., 2012. "Wave energy assessments in the Azores islands," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 183-196.
    4. Halliday, J. Ross & Dorrell, David G. & Wood, Alan R., 2011. "An application of the Fast Fourier Transform to the short-term prediction of sea wave behaviour," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1685-1692.
    5. Liang, Bingchen & Fan, Fei & Liu, Fushun & Gao, Shanhong & Zuo, Hongyan, 2014. "22-Year wave energy hindcast for the China East Adjacent Seas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 200-207.
    6. Hadadpour, Sanaz & Etemad-Shahidi, Amir & Jabbari, Ebrahim & Kamranzad, Bahareh, 2014. "Wave energy and hot spots in Anzali port," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 529-536.
    7. Iglesias, G. & Carballo, R., 2011. "Wave resource in El Hierro—an island towards energy self-sufficiency," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 689-698.
    8. Izadyar, Nima & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Chong, W.T. & Leong, K.Y., 2016. "Resource assessment of the renewable energy potential for a remote area: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 908-923.
    9. Calvert, K., 2011. "Geomatics and bioenergy feasibility assessments: Taking stock and looking forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1117-1124, February.
    10. Iglesias, G. & Carballo, R., 2009. "Wave energy potential along the Death Coast (Spain)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1963-1975.
    11. Iglesias, G. & Carballo, R., 2010. "Wave energy resource in the Estaca de Bares area (Spain)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1574-1584.
    12. Liang, Bingchen & Shao, Zhuxiao & Wu, Yajie & Shi, Hongda & Liu, Zhen, 2017. "Numerical study to estimate the wave energy under Wave-Current Interaction in the Qingdao coast, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 845-855.
    13. Liang, Bingchen & Fan, Fei & Yin, Zegao & Shi, Hongda & Lee, Dongyong, 2013. "Numerical modelling of the nearshore wave energy resources of Shandong peninsula, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 330-338.
    14. Yong Zeng & Yanpeng Cai & Guohe Huang & Jing Dai, 2011. "A Review on Optimization Modeling of Energy Systems Planning and GHG Emission Mitigation under Uncertainty," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(10), pages 1-33, October.
    15. Soomere, Tarmo & Eelsalu, Maris, 2014. "On the wave energy potential along the eastern Baltic Sea coast," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 221-233.
    16. Dong, C. & Huang, G.H. & Cai, Y.P. & Liu, Y., 2012. "An inexact optimization modeling approach for supporting energy systems planning and air pollution mitigation in Beijing city," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 673-688.
    17. Jha, Sunil Kr. & Bilalovic, Jasmin & Jha, Anju & Patel, Nilesh & Zhang, Han, 2017. "Renewable energy: Present research and future scope of Artificial Intelligence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 297-317.
    18. Masoud, Alaa A., 2022. "On the Nile Fan's wave power potential and controlling factors integrating spectral and geostatistical techniques," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 921-945.
    19. Kim, Gunwoo & Jeong, Weon Mu & Lee, Kwang Soo & Jun, Kicheon & Lee, Myung Eun, 2011. "Offshore and nearshore wave energy assessment around the Korean Peninsula," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1460-1469.
    20. Sierra, J.P. & González-Marco, D. & Sospedra, J. & Gironella, X. & Mösso, C. & Sánchez-Arcilla, A., 2013. "Wave energy resource assessment in Lanzarote (Spain)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 480-489.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:15:y:2011:i:2:p:1182-1200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.