The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs.

Wind Generation to Produce Electricity

Presented By: Aiden Martin & Jennifer Kennedy

A Need for Change Exists

Introduction

Purpose is to analyze and compare the pros and cons of wind generation over burning fossil fuels

Burning fossil fuels have harmful effects on the environment

Wind farms reduce these effects

Generation In Newfoundland..

Various Hydroelectric stations

Wind , Diesel , Hydrogen (Ramea)

Diesel Turbines (Stephenville)

Biomass Fuels (Corner Brook)

Fuel Oil (Holyrood Thermal Generation Station)

Wind Turbines (Fermeuse & St. Laurence)

Main Discussion

Holyrood Thermal Generating Station

Fermeuse Wind Farm

Fermeuse Wind Farm

Fermeuse Wind Farm

Located approximately 800 meters west to the town of Fermeuse

Consists of 9, 3 MW Vestas V90 Turbines

Started supplying power to the grid in April 2009

V90 Turbines

A 3 bladed turbine with pitch control and variable speeds

80 m tall with rotor diameter of 90 m

Cut in speed 3.5 m/s, rated speed 15 m/s, cut out speed 25 m/s

V90 Power Curve

Operating Principal

Wind travels along rotors to create “lift”

Shaft inside the nacelle turns

Shaft moves a magnetic field generator

Electricity is distributed via transmission lines

Inside V90

Advantages of V90’s

Sets a high efficiency standard for compact turbines

Simplistic installation and maintenance

Pitch Control

Noise Reduction

Advantages of FermeuseJobs brought to the community

Zero harmful emissions

Provides residents and businesses clean renewable energy

Tax breaks for land owners

Disadvantages of V90’s

Cut in/out speeds of 3.5/25 m/s

Storage device for high-output turbines doesn’t exist

20 year life expectancy

Disadvantages of Wind Farm in Fermeuse

Unpredictable rate of wind speed

Applied as secondary electricity source

Costly start up fee

Thermal Plant Operating Process

Begins with a supply of demineralized water pumped to the condenser units.

Water is preheated and fed to dearerator

Water is preheated again by the economiser before being fed to boilers

Process Continued ..Upon entering the economiser feed water absorbs heat from hot gas exiting the stack

Feed water enters the boiler then vaporized and superheated due to combustion of fuel in the furnace

High pressure steam causes a series of turbines to rotate which is coupled to a generator

Holyrood Thermal Generating Station

Located in Holyrood, Newfoundland

Commenced Operation In 1969

Able to supply 25-40 percent of islands requirements

Holyrood Thermal Generating StationGenerating capability of 490 MW

Generators output 16000 Volts at 7000 Amperes

Voltages are transformed to 230 000 volts

Produces over three billion KWH of electricity annually

Holyrood Thermal Generating StationBurns “number 6” oil up to 18,000 barrels a day during peak operation

Produces 500 000 Kg of steam per hour at 13790Kpa and 540 degrees C

The condensers use approximately 250 000 liters of seawater a minute

Advantages

Magnitude of Output is High

Capable of Producing 25 – 40 % of N.L’s requirements

Reliable while operating under designed conditions

Disadvantages

Plant is 45 years old and equipment is reaching lifespan

Maintenance is increasing in difficulty and becoming frequent

Safety becomes a concern for operators

Increase in environmental policies results in a need for upgrades

DisadvantagesWhen load becomes unstable system may trip

When offline system takes several hours to reset

Relatively costly and inefficient due to aging equipment

Increasing of pollution to the environment due to an increase of demand is undesirable

Environment

Holyrood named one of Canada’s worst polluters

Have since changed the fuel type

Fermeuse saves HTGS 300,000 barrels annually

Land Use

Nine turbines to be place 5-10 rotor diameters apart

Space for roads and transmission lines

Majority of land still compatible with agriculture

Turbine Layout

Land Use

HTGS requires a massive construction footprint

Housing for various components

Close to seawater

Operation

Wind power is in exhaustible

Main concerns : sound and visual pollution

Personal Opinion

Operation

HTGS from 2000-2010 emitted approx. 1.1 mil tons

Upgrade to reduce sulphur emissions only

Requires 100 employees to operate

Weather

Cut in and Cut out speeds

Newfoundland’s average wind speed

Suitable for back up power during storms

Weather

Winter of 2013

Explosion at HTGS

#Dark NL

Winter of 2013

Conclusion

HTGS is costly to operate and continues to emit more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere annually. Equipment is reaching lifespan and pointless to upgrade. A need for a primary efficient environmentally friendly method to produce electricity exists. With a larger reliable primary source, a proportional increase in number of wind farm projects will be possible without a requirement to develop new technology.

Recommendations

A cell applicable for storage of large quantities of charge

Ease off investments/upgrades of HTGS

Invest more in environment friendly primary resources (muskrat falls)

ReferencesBartlett, S. (2012, May 28) Generating Change. The Telegram. Retrieved November 12, 2014 from: http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-05-28/article-2989523/Generating-change/1

Department of Natural Resources-Newfoundland & Labrador. (2012, November) Environmental Benefits of Closing the Holyrood Thermal Generating Station.[PDF File] Retrieved October 15, 2014 from: http://www.powerinourhands.ca/pdf/MuskratEnvironment.pdf

Government of Newfoundland & Labrador. (2012, November 16) Natural Resources Environment and Conservation. Significant Environmental Benefits to be achieved with Closing Holyrood Thermal Generating Station. Retrieved November 6, 2014 from: http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2012/nr/1116n07.htm

Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro. (c. 2010) Power Your Knowledge. Retrieved October 8, 2014 from: http://www.poweryourknowledge.com/wind.html

Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro. (c. 2010) Wind Power Info Sheet. Retrieved October 8, 2014 from: https://www.nlh.nl.ca/HydroWeb/NLHydroWeb.nsf/0/FCE9CF2E6CFC7772A3257648006A5106/$File/FactSheetWindPower.pdf

Paga D. (2013, July 25) Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Modelling and Simulation of Wind Speed and Wind Farm Power Prediction. [JPG Image] Retrieved November 6, 2014 from: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~tariq/deepa.pdf

Pennell, J. (2013, January 23) Rolling Blackouts Possible. The Telegram. Retrieved October 15, 2014 from: http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2013-01-23/article-3162056/Rolling-blackouts-possible%3A-NL-Hydro/1

Union of Concerned Scientists (USCUSA) (c.2010) Environmental Impacts of Wind Power Retrieved October 20, 2014 from: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-wind-power.html#.VHh_ujHF8YM

Vestas Wind Systems (2009, November) V90-3.0 MW. Retrieved November 12, 2014 from: http://www.vestas.com/Files/Filer/EN/Brochures/Vestas_V_90-3MW-11-2009-EN.pdf

QUESTIONS

Thank you