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The Burning Of Fossil Fuel vs. Wind Generation

To Produce Electricity

Aiden Martin20087356

Jennifer Kennedy20107477

November 28, 2014

Parkhill StreetSt. Johns, NewfoundlandA1E 6B1

November 27, 2014

Karen BarbourCommunications InstructorCollege of the North AtlanticEngineering Technology CenterRidge RoadSt. Johns, NewfoundlandA1C 6L8

Dear Ms. Barbour:

This report is in response to the original request of an analytical report about The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generating to Produce Electricity on September 23, 2014.

This report contains an analysis of the wind power generation by the wind farm located in Fermeuse, NL compared to the thermal generating station location in Holyrood, NL. We discuss important advantages and disadvantages of both facilities regarding costs, power production methods, efficiency, environmental issues, and any recommendations we have. We express great gratitude to Ronald Power for sharing with us his view about the thermal generating station and what should be done to produce energy in our province for the future.

If there are any questions of concerns about anything in the report, we are willing and ready to answer them to the best of our ability. You can contact either Jennifer at Jennifer.Kennedy2@ed.cna.nl.ca, phone number (709) 746-6057 or Aiden at Aiden.Martin@ed.cna.nl.ca or (709) 740-0143.

Regards,

Jennifer Kennedy

Aiden Martin

Enclosure

The Burning of Fossil Fuel Versus

Wind Generation To Produce Electricity

Prepared in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Communications 2800

Submitted By:

Jennifer KennedyAiden Martin

Submitted To:

Karen BarbourCommunications Instructor

Date:

November 18, 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY.......................................................................................................i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.........................................................................ii

1.0 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................1 1.1 Purpose............................................................................................................................1

1.2 Background.....................................................................................................................1 1.3 Scope...............................................................................................................................1 1.4 Methodology...................................................................................................................2

2.0 FERMEUSE WIND FARM............................................................................2 2.1 Operating Principal.........................................................................................................3 2.2 Advantages.....................................................................................................................4 2.3 Disadvantages.................................................................................................................4

3.0 HOLYROOD GENERATING PLANT........................................................5 3.1 Operating Principal.........................................................................................................5 3.2 Advantages.....................................................................................................................5 3.3 Disadvantages.................................................................................................................6

4.0 ENVIRONMENT............................................................................................6 4.1 Construction....................................................................................................................6 4.3 Operation........................................................................................................................7 4.4 Weather...........................................................................................................................7

5.0 CONCLUSION................................................................................................8

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................9

LIST OF REFERENCES........................................................................................9

APPENDICIES

A – Inside Vesta V90.............................................................................................11B – Boiler Schematic.............................................................................................13

SUMMARY

In the analytical report “ Wind generation vs. Fossil generation”, the author’s, Jennifer Kennedy and Aiden Martin, compare two methods of power generation on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador. The first method discussed is wind generation; the second method is done through a thermo plant by burning fossil fuels.

Wind generation is electricity produced by a wind farm, which consists of several wind turbines. Upon harnessing the force of wind across the rotors, the hub will rotate causing the turbine to rotate as well. The turbine, which is connected to the generator, will cause a coil of wire to turn inside a fixed magnet. Electrical current is induced and the voltages are transformed to the power grid for customer usage. Electricity can be produced effectively at a variety of wind speeds due to their specific designs. This method releases no emissions, as it does not burn a fuel. However several disadvantages also exist with wind generation method.

Electricity produced from a thermo generation station is slightly more complex. The process starts in a steam boiler by burning a fuel to vaporize water. The steam will cause the turbine to rotate due to the differential pressure. The turbine will drive the generator in a similar fashion to that of the wind generation method to induce a current. The greenhouse gasses released to the environment caused by fuel combustion have become a serious problem to the environment. Also with the aging of the plant equipment in Holyrood, costly upgrades are essential to continue safe operations.

With increasing power demand due to a rise in population and industry growth, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro must expand existing generation facilities or construct new ones. The analytical report by Jennifer Kennedy and Aiden Martin compares two common power generation methods and makes recommendations to expand or alter such methods in a way to reduce harmful effects to the environment.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

Figure 1: Power Curve..............................................................................................2Figure 2: Layout of Fermeuse Wind Turbines.........................................................3Figure 3: Holyrood Thermal Generating Station......................................................5

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this report is to analyze and compare the advantages and disadvantages of wind generation over burning fossil fuels.

1.2 Background

Emissions from fossil fuel burning have become a huge concern due to the harmful effects they have on the environment. Development/expansion of generating methods and plants must be efficient, while also taking the environment into consideration. In 2008, Newfoundland Hydro signed a 20-year purchase agreement for a 27 MW wind farm in the town Fermeuse located on the southern Avalon Peninsula. The project consists of 9 turbines producing a total of 3 Megawatts each. The project began operation upon completion of construction in April of 2009.

The construction of the wind farm in Fermeuse significantly reduced the amount of electricity, which would otherwise need to be produced by burning oil at Newfoundland Hydro’s Holyrood Generation Plant. Not only did this save the company and consumers millions of dollars, it also reduced the amount of pollution associated with the gases released from oil combustion.

1.3 Scope

This report will be exploring harnessing of wind energy through the use of specially engineered wind turbines located in Fermeuse. The report will compare energy developed as a result of the wind as a natural resource versus the cost and pollution associated with the burning of oil in other electrical generation plants. This report will not discuss methods used abroad in other provinces or countries.

1.4 Methodology

The information obtained for this report will be mainly gathered through secondary resources such as the Internet and library databases. Also some primary information will be gathered through interviewing. Ronald Power is the lead high voltage electrician on the southern shore and has been operating in the jurisdiction of Fermeuse and surrounding are for the past 10 years.

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 2

2.0 FERMEUSE WIND FARM

Fermeuse wind farm is located approximately 800 meters west from the town of Fermeuse. The project consists of 9 Vestas V90, 3 MW turbines creating a total of 27 MW. The project began supplying energy to the grid of Newfoundland and Labrador in April 2009.

2.1 Operating Principal

The Vestas V90, 3 MW turbine is a 3 bladed wind turbine generator that uses pitch control and variable speeds. The tower is 80 meters tall with a rotor diameter of 90 meters. The turbines cut into operation at 3.5 meters per second (m/s), it is rated for a wind speed of 15 m/s and it cuts out of operation at 25 m/s. The rated output power is 3000 kW.

Power Curve V90

Figure 1.

These turbines take natural and free kinetic energy (wind), and convert it into electricity to be supplied to the grid. NL Hydro (2011) describes the process power generation. It commences with adequate force of wind travelling across the rotor blades to create lift, which will result in hub rotation of 360 degrees. The blades turn a shaft inside the nacelle (a box at the top of the turbine). The shaft moves a magnetic field in the generator, which in turn creates electricity sent to the electricity grid to be carried to homes and businesses via transmission lines.

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 3

The figure below shows the layout of the 9 turbines in Fermeuse.

Figure 2.

2.2 Advantages

There are many advantages associated with specific use of the Vestas V90 turbines at the Fermeuse wind generation facility. The Vestas V90 is considered to be compact and efficient for its size. Due to lightweight turbine rotors, the Vestas V90 sets a high efficiency standard for more compact turbine design. The size also allows for relatively simplistic installation and allows for maintenance tasks to be completed with minor difficulties. Maintenance can be conducted with standard regulation tools or specially designed Vestas tools that reduce service time and costs. The turbine has integrated pitch control and noise reduction settings. An integrated pitch control system can change the angle of rotor blades for the purpose of adjusting the output power which not only helps achieve higher efficiency, but protects the rotor blades from breaking. With equipped noise reduction settings, at 4 m/s the turbines only emit 97.9 dB at standard air density. All Vestas turbines are tested beyond their limits and face extreme fluctuations in temperature, vibrations and stress to ensure operation efficiency.

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 4

Significant advantages exist from having a wind farm located in Fermeuse. The construction of the facility alone brought 350 temporary jobs for residents in surrounding communities. The operation of the facility also created 20 permanent jobs for the province. Electricity produced from wind farms results in zero emissions, therefore there are minimum harmful effects to the environment. Harnessing energy from a renewable resource instead of burning fossil fuels of course reduces fuel consumption. Also wind farms significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions annually and provide homes and businesses in the surrounding area with the electricity they require while maintaining a green environment. Landowners in the province may also benefit from energy projects similar to the wind farm in Fermeuse. Upon developmental approval landowners must reach an agreement with the government and the land tender. Benefits for the owners include annual tax breaks.

2.3 Disadvantages

There aren’t many disadvantages associated with having a wind farm located Newfoundland and Labrador. Vestas V90 turbine is designed to have a “cut-in” speed of 3.5 m/s. Therefore, if speeds are lower than 3.5m/s electricity is not generated. When electricity is not being generated and fed to the grid, customers will not have power assuming the wind farm is the only energy resource. This disadvantage is the primary result of not developing a method to store the electricity upon production from the wind turbines. Wind is considered to be an unpredictable resource, however in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador there is an advantage. With average wind speeds exceeding 5 m/s, wind isn’t considered to be as unpredictable/unreliable as neighboring provinces or territories.

The Vestas V90 turbines have a guaranteed life expectancy of 20 years with regular maintenance, which isn’t a long period time considering they’ve been deployed in operation since 2008. A costly start up fee and continuous maintenance in conjunction with equipment life expectancy of 20 years makes saving money difficult for parties involved.

3.0 HOLYROOD GENERATING PLANT

Holyrood Thermal Generating Station (HTGS) is located in the town of Holyrood, which borders Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador. During peak operation, the plant is capable of providing up to 40 percent of the electricity required for the island.

3.1 Operating Principle

The generation station consists of three turbines for a total generating capability of 490 MW. The plant produces over three billion-kilowatt hours of electricity annually and burns heavy “number 6” oil up to 18,000 barrels a day (Department of Natural Resources, 2012).

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 5

Fuel is burned which converts boiler water into vapor and eventually producing high-pressurized steam (540 degrees Celsius, 13,790 Kilopascal’s (KPa)). The differential pressure in the turbine caused by the high-pressure steam causes turbines to rotate. Turbines are connected to the plant generators, which operate at 16000 volts and 7000 amperes. Voltages are transformed up to 230 000 volts and than delivered to the islands power grid. The plant uses seawater in its condensers to turn spent steam back into water, which is recycled back through the system. The condensers use approximately 250 000 liters of seawater a minute. The plant has 3 smoke stacks standing over 100 meters high and are the tallest free standing structures in the province.

The Figure below shows Holyrood Thermal Generating Station in operation.

Figure 3.

3.2 Advantages

There are several advantages associated with this generation method. However, the main advantage is the magnitude of the system output to Newfoundland’s power grid. With generation output capabilities of up to 490 MW, Holyrood’s thermal generation plant produces 25-40 percent of the islands required supply annually. The plant is also a relatively significant reliable generation source while operating under its designed conditions.

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 6

3.3 Disadvantages

There are also several disadvantages associated with burning fossil fuel. Main disadvantages include greenhouse gas emissions of 1.1 million tones annually including 11 610 tones of Sulphur Dioxide. The greenhouse gas emissions from Holyrood equate to the output emissions of approximately 300 000 cars. Greenhouse gasses contribute to climate change and global warming. Sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere interacts with water to produce acid rain. The plant is 45 years old and the continuous need for maintenance on the plants components is costly and more frequent.

With aging plant components containing pressurized process variables at high temperatures, a higher risk of incident occurrence exists. The required upgrading cost to install precipitators and scrubbers to eliminate harmful emissions to the atmosphere is between 600 to 800 million and an increase of up to 15 million in operation costs annually. Although these upgrades will help reduce Sulphur emissions, it will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

4.0 ENVIRONMENT

Bartlett (2012) reports that 10 years ago Holyrood’s Thermal Generating Station was named one of Canada’s worst polluters. Since then, they have switched fuel types and have reduced emissions of sulphur by 75 per cent. Still the plant emits approximately 1200 tons of SOx gases.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NL Hydro, c. 2010, para. 8) states the facts that annually, Fermeuse’s wind farm reduces harmful gas emissions by over 75,000 tones and natural gas consumption at HTGS by approximately 300,000 barrels.

4.1 Construction

Both the HTGS and Fermeuse wind farm require extensive land for the construction of the facilities. The Thermal plant needs so much space due to the large towering stacks that vent the flue gasses and the size large fuel storage tanks. As mentioned, the wind farm consists of 9, 80 meter tall turbines with 90 meter diameters, so naturally this would require a very vast amount of land.

4.2 Operation

Excess pollutants from flue gasses from Holyrood

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 7

4.3 Weather

In winter of 2013, due to an intense winter storm, one of the three main power generators was damaged. For almost 2 weeks the province of Newfoundland and Labrador had to co-operate together to conserve electricity to avoid state of emergency. The power was lost on multiple occasions, sometimes for several hours or overnight. This problem resulted in a province wide blackout known as #DarkNL.

Winds like these during a snowstorm can be ideal for wind turbines as long as they do not exceed the 25 m/s cut-off.

5.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

Something to store power with for times above 25 m/s or below 3.5 m/s.

Off shore wind farm with vestas v90s.

Close down Holyrood generating station and invest in the offshore wind farms and possibly household wind mills.

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 8

References

Bartlett, 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

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

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 9

Inside Vesta V90

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 10

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 11

Boiler Schematic

The Burning of Fossil Fuels vs. Wind Generation to Produce Electricity 12