LECTURE

ON

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

BY

Dr. M.P. Sharma

Associate Professor
Alternate Hydro Energy Centre
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee
 FORMS OF ENERGY
There is an important principle stating that the total amount of energy
in a closed system remains constant. Energy may change from one
form to another, but the total amount in any closed system remains
constant. This principle, known as ‘Conservation of energy’ is
extremely important for understanding a variety of phenomena various
forms of energy are;

(a) Kinetic energy

(b) Potential energy
(c) Chemical energy
(d) Electrical energy
(e) Heat energy
(f) Radiant energy
(g) Nuclear (Mass) energy
a) Renewable energy is the energy obtained from
regenerative or virtually in exhaustible sources of energy
occurring in the natural environment like solar energy, wind
energy etc. This is also referred as non-conventional
sources of energy.

b) Nonrenewable energy is the energy obtained from static

stores of energy that remain bound unless released by
human interaction. Examples are fossil fuels of coal, oil and
natural gas and nuclear fuels. This type of energy is also
called finite energy or conventional sources of energy.
Comparison between renewable and finite energy supplies. Environmental energy
flow ABC, harnessed energy flow DEF.
ENERGY SOURCES

There are six ultimate sources of useful energy:

(1) The sun;

(2) The motion and gravitational potential of the sun, moon and
earth;
(3) Geothermal energy, chemical reaction and the radioactive
decay inside the earth;
(4) Nuclear reactions on the earth;
(5) Chemical reactions from mineral sources and
(6) Fossil fuel (Petroleum product and gases).
Natural energy currents on earth, showing renewable energy systems. Units terawatts (TW) (1012W)
Environmental and Social problems of fossil fuels
(a) Water pollution.
(b) Hazardous air pollutants
(c) Ambient air quality.
(d) Marine pollution
(e) Solid waste disposal
(f) Land use and siting impact.
(g) Acid rain
(h) Stratospheric ozone depletion
(i) Global climate change(greenhouse effect)
POTENTIAL OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDIA & ACHIEVEMENTS

S. No. Programmes As on 12.10.1999 As on 12.10.2003

A Grid Connected Systems
(installed capacity in MW)
1. Wind power 1022.00 2002.00
2. Small Hydro Power 1218.00 1530.00
3. Biomass/Cogeneration Power 171.00 571.00
4. Urban and industrial waste power 2.00 26.00
5. Solar photovoltaic power 1.00 3.00
Total 2414.00 4132.00
B. Decentralized systems
6. Biogas plants (Nos. in lakh) 28.80 35.50
7. Community/ Institutional/ Night-soil 2673.00 3902.00
based biogas plants (Nos.)
8. Improved chulha (Nos. in lakh) 250.00 350.00
9. Solar home lighting systems (Nos.) 64000.00 260000.00
10. Solar street lighting systems (Nos.) 32920.00 43470.00
11. Solar lanterns (Nos. in lakh) 2.22 4.42
12. SPV pumps (Nos.) (solar 2160.00 6400.00
photovoltaic)
13. Solar water heating systems (lakh 5.70 7.00
sq. meter collector area)
Importance of Renewable Energy Resources and Technologies for
Sustainable Development
i) They have much less environmental impact compared to conventional
sources of energy.
ii) Renewable energy sources can not be depleted unlike fossil fuel and
uranium resources.
iii) They favour power system decentralization and locally applicable solutions
more or less independent of the national network, thus, enhancing the
flexibility of the system and the economic power supply to small isolated
settlements.
Essential Factors for sustainable Developments
i) Public awareness
ii) Information
iii) Environmental education and training
iv) Innovative energy strategies
v) Promoting renewable energy resources
vi) Financing
vii) Monitoring and evaluation tools
 Solar Energy

Solar Thermal
File photo voltaic

Flat plate Concentrators Lenses Stand alone Isolated power

collector plants

• Solar cooker
• Solar water heating system Grid connected
• Solar pond
• Solar destination
• Solar air heaters
• Solar air conditioning system

Forms of Solar Energy

 Biomass Sources

New Plant growth Biomass wastes

Biomass residues

- Starch & sugar producing plant - Municipal wastes

- Latex producing plant - Industrial solid wastes - Wheat straw
- Vegetable oil seed plants - Industrial effluents - Rice straw
- Agro-forestry - Sewage - Rice straw
- Silvicultural forestry - Agro-industrial wastes - Maize cubes
- Urban forestry - Ground nut
- Rural forestry - Jute sticks
- Social forestry

Biomass Energy Sources

Biofuel production process
 HYDROPOWER
Hydropower (or water power) is one of the most established renewable
sources of energy for electricity generation. Energy in falling water is
converted into mechanical and then electrical energy to meet the energy
requirements for a variety of tasks.

A general layout of hydroelectric plant

CLASSIFICATION OF WATER TURBINES
Water turbines can be classified according to the following considerations:
(i) The action of flowing water on the turbine blades.
(ii) The head and the quantity of water available
(iii) The direction of flow of water in the turbine blades
(iv) The disposition of turbine shaft
(v) The name of the originator
(vi) The specific speed of turbine
These are briefly described below:
(i) According to action of flowing water on the turbine blades, the
classification is given below
Water Turbine

Impulse turbine Reaction Turbine

Pelton wheel Turbine Francis Turbine Propeller and

Kaplan Turbine
WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM
Wind generated electricity has been used in three different
modes
• Below 4kW capacity is used as battery chargers.
• Wind electric generators in the range of 50 to 300 kW
capacities have been used in grid connected wind farms
• Wind electric generators in the middle range of 50 to 300
KW capacities have been used in grid connected wind
farms.
• Wind electric generators in the middle range of 20 to 100
kW have been used in stand alone model integrated with
diesel-generator sets. Many such locations in India are
Lakshawdip Bet-Dwarka, Leh etc. where small local grid
operated by diesel generator and wind electric generators
connected to this grid can be used in saving the
consumption of diesel.
Configurations of horizontal axis and vertical axis wind turbine

Different design of horizontal axis wind turbine

 Further Readings
Sno. Author Title Publication Year
1. Anil Misra Renewable Energy Education TERI 1999
Current Scenario and Future
Projections
2. Bent Sorensen Renewable Energy Elsevier 2006
3. M.S. Soha, Reviews of Renewable Energy Wiley Eastern 1983
S.S. Mathur, Resources Limited
M.A.S. Malik
4. Chaman L. Renewable Energy Basics & MNES 1998
Gupta Technology
5. New Renewable Energy Resources: WEC 1994
A Guide to the Future
6. T.C. Kandpal Reviews of Renewable Energy Wiley Eastern 1986
Resources Limited