Wind energy plays an important and growing role in the US energy profile. While other countries have expanded their wind industries into offshore development, large investment costs have hindered progress in the US offshore market despite the larger and more consistent resource available offshore. In this research, I explore the...
Energy from offshore wind could provide substantial power generation if further utilized. One area of significant research focus is in developing floating offshore wind devices, which would allow for wind energy to be gathered in deep water where driven monopile turbines are infeasible. However, floating offshore wind is not currently...
As climate change forces energy policy to incorporate environmental impacts and fuel diversification into the traditional model of energy security, finding ways to site, develop, and deliver renewable energy has taken on increasing importance across the United States. With no consistent federal framework to implement these changes, much of the...
The large wind resource off the United States West Coast has the potential to generate wind power for millions of homes, yet the high cost of energy for offshore wind power compared to traditional sources has slowed the development of offshore wind farms in the US. The four studies presented...
A private power company, Cape Wind Inc., wants to develop the largest wind farm in United States history off the coast of Cape Cod Massachusetts in a twenty-five square mile area of Nantucket Sound known as Horseshoe Shoal (HSS). However, Cape Wind must compete for the use of this area...
There is an increasing demand for marine space from many different economic sectors in the German coastal and exclusive economic zone: sand and gravel removal, wind farms, fisheries, shipping or oil and gas exploration. Additionally, the Natura 2000 directive requires the declaration of areas for nature con-servation. Opposite to other...
As more wind farms are connected to the grid, the variable nature of wind energy begins to influence grid stability. Energy storage could help smooth the variable nature of wind energy. Laboratory demonstration and exploration of the interaction between different energy storage devices and wind energy could help improve and...
Renewable energy technology continues to grow in popularity as countries aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Land based and offshore wind turbines are one option for expanding renewable energy sources. However, as wind energy adoption increases, so does the need for enhanced monitoring of wind turbines’ potential effect on local...
Bird and bat mortalities caused by interactions with wind turbines is a critical concern that requires addressing for conservation purposes. Deploying a low cost sensor array will be instrumental during site permitting, conducting impact assessments of existing wind farms, and assessing efficacy of wildlife mortality mitigation or wildlife deterrent technologies....
Despite widespread public support for renewable energy development, the siting of wind energy facilities can prove problematic due to opposition from surrounding communities. I propose a unifying framework to explain community response to wind energy development – showing how concepts from environmental sociology related to local biophysical and socioeconomic conditions...
The effects of selected atmospheric variables on the power output
of a DOE Mod-2 horizontal-axis wind turbine are studied. Particular
attention is focused on unsteady, nonuniform flow conditions
within the rotor disc as represented by vertical profiles measured at
adjacent meteorological towers. Primary variables are wind speed,
wind direction and...
Development of wave and offshore wind-based marine renewable energy is anticipated on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off Oregon and much of the Pacific Northwest in the coming decade. Multiple issues related to environmental considerations and information needs remain for these emerging industries. The Oregon Marine Renewable Energy Environmental Science...
Over the last decade, wind penetration in the Pacific Northwest has increased rapidly. The variable nature of this massive new resource has increased stress on the hydropower resource to the point where system limits are currently being reached. In order to cultivate continued growth of the wind energy industry both...
The fast growth of wind energy utilization has necessitated research into wind energy integration. Due to the variable nature of wind and the forecasting challenges, it is desirable to utilize wind energy alongside energy storage sources for reliable wind energy integration. This work details the design of a 25 kW...
This research intends to provide insights into community wind energy development in Oregon using an integrated analysis approach, which incorporates GIS Suitability Analysis, Socio-Political Analysis, and Empirical Case Studies. In the GIS analysis, we developed a model through a series of steps (including data acquisition, preprocessing, data management, manipulation and...
This thesis presents and examines the concept that the output of a wound-rotor induction generator (WRIG) can be limited by means of linking to external impedances for wind-turbine generating system application. An 80kW-WRIG is simulated as a model to examine the control of the output power vs. speed characteristic. Model...
About 2 percent of the solar energy reaching earth is converted to wind energy. Surface winds have the potential to supply about 30 times the total energy consumed in the United States. Achieving this potential on a household level is a feat
This thesis evaluates new, large power generating plants of
the various types expected to be practicable in the time span of
the next 50 years. By using thermodynamic principles, the plants
are evaluated on the basis of conservation of energy; the basic
assumption is that the best policy is the...
The number of wind turbines and wind farms in the Pacific Northwest has increased dramatically in the past six years, which represents a significant amount of electrical generation capacity connected to the public electric grid. However, the variable nature of wind sometimes introduces excessive power, or conversely shortages, in power...
The primary objective of a grid is to maintain a balance between generation and load. If these quantities are not in balance with each other, severe damages such as voltage fluctuations, low power quality, power outages or even cascaded blackouts may occur. Hence one of the primary factors that holds...
Wind energy is a cornerstone to the world of renewables. It is widely used in many parts of the world as a clean and effective form of power generation. However, wind power has a number of drawbacks, which limits its use in many regions. Solar power has been used not...
The purpose of this thesis is the determination of the load characteristics of the Steam-Hyciro-Electric Plant owned and operated by the Lebanon Electric Power and Water Co. This corporation furnishes electrical energy for power and lighting service and also the water supply to the city of Lebanon, Oregon.
The data used in the design of this hydro-electric
generating station was furnished by Hon. Walter M. Pierce
from a survey conducted by T. R. Barry C. E. in the service
of the Grande Ronde Water Co. during the summer of
1906.
In the preparation of this thesis there were...
This thesis analyzes two systems that can meet low-grade heating
and/or cooling demands by operating in conjunction with thermal-electric
power plants. At the application site, one of the systems, HPS, has
water-to-air heat pumps that are connected to the supply and return
lines of a plant-to-user loop. During heating, the...
One of the most important and likewise practical problems that oonfront
the Electrioal Engineers of the present daysis the design and the
construotion of Hydro Electrio Power plants for the generating of electrioal
energy,both for power and li;hting purposes. In order that we
might become better acquainted with the facts...
A method is presented for appraising the hazards to nuclear
power plants from missiles from surface traffic accident explosions.
Due to the infrequency with which surface traffic accident explosions
occur and the poor records kept concerning them, a probabilistic
method is chosen to investigate the overall hazards potential to
nuclear...
This thesis presents thermodynamic evaluations of various biomass-fueled combined-cycle power plants using a computer model developed for simulating such plants. The combined-cycle systems Investigated are characterized by having a wood-fueled combustor, an indirect-fired gas turbine, and a steam cycle. This work was part of a larger biomass energy project at...
The Pacific Northwest is a particularly good candidate for a
power plant fired with wood since the wood products industry is so
important in the area. The combined cycle concept for such a plant
has increased in popularity due to the generally greater efficiency
of the gas turbine part of...
This report investigates the use of wood to fuel a
trimburner incorporated in a combined-cycle, biomass-fired
power plant. The term "trimburner" applies to a
ductburner which is designed to boost the temperature of
the air stream entering the gas turbine. The work
presented here is part of a larger biomass...
Over the last decade the increase in penetration of wind power and its variable nature has begun to add considerable stress to and threatened the stability of the nation's grid. In order to continue growth wind farms will need to have the ability to participate in the same grid frequency...
Generation of electricity from the wind is becoming increasing popular as an
environmentally responsible resource. Current methods for generating electricity from
the wind involve the use of fixed-speed generators. However, the use of variable-speed
generators increases the amount of energy that can be extracted from the wind.
Most variable-speed technologies...
Controllable parameters in a power system include generator
terminal voltage, generator input power and network admittances.
These parameters can be controlled to damp
mechanical rotor oscillation in the generators and thereby
improve system transient stability. Explicit equations are
derived in this thesis for the control of these parameters to
introduce...
Published January 1982. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Wind energy is a promising alternative energy source due to its environmental, economic, and social benefits and, as such, has garnered public support and government incentives for its development and implementation. With the growing number of wind parks in Oregon, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study for a representative new...
Modern wind energy is the technology of choice with a short payback period for increasing renewable energy portfolios. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a United States power authority in the Pacific Northwest expects to increase their wind energy capacity from 2,000 megawatts to 6,000 megawatts within the next five years. Currently...
A series of small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) analyses in nuclear plant shutdown operations was simulated using the code RELAP5A,MOD3 version 8.0 to predict the SBLOCA phenomena in the Zion-l nuclear power plant The first objective is to study the impact of SBLOCA (1" and 2" breaks) on...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the flow oscillations which occur in the
AP600 long term cooling test facility at Oregon State University. The AP600 system is
an advanced pressurized water reactor design utilizing passive emergency cooling
systems.
A few hours after the initiation of a cold leg...
In 1954, International Engineering Company, Inc. was employed by the Royal Government of Afghanistan to complete the design and supervise construction of the Girishk Power Development Project. The major project features include: two hydraulic turbine driven generating units and appurtenant facilities, completion of the six meter drop structure, and provision...
The cost of ionizing radiation exposure to people and property has
been estimated as between $10 and $250 per man-rem by several investigators
in the early 70's. These values were considered acceptable by the International
Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). However, in the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Numerical guide...
This report presents the analysis of ceramic heat
exchangers for use in a combined-cycle, wood-fired power
plant. The combined-cycle system investigated is
characterized by having a wood-fueled combustor, an
indirect-fired gas turbine, and a Rankine steam cycle.
The direct use of low-grade fuels, such as wood, in
present gas turbines...
A PC based on-line advanced plant simulator (OLAPS)
for high quality simulations of Portland General
Electric's Trojan Nuclear Facility is presented. OLAPS
is designed to simulate the thermal-hydraulics of the
primary system including core, steam generators, pumps,
piping and pressurizer. The simulations are based on a
five equation model that...
The environmental justice framework has been applied to many environmentally negative issues in the past such as toxic storage and disposal facilities, toxic release inventory sites, air quality, transportation, and global climate change. It has not yet been applied to energy production in a quantitative study. This study investigates the...
Renewable energy, particularly wind power, has increased dramatically over the past two decades. In the Pacific Northwest, the power system has accommodated a large amount of new wind power. The variability of wind power has introduced many challenges, requiring additional reserve generation to be available to maintain system stability. The...
The aerodynamic performance of an oscillating pitching and plunging foil operating in the energy harvesting mode is investigated. Experiments are conducted in a closed-loop recirculating wind tunnel at Reynolds numbers of 24,000 to 48,000, and reduced frequencies (k = fc/u) of 0.042 to 0.083. Foil kinematics are varied through the...
After three-quarters of a century of introduction of 152 conifer and broadleaf species,
no promising candidate exotic was found for the Douglas-fir region. Growth curves
spanning 50 years or longer are figured for many species. Firs, pines, larches, spruces,
hemlocks, and cedars originating in northwestern North America had superior growth...
During the last five years the demand for electrical
energy in the state of Oregon,and throughout the entire
country,has increased to such an extent that electrical
generating stations have become an important factor in the
economic development of the common wealth.
Uonsidering the great need for cheap power, which
is...
The stability analysis for a heated tube system is an
important safety feature of a nuclear power plant.
Although the system theory is well established for linear
systems described by ordinary differential equations, there
is still a shortage of theory dealing with a distributed
system, which is described by partial...
This report presents the off-design analysis of various
wood-fired combined-cycle power plants using a computer
model to simulate plant performance. The combined-cycle
systems investigated are characterized by having a woodfueled
combustor, an indirect-fired gas turbine, and a
Rankine steam cycle. This work was conducted as part of a
larger biomass...
Detection systems used to monitor reactor operations are of significant interest as tools for verification of operator declarations. Current reactor site safeguards are limited to visual inspections and intrusive monitoring systems. The recent development of antineutrino detectors may soon allow real-time monitoring from an unobtrusive location. Antineutrinos are produced through...
History, topography, and nature of people have influenced the development of electric power in Greece quite substantially. The power production per capita in Greece is very low as a result mainly of continual wars and an uneven distribution of population. In 1948, electricity was being supplied in the country only...
The Run-Ahead Predictive Simulation Software (RAPSS) is an architecture designed for faster-than-real-time decision support for operators of complex networks. To enable further development of the RAPSS methodology, the necessary proof of principle is illustrated in two applications: decision support for shift technical advisors in nuclear power plant control rooms (RAPSS-STA),...
A prototype real-time process monitoring emergency
classification expert system, RT/EM-CLASS, has been developed
for use at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. This knowledge-based
system features the integration of electronically sensed plant
data with the menu selection data representation of its
predecessor, EM-CLASS. This prototype demonstrates the
techniques required to acquire...
An approach for developing a computer-based aid to
assist in monitoring and assessing nuclear power plant
status during situations requiring emergency response has
been developed. It is based on the representation of
regulatory requirements and plant-specific systems and
instrumentation in the form of hierarchical rules. Making
use of inferencing techniques...
Over the last 20 years, there has been rapid growth in the amount of installed wind power in the Pacific Northwest, specifically in the Columbia River Gorge. The variable and non-dispatchable nature of this resource requires that it be balanced in some form by other sources on the grid. In...
In the year 2007, the worldwide energy consumption accumulated to a total of 16.5 billion MWh. While the resources of conventional energy production cause environmental damage, renewable energy sources like solar or wind power offer a solution to substitute for coal or nuclear generated power. Countries like Denmark and Spain...
The marked movement of utilizing Oregon's water power
in the service of generating electric current, has been promoted
by the economics in transmission of electricity to distances
both great and small; by the harnessing of industrial
implements to electric power; and by the advancement and extension
of interurban railways.
It...
This simulation is a model for a tidal power-peaking plant that
can be used to determine the electrical peaking generation for a given
set of conditions.
The simulation internally contains a tide producing function
for a specific year, the hydraulic characteristics of the plant, and the
plant's machines' characteristics. The...
The proposed hydraulic power plant, incorporated
under the name of, "Minem Light and Power Company",
is located on the Minam River, about two miles above
the junction of the Minam and Wallowa Rivers. This is
about three miles above the county highway bridge which
is on the Wallow River, this...
The 1979 incident at Three Mile Island drew attention to weaknesses in the capability to obtain and analyze reactor coolant
samples in an environment where the reactor core incurs significant
damage. As a result, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission promulgated regulations requiring that reactor coolant analytical capabilities be upgraded so...
The goal of this study is the modeling of a postulated break
of the steam line at the containment penetration of the Trojan
Nuclear Plant which is owned and operated by Portland General
Electric. To perform this modeling, the RETRAN computer code
package was utilized. RETRAN is designed to provide...
This report presents the study of wood combustion and
combustion systems for a combined cycle wood-fired power
plant. The power plant consists of a twin air cycle and a
single steam cycle. The fuel for this power plant is wood
and wood waste with particle size in the range of...
The OSU/APEX thermal hydraulic test facility models the passive safety systems
of the Westinghouse AP600 advanced light water reactor design. Numerous experiments
have been performed to test these systems, the one of focus here is the station blackout
scenario. This experiment simulated the complete loss of AC power to all...
From July, 1982 to August, 1983 I had the privilege of serving an internship
as an oceanographer at the National Marine Fisheries Service Beaufort
Laboratory. During the period of my appointment I assisted in a preliminary
assessment of the potential fishery impacts of ocean thermal energy conversion
(OTEC) power plants....
Dwarf mistletoes, obligate, parasitic plants with diminutive aerial shoots, have long-term effects on host tree water relations, hydraulic architecture, and photosynthetic gas exchange and can eventually lead to tree death. To investigate the long-term impacts of dwarf mistletoe on gas exchange of host western hemlock trees, I compared growth, gas...
Published May 2006. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Two essays are focused on semiparametric econometric methods. The first essay investigates applicability of the smooth back tting estimator (SBE) to statistical analysis of residential energy consumption. The second essay attempts to incorporate additivity restrictions into semiparametric stochastic frontier estimation. The procedure described in the first study is used to...
The objective of this paper is to describe the design of a real-time system to control two hydroelectric power plants by a digital
computer. The two controlling relations are stated as the continuity
of water flow and the inequality of power generation requirements.
It contains the logical sequence in finding...
A feasible development for a Hydro-Electric power
plant can be found in the Mary's River. About 9 miles
west of Corvallis, the north fork of the stream affords
an excellent situation for a dam site. The canon of
the north fork at this point is very narrow, and having
good...
The development of a novel high temperature space radiator is
described. A Rotating Bubble Membrane Radiator (RBMR) combines the
best features of heat pipes and droplet radiators while avoiding
their negative attributes. The RBMR offers light weight, self
deployment, ease of startup and its performance is less affected by
acceleration....
Preliminary nuclear design studies have been completed on ten
configurations of nuclear reactors for low power (1-30 kWe) space
applications utilizing thermionic energy conversion. Additional design
studies have been conducted on the TRICE multimegawatt in-core
thermionic reactor configuration. In each of the cases, a reactor
configuration has been determined which...
A rotating, flat plate condensation experiment has been developed to
investigate the heat of the Rotating Bubble Membrane Radiator (RBMR). The
RBMR is a proposed heat rejection system for space applications which uses
working fluid condensation on the inside surface of a rotating sphere to
reject heat to space. The...
Geological carbon sequestration, as a method of atmospheric greenhouse gas reduction, is at the technological forefront of the climate change movement. During sequestration, carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas effluent is captured from coal fired power plants and is injected into a storage saline aquifer or depleted oil reservoir. In an effort...
A literature review of current phase separation publications was conducted. Data sets were collected and compiled into a Two-Phase Flow Separation Database. Examination of this database indicating a need for further investigation into the liquid entertainment phenomena for smaller hot-leg to branch diameters and intermittent flow regimes. A detailed analysis...
Baseline data for the first year of a two-year study to assess
the current status of ponderosa pine stands in southeastern
Montana relative to coal-fired electric power development are
presented. Sixteen permanent plots in pine stands were established
in eastern Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Several characteristics
believed to be...
Coal power is the prominent source of energy in the United States (U.S.) and around the world. The byproducts of coal power contain many of the same radioactive nuclides that are found in the local environment just in higher concentrations. With so much of this ash being stockpiled, the amount...
Coal-fired power plants constitute a significant source of energy production for the United States, and are projected to do so for decades to come. Most of the scrutiny coal-fired power plants receive is in the form of environmental concerns regarding green house gas emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and...
An enabling technology for long duration, deep space missions is the availability of a high power, long-lived power supply. The goal of this work is the design of a self-regulating deep space nuclear reactor. The design objectives are to produce 250 kWth for a 25-year period using the presence of...
In many regions of the world, a significant portion of the surface water originates in mountain headwaters where the timing and magnitude of streamflow is largely dictated by the seasonal storage of precipitation as snowpack and long-term storage as glaciers. Accumulation, persistence, and melt of snow and ice are functions...
Incore thermionic space reactor design concepts which operate at a
nominal power output range of 20 to 50 kWe are described. Details of the
neutronic, thermionic, thermal hydraulics and shielding performance are
presented. Due to the strong absorption of thermal neutrons by natural
tungsten, and the large amount of that...
An overall systems design code was developed to model
an advanced in-core thermionic energy conversion based
nuclear reactor system for space applications at power
levels of 10 to 50 kWe. The purpose of this work was to
provide the overall shell for the systems code and to also
provide the...
While there are many ways to evaluate a user interface design, the user's mental workload and situation awareness (SA) are particularly important considerations in the supervisory control of safety-critical systems. Typically, operators of these systems must monitor high-volume, time-sensitive status information. Interface design for this domain can be challenging and...
This PhD dissertation describes and evaluates a geographical analysis of candidate areas for siting nuclear plants utilizing a wet cooling tower in the Columbia River Basin (CRB). It focuses on the analysis of water availability for cooling and how it may be limited by climate change effects on river streamflow....
Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are an attractive potential material in nuclear power generation systems due to an excellent combination of corrosion resistance, strength, toughness, and affordability. Thermal embrittlement caused by phase instability in the temperature range of ~300-550°C severely limits the service temperature of DSS. The rate of embrittlement varies...
During spring and early summer hydropower projects are often forced to spill water through their spillways due to increased river flows of the runoff season. Flows which are directed through spillways--instead of through turbines--contain a substantial amount of energy. Stemming from the high energy content, spillway flows entrain air at...
The nuclear industry has long relied upon bounding parametric analyses in predicting the safety margins of reactor designs undergoing design-basis accidents. These methods have been known to return highly-conservative results, limiting the operating conditions of the reactor. The Best-Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) method using a modernized version of the Code-Scaling,...