A Seminar Co-organized with Dept. of ECE,
NUS and Sch. of EEE, NTU
|
Speaker: |
Prof. Olav Bjarte Fosso
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway |
|
Venue: |
Engineering Auditorium,
Faculty of Engineering,
National University of Singapore
5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608 |
|
Date
& time: |
Wednesday, 14th May 2008, 7-8pm
(Light refreshment served from 6:30pm) |
Abstract:
The presentation will give an
overview of some of the research on renewable energy sources in Nordic
countries. The seminar will cover the plans for development and
challenges to deployment of renewable energy sources, and discuss how
large-scale integration of renewable energy sources fits into a
multi-fuel generation system to benefit the environment. The new
possibilities that arise due to a closer connection with the
Central-European Electricity Markets will also be discussed.
The first initial steps of
liberalization of electricity markets in Scandinavia started in Norway
in 1990. Through the subsequent steps of development through market
expansion, introduction of new products, end-user flexibility and
harmonization of rules, the Nordic market became the world’s first
multi-national market that was quite well-functioning. However, like
other liberalized electricity markets, the market area has experienced
lack of investment in new generation facilities. Smaller margins
combined with large variation in energy availability due to high
hydro-share (approx 50%), have made it important to have a closer
connection to the Central European synchronous area.
There has been a strong focus
on the renewable energy sources in the Nordic countries, but it is
actually only Denmark that has a high penetration of wind power today.
The lesson learnt is that with relatively low average electricity market
prices and uncertainty about subsidies on renewable energy, it is not
economically profitable to invest. Despite the lack of large-scale
integration so far, a lot of research have been done on different energy
sources such as wind power (on-shore, off-shore), small hydro, osmotic
power, wave power and tidal power. Even solar power that is not likely
to have a significant impact on the energy supply in Norway, has made
the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) one of the companies with highest
value on the Norwegian Stock Exchange.
The closer connection to the
European electricity market and the significant investment in renewable
and fluctuating resources in Europe, especially in Germany, have opened
some market opportunities that may contribute to the long-expected
large-scale investment in different renewable sources.
About the Speaker:
Olav
Bjarte Fosso
graduated from The Department of Electrical Engineering, the Norwegian
Institute of Technology, Trondheim, Norway with the M.Sc in 1985, and
received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the same institute in
1989.
From 1989 to 2002 he has been with SINTEF Energy Research except for an
employment in 1997/1998 at Powel (a company providing decision support
tools in a deregulated market environment).
A main responsibility at SINTEF Energy Research has been development of
tools for analysis and decision support in transmission and power
production systems. The topics covered are use of optimization
techniques in short- and mid-term hydro scheduling in deregulated market
systems, voltage stability analysis, dynamic simulations and sensitivity
studies.
Since March 2002, he holds a full-time professor position at the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a part-time
position at SINTEF Energy Research as Scientific Advisor.
Map
Location:
Enquiries:
Please
contact: Dr. Dipti Srinivasan, (dipti@nus.edu.sg)
or
Dr. Chen Shiun (eschen@ntu.edu.sg)
