Energy Policy for Awassa Island

This is my greatest project yet; my view over a task which focused on which would be the best form of energy to use in a specific environment.

EDOARDO SIMONE PALUAN

ENERGY POLICY FOR AWASSA ISLAND

Our team of advisors have analysed the energy needs for Awassa Island and we have organized our dossier
in this way: On every page you will find
attached the pros and cons concerning each and every technology which we have
been keen to develop on your island and after a well thought out plan, the
answer may shock you.

You wanted our final plan to fulfill this target:

Find a replacement for the gas pipeline which would mean a modification in the way you receive 500MW of
electricity. You have also pointed out that you will need a minimum of other
150MW to cope with the surge in demand and with the increase in population.

You started off by giving us information on your island:

WEATHER
10,000 inhabitants
+30% over the next 25 years
Prevailing wind: SW strongest:
Mountains speed of average 15mph Occasionally no wind at all
5 hours of sunshine per day

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION
Capital city: Gonder Main
port: Asossa
Smaller towns: Wurabe and Jimma linked together by a reliable system of road network

GEOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND

NE of isle famous surf beach
Swell size greater than 30cm for 250days a year. HABITAT FOR DOLPHINS
Largest river on the island, Little Nile, average flow rate: 50m3 water /s
Edge of mountains river falls over waterfall of a height of 100m. River flows
into estuary. RARE BIRDS Main source of
fish for island=estuary
JIMMA town heavily reliant on fishing +
jobs Mountains are popular recreation area. Tourism. Large rivers are located close together but
800m of vertical height. Beautiful Waterfalls
Much of island is boggy, large untouched forest
HABITAT for Nothern Deer, endangered species. South of forest is rocky
area.

GENERATING ELECTRICITY- COSTS AND ENERGY PRODUCTION

IT"">The "commonly estimated" cost for energy efficiency ranges from ½ cent to 4 cents per kWh (compared to nukes at 13-18 cents per kWh), job
creation varying from 2 to 10 times per dollar more than nuke construction and
operation. "T

COAL: $0.006/KWh
OIL: $0.05/KWh
WIND: $0.09/KWh
PV: $0.037/KWh
BIOFUEL: $0.05/KWh
NUCLEAR: $0.018/KWh
Gas: $0.03/KWh


Some useful facts:

500,000,000 Joules are made each second
Bringing the grand total to over 650,000,000 Joules/second over the course of 25 years.

So as to be able to produce 500 megawatts of energy we have calculated how much
you spend .

Gas: $0.03/KWh 1KWh= I Kilo
watt / hour therefore 1000 Watts each hour, or 1000*60*60 Joules each
second. 3,600,000 Joules each
second

You are therefore currently spending (500,000,000/3,600,000) *
$0.03 = 4,16 dollars each
second.

Every year production of energy via the gas station costs you 4,16 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 365 = 131,400,000
dollars each year.

PLUS YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS TOLD US THAT THE POWERPLANT IS GOING TO RUN OUT OF GAS OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS.
Making a continuous use of the power station an unintelligent solution over the
long term.

We have therefore asked you if a budget of 200,000,000 dollars per year would be acceptable and your
government has approved.

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES TO USING THE GAS STATION FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC

For our 5-KW solar energy system costing $45,000, the conversion to KWH is as follows:

Solar Energy Costs
Average system costs = $95 per square foot
Average solar panel output = 10.6 watts per square foot
Average solar energy system costs = $8.95 per watt

5 KW times 90% = 4.5 KW - (Conversion of DC to AC power)
4.5 KW times 5 hours = 22.5 KWH per Day
22.5 KWH x 365 = 8212,5 KWH - (Average Annual Output)
8212,5 KWH x 25 years = 205,312 KWH (Total output over 20 year lifespan)

We have therefore calculated that if we should replace the Gas power plant only with Solar technology, We would need these numbers:

If 22.5KWh is produced per day this means that: 22.5*1000*60*60 Joules of energy are produced each day.

81,000,000Joules are produced every day, which means that 81,000,000J/24/60/60 = 937, 5 Joules are produced every second. This is very distant from our 650,000,000 Joules per
second mark. We could therefore opt to increase the number of Solar Panels.

If 1 solar panel creates 937.5 Joules per second, 10,000 solar panels would
create 9,375,000 Joules per second. So as to be able to produce all of the
energy required we would need to install
650,000,000/937.5= 693,334 solar panels. The cost would become prohibitive.
More than
$31,200,000,000.

Along with the huge cost we must also analyse the fact that the space required to build some 700,000 solar panels would probably take up most of the island’s surface area. We would have to deforest the land, make the
marshes and boggy bits of the island dry and firm so as to install the solar panels,
but all this takes time and money.

On the other hand we strongly advise your government to pay incentives to families which are willing to install solar panels on their rooftops. This would lead to a decrease in
domestic energy consumption of around 30%.
The government could pay off 25%
of the cost of installing a solar panel to privates, and could pay off 30% if
companies agree to power more than 50% of their industry by using solar power.

COAL:

Coal is by far the most convenient source of energy production. To make 1KWh of
electricity you need only $0.006.

The downturn with using coal fired powerstations is that there will soon be a green house tax being imposed by the island federation.
Another black point with using Coal powered
power stations is the large amount of
coal needed to produce the energy.

1 ton of coal produces 6,182KWh and 1 ton of coal costs 36$
1 barrel of oil produces 1,699KWh and 1 barrel now costs 70$

According to our calculation you would need to burn:

(6,182KWh= 3,600,000*6,182= 22,255,200,000) 1000 kilos =22,255,200,000Joules
each second

650,000,000/22,255,200,000=0,0292tons of coal each second

0,029*1000= 29 kilograms of coal each second..

This would cost you: 1000:36=29:x

(36*29) / 1000 1,044 dollars per second, only to import the coal.

Multiply 1,044 by 60 and by 60 and by 24 and by 365 and you get an annual cost of

32,923,584$.

This price starts to be advantageous. We have seriously considered the possibility of using Coal as an alternative to using gas. As a matter of fact, coal reserves around the world
are expected to drop in 250 years time, therefore time is not a problem.

The problem in basing your energetic
supplies on coal is that you would create very few jobs. Infact, there is no
mining which has to take place, therefore mines will not create jobs. Only
200-300 people are expected to work in the powerplant.

Another problem arouses when we see that the main port Assosa will have to be able to cope with a surge in transports. As a matter of fact, so as to be able to import all the coal
needed we would have to expand the port. (Considering that with a pipeline the
wh*** transportation process was much more efficient, having to employ people
to transport the coal from other countries would mean an increase in cost)

OIL:

Oil is a viable alternative to using coal or gas. As a matter of fact oil could
be brought to the Island in two ways, rather than just by ship as is the case
with coal. The oil could be pumped through a pipeline as is being done with the
gas. Or the oil could be imported .
The cost of importing the oil would amount to:



1 barrel of oil produces 1,699KWh and 1 barrel now costs 70$

According to our calculation you would need to burn:

(1,699KWh= 3,600,000*1,699=) 158 litres =6,116,400,000Joules each second

650,000,000/6,116,400,000=0,104 barrels of oil each second

0,104 *158= 16,4 litres of oil each
second..

This would cost you: 158:70=16,4:x

(70*16,4) / 158 =7,28 dollars per second, only to import the oil.

Multiply 7,28 by 60 and by 60 and by 24 and by 365 and you get an annual cost of

229,582,080$.

Using oil as a fuel to replace the gas would mean that we would have to spend 30,000,000$ more than planned. And by the way these are only the import costs. Then you have to
consider the initial cost in creating a powerstation.
The only economically viable source of
energy is coal. It costs much less to import and there are advantages.
For example, we have never heard of coal spills, but we have heard of oil
spills which may damage your wh*** island’s beautiful fauna and flora.

We have entered a plan which would include the use of coal as a provisional way to make energy over the course of the first five years.

Even if the government would gain $0,05 per KWh produced, this would still mean:

0,05*(650,000,000/3,600,000)*24*365=
79,083$ per year of tax flow, which would not be enough to cover the
229,582,080$ annual cost.

NUCLEAR POWER:

We come to the real issue. 3 cubic metres of radioactive waste is the end product of the nuclear fission reaction in a Nuclear Power plant. These
three cubic metres would would be
capable of producing the same amount of energy as 3,000,000 tonnes of coal.
We have seen that there is an ideal location over which to build the nuclear
power station. A rocky location just South of the island.

We would be favourable to the idea of using the best price to KWh ratio to
generate electricity on the island. Unfortunately there are some negative
issues which draw back our plans of developing nuclear technology.

The first is obviously safety. If something goes wrong, the towns of Assosa,
Gonder, Wurabe and Jimma will be wiped from the face of the Earth. The risk of
a nuclear explosion destroying the island is real, and if the cost per unit of
energy produced is so low, the cost for security, for scientific recruitment
and for building the power plant might actually make the project much more
costly than it seems.

Lets look at numbers: 1.85 cents/kwh

But the total cost of building the powerplant will reach a peak of up to 14,000,000,000$ plus another 3,000,000,000$ to dispose of the waste safely + other safety precautions.

What would have brought immediate energy surplus might become a dream due to these costs.
Even if the wh*** island would economise for years to come, you could never
enjoy the payback time for such a dispendious project. We therefore feel
inclined to reject the creation of a Nuclear Power Station for economical
reasons. Plus, where would your government
have stored the Nuclear waste? In huge underground submarine bunkers?
The cost of $3,000,000,000 for that too is prohibitive in itself.

We feel inclined to abandon any talk of installing nuclear reactors on the island and do not feel the need of calculating the profits which would be tiny compared to an enormous start-up
cost.

EOLIAN:

There is a real advantage in focusing upon
eolian energy supply. The obvious advantage is that using wind to
generate electricity is obviously a clean way of producing energy.
The other advantage is that of being able to build offshore and onshore eolian
plants, thus decreasing the negative impact on tourism.
In your description of the island you told us that there is a dominant
prevailing wind coming from a SW
direction. This wind is strongest in the mountains, the average speed of
the wind is of 15mph Occasionally there is no wind at all.

We have come across one big problem in
using wind power. If there is no wind then there will be no energy being
produced.An average wind turbine needs wind to be of at least 20mph or above,
so as to fulfill its full potential. On your island there is a 15mph wind
speed, which might do the trick.
If we consider that eolic power is given by = density of air*turbine blade
diameter squared *velocity of the wind cubed*a constant
EN-US"">What about that constant, C? It's there because what we are really
interested in is the Area swept by the blades of diameter, D. The area is
calculated by multiplying the number Pi (approximately 3.14159) times the
diameter squared divided by 4. So part of the constant, C, is just the constant
number Pi divided by 4 pulled out to show us that the important variable in the
area formula is D. Therefore, if we used 5metre long blades and adapted them to
your island we would reach these calculations:

Density of air="Verdana","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US""> 1.2929 kg/m3
Turbine
blade diameter: 10m
Velocity of wind: 15mph
Constant which is in this case: 3.14159 times 10 squared divided by 4

Therefore the amount of joules
produced per second:
1.2929*10squared*15cubed*75,64= 2,200,386
joules per second.

Your energy need is of 650,000,000 joules per second. To find out how many wind
turbines your island would need to fulfill the need in electricity we have
calculated that:

You would need: 650,000,000/2,200,386 = 296 wind turbines.
One wind turbine costs: 2MW=3,5 million dollars.
600/2= 300 300*3,5 million dollars=
115million dollars.

It would cost your island 115 million dollars to install the wind turbine.
Payed at 0,04$ per KWh each year the government would gain: 0,04*(650,000,000/3,600,000)*24*365=63,266$
due to tax on electricity, by using offshore wind turbines. Theoretically you
would need 1817 years to start gaining money as a government from using eolian
energy, since there is no import and the energy used is free. The problem with
using eolian, as highlighted beforehand, is the uncertain supply of energy. Installing
eolian plants initially would cost us a part of our annuall budget for the
first year, but it would then increase our budget by a non-negligible amount of
money every year for the next 24 years.
Due to the relatively low cost of building offshore windfarms, we have included
offshore eolian stations in the final project. We have payed careful attention
on deciding where to build the platforms, since we wouldn’t want the rare birds
which live on the island to be disturbed by the wind turbines. We have also
opted for building the turbines very far from the coast so as to not spoil the
scenary.


BIOMASS

Biomass is a miracle out of all forms of energy creation. The possible positive
outcomes in using this form of creating energy are spectacular. This is where
science-fiction could become a reality. Acres and acres of under marine land
ready to be planted with energy efficient algae which absorb the sun’s light
along with CO2 from the atmosphere and which could create energy once burnt in
special powerplants. This idea of ours is also leading us to propose the idea
of creating natural man-made underwater reserves where tourism could play a
major role in boosting the local economy. Imagine a non adherent glass tunnel
which stretches out into the ocean where people can get the feeling of being in
a great underwater aquarium and where they can see the island’s inhabitants
working to harvest the algae for energy generation. The cost of making this
project feasible is found by adding the relatively low start up costs along
with the extremely low costs of preserving the underwater habitat. The cost of
preserving the underwater habitat which will be man-made, might even be classified
as a restricted zone and under the tutorage of the WWF. This will mean that all
costs of keeping up this underwater aquarium will be covered by the WWF. There
is also the future possibility of building underwater homes or wh*** cities,
but this would need a wh*** new project to develop. The cost per KWh of
creating biomass energy is of $0,05. This would mean profits of: Standard
biomass algal farms are made up of 1,100
acres of salt-water ponds from which produce 4.4 million gallons of algal oil along
with 110 million pounds of biomass.

1 pound of biomass makes: 8250btu of energy.
1
btu = 1 055.05585 joules

Therefore, 1 pound of biomass would create 8,703,750 joules
According to our calculations, 110million pounds of biomass would produce 957,412,500,000,000joules
per harvest.

Our agency would strongly recommend the use of biofuel, and especially bio
algae as a fuel for the future for Awassa island. The huge amount of energy
produced would be sufficient to satisfy the 650,000,000Joule energy need?
Some algae species grow so fast that they double their size three or
four times in one day. That means they can be harvested
frequently, Maybe even once a month. This would mean:

12*957,412,500,000,000= 11,488,950,000,000,000Joules produced each year.
Your island’s energy needs show that 650,000,000 Joules of energy have to be
supplied every second, Therefore: 11,488,950,000,000,000/365/24/60/60=
364,312,214Joules of energy would be generated by the farming of 1100 acres of
marine land. Not enough, therefore we would have to double the surface area
previously thought up. 2200 acres of bioalgae will satisfy in large excess the
need to supply the energy.

The costs:
Algae are very fast at growing, the cost would therefore still be economic because of this. Like all plants, algae need nutrients, if large amounts of
nutrients are absorbed by algae there will be not enough left for the native
flora and fauna of the island. The government will therefore need to spend money on fertilizers. Also, scientists must judge
whether the type of algae which we chose is not toxic or doesn’t release any toxic vapours. The overall cost
would be of no greater than 4-5million dollars per year. The startup costs will
probably be much greater than our
original planned budget.

After careful analysis of all possible alternatives to using gas power we have come up with a summary of the situation and a final alternative plan.
FINAL PLAN WITH TABLE OF EXPENSES FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS:
-
ACTIONS TAKEN
-
Gas powerstation remains operative, Scientific research in finding the best form of algae to produce biomass,
In the meantime to cope with the surge in demand 20% of energy will be
produced over the course of 5 years by Coal powerstations so as to make
energy when the wind turbines will have no wind,
-
First imports of coal
-
Construction of eolian offshore platform initiates, 296 wind turbines commissioned over a period of 5 years.
-
Start to analyse the best site for the creation of biomass algal farms.
-
Buying of fertilizers and small scale algal plantations created
-
Decrease in the amount of gas being pumped through the pipeline due to an increase in the % of energy being provided by the wind turbines
-
TAX ON CO2 EMISSIONS, ready to pay for the tax with our agency’s money.
-
First biomass plants produced
-
Eolic turbines fully functional which produce by themselves 650,000MW of power.
Surplus energy could be sold to other islands.
Creation of first 200 acres of biomass algal land,
-
Coal plants decrease production, now only 5% of energy derives from them.
Decommission of gas powerplant , tax on CO2 only on coal powerstation
-
Creation of other 1000 acres of algal biomass
-
First Biomass harvest
-
Creation of other 1000 acres of algal biomass
-
Completion of remaining algal crops
-
Decommission coal powerplants
-
BUDGET Swell (NO ACTION)
-
Creation of first km of underwater glass tunnel
-
Creation of other 5 km of underwater glass tunnels
-
Creation of marine aquarium along the length of glass tunnel
-
Advertising to public,Opening of the Aquarium
-
Further Implementation, other 10km of glass tunnel
-
BUDGET SWELL(NO ACTION)
-
BUDGET SWELL(NO ACTION)
-
Completion of first underwater village
-
EVAULUATE


OUR TEAM OF ADVISORS STILL HAVE TO CALCULATE THE TOTAL PROFITS FOR THE GOVERNMENT
AND FOR OUR COMPANY. WHICH WILL BE MASSIVE.
We hope to have successfully overcome your energy needs with the right program.
AWAITING YOUR KIND RESPONSE,
ESP PERSONAL ADVISORS shaping the world of tomorrow…