Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-01-30DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125349
Ziming Chen , Fei Xiao , Liming Fan , Zihao Niu , Xiaolong Liu , Yong Yan , Wenshuai Xu , Lei Han , Lizhong Yang
Geothermal energy from hot dry rock is a sustainable energy source with vast reserves in the Earth's crust. Open-loop geothermal systems can extract geothermal energy on a large scale but pose serious environmental problems, whereas closed-loop systems with multiple branches for enhanced heat extraction performance suffer from high pumping power consumption. This study proposes an artificial geyser U-shaped geothermal system to address prior limitations of common closed-loop systems. The flashing chamber design realizes natural circulation to reduce investment and operational costs. A validated numerical model shows that a well of 5 km depth and 0.06 K m−1 temperature gradient can generate up to 1.4 MW of power by the steam turbine, while 50–400 kW by the thermoelectric generator, depending on geothermal gradients and cold-side fluids. By retrofitting abandoned oil and gas wells to significantly reduce the drilling costs, the system's levelized cost of electricity is $0.1 kWh−1 at a turbine power output of 700 kW. The discounted payback period is 15 years when the electricity price is $0.2 kWh−1. The above results show that this system offers a good balance between capacity and cost-effectiveness. This work advances geothermal energy development through sustainable, low-carbon, and low-risk pathways.
来自干热岩石的地热能是一种可持续能源,在地壳中储量巨大。开环地热系统可以大规模地提取地热能,但存在严重的环境问题,而多支路的闭环系统则存在抽热能耗高的问题。本研究提出了一种人工间歇泉u型地热系统,以解决常规闭环系统的局限性。闪蒸室设计实现自然循环,降低投资和运行成本。经过验证的数值模型表明,根据地温梯度和冷侧流体的不同,一口井深为5 km,温度梯度为0.06 K m−1,蒸汽轮机可产生高达1.4 MW的功率,而热电发电机可产生50-400 kW的功率。通过改造废弃的油气井,大大降低了钻井成本,该系统的平准化电力成本为0.1千瓦时−1美元,涡轮机输出功率为700千瓦。当电价为$0.2 kWh−1时,贴现回收期为15年。上述结果表明,该系统在容量和成本效益之间取得了很好的平衡。这项工作通过可持续、低碳和低风险的途径推进了地热能的开发。
{"title":"Development and techno-economic analysis of an innovative U-shaped geothermal system with artificial geyser","authors":"Ziming Chen , Fei Xiao , Liming Fan , Zihao Niu , Xiaolong Liu , Yong Yan , Wenshuai Xu , Lei Han , Lizhong Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125349","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125349","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Geothermal energy from hot dry rock is a sustainable energy source with vast reserves in the Earth's crust. Open-loop geothermal systems can extract geothermal energy on a large scale but pose serious environmental problems, whereas closed-loop systems with multiple branches for enhanced heat extraction performance suffer from high pumping power consumption. This study proposes an artificial geyser U-shaped geothermal system to address prior limitations of common closed-loop systems. The flashing chamber design realizes natural circulation to reduce investment and operational costs. A validated numerical model shows that a well of 5 km depth and 0.06 K m<sup>−1</sup> temperature gradient can generate up to 1.4 MW of power by the steam turbine, while 50–400 kW by the thermoelectric generator, depending on geothermal gradients and cold-side fluids. By retrofitting abandoned oil and gas wells to significantly reduce the drilling costs, the system's levelized cost of electricity is $0.1 kWh<sup>−1</sup> at a turbine power output of 700 kW. The discounted payback period is 15 years when the electricity price is $0.2 kWh<sup>−1</sup>. The above results show that this system offers a good balance between capacity and cost-effectiveness. This work advances geothermal energy development through sustainable, low-carbon, and low-risk pathways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125349"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125346
Kai Guo , Wenzhe Dong , Yuxuan Cheng , Hongsheng Zhang , Yue Wang
In this work, we propose and thoroughly examine the efficacy of tandem piezoelectric wind energy harvester system. A novel assembly of two-set system is proposed to establish stable high efficiency energy harvesting. As to two tandem cylinder system, three regimes are identified: in Regime I (1.3≤L/D ≤ 1.5), the upstream cylinder exhibits galloping, while the downstream cylinder undergoes combined vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and wake-induced galloping (WIG); in Regime II (2.0≤L/D ≤ 3.0), the upstream cylinder behaves combined or separated VIV and WIG, while the downstream cylinder only shows combine VIV and WIG; in Regime III (3.0<L/D ≤ 4.0), the upstream cylinder transitions to a typical VIV state, and the downstream cylinder experiences separated VIV and WIG. Base on the flow-induced vibration regimes of two-cylinder system, a novel assembly strategy is proposed to enhance the overall performance in practical applications. Notably, the assembly of two-set modules achieves a maximum output power of 4.48 mW at U = 10 m/s and a maximum efficiency of 6.16% at U = 2.7 m/s when the assembly distance is 1.3. It even attains a higher efficiency of 7.14% at U = 1.8 m/s when the assembly distance is 3.0. The new design can make all cylinders fall into contiguous VIV-WIG mechanism, and exhibits higher efficiency and power in a broad range of wind velocity.
{"title":"Performance study and assembly optimization of tandem two-cylinder energy harvesting systems utilizing flow-induced vibration","authors":"Kai Guo , Wenzhe Dong , Yuxuan Cheng , Hongsheng Zhang , Yue Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this work, we propose and thoroughly examine the efficacy of tandem piezoelectric wind energy harvester system. A novel assembly of two-set system is proposed to establish stable high efficiency energy harvesting. As to two tandem cylinder system, three regimes are identified: in Regime I (1.3≤<em>L/D</em> ≤ 1.5), the upstream cylinder exhibits galloping, while the downstream cylinder undergoes combined vortex-induced vibration (VIV) and wake-induced galloping (WIG); in Regime II (2.0≤<em>L/D</em> ≤ 3.0), the upstream cylinder behaves combined or separated VIV and WIG, while the downstream cylinder only shows combine VIV and WIG; in Regime III (3.0<<em>L/D</em> ≤ 4.0), the upstream cylinder transitions to a typical VIV state, and the downstream cylinder experiences separated VIV and WIG. Base on the flow-induced vibration regimes of two-cylinder system, a novel assembly strategy is proposed to enhance the overall performance in practical applications. Notably, the assembly of two-set modules achieves a maximum output power of 4.48 mW at <em>U</em> = 10 m/s and a maximum efficiency of 6.16% at <em>U</em> = 2.7 m/s when the assembly distance is 1.3. It even attains a higher efficiency of 7.14% at <em>U</em> = 1.8 m/s when the assembly distance is 3.0. The new design can make all cylinders fall into contiguous VIV-WIG mechanism, and exhibits higher efficiency and power in a broad range of wind velocity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125346"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-02DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125372
Boqiang Lin , Jiangnan Li
Amid the global energy transition, China's new energy industry has rapidly grown. Lithium-ion batteries, central to new energy vehicles and energy storage systems, rely on battery-grade lithium carbonate as a core material. From 2020 to 2023, the spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fluctuated drastically, from stagnation and recovery to sharp rises and declines, disrupting the new energy supply chain. This underscores the need to strengthen the security of the industry and supply chain. Our study, based on data from new energy listed companies for eight quarters from Q2 2021 to Q1 2023, uses fixed effect models and generalized additive models to explore the relationship between the spot price fluctuations of battery-grade lithium carbonate and the inventory turnover time of new energy enterprises. The study finds that first, changes in battery-grade lithium carbonate prices exert a significant negative impact on enterprises' inventory turnover time. Second, enterprises with weaker bargaining power adopt more aggressive inventory reduction strategies. Third, during the early stage of lithium carbonate price surges, some companies engaged in stockpiling to alleviate potential subsequent inventory pressure, which ultimately led to over-adjusted turnover times in later periods. Compared to previous literature, this paper breaks through the linear analysis paradigm and reveals the underlying changes in supply chain shocks through the GAM model, providing new empirical evidence for the management of new energy supply chains. We advocate for a collaborative mechanism to mitigate supply chain shocks from price fluctuations.
{"title":"Spot price fluctuations of battery-grade lithium carbonate and supply chain disruptions: The survival game of new energy enterprises","authors":"Boqiang Lin , Jiangnan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125372","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid the global energy transition, China's new energy industry has rapidly grown. Lithium-ion batteries, central to new energy vehicles and energy storage systems, rely on battery-grade lithium carbonate as a core material. From 2020 to 2023, the spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fluctuated drastically, from stagnation and recovery to sharp rises and declines, disrupting the new energy supply chain. This underscores the need to strengthen the security of the industry and supply chain. Our study, based on data from new energy listed companies for eight quarters from Q2 2021 to Q1 2023, uses fixed effect models and generalized additive models to explore the relationship between the spot price fluctuations of battery-grade lithium carbonate and the inventory turnover time of new energy enterprises. The study finds that first, changes in battery-grade lithium carbonate prices exert a significant negative impact on enterprises' inventory turnover time. Second, enterprises with weaker bargaining power adopt more aggressive inventory reduction strategies. Third, during the early stage of lithium carbonate price surges, some companies engaged in stockpiling to alleviate potential subsequent inventory pressure, which ultimately led to over-adjusted turnover times in later periods. Compared to previous literature, this paper breaks through the linear analysis paradigm and reveals the underlying changes in supply chain shocks through the GAM model, providing new empirical evidence for the management of new energy supply chains. We advocate for a collaborative mechanism to mitigate supply chain shocks from price fluctuations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125372"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125399
Jian Hao, Bingqian Meng, Shuyu Li
Offshore wind power is a key pillar of the clean-energy transition, yet ensuring the sustainability of projects demands rigorous multi-dimensional assessment. Current evaluation frameworks often focus on single aspects (e.g., economic or environmental) and suffer from subjectivity in weight assignments and poor handling of uncertainty. Here we propose a novel comprehensive assessment framework that integrates four critical dimensions - technological innovation, market dynamics, policy support, and safety resilience - to evaluate offshore wind sustainability. Methodologically, we introduce a dynamic weighting mechanism that innovatively applies game theory to harmonize objective (CRITIC) and subjective (Anti-entropy) weighting schemes within a Nash equilibrium framework, ensuring a stable and balanced representation of indicator importance. We integrate a pioneering matter-element Extenics cloud model to quantitatively characterize the coupled fuzziness and randomness of multi-dimensional indicators, significantly enhancing the framework's robustness in managing uncertainty and supporting complex sustainability evaluations. Applying this to China's four major offshore regions reveals distinct sustainability profiles: East China leads with the highest scores in innovation and policy support, while other regions lag due to resource and policy gaps. These findings provide tailored insights for regional development and demonstrate the value of our quantitative, multi-dimensional decision-support tool for guiding sustainable offshore wind development globally.
{"title":"Multi-dimensional sustainability assessment framework for offshore wind energy: A game-theoretic and extenics-based approach","authors":"Jian Hao, Bingqian Meng, Shuyu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125399","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125399","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Offshore wind power is a key pillar of the clean-energy transition, yet ensuring the sustainability of projects demands rigorous multi-dimensional assessment. Current evaluation frameworks often focus on single aspects (e.g., economic or environmental) and suffer from subjectivity in weight assignments and poor handling of uncertainty. Here we propose a novel comprehensive assessment framework that integrates four critical dimensions - technological innovation, market dynamics, policy support, and safety resilience - to evaluate offshore wind sustainability. Methodologically, we introduce a dynamic weighting mechanism that innovatively applies game theory to harmonize objective (CRITIC) and subjective (Anti-entropy) weighting schemes within a Nash equilibrium framework, ensuring a stable and balanced representation of indicator importance. We integrate a pioneering matter-element Extenics cloud model to quantitatively characterize the coupled fuzziness and randomness of multi-dimensional indicators, significantly enhancing the framework's robustness in managing uncertainty and supporting complex sustainability evaluations. Applying this to China's four major offshore regions reveals distinct sustainability profiles: East China leads with the highest scores in innovation and policy support, while other regions lag due to resource and policy gaps. These findings provide tailored insights for regional development and demonstrate the value of our quantitative, multi-dimensional decision-support tool for guiding sustainable offshore wind development globally.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125399"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125370
Daniel Icaza-Alvarez , Fernando González-Ladrón-de-Guevara , David Borge-Diez
This research presents the planning for the long-term energy transition of the Galapagos Islands. According to Ecuador's strategic plans, it is necessary to free itself from fossil fuels by 2040, while by 2050, it is required to achieve complete decarbonization. The archipelago is a beautiful ecological attraction, considered a living laboratory and of great interest to researchers from various parts of the world. The applied methodology evaluates the starting scenario with data on installed capacity and energy production, then with the support of the energyPLAN simulation model determine the transition process to achieve a 100% renewable system for the Galapagos Islands. The results prove that by 2040, it is possible to supply the archipelago with a complete renewable energy mix of 43.22% solar photovoltaic, 34.22% wind, and 22.56% other diverse technologies. For 2050, 45.66% solar photovoltaic, 36.22% wind, and 18.1% other diverse technologies should be included to achieve the objectives. The full decarbonization effort, which also includes other technologies such as biofuels, geothermal energy, and wave energy, amounts to $92 million. The methodology and the results can be applied to similar case studies and scenarios worldwide and establish a reference frame for this analysis.
{"title":"Charting the energy future of the Galapagos: Smart planning for a fossil-free archipelago by 2040 and full decarbonization by 2050","authors":"Daniel Icaza-Alvarez , Fernando González-Ladrón-de-Guevara , David Borge-Diez","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125370","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125370","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research presents the planning for the long-term energy transition of the Galapagos Islands. According to Ecuador's strategic plans, it is necessary to free itself from fossil fuels by 2040, while by 2050, it is required to achieve complete decarbonization. The archipelago is a beautiful ecological attraction, considered a living laboratory and of great interest to researchers from various parts of the world. The applied methodology evaluates the starting scenario with data on installed capacity and energy production, then with the support of the energyPLAN simulation model determine the transition process to achieve a 100% renewable system for the Galapagos Islands. The results prove that by 2040, it is possible to supply the archipelago with a complete renewable energy mix of 43.22% solar photovoltaic, 34.22% wind, and 22.56% other diverse technologies. For 2050, 45.66% solar photovoltaic, 36.22% wind, and 18.1% other diverse technologies should be included to achieve the objectives. The full decarbonization effort, which also includes other technologies such as biofuels, geothermal energy, and wave energy, amounts to $92 million. The methodology and the results can be applied to similar case studies and scenarios worldwide and establish a reference frame for this analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125370"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The particle receiver using solid particles as the heat transfer medium is considered the most critical energy conversion component in supercritical carbon dioxide solar thermal power generation systems, with its performance directly affects the efficiency of the system. Firstly, this study used Monte Carlo ray tracing method to establish a three-dimensional radiation convection coupling model, successfully predicting particle temperature dynamics, and revealing the variation of heat transfer efficiency with direct normal irradiance. Secondly, based on the coupled simulation of discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics, it was found that there is a significant low-speed region near the wall. The research results show that the direct normal irradiance >600W/m2, the heat transfer efficiency at 68%, and the optimal flow velocity range was determined through response surface optimization, which can improve the system efficiency by 28%. Finally, in order to verify the accuracy of the model, the outlet temperature of the particles was validated through a single tube free fall experiment. The results showed that the particle outlet temperature significantly increased with the decrease of flow rate, and the max error is 2.52 °C. These findings provide valuable theoretical guidance for the optimization design of tower power stations.
{"title":"Optimization design of CSP particle receiver based on multi scale modeling: Comprehensive numerical and experimental study of photothermal performance","authors":"Xiaoyu Xu, Qiang Yu, Fansheng Cheng, Zihao Li, Bingyan Shi, Jie Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125411","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125411","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The particle receiver using solid particles as the heat transfer medium is considered the most critical energy conversion component in supercritical carbon dioxide solar thermal power generation systems, with its performance directly affects the efficiency of the system. Firstly, this study used Monte Carlo ray tracing method to establish a three-dimensional radiation convection coupling model, successfully predicting particle temperature dynamics, and revealing the variation of heat transfer efficiency with direct normal irradiance. Secondly, based on the coupled simulation of discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics, it was found that there is a significant low-speed region near the wall. The research results show that the direct normal irradiance >600W/m<sup>2</sup>, the heat transfer efficiency at 68%, and the optimal flow velocity range was determined through response surface optimization, which can improve the system efficiency by 28%. Finally, in order to verify the accuracy of the model, the outlet temperature of the particles was validated through a single tube free fall experiment. The results showed that the particle outlet temperature significantly increased with the decrease of flow rate, and the max error is 2.52 °C. These findings provide valuable theoretical guidance for the optimization design of tower power stations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125411"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125396
Zhenjie Wan , Jikang Su , Youda Li , Lin Huang , Yabin Jin , Jinjia Wei
For the concentrated solar power tower system, the cloud cover blocks the heliostats, and the concentrated heat flux fluctuates, resulting in thermal stress and thermal fatigue failure of the receiver. To mitigate the effects of the clouds, a method that could project cloud shadows onto a heliostat field was proposed. Then, we investigated the effects of the cloud shadows on the heliostat field and thermal performance of the receiver. The results indicated that the cloud features had a huge impact on the performance. The concentrated heat flux fluctuated when the cloud shadows varied, bringing challenges to the safe operation of the receiver. With the same shadow ratio, the heliostats blocked might be different, so that the concentrated heat flux distribution varied. The shadow ratio could be used to predict energy production of the receiver under cloudy conditions, but it was not reasonable for evaluating the safe operation of the receiver. The moving cloud cover resulted in fluctuation of the concentrated heat flux, brought risk of thermal fatigue for the tubes. For a shadow ratio reduction of 22.51%, the maximum concentrated heat flux could increase by 343.89%, and the tubes might suffer from severe thermal shock loads. If the transmittance was lower than 0.6, the concentrated heat flux distribution was significantly affected. For the safe operation of the receiver, it is necessary to monitor the cloud features, and an advanced cloud detection method should be developed.
{"title":"Effects of clouds on thermal performance of the receiver in the concentrated solar power tower system","authors":"Zhenjie Wan , Jikang Su , Youda Li , Lin Huang , Yabin Jin , Jinjia Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125396","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125396","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For the concentrated solar power tower system, the cloud cover blocks the heliostats, and the concentrated heat flux fluctuates, resulting in thermal stress and thermal fatigue failure of the receiver. To mitigate the effects of the clouds, a method that could project cloud shadows onto a heliostat field was proposed. Then, we investigated the effects of the cloud shadows on the heliostat field and thermal performance of the receiver. The results indicated that the cloud features had a huge impact on the performance. The concentrated heat flux fluctuated when the cloud shadows varied, bringing challenges to the safe operation of the receiver. With the same shadow ratio, the heliostats blocked might be different, so that the concentrated heat flux distribution varied. The shadow ratio could be used to predict energy production of the receiver under cloudy conditions, but it was not reasonable for evaluating the safe operation of the receiver. The moving cloud cover resulted in fluctuation of the concentrated heat flux, brought risk of thermal fatigue for the tubes. For a shadow ratio reduction of 22.51%, the maximum concentrated heat flux could increase by 343.89%, and the tubes might suffer from severe thermal shock loads. If the transmittance was lower than 0.6, the concentrated heat flux distribution was significantly affected. For the safe operation of the receiver, it is necessary to monitor the cloud features, and an advanced cloud detection method should be developed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125396"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-12DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125435
Matti Aro , Terttu Vainio , Paula Ala-Kotila , Anu Purhonen , Kari Mäki , Pertti Järventausta
This paper presents a synthesized evaluation framework for assessing Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) during their operational phase, with a specific focus on grid interaction under real market conditions. The framework integrates four established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Load/Generation Balance, Self-Consumption Rate, Emission Reduction Rate and Cost Reduction Rate – using high-resolution operational data, hourly grid emission factors, and spot prices. Demonstrated through a case study of a large Finnish residential NZEB equipped with a ground-source heat pump and off-site solar PV, the analysis reveals both the potential and limitations of PV-based solutions in cold climates. While the system achieved an 89% annual load/generation balance, hourly analysis showed a 31% self-consumption rate, with most PV production exported during periods of low prices and low emissions. Operational emissions and electricity costs were reduced by 56% and 41%, respectively, compared to a baseline without PV. However, sensitivity analysis indicates that economic outcomes are highly dependent on prevailing market conditions, highlighting the importance of multi-year evaluation. The framework's parallel KPIs, when used collectively, enable stakeholders to assess trade-offs and guide practical decisions regarding demand-side management, energy storage, and operational strategies. The economic analysis focuses on market exposure, including O&M costs for PV, but excluding investment costs. The framework is flexible and can be applied to NZEBs with various configurations, supporting robust, data-driven decision-making for improved cost-effectiveness and decarbonization.
{"title":"Evaluating net-zero energy buildings and their grid interaction: A comprehensive framework for operational phase and a Nordic case study","authors":"Matti Aro , Terttu Vainio , Paula Ala-Kotila , Anu Purhonen , Kari Mäki , Pertti Järventausta","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125435","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125435","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a synthesized evaluation framework for assessing Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) during their operational phase, with a specific focus on grid interaction under real market conditions. The framework integrates four established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Load/Generation Balance, Self-Consumption Rate, Emission Reduction Rate and Cost Reduction Rate – using high-resolution operational data, hourly grid emission factors, and spot prices. Demonstrated through a case study of a large Finnish residential NZEB equipped with a ground-source heat pump and off-site solar PV, the analysis reveals both the potential and limitations of PV-based solutions in cold climates. While the system achieved an 89% annual load/generation balance, hourly analysis showed a 31% self-consumption rate, with most PV production exported during periods of low prices and low emissions. Operational emissions and electricity costs were reduced by 56% and 41%, respectively, compared to a baseline without PV. However, sensitivity analysis indicates that economic outcomes are highly dependent on prevailing market conditions, highlighting the importance of multi-year evaluation. The framework's parallel KPIs, when used collectively, enable stakeholders to assess trade-offs and guide practical decisions regarding demand-side management, energy storage, and operational strategies. The economic analysis focuses on market exposure, including O&M costs for PV, but excluding investment costs. The framework is flexible and can be applied to NZEBs with various configurations, supporting robust, data-driven decision-making for improved cost-effectiveness and decarbonization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125435"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-02DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125358
Zhong-kai Feng , Xin Wang , Wen-jing Niu , Jian-bing Li , Jun Zhang , Tao Bai
With the rapid development of new energy technologies, quantifying the spatial-temporal correlation between runoff and wind power and solar power generation capacity and generating representative high-dimensional coupled scenario sets have become urgent issues. As existing methods struggle to generate high-dimensional, long-term reliable scenarios under small sample conditions, this paper proposes a two-stage long-term scenario generation method for runoff-wind-solar integration. In the first stage, it couples generative adversarial network with variational autoencoder, and improves the model by introducing Wasserstein distance and loss weight coefficients to ensure training stability, scenario quality and diversity, and enable initial learning of distribution characteristics from small sample annual data. In the second stage, it incorporates Cholesky decomposition and quantile mapping to enhance the spatial-temporal correlation of scenario sets, thus obtaining highly reliable scenario sets that retain the spatial-temporal features of original data. Validation against scenarios from single-stage VAE-GAN, GAN, VAE and Copula proves the proposed method's effectiveness: in the three-element scenarios, the average absolute error of Kendall correlation coefficient reaches 0.03, 0.02 and 0.04 respectively. This method can provide key technical support for the long-term planning and dispatching of runoff-wind-solar complementary systems.
{"title":"Two-stage scenario generation of hydro-wind-solar complementary system based on improved variational autoencoder and generative adversarial networks model","authors":"Zhong-kai Feng , Xin Wang , Wen-jing Niu , Jian-bing Li , Jun Zhang , Tao Bai","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125358","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the rapid development of new energy technologies, quantifying the spatial-temporal correlation between runoff and wind power and solar power generation capacity and generating representative high-dimensional coupled scenario sets have become urgent issues. As existing methods struggle to generate high-dimensional, long-term reliable scenarios under small sample conditions, this paper proposes a two-stage long-term scenario generation method for runoff-wind-solar integration. In the first stage, it couples generative adversarial network with variational autoencoder, and improves the model by introducing Wasserstein distance and loss weight coefficients to ensure training stability, scenario quality and diversity, and enable initial learning of distribution characteristics from small sample annual data. In the second stage, it incorporates Cholesky decomposition and quantile mapping to enhance the spatial-temporal correlation of scenario sets, thus obtaining highly reliable scenario sets that retain the spatial-temporal features of original data. Validation against scenarios from single-stage VAE-GAN, GAN, VAE and Copula proves the proposed method's effectiveness: in the three-element scenarios, the average absolute error of Kendall correlation coefficient reaches 0.03, 0.02 and 0.04 respectively. This method can provide key technical support for the long-term planning and dispatching of runoff-wind-solar complementary systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125358"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-04-15Epub Date: 2026-02-02DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125383
Ze Bai , Yaohua Zhao , Zhenhua Quan , Haibo Ren , Chenyang Du
To address the growing demand for efficient and renewable heating, a novel dual source direct expansion PVT-air heat pump system integrating a PVT-air evaporator based on micro heat pipe arrays is proposed. This design overcomes limitations of conventional flat-plate PVT evaporators, such as high-pressure loss, low solar energy utilization and unstable system energy supply. The system was experimentally evaluated under winter space heating conditions. Results showed a maximum thermal efficiency of 35%, power generation efficiency of 17%, COP of 3.52, and exergy efficiency of 21% under average solar irradiance of 654 W/m2, ambient temperature of 5.1 °C, and wind speed of 2.6 m/s. COP increased by up to 12.5% and exergy efficiency by 43.4% per 100 W/m2 rise in solar irradiance, while a 5 K rise in load water temperature reduced COP by 8.4% and exergy efficiency by 4.7%. The system demonstrated stable switching between solar and air heat sources. Compared to the conventional tube-and-sheet PVT direct expansion heat pump, the proposed system achieved 4.5%, 33.5%, and 20% improvements in COP, power generation efficiency, and COPPVT, respectively. The dimensionless pressure loss of the PVT-air evaporator based on micro heat pipe arrays was also 87% lower than that of the fin-tube heat exchanger. These results confirm the system's excellent performance, reliability, and potential for practical heating applications.
{"title":"Experimental study on space heating performance of PVT-air dual heat source direct expansion heat pump system based on micro heat pipe arrays","authors":"Ze Bai , Yaohua Zhao , Zhenhua Quan , Haibo Ren , Chenyang Du","doi":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.renene.2026.125383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To address the growing demand for efficient and renewable heating, a novel dual source direct expansion PVT-air heat pump system integrating a PVT-air evaporator based on micro heat pipe arrays is proposed. This design overcomes limitations of conventional flat-plate PVT evaporators, such as high-pressure loss, low solar energy utilization and unstable system energy supply. The system was experimentally evaluated under winter space heating conditions. Results showed a maximum thermal efficiency of 35%, power generation efficiency of 17%, <em>COP</em> of 3.52, and exergy efficiency of 21% under average solar irradiance of 654 W/m<sup>2</sup>, ambient temperature of 5.1 °C, and wind speed of 2.6 m/s. <em>COP</em> increased by up to 12.5% and exergy efficiency by 43.4% per 100 W/m<sup>2</sup> rise in solar irradiance, while a 5 K rise in load water temperature reduced <em>COP</em> by 8.4% and exergy efficiency by 4.7%. The system demonstrated stable switching between solar and air heat sources. Compared to the conventional tube-and-sheet PVT direct expansion heat pump, the proposed system achieved 4.5%, 33.5%, and 20% improvements in <em>COP</em>, power generation efficiency, and <em>COP</em><sub><em>PVT</em></sub>, respectively. The dimensionless pressure loss of the PVT-air evaporator based on micro heat pipe arrays was also 87% lower than that of the fin-tube heat exchanger. These results confirm the system's excellent performance, reliability, and potential for practical heating applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":419,"journal":{"name":"Renewable Energy","volume":"262 ","pages":"Article 125383"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146186262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}