Electricity Production from Renewable Energies

Energy and environmental issues have caused a marked increase inelectricity production from renewable energy sources since thebeginning of the 21st Century. The concept of sustainabledevelopment and concern for future generations challenge us everyday to produce new technologies for energy production, and newpatterns of use for these energies. Their rapid emergence can makethe understanding and therefore the perception of these newtechnologies difficult. This book aims to contribute to a betterunderstanding of the new electricity generation technologies byaddressing a diverse audience. It presents the issues, sources andmeans of conversion into electricity using a general approach anddevelops scientific concepts to understand their main technicalcharacteristics.Systems of electricity generation from renewable energy resourcesof small to medium powers are presented. The basic electricalconcepts necessary for understanding the operating characteristicsof these energy converters are introduced, and the constraints andproblems of integration in the electrical networks of those meansof production are discussed. Several exercises are provided to thereader for evaluation purposes.Contents1. Decentralized Electricity Production from Renewable Energy,Benoît Robyns.2. Solar Photovoltaic Power, Arnaud Davigny.3. Wind Power, Bruno Francois and Benoît Robyns.4. Terrestrial and Marine Hydroelectricity: Waves and Tides,Benoît Robyns and Antoine Henneton.5. Thermal Power Generation, Jonathan Sprooten.6. Integration of the Decentralized Production into the ElectricalNetwork, Benoît Robyns.