ECEP-T580 Renewable Energy Sources

Course Introduction

Dr. Kevin Scoles

Associate Professor Emeritus
 Getting Started
What are we going to learn?
How will the course run?
Course textbook and software
Read the syllabus!

Introduction | 2

Welcome to Renewable Energy Sources. I’m Kevin Scoles, now an emeritus faculty member in ECE who taught in the Department for 40 some years. I developed this course
for the BGE Graduate Certi cate in Power Systems Engineering, so all the content is new for Spring 2025. The Blackboard Learn site is new as well. We’re going to look at
the engineering basis of the major renewable energy sources and how to design systems that use them. I taught an Introduction to Renewable Energy course to
undergrads at Drexel for many years, and there’s a de nite step up in complexity from that course to this one. I’m sure we’ll all do ne. Let’s preview what’s going to
happen this term, then do an energy overview.
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 What Are We Going to Learn?
Engineering basis of renewable energy sources
Solar, wind, geothermal, hydro
Important associated technologies
Energy storage, microgrids, etc.
Project design aspects
Site-speci c response, economics

Introduction | 3

The goal of the course is to leave with working knowledge of the major renewable sources and how they may be applied. Solar and geothermal are very interesting in that
they are applicable at individual, community, and industrial scales. You might not think of geothermal in that way, but we’ll look at some interesting new developments.
Hydro and wind are mainstays of renewables. More and more frequently, solar and wind installations are paired with energy storage, most often lithium-battery based.
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 How Will the Course Run?
The course is fully asynchronous
You control your schedule. New course material available Monday morning, with
assignments due on the weekend.
Weekly student hours
Scheduled instructor discussions directly or indirectly connected to course topics, or as
needed. Periodic class discussions with your peers.
Frequent progress feedback
Homework, midterm and nal exams, project

Introduction | 4

The course will be asynchronous, so you can choose when to get your learning done. I’ll post new material on the Learn site early Monday mornings. Generally, you should
work your way through the week’s post from top to bottom. There will usually be some extra material pulled from the web or publications for you to try as well. Your tasks
will be agged with due dates on Sunday evenings. I’ll be available for Zoom chats at scheduled times, and if these don’t work for you, just request an alternative. If email
works better for you, you can do that as well. Assessments for the term will include homework, two online exams, and a design project.
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 Course Textbook
Brand new, 2024
Rated for senior undergrad and grad
Authors both have a UK orientation. Both are IEEE
fellows.
Text has a mix of UK, US, and world info
Finances are often in British Pounds, but we’ll manage
There’s a refresher on EE topics in a tutorial at the
back of the book

Introduction | 5

The book is new to the world and certainly new to me. I’ve picked the chapters I want to hit, and I’ll supplement with outside material as needed. Jenkins is teaching in
Wales, and Ekanayake is in Sri Lanka, so that puts an international slant on the book, but that’s ne. Same engineering here and there. Some books I reviewed for this
course had an EE review up front, and we just don’t have time for that with 10 weeks. You can refer to the tutorials at the back of our book as needed. I know there’s a
reluctance to buy books, but this one isn’t outrageously priced. I am just learning the 2nd edition, so unfortunately I can’t tell you how close the 1st edition is to this one.
I encourage you to buy it, but I’ll try to make the course as independent of the book as I can.

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 HOMER Pro from HOMER Energy
Simulation, optimization, sensitivity
analysis
Site speci c: solar input, weather
Load speci c
Size generic hardware to optimize
economic solution to an off-grid or
microgram application

Introduction | 6

HOMER Pro is what we’ll use to do an energy system design in the second half of the term. HOMER Energy is part of UL Solutions, and calls their software, to quote, “the
global standard for optimizing microgrid design in all sectors, from village power and island utilities to grid-connected campuses and military bases”. You can download
HOMER Pro now using the instructions on the Getting Started page on Learn and play with it if you’d like. I’ll give you some exercises to do prior to getting into your
design project.
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 Syllabus
Course policies
Course schedule
Grade breakdown
Suggestions to help you succeed in this course

Introduction | 7

Please read the syllabus. It’s on the course Learn site. Let me know if you have any questions. Yes, it’s long, but it gives all the ins and outs of how the course works - the
policies, schedule, grading, and suggestions to help you succeed. Whenever there’s a change to the syllabus, I’ll let you know through an announcement in Learn.
 Good Energy Follows, Podcasts
• US Energy Information Administration (EIA) @EIAgov on X, eiagov on Facebook
• International Energy Agency (IEA) @IEA on X, @[Link] on Bluesky
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) @NREL on X, LinkedIn
• US Department of Energy (DOE) @ENERGY on X
• Volts Podcast [Link]
• Canary Media Newsletter [Link]
• Utility Dive - Renewables [Link]
• Know any others? Share with the class.

Introduction | 8

Textbooks are obsolete in some ways as soon as they’re published. The theory’s ne but the examples become outdated. I try to keep up with what’s happening on
energy hardware, interesting energy installations, and energy policy through online and other sources. I’ll bring some of what I see into the course and I encourage you to
do the same. There’s a spot in the Learn Discussions area for you to add your suggestions. Here are some of the places I follow on di erent platforms. I’m particularly
fond of the writing on Canary Media and what they choose to cover, and David Robert’s conversations with CEO’s, engineers, and others on Volts.
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 Issues and Motivations
Why is this course here?
We need a response to the observed
warming of the globe
A rise of 1.5 °C has already been seen
in some places

h ps://[Link]/news/science-environment-51111176

Introduction | 9

We’re in the midst of an energy transition, fueled by the need to cut CO2 and other greenhouse gases, support new energy-hungry applications, and capitalize on the
cost-e ectiveness of building and operating new energy sources over fossil fuel systems. The graph shows a steady rise in global mean temperature, with no natural
forecasts for reversal, highlighting the urgent need for human intervention. In our sector, this means replacing greenhouse gas-emitting sources with cleaner ones and,
whenever possible, actively removing these gases from the atmosphere. This course will delve into some of the major renewable energy sources.
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 Yearly temperature and precipitation compared to 20th-century average
Source: NOAA [Link]

You might have come across this temperature and precipitation stripe representation from NOAA. In this visualization, darker red and blue stripes indicate warmer and
cooler years, respectively. Similarly, darker green and brown stripes suggest wetter and drier years. Observing the right end of the top stripe, we notice a sequence of dark
red stripes, which are the outcomes of human-induced global warming. Notably, 2024 will also be marked by a dark red stripe. It’s evident that the average US
temperature is on the rise. While the precipitation stripes aren’t as pronounced, they show more green than brown towards the right end, indicating an increase in average
precipitation.
 Global Coal Consumption
Data from IEA report, Coal 2024 Analysis and forecast to 2027, Graph from B. German, Axios Energy & Climate, Dec 18, 2024

Atmospheric temperature increases are caused in large part by CO2 emissions, though methane also plays an important role, and the source with the most signi cant CO2
contribution is coal. As you can see on the graph, the US coal consumption in 2024 is less than half of that in 2000 due to plant closures and emissions controls. China
and India have been installing large amounts of renewables over the past few years, but this hasn’t yet led to reductions in their coal consumption.

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 Issues and Motivations (2)
Why is this course here?
We need a response to the observed
warming of the globe
A rise of 1.5 °C has already been seen
in some places
Electricity use patterns are changing
Energy source transitions
New energy demands
Rewiring America

Introduction | 12

New electricity demands are accelerating the imperative to provide new energy sources. These include electric vehicles and their chargers, data centers, support for AI
computation, heat pumps, and penetration into industrial processes. The demands spur new technology development, system design e orts, and employment in
engineering, installation, and maintenance.

It’s important to understand how renewable sources operate, where and when it makes sense to use them. Expanding and modernizing the distribution grid to support the
new sources is also a major issue, but won’t be a part of this course.

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 Energy Consumption Forecasts
World-wide expectations for growth in
energy consumption were 4% for 2024
and 4% again for 2025 (IEA)
EV’s, heat pumps, data centers + AI, net
infrastructure

“Data Center”, B. Mical, https:// [Link]/photos/small_realm/15995555571/in/pool-datacenter/, CC BY-NC 2.0

Introduction | 13

In 2020, EVs made up less than 2% of new car sales in the US, as reported by Cox Automotive and Canary Media. This number increased to approximately 8% last year,
with forecasts predicting it will reach 10% or more this year. Additionally, heat pumps are currently outselling gas- red furnaces. From 2000 to 2024, the estimated
energy use of US-based datacenters grew from 0.8% to 4.4% of the total US energy consumption. These signi cant shifts in the marketplace are going to demand more
energy.
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 U.S. energy consumption by source and sector, 2023 (Quads)
Graphic from EIA, [Link]

Here’s a big picture view of where US energy comes from and where it goes. I have an alternative view on the next slide. In 2023, renewables made up 9% of generation.
The majority of that went into the electric power sector, but it was only 10% of the energy input to that sector. The other major direct contributions from renewables were
to the transportation and industrial sectors. For those who haven’t seen the unit in a while, a quad is a unit of energy equal to one quadrillion (10¹⁵) British thermal units
or BTUs. To get kilowatt-hours from quads you multiply by 2.93071 times 10 to the 11th.
 Estimated U.S. energy consumption in 2023: 93.6 Quads
Graphic from LLNN, https:// [Link]/sites/ owcharts/ les/2024-10/[Link]

This graph from Lawrence Livermore provides a clear overview of energy movement from source to end use, with ow from left to right. The line width indicates the
volume of the ow, measured in quads. It’s important to note that electricity generation isn’t listed among the sources on the left because it involves energy conversion.
Petroleum makes the largest energy contribution, followed by natural gas. The Transportation sector is the largest consumer, and there’s signi cant potential to replace
petroleum with electricity here. Fossil fuel use in electricity and transportation results in substantial rejected energy—this is heat released into the atmosphere.
Transitioning to renewables can help reduce this waste.
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 Renewable Energy Source Developments
How much renewable capacity do we
have now?
What sources are dominating?
What’s going on in expansion of
renewable resources?

David Dixon / Walney O shore Windfarm / CC BY-SA 2.0

Introduction | 16

Let’s establish a baseline for renewable energy output in the US, how this energy is currently applied, what are the relative source outputs, and what the future trends look
like.
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 Energy Sources for Electricity Generation in 2023 (Billion kWh)

16
47
16 775
675 165

240 21.4% from Non-

894 Nuclear Renewables

425
1,802

Natural Gas Coal Petroleum Nuclear Wind Hydro Solar

Renewables Biomass Geothermal

Introduction | 17

Data from EIA show non-nuclear renewables’ contribution to electricity generation in 2023 to be about 21% of the US total. This is higher than that of nuclear and coal.
Wind is the largest renewable source, followed by hydro and solar. Hydro output has been steady over a long period and will likely be overtaken by solar in the near future.
 In 2024, 96% of New U.S. Power Plants were Carbon-Free

Introduction | 18

In very encouraging news, 96% of new US power plants of 1 MW or larger built in 2024 were carbon-free. 60% of the new output capacity was from solar, and 10% from
wind. Large battery storage sites added 23%. Natural gas plants made up only 4% of the new capacity.
 Lazard Levelized Cost of Energy+, 2024, h ps://[Link]/media/xemfey0k/lazards-lcoeplus-june-2024-_vf.pdf

Introduction | 19

Why do renewables dominate new large installations? Many types are less expensive, expressed as leveled cost of energy, than conventional energy sources. The LCOE is
an estimate of the full costs of a source over its lifetime and is useful when comparing di erent technologies on a cost per unit energy basis. In this graph, we’re looking
at cost per megawatt-hour. Utility-scale solar and wind, even when combined with energy storage, can be competitive with natural gas plants.
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 Wind and Solar Beat Coal on the U.S. Grid in 2024

Graphic Source: h ps://[Link]/latest-insights/six-highlights-of-the-global-energy-transi on-in-2024/

Introduction | 20

Looking at the percent share of electricity generation by source over the last two decades, you see one line trending down and two trending up. Coal output is in a steady
decline, and in fact dropped below that of wind and solar in 2024. Coal’s decline is being made up for by increasing contributions from wind, solar, and natural gas.
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 PJM 2024 Capacity Additions,
Retirements
Developers plan to add more than 10 GW of capacity across
PJM's mid-Atlantic footprint in 2024, including more than 9 GW of
solar, according to an analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence
data.

Of Note:

Apex Clean Energy Inc.'s 189-MW Timbermill Wind Farm in

Chowan County, NC, was the largest wind project in the queue
and began producing power on December 12, 2024.

Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google LLC has signed a power purchase

agreement for the full output of the Timbermill wind farm to help
power its datacenters in the PJM region.
[Link]
pjm-to-add-10-gw-of-renewables-but-no-new-gas-80992395

[Link]
electricity/article_9a373096-[Link]

Introduction | 21

Let’s focus on our local area and the PJM Interconnection, our regional transmission organization. In 2024, PJM was set to integrate 10 GW of new capacity into its region,
with 9 GW coming from solar energy. The orange circles on the map indicate new solar sites, and their dot size represents their capacity. Notably, Ohio and eastern
Virginia are signi cantly expanding their solar capacity. Among the few new wind projects is the 189 MW Timbermill Wind Farm in eastern North Carolina. This farm
features 45 wind turbines, each with a 4.2-megawatt capacity, capable of powering the average North Carolina home for over four hours with a single rotation. Annually,
Timbermill will produce enough clean energy to power 47,000 homes, though a power purchase agreement will channel this energy to datacenters within the PJM region.
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 PJM Historical Capacity Additions, Retirements (MW)
S&P Global, [Link]

This graph shows some recent developments in PJM’s territory. In this graph, capacity additions are shown above the zero line in MW, while system retirements are below.
Notably, coal plants only appear as retirements, with no new ones added. There are also retirements in the oil system. The most signi cant additions are gas plants, and
among renewables, solar is signi cantly larger than wind. This trend results in a net reduction of CO2 emissions. However, as of 2023, the system still maintains 221 GW
of capacity, with only 31.4 GW, or 14%, of renewables and storage.
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 Summary
Course Overview and Objectives
Course Format and Materials
Energy Transition and Trends
Renewables and Grid Integration
Market Shifts and Future Outlook

Introduction | 23

Let me try to put together a summary of what we’ve seen so far. This course, designed for the BGE Graduate Certi cate in Power Systems Engineering, will focus on
understanding major renewable energy sources like solar, geothermal, hydro, and wind, including their system design applications. There will weekly content updates on
Blackboard Learn, supplemented by homework, exams, and a design project using HOMER Pro for microgrid optimization.

Renewable energy sources, particularly solar and wind, are becoming increasingly important due to rising energy demands from electric vehicles, data centers, and other
sectors. Although renewables currently make up a small portion of total energy use, their share is increasing, driven by cost-e ectiveness and environmental bene ts.
PJM Interconnection, our regional transmission organization, is integrating signi cant solar capacity, re ecting a broader trend towards renewable energy.
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