Conclusions and Future Work

While our goals changed throughout the research process, we have made great strides in assembling the data necessary for this research project, further defining the project's direction, and developing methods for analysis.

For the wind data, we have successfully taken NREL’s data from the EWITS study, used it to calculate important values like capacity factors, and implemented this information in the form of a Microsoft Access Database. We have developed a product that could be of great use to power developers and could create more interest in renewable energy solutions; because our database presents important capacity factor and rated capacity information in a convenient, easy-to-use format, developers may use our database and be more inclined to investigate renewable solutions. In addition to creating a database, we have also moved on to the analysis portion of our research and have developed a procedure for generalizing capacity factors to different zones within a state.

For the solar data, we have developed the proper methods to calculating capacity factor and determined the proper source of data for feasibility analysis. By understanding the factors involved in PV solar production, we have initiated a database that can be completed with updates to current modeling software to reflect the TMY3 data. Our efforts will provide developers with necessary data in an easily-accessible and user-friendly format to promote consideration of all all areas of the U.S. for solar development. By zoning regions, it will make it easier to rate locations by capacity factor and determine the weight of capacity on the overall feasibility of a project. By looking at financial models, as demonstrated in our simple case study of Southern California, we can start to look at other factors that affect developers' decision to invest in renewable energy.
 
In the future, we would like this project to evolve into a university-wide research effort that involves students from many different backgrounds. Some future directions and potential related research projects include:
  • Begin investigating factors other than the availability of natural resources, such as legal and environmental issues
    • Eventually quantize how important these factors are for site selection and develop a point ranking system developers could use for site selection purposes
  • Investigate ways for making wind and solar facilities less subject to variation and more reliable for electric suppliers
    • Could involve optimization problems and some sort of economic (stochastic) planning problems
  • Investigate ways for making wind and solar facilities more affordable
    • Could involve proposing tax credits for wind and solar facilities or determining how tax credits could effect the number of wind and solar facilities
  • Add more information to the database
    • Could add real wind speed data from weather stations
 
 
 

NREL Map of Infrastructure and Potential Renewable Energy Sources