Herbert Leopold GABRYŚ
Power industry in Poland in 2018 ... from results of the last year and selected from challenges
Here is contained a judgement on the condition of power industry in Poland on the basis of figures for the previous year. It is concluded that, among others, economic indicators are good, energy efficiency of the economy is improving, there were no power supply interruptions last year because of insufficient generation, we got more accustomed to the strictness of improved standards not only from BAT regulations but also from the Winter Package, in the structure of electric energy generation the total production including RES was in the past year on the level of 14,1%, cumulative financial results of the power sector ensure more than 1/5 of the State budget revenues due to income tax in the group of industry. Small changes in the solid fuels consumption do not ruin the past trends in the primary energy consumption structure as these fuels in the last year were in this structure still on the level of a little more than 50%. The year 2017 was, in the last more than 20 years, the third one (after 2014 and 2016) of lower electric energy production compared to its consumption and reached positive balance of the energy foreign trade. Observed is a significant increase in power production from PV sources – by 53,4%. Continues the tendency to decline electric energy prices in the wholesale market. The volume of energy sold to end-users equal 133,7 TWh was bigger than the one in the preceding year by 2,6%. In total, the power sector on its energy activities – generation, electricity and heat trading, distribution for DSOs and electricity sale for PDSOs and POs – has achieved a profit of 7,82 billion, bigger from the previous year’s one by a little more than 53%. It is significantly better than in the year 2017.
Keywords: Polish power industry, economic indicators in 2018
Andrzej BIELECKI
Large vertical axis wind turbines – promising innovation
Alternative energy sources, including renewable energy and especially the clear one, show themselves as an attractive alternative for thermal and nuclear power plants. Large horizontal axis wind turbines have significant disadvantages that make their operation complicated. The obvious solution would be vertical axis turbines that can productively work in low wind speed conditions and are characterized by high efficiency. So, taking all this into account, ANew Institute company has started designing wind turbines with vertical axis of rotation. A specific testing ground was a small turbine ANew-S1 which was built with the aim to work efficiently in conditions of low and medium wind speed – data specified in this article show that the objective has been successfully achieved. The next, bigger version of a vertical axis wind turbine was the model ANew-S1m and, later on, on the basis of ANew-S1 a large turbine ANew-B1 was developed. This turbine has been built by Stalprodukt company within the framework of NCBiR project Demonstrator. It was placed in the town of Miasteczko Śląskie and now it is in a start-up phase. Constructional similarity of both turbines’ rotors gives ground for hope that the mentioned in this article advantages of the ANew-S1 turbine will be preserved in its enlarged version. The final conclusions will be taken when measurements are made after commissioning of the turbine.
Keywords: alternative energy sources, wind turbines, large vertical axis wind turbines
Piotr PLIS, Mateusz SKUPIEŃ
Independent expertise in the power market – practical approach
The general certification was completed on 29 May 2018 and on 5 September 2018 will begin the next stage which is the certification of capacity auctions. Owners of physical entities, that want to conclude a power agreement with an operator, will have to submit the application for issuing the certificate confirming establishment of a power market unit and at the same time entitling them to participate in the auction. This will require collection of the set of data and documents required by provisions of the Power Market Regulation and from a particular group of entities an additional presentation of an independent expertise will be needed. The research paper prepared by ENERGOPOMIAR specialists explains the importance of an independent expertise in power market processes and presents its thematic areas and elements of which, in the authors’ opinion, it should be composed.
Keywords: power market, creation of a power market unit, certificates, expertises
Ryszard NOWICKI
Assessment of dynamic condition of big steam TG units
National practice concerning the assessment of steam TG units dynamic condition is realized in different ways in various power plants. Until the late 1980s/early 1990s first of all the measurements of bearing pedestal vibrations were made. With the beginning of 1990s the measurements of rotor relative vibrations were introduced while still the seismic vibrations measurements of bearing pedestals were carried on. In this paper the following items were considered: API 670 and big unit vibrations monitoring, basic ISO standards useful for big unit vibrations monitoring, proposed selection criteria of type of measurements applied to rotating machinery, installation of shaft vibration sensors, traditional installation of seismic vibrations sensors, devations in applications of seismic vibrations sensors, correct installation of sensors on high-power turbines, national experience with measurements of rotor absolute vibrations, incorrect installation of sensors on turbines, protection of TG unit on basis of the obtained vibrations data. It is concluded that the best possible configuration of sensors on TG units ensures possibility of the most efficient use of a diagnostic system at the stage of a new unit start-up trials as well as the evaluation of correctness of repair works carried out during long years of a unit operation. It also enables early identification of technical condition deviation.
Keywords: big steam TG units, dynamic condition assessment, measurements of bearing pedestal vibrations, rotor relative vibrations, seismic vibrations
Eugeniusz SROCZAN
From a switch to IoT – evolution of electric installations functionality in buildings
Successive technological and functional changes of equipment together with cables and installation accessories, but most of all electric energy receivers, allowed more and more effective conversion of electric energy into the final energy form. New control systems basing on miniaturised systems of receivers supply automatic control enable optimization of energy consumption by the end user. Distribution of power consumption management that became possible through the application of IoT is of substantial importance for the work of a distribution network to which the prosumers are connected. IoT has also an impact on improving the comfort level of an electric energy consumer which at the same time is its producer – the prosumer.
Keywords: intelligent installations, prosumer, PV installations, IoT
Przemysław KORASIAK, Mateusz PŁAWECKI, Edward RÓWIŃSKI
Electric power generation of a liquid self-assembled drop on a semiconductor surface
The technological innovation of the direct conversion of solar energy to electricity plays an important role in electric power generation. Earlier discussions of band bending in a semiconductor contacting a metal and liquid electrolyte solutions containing redox couples with different electrochemical potentials should not overshadow the fact that under irradiation absorption of photons takes place in a solar cell, which can generate free charge for an electrical circuit. Here we propose new band bending of ZnO and Cu2O semiconductors induced by a liquid self-assembled microdrop of a physiological salt solution. The drop/semiconductor interface under incident light irradiation of 0,1 Wcm-2 exhibits a photovoltaic effect with efficiency of 19‒24% and enhanced electric power generation with electron or hole transport. We provide experimental and theoretical evidence that the architecture of the liquid drop/semiconductor interface will enable it to act as an electric power generator system in the near future.
Keywords: conversion of solar energy to electricity, semiconductors band bending, self-assembled microdrop, photovoltaic effect, interface liquid drop/semiconductor
Jerzy HICKIEWICZ, Piotr RATAJ, Przemysław SADŁOWSKI
Gabriel Sokolnicki – on the 140th birth anniversary
The year 2017 marked the 140th anniversary of the birth of Gabriel Sokolnicki. He was a student of Professor Roman Dzieślewski and in a most skilful way combined his work in the industry with educational activity as a professor at the Technical University of Lvov in the years 1921-1939. Later on he continued his work at the same university which was then transformed into the Polytechnic Institute when the Red Army began occupation of Lvov. In 1946, at the age of 69, he made a difficult decision to stay in Lvov, which at that time became a part of the Soviet Union. He was then explaining this move with his advanced age and he continued to work there until 1965. In the pre-war period he had had the great merit of electrification in Poland and especially in its south-eastern areas. He was a prominent activist of the Association of Polish Electrical Engineers where he acted in areas of electrical engineering regulations and the specialized vocabulary. As the mostly respected person he can be perceived as a figure connecting Polish and Ukrainian electrical engineering communities.
Keywords: Gabriel Sokolnicki, history of electrical engineering, Technical University of Lvov, electrification