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Status and potential of renewable energies in -

Seyedreza Baharisaravi MSc. Social and Economic Systems Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology [email protected]

Abstract

This article is intended to assess the potential and condition of Mazandaran province for using of renewable energy sources with particular focus on wind and solar energies. According to data and information from the world references, sun word maps and local investigations, shows that this area has middle potential and these kinds of energies can be obtained. Regarding the late of an article that was done in which is localed in the North of Iran by providing some data in a subjective and objective manner shows the potential of utilization of solar energy in Mazandaran province and gradually we could observe that northern provinces have an adequate potential for the direct transform of solar energy and consume the fossil fuels with conservation and saving depository. Furthermore, Based on the wind energy by the information that we obtained from Bobol and Chalous wind stations and from the local and experimental issues we can conclude that wind energy can be used in order to install small wind turbines. Finally according to expert’s experiences and some articles in the renewable energy fields, we can invest in the solar and wind aspects and infrastructures and also we should ponder in the tidal energy resources which also exist in this area.

Keywords: Mazandaran renewable energy, renewable energy, energy in Mazandaran

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Introduction Industrial development and related technology to improve the standard of living are demanding more energy. In recent years, the country concerns regarding the high use of fossil fuels and finite nature of their type of energy and increasing the production of fossil fuels and therefore elevates the pollution. Iran’s geographical position allows great amount of solar and wind energy to be utilized. Development of renewable energy in the country requires a correct policy, appropriate strategies, financing, promoting a general culture of society in this regard. Finally, planning and scheduling are the ways to achieve a high level of utilization of these energies. Iran is rich in renewable energy sources and nonrenewable. Iran's geographical position has caused a great source of solar and wind energy is in it. The renewable energy sources are free and environmental friendly. The decade long study of wind stations in Iran have shown that, many parts of Iran, including coastal areas of Oman and the Persian Gulf islands, coastal areas of the eastern provinces of Khuzestan and scattered points, such as: Manjil, Rafsanjan, Ardebil and Bijar are windy and especially, they have the adequate potential to produce electricity energy from wind in the summer season.

1-Some concepts:

1-1 Renewable energy:

Any naturally occurring, theoretically infinite source of energy, as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave and hydroelectric power, which is not derived from subterranean and nuclear fuels (dictionary.reference.com)

1-2 Mazandaran province position [1]: Mazandaran Province is a Caspian province in the north of Iran. Located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it is bordered clockwise by the Golestan, Semnan, Tehran, , Qazvin, and Gilan provinces. Sari is the largest and the capital city of Mazandaran province.

Mazandaran is one of the most densely populated provinces in Iran and has diverse natural resources, especially large reservoirs of oil and natural gas. The province's four largest counties are Sari, , Babol and Qaemshahr. Founded as province in 1937, Mazandaran was declared the second modern province after neighboring Gilan.

The diverse nature of the province features plains, prairies, forests and rainforest stretching from the sandy beaches of the Caspian Sea to the rugged and snowcapped Alborz sierra, including , one of the highest peaks and volcanoes in Asia, which at the narrowest point (Noshahr County) narrows to 5 miles.

Geography

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Mazandaran is located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. It is bordered clockwise by Golestan, Semnan and Tehran provinces. This province also borders Qazvin and Gilan to the west. Mazandaran province is geographically divided into two parts: the coastal plains, and the mountainous areas. The Alborz Mountain Range surrounds the coastal strip and plains of the Caspian Sea.

There is often snowfall in the Alborz regions, which run parallel to the Caspian Sea's southern coast, dividing the province into many isolated valleys. The province enjoys a moderate, subtropical climate with an average temperature of 25 °C in summer and about 8 °C in winter. Although snow may fall heavily in the mountains in winter, it rarely falls at sea level.

Population

The population of the province has been steadily growing during the last 50 years. The following table shows the approximate province population, excluding the Golestan province, which has separated as an independent province in 1998.

The population is of Caucasian Iranian stock with a minority of non-native neighboring Turkic tribes (esp. the Turkomen).

Year 1956 1966 1976 1986 1996 2006 2008 2011

Approximate population 835,000 1,250,000 1,596,000 2,275,000 2,602,000 2,922,000 3,090,000 3,070,000

2- Wind energy

The decade study of wind stations in Iran showed that many parts of Iran, including coastal areas of Oman and the Persian Gulf islands, coastal and eastern provinces of Khuzestan province with a few scattered points such as: Manjil, Rafsanjan, Ardebil Bijar are windy and they have the capacity of electricity producing by wind, especially in the summer. Also, in many other parts of the country at distinctive periods, there is the potential of electricity producing via wind energy. According to their research, based on wind speed, there are four groups: Group I, have high potential for wind at the most of the time windy, the second group, sometimes of the day can be high capacity, Group III, In the limited times, they have capacity and the fourth, some places don’t have enough potential to produce electricity by wind during the year [2]. Iran by having high potential regions for the production of wind energy and by being located at direction of major high currents has a good potential for the development of the yield from wind turbines and increase their production in order to produce electricity and conduct it into a nationwide network. Hence, one of the policies of the energy ministry is to develop wind electricity wind power

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plants in association with the private sectors and provide suitable conditions for the investment of private segment in this field [Iran Energy balance sheet 2010].

Figure 1- Global statistics of wind energy in the Middle East and Asia in 2011[3]

The highest annual average of wind speed in Iran belonged to Manjil wind station with 12.5 knots (25.6 meters per second) and after that Zabol station rank second with 12 knots(6 meter per second), which shows there is a big difference with other stations in the country. Then the Khor station in Birjand, Rafsanjan, Kish, Ardebil and Bijar have the annual average wind speed of 8 knots (4 meter per second). Also, Jask stations, Aligoudarz, Siri, Zarrineh, Torbat-e Jam, Bandr-e-mahshahr, Chabahar, Ardestan, Borujerd, Bostan, Abu Musa, Tabriz, Zahedan, Nojeh Hamadan, Sardasht, Nain and Kahnooj also have an annual average wind speed of 6 to 8 knots (3 to 4 meter per second). The lowest annual average wind speed of about 8.0 knots belongs to Kashan Station (4.0 meters per second) and the stations of Nishabur, Rasht, Boshruyeh, north of Tehran, Khoy, Astara, Kashmar, Minab, Yasouj, Fasa, Zarghan , , Shahr-e-kord, Gorgan, Parsabad, Khor and Biyabanak , Behbahan, Sarpol-e-Zahab, Tabas, Quchan, Qazvin and Dezful that have an annual average wind speed of 3 knots (5.1 meters per second).

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Figure 2- Distribution of the synoptic stations that have complete 10-year wind statistics [2]

Based on the annual average wind speed, the coastal areas of Oman and the Persian Gulf islands, coastal province of Khuzestan and eastern regions of the country, with a few scattered points such as: Manjil, Rafsanjan, Ardebil and Bijar are the most windy parts of the country, in contrast, the coast of the Caspian Sea, the southern slopes of the Alborz range and also the eastern and southern parts of the Zagros have the lowest speed of wind in this region. Among these, some parts should be considered: The first station is located in Minab( the coast of Oman), but this area in comparison with other regional sites has the very low average wind speed. Regarding to the wind speed and wind energy atlas map (Figure 5), the coasts of the Caspian Sea, the southern slopes of the Alborz and the eastern and southern foothills of Zagros have the slowest wind power in the country and also there are 15 synoptic stations in this province.

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Figure 3- mean wind velocity at height 40m [4]

In one of the recent analysis which has happened at the Baladeh wind station obtained results that indicates as follow. Baladeh is a city in and the capital of Baladeh District of , Mazandaran Province, Iran. Baladeh is situated on the and is located at the 36°12/07//N 51°48/36//E. At the 2006 census, its population was 1,134, in 339 families. This has started its activity since September 2006 as a synoptic station and metrological information from it with the frequency of five times a day at 03,12,09,06 and 15 by UTC is recorded. In this article from the recorded statistical data, speed of the wind and its direction from the establishment of the station until the end of the year 2009 with the length of 40 months which includes 7900 records of wind speed and direction that we can use and process. The most prominent reason for choosing Baladeh station among 15 stations is this that the average of wind speeds in this station is higher than other stations. The average annual speed of wind in 4 years period from 2006 till 2009 in this station is 3.50 meter per second that is the highest speed among all stations in the province. Therefore, it seems that from the perspective of wind energy potential and energy production it has the highest potential in the province. Regarding the table of classification of wind speed and calculation of wind speed, we can reach to the following conclusion [5].

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Distribution of synoptic weather stations in Mazandaran [5]

Table 1- Classification of wind power position Wind power density 50meter(W/m2) Wind power class weak 0-200 1 average 200-300 2 Fairly good 300-400 3 good 400-500 4 Very good 500-600 5 excellent 600-800 6 pluperfect 800-2000 7

The synoptic metrological station in Baladeh is at the 2120 meter altitude from the sea. The average wind speed in this station is 3.6 meter per second that it is at the highest amount the 15 synoptic stations in Mazandaran . From this point, the data about speed and direction of the wind at this station was analysed by windographer software. The average of wind speed from September 2006 until 2009 which is around 7900 data is reveals in the diagram 7 as follow [5].

As it can be seen in the bar chart 8, the density of the wind power in the month of June, July and August, 3 warm months of spring and summer exceed 2000 watt every square meter that this indicates the mean potential in these months. The average speed of 10 meter wind at the Baladeh station is 3.6 meter per second that is the highest, although, this average value of wind speed in the warm months, from May to September, exceeds 4 meters per second. Regarding, the Windrose that is drawn from the observations we can see that, a high amount of wind is in the directions of South, North East and North, North West. by using a Weibull probability distribution function for wind set 10 meters from

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the station, and calculates the ratios of K, C through using the method of Maximum Likelyhood , we knew that the density of wind power at the 10 meter is 44.1 meters and 13.5 meters per second using these values, average annual wind power density at 10 m height is 98/74 watts per square meter and at 50-meter height is 40/147 watts per square meter, that this amount of wind power locates in the weak potential segments. But the density of wind power at 50 meters in June, July and August, three warmest months the year in (spring and summer) is more than 200 watts per square meter, that this condition indicates average potential in these two seasons, although, the abundance of windy condition in South, North East and North West direction would be more. But the density of wind power in the North West is much more than the other direction [5]. In a study carried out in the area of Chalus,we find out that due to low production of wind energy by the turbine (493 kWh / yr) and low coefficient factor (6/5%) and with low monthly average wind speed (less than 4m / s),installing the small wind turbines isn’t economical in this area and based on the data that obtained from this study, this zone does not potential to produce electricity, but it will probably be able to provide adequate electricity for utilization of mechanical applications such as water pumping[6]. Figure 8

3- Solar energy

Now days, renewable energies as a clean and cheap energy, being used in the various fields for providing sufficient energy that is suitable alternative for the fossil fuels, regarding to the latest studies in the German Aerospace Center (DLR), more than 77% of electricity and 70% of heat (including solar collectors, biomass, earth heat) of the world requirements will have been accommodated by renewable energy and the capacity of these kind of energy power plants will be more than 9100 GW in 2050. In our country, more efforts and planning have begun to recognize the potential of renewable energy, especially solar energy and implementing more and more of renewable energy since 1991. Iran, because of being in the solar radiation belts has a high potential for using solar energy. Furthermore, the 90% of the country has more than 300 full sunny days. The amount of Sunday in different parts of Iran has been estimated between 1800 to 2200 KWh per square meter per year which is higher than the world average [7]. This kind of energy is one of the world’s best renewable energy that gradually is developing its position as a clean and cheap energy in the developed countries. Due to the geographical location of Iran, some areas have suitable potential to use and set up appropriate systems. As it is shown in figure 9, figure 10 and figure 11, the potential of solar energy in Iran is obvious and the central and eastern regions of Iran have the potential to use their energy. The ray of the sun is effective on all environmental and terrestrial processes and also plays a very essential role

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on human activities. In addition, The Hours of solar radiation emitting that is the only reliable and available time, in order to assess the needed data and information for reaching to the highest accurate amount of solar radiations on the ground [8].

Figure 9- World map of horizontal irradiation

Figure 10- Solar radiation map

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Figure 11- the potential of solar energy in Iran

As it can be seen in figure (12) and Table 2, Mazandaran has moderate or low potential for installation and use of solar energy and some researches in this field has been done. [8]

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Angstrom coefficients depends on the situation of regional climate with regards to the köpen classification that considers rain and temperature, and also the hours of solar radiation, that classifies five climatic region for Iran[6]. Table 2- Angstrom coefficient Climate category a b 1 0.352 0.373 2 0.317 0.386 3 0.343 0.347 4 0.360 0.359 5 0.404 0.204 Recent research has shown that, the climate classifications of some cities of the province are as follow that indicates the low potential of province to use the solar energy.

Table 3- Angstrom coefficient some of provincial cities city Climate category Sari 5 Ramsar 5 Amol 4 Noshahr 5

In one study that was carried out in Babol (36.33 degrees north and 52.40 degrees east), and the University of Mazandaran Noshirvani , With regards to the non-scientific belief that the northern regions of Iran are not suitable for using solar energy, the group of long-term (one year) measurements was carried out in the courtyard of the Noshirvani complex of technical and engineering . The measured parameters include temperature and the amount of radiation that was emitted on the horizontal surface. It should be noted that there are three methods for determining the amount of solar radiation in a region. The first method is to use mathematical formulas and calculations. The second method is based on satellite measurements of the distance and the third method is that the direct measurement in the place. The maximum sun radiation reported in June was 165.3 and the minimum amount of solar radiation reported in December was 59. It should not sound that, the time of utilization of solar energy, the solar collector should be installed at an angle of 45 degrees, which causes a significant increase in the total energy utilization [9].

Table 4- Monthly radiation per year

March Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug July June May Apr month 101/6 60/1 59/3 59 66/9 87/2 120/4 153/8 159 165/3 92/1 103/1 Kwh/m^2 Least Most comments radiation radiation

According to this table, the average monthly radiation is 101.6 and the total annual radiation is 1219.3. Sunny day, as defined, is the day when the sun radiation is greater than 2, in the diagram below it can be seen that, the trend of the sunny days change in each month of the year.

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Figure 12. The radiation changes in each month[9]

Figure 13

In the table 3, a comparison between the average solar radiations among the selected cities of the world has been done. It appears clearly that the city of Babol has a very good potential in comparison to other cities in the world.

Table 5- Comparison of the average solar radiation in selected cities Average monthly sun radiation per day Geographical position Station: Country and city 2,18 (KWh/m2) 51,48 N , 7,22 E Bochum , Germany 2,98 (KWh/m2) 35,68 N , 139,77 E Tokyo , Japan 3,09 (KWh/m2) 50,45 N , 14,17 E Czech Republic 3,38 (KWh/m2) 36,33 N , 52,40 E Babol , Iran 3,60 (KWh/m2) 43,67 N , 79,40 W Toronto , Canada 3,71 (KWh/m2) 45,75 N , 4,83 E Lyon , France 3,82 (KWh/m2) 41,80 N , 12,60 E Italia 4,23 (KWh/m2) 31,28 N , 121,47 E Shanghai , China 4,37 (KWh/m2) 22,30 N , 114,20 E Hong Kong 5,37 (KWh/m2) 19,28 N , 70,92 W San Francisco , USA

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According to the obtained results, during the past year in the city of Babol, it has been shown that, on average, the monthly energy is 101.6 and the total annual solar energy that is emitted on the ground is 2.1, that indicates, the northern provinces have the good potential to use solar technologies in order to reduce the fossil fuel consumption in this province. It has been shown that, there are 22.75 sunny days per month on average that shows the indicated claim. Regarding to table 5, it seems that, Bobol has appropriate position of the sun radiation in comparison to other cities in the world [9]. 4- What is the photovoltaic issue?

It is a phenomenon that because of it and without the use of mechanical mechanisms, the radiation energy is converted to electrical energy and any system that uses this feature, it is called photovoltaic system [4]. Advantages: 1. The direct conversion of solar energy into electrical energy 2. No need to use fossil fuel or cross country electrical system 3. The lack of noise and environmental pollution 4. Ability to produce electricity at the exact place of consumption with different potentials proportional to the need of consumer 5. Easy to install, operation and utilization 6. Ability to install on the structure or on the roofs of houses and the ability to store energy in batteries 7. Providing the electricity energy in the remote areas, outside the cross country electrical system and impassable places 5- Evaluation of the potential of other energies:

The utilization of energy from sea waves as a renewable energy source has been attracting attention much more than before. Assessing the average depth of the Persian Gulf, Oman Sea and the Caspian Sea shows that the Persian Gulf (with an average depth of 60 meters) and the shallow waters of the Caspian Sea and sea of Oman (except for coastal areas) are part of the deep waters. In fact, the wave energy can be seen as the sum of its kinetic energy and potential energy. The amount of this energy per unit area (of the crown and a single wavelength) for a single simple sinusoidal wave is obtained from the following equation [10]. E= (PgH2)/8 that, H=Height of wave, P= water density and g is the acceleration of transport. Overall, the Seas, with different physical processes, receive and store the energy and then lose it. This energy can be used as waves, tides, the temperature difference and the difference in salt concentration of sea water at various depths of seas. The wave energy is the transferred mechanical energy from wind that the waves with short period, it stores as the potential energy and kinetic energy in itself. The obtained wave energy in coastal areas is estimated about 2 to 3 million megawatts. Another type of tidal energy is affected by the rotational movement of the Earth and the Sun and the Moon's gravity that stores with the long periods waves that by establishing of a dam at the entry point of the tidal region can be used. The largest tide station site in the world is the electricity power plant in France which produces 240 megawatts electrical energy now days [11]. There are a lot of technologies for producing electricity from sea waves, but to do that, we must design and deploy a lot of equipments that have high producing cost because of high rate of abrasion. While, the principal Seareader equipments that produce electricity, there are on the land. The up and down of the small sea waves in the calm days can be use in order to pump the water to the land. This pump consists of two vertical pistons that is one of them floats and it moves up and down with the motion of the water. Other piston is fixed in the depth of water and it is attached to a heavy weight on the sea floor. By moving the movable piston, the sea water is pumped through pipes to the beach. These pipes can be connected directly to a turbine and produce electricity. Another way is that, storing water in a reservoir at the high altitude above sea level and puts of turbines over the sink drain to the sea. In this way, the fluctuations in the amount of the produced electricity are removed. The Ecotricity Company for development of the second phase of the project is looking for funding. The aim of this company is that the lunch of this commodity in to market [12].

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6- Conclusion

This report discusses to assess the potential and opportunities of the province in the exploitation of renewable energy and implementation of its technologies with an emphasis on solar and wind energy. This province has great potential for the use of solar energy. Currently, four projects of providing electricity by solar energy have been done in Sari and . Kejirostaq village in zone with 5 kW source, Shrine of Ali in Emre village of Sari with 1 kilowatt, and the Holy Shrine of Ibrahim in Hezar Jerib with 2 K, Holy shrine of Yahya Sika in Neka with 5 kW power and use of supply 2 kilowatt energy with wind energy. Furthermore, the authorities of Mazandaran allocate some loans to private and governmental firms to extend using of renewable energy such as installing the sheets of solar cell on roofs of schools and mosques. The operations cost of these projects in these villages has been approximately $32.547 that by the use of solar systems and its technology, we can save $ 7 billion riyals. For doing these projects that include the one-kilowatt and 24 volt packages that has 24 unit cells with 16 volt and 48 watts and also a eight battery with 100 ampere-hours, a Vanuter control charging device and a standing panel are used and the installation of these systems we can use the battery stored electricity up to 50 hours, and the amount of electricity production in cloudy days is 3 to 4 ampere and in the sunny days is 30 to 40 ampere [13]. The average of 10 meters, wind speed is 6.3 meters per second at the station knows that is the highest among the 15 synoptic stations in the province, bear in mind, in warmer months, from May to September, the average rate is more than 4 m Seconds that we use wind turbines to produce electricity and also by regarding the indicated data in Chalous region we can suggest that based on the wind speed in the 7 months we can utilize small turbines for agriculture use such as water pumps. In addition we Can use the Caspian coast sea wave energy that the turbine and generator which are deployed on the beach, the waves that come ashore conduct the air into turbines and rotate them and this rotation cause the rotation of the generator in order to produce electricity also this air when come back to the sea can rotates the turbines again and produce extra electricity which overcome the electricity requirement of coastal region at least.

References

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1- http://www.mstp.ir/en/component/content/article.html?id=21:About_Mazandaran_Province 2- Assessment of wind energy potential in the country - 20 years of geography and environmental planning serial number 36 and No. 40 Winter 1388, pp. 100-85 3- GWEC, www.GWEC.com www.market-researcher.ir

4- Renewable energy organization of Iran (SUNA) 5- Seyedbagher Soltani 1, Mosayeb Rezaie Mahmoudi 2, Mansour Azizkhani 3, Mojtaba Zojoudi 4. Investigating of the potential of wind energy for feasible establishment of the wind power (Case Study, Baladeh synoptic stations)

6- Mojtaba Nedaei. Wind Energy Potential Assessment in Chalus County in Iran

7- www.IRSEIA.com

8- Sam Moini, Shahram Javadi2, Mohsen dehghan manshadi3 . Feasibility Study of Solar Energy in Iran and Preparing Radiation Atlas

9- Hesam Taherian, Ehsan Mohseni Langouri. Assessing the potential of solar radiation with the energy approach in Babol, Mazandaran, Iran

10- Mohammad Hadi Afshar, Sirous Ershadi. Estimating of the wave energy of the coasts of Iran

11- www.NIGC-Mazandaran.ir

12- http://westerman.ir/archives/444

13- The Mazandaran news site of the Electricity Distribution Company - www.saba.org.ir

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