State of the Art of Electricity Generation (2007-2017)

The statistics for world energy consumption and electricity production in the last decade are presented to highlight the increment of the electricity share, compared to thermal usages and transportation, in the energy sector. The main technologies for electricity production from fossil fuels and nuclear power are summarised, indicating their characteristics, current plants, and emerging trends. Finally, the state of the art, regarding the technical applications of photovoltaic (PV) generators and wind turbines (WT), is presented.


Statistics of energy production and consumption
There is geera ccer abut ciate chage ad geera agreeet  its causes The use f fssi fues fr eectricity prducti rad trasprtati ad heatig buidigs is by far the st iprtat f these causes CP 21 i Paris (2015 1) fr the first tie described a geera agreeet ad paved the way fr ccrete actis which shud be udertae t itigate ciate chage Whie we are sti waitig fr such actis t bece rea it ight be usefu t exaie the treds i eergy csupti durig the past deceiu (20072017) the st recet fr which reiabe statistica data set is avaiabe with a specia fcus  eectricity prducti The fwig data set (Figs 1 thrugh 5) has bee extracted ad reeabrated fr Eerdata (2019 2) Gba eergy csupti has grw fr 117 t 136 bii ts f i equivaet (te) shwig a 162% grwth (Fig 1 C2 eissis have csequety as grw fr 28300 t 32600 Gt a icrease f 152% sighty wer tha the gba csupti icrease (Fig 2) The reducti f eissis i Eurpe CIS ad the Aericas (6% fr 146 t 137 Gt) has bee argey ffset by the 38% grwth i Asia fr 111 t 153 Gt I the sae deceiu gba eectricity prducti has grw fr 17100 t 22000 TWh a rate f 298% ast dube that f gba eergy csupti (Fig 3) The icreasig eectrificati f the wrd ecy has bee accpaied by a grwig ctributi fr reewabe surces which is e f the ey actis i reducig carb eissis I the 20072017 deceiu the istaed capacity icreased fr abut 1000 t 2195 GW (120%) aiy thas t the scaed ew RES (reewabe eergy surces ie phtvtaics ad wid) which icreased their capacity fr 100 t 942 GW (RE21 2018 3) Accrdigy the estiated eectricity prduced by reewabes has grw fr 3500 t ver 6200 TWh as see i Fig 4 which distiguishes hydreectricity gethera ad biass sar ad wid eergies The share f reewabes i eectricity prducti has icreased fr 177% t 243% Ast haf f the eectricity prducti icrease is due t reewabes     A cser exaiati f RES prducti is prvided i BP statistics 4 which icude a re detaied ist f cutries tha 1 It is wrth tig that BP statistics d t icude uicipa sid waste ad puped hydr Furtherre i the ast decade PV ad WT geeratrs have icreased their prducti eightfd fr sighty bew 200 TWh t ast 1600 TWh (Fig 5) I 2007 their share f the vera eectricity prducti was y 09% (ad 50% f reewabes) i 2017 they had reached 61% f the vera eectricity prducti ad 252% f the reewabes  At a cutry eve Fig 6 shws the tp 20 cutries accrdig t the share f RES It shud be ted that the tw tp cutries (rway ad Cbia) we their psiti i this raig ast excusivey t hydreectricity The re tha haf f the RES share i Dear Prtuga Geray Spai the U ad Begiu is due t PV ad WT geeratrs Uder the pit f view f PV ad WT the tp 20 cutries are shw i Fig 7 Dear is by far #1 with ast 45% f its eectricity geerated by wid (ad a egigibe ctributi fr PV) The cutries fwig Dear i this raig (ew eaad Spai Geray ad Prtuga) hardy reach haf f its share

State of the art of fossil fuel power plants
Varius studies idicate that i ay scearis the diat re f cvetia fssi fues wi t be dified i the ear future 5 The Iteratia Eergy Agecy (IEA) preseted tw scearis i the Wrd Eergy ut 2018 6 The ew Picies Sceari (PS) is based  existig ad auced eergy picies whie the Sustaiabe Devepet Sceari (SDS) is based  reachig bectives f ciate chage air quaity ad gba access t eergy The ai differece betwee these scearis fr 2017 t 2040 is that eectricity geerati fr ca surces reais ast stabe i the PS but reduces csideraby i the SDS Eectricity prducti fr atura gas has a reative icrease i the PS ad a sight reducti i the SDS The share f eectricity prducti fr i reais iited cpared t the ther surces ad decreases ver tie (re aredy i the SDS) Tday cafired pwer geerati has the argest share (37%) ag the eectricity geerati surces wrdwide 7 I recet years cafired pwer geerati has icreased i Asia (aiy i Chia ad Idia) but decreased i Eurpe ad i the US vera after a reducti i 2015 ad 2016 (2% ad 3% respectivey) there was a grwth f 3% i 2017 Se cutries have auced that they wi phase ut ca (fr exape by 2025 i the U) Phaseut f ca has bee auced i se cutries (by 2025 i the U) The techgies that geerate eectricity fr fssi fues are cassified accrdig t (Fig 8) • the type f fue used (ca igite atura gas r i) • the cversi prcess fr fue cheica eergy t thera eergy • the eectricity geerati stage i which differet types f turbies (gas turbie r stea turbie) are used t drive the eectrica geeratr 8 Fig. 8. Technologies that generate electricity from fossil fuels.
Tabe 1 presets se advatages ad iitatis f pwer geerati techgies that use ca gas ad i 9 Sice i is ess preferred fr pwer geerati tha ca ad gas the fwig subsectis specificay address ca ad gas pwer pats Sutis aied at ehacig the efficiecy f the therdyaic cyces used fr pwer geerati ad the devepet f carb capture ad strage uits have t be prted 10 The itegrated gasificati cbied cyce (IGCC) ad circuatig fuidised bed cbusti (CFBC) are ther advaced cafired pwer geerati techgies r ceaer ca techgies (CCTs) IGCC is the st advaced precbusti techgy ad icudes a cbiati f tw differet techgies (ca gasificati ad cbied cyce) 15 IGCC perates with efficiet highteperature gas turbies ad is highy efficiet 14 CFBC is the prevaet type f FBC fr pwer geerati CFBC pats use bed aterias (eg siica sad) fr the puverised ca cbusti r sid fues (at teperatures f abut 900C) t prduce heat The stea prduced iside the cbustr is used t geerate pwer i stea turbies 16 CFBC ffers specific advatages ver PCC due t the ixture f ca with ther fues icudig waste ad reduced quaity cas e f the curret prpsas is t devep carb capture ad strage (CCS) as a ew cea ca techgy CCS has evireta beefits but has a ipact  the efficiecy f the thera pwer pats The ethds used t capture C2 i pwer pats are pstcbusti precbusti ad xyfue cbusti 17

Gas power technologies
The gas pwer pats based  Fcass heavyduty gas turbies (HDGT) are the st diffuse tday at arge scae (abut 170300 W i the sipe cyce ad abut 450 W i cbied cyces) These turbies have firig teperatures f 13001400 C I spite f their gd avaiabiity ad reiabiity i the perid fr 2010 t 2015 the icrease i their diffusi has bee wer tha fr advaced G H ad cass gas turbies 18 The st effective suti fr argescae eectricity geerati is the atura gas cbied cyce (GCC) pwer pat i which a gas turbie tppig cyce prvides the heat t suppy a stea bttig Raie cyce GCC sutis ca achieve cbied cyce efficiecies f ver 60% with respect t the HV Supercritica C2based pwer cyces (sC2) are beig studied fr pwer geerati appicatis with cbied cyces The sC2 pwer cyce ca be used as a tppig cyce i fssi fues pwer pats r as a bttig cyce i gas cbied cyce pwer pats Aerderivative gas turbies have bee effectivey used i sige cyces fr sascae appicatis athugh their appicati i cbied cyces has t fud acceptabe cveiece yet Fr sascae appicatis cbied heat ad pwer sutis use atura gasfired itera cbusti egies ad icrturbies

State of the art of PV and wind power plants
The techica prgress f phtvtaic (PV) techgies ca be suarised i ters f cversi efficiecies f the cercia uit that is the PV due which icrprates des f sar ces ecapsuated t prevet daage fr evireta agets (sw hai wid UV rays ad dust) Techica iprveet i the wid turbie (WT) techgies is represeted by eargeet i the diaeters f turbies with threebade hritaaxis rtrs The curret situati regardig the cversi efficiecies f the PV dues fr appicatis at grud eve (sateite appicatis are t csidered here) is discussed i the fwig The ivative  crystaie siic techgies have the highest efficiecy (abut 22%) with a iprveet f 30% i the ast 910 years  the ther had the thi fis f cadiu teuride ad cpperidiugaiudiseeide reach efficiecies f 15% with iprveets f abut 50% The st widespread techgy is py crystaie siic techgy with efficiecies f 16-17% The vaues f efficiecy are ast cstat fr a wide rage f sar irradiace fr 02 W2 t 1 W2 A specific prperty f the PV techgy is its duarity which perits the rated pwer f a PV due (360 W) t scae up t the rated pwer f PV geeratrs f severa hudreds f iwatt that feed the iput f the pwer cditiig uits (DCAC cverters r iverters) I te years (fr 2005 t 2015) the typica diaeters f cercia wid turbies icreased by 40% fr 125  t 180  with a rearabe icreet i hub height The crrespdig rated pwers icreased fr 5 W t 10 W fr typica ffshre appicatis The cversi efficiecies are strgy variabe accrdig t the wid speed vaues WT efficiecies arud 4550% at reativey w wid speeds f 510 s ca be uch higher tha PV geeratr efficiecies evertheess the sae efficiecies bece reativey w ( 10%) at high wid speeds f 2025 s

State of the art of PV and wind power plants
This artice presets statistics regardig wrd eergy csupti ad eectricity prducti i the ast decade fcusig  eectricity prducti which teds t be prevaet i the eergy sectr with respect t heat ad trasprtati usages because eectricity is easy t aage ad trasit ver g distaces Varius techgies based  fssi (ca ad gas pwer pats) ad ucear (that is carbfree) fues were described i ters f cfiguratis sies perfrace ad future treds Sar phtvtaic ad wid geeratrs are aig sigificat ctributis t eectricity prducti gbay