Major Project Assignment

Here's the Major Project Guidelines from the AMME Site:

Major Project 2010

Project objective

The objective of this project is to undertake the concept design for a renewable energy based power station to supply the electricity needs of a town or city of your choice. You may choose any existing town or city in the world for your project. The power station must be designed to meet all of the electric mains power needs of the town. If you wish you may also use waste heat for cogeneration or trigeneration. You may use any renewable energy technology that is currently considered to be viable. If you wish, you may use a combination of more than one energy source.

Project Report

The report should be no more than 25 pages (single spaced font size 12) and must include the following sections. Introduction (20%) Explain the need to increase the use of renewable energy. Your introduction should include discussion of the following:

• Current trends and future projections for worldwide energy use and production and greenhouse gas emissions associated with this
• Past and projected future changes to the Earth’s climate as a result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the probable consequences of this
• What needs to be done at minimize the damage
• A brief description of your project

Energy source comparison (25%)

Consider at least 3 distinct renewable energy technologies or combinations of technologies that could possibly be used as a basis for your power plant. Discuss the pros and cons of each within the context of your particular situation. Distinct technologies are solar thermal, solar photovoltaics, biomass energy, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, wave, ocean thermal. Decide which you will use and clearly justify your decision. Here you should consider the following:

• Environmental impact
• Social and political factors
• Economics
• Current and projected state of technology

Powerplant Overview (45%)

Give an overview of your powerplant. This should include:  A schematic showing all of the major components and the interconnections between them

• A description of how the system works
• Basic design calculations and energy/efficiency calculations demonstrating that your plant will work and will produce the required power
• Justification for your design choices
• A discussion of how your plant is able to meet the electricity demands of the town including base, intermediate and peaking loads.

Environmental impact (5%)

Outline the likely impacts that your plant will have on the environment. Include a basic life cycle greenhouse gas analysis.

Comparison with fossil fuel based power generation (5%)

Compare the cost of electricity and environmental impacts of your power plant with the costs and impacts associated with generating the same amount of power using modern coal (anthracite and brown coal) and gas fired power stations. It is not necessary to do detailed costing and greenhouse gas emissions analyses here. Instead, base your comparison on published data for typical plants.

References

Assessment

• Presentation: 20%
• Final report: 80%

Groups: This project is to be done in groups of four or five students. Students are to organize themselves into groups. Each group must choose a group leader who will be responsible for organizing group meetings and resolving any issues that may arise during the project.

Important dates

• Monday & Tuesday 25th / 26th October. Final Project Presentations
• Tuesday 26th October 11am. Final Project Report due. Notes
• At least one hour of tutorial time will be set aside most weeks for groups to work on the project together.

If necessary, attendance at these tutorials will be used for assessing the contribution of individuals to the group effort.

• Presentations will be 15 minutes + 3 minutes of questions. Each student in a group must speak.