Table of Contents
1. executive summary
2. Introduction
3. Demographics of Palm Island and their Healthcare Needs
4. Wind Generation of Power
5. Environmental Impact of Wind Generators
6. Storage of Electrical Energy
7. Proposed Wind Turbine Generator
8. Recommendation
9. Conclusion
10. Reference
Palm Island and Wind Generation
1. executive summary
The government of Australia has been able to initiate a project of improving the healthcare services provided in remote areas, particularly in the Palm Island. The project is to give incubators to safeguard the health of the premature babies and to avoid further risk for new born babies. However, the problem for this initiation is in line with the energy sources and to solve the issue, the government has partnered with Remote Power Inc for the development of Wind generation System. This report provides insightful details regarding the needs for the wind generation system that will provide continuous power supply for the incubators. It also includes the demographics of the people in Palm Island which comprises of approximately 2000 people. The paper also discusses the concept of wind generator power, the environmental impact of establishing wind generation system and storage of electrical energy and the sketch of the wind generation system to be used. In addition, it also provides recommendation on how the problem should be solved, specifically in line with the environmental impact. The report concluded that the Remote Power Inc. that would handle the project should ensure that the Wind generation system would be able to provide continuous energy supply in the island’s hospital.
2. Introduction
Realizing the importance of having optimal health among people, the government of Australia has aimed on improving the medical services and healthcare services among people, specifically in remote areas in Northern Australia. The Australian government is planning to establish a maternity-clinic on Palm Island off the coast of near Ingham in North Queensland. The government of Australia also planned to have an incubator to help preserve the life of premature and other at-risk new born babies, and this needs a 24/7 electricity supply. However, because of the rising cost of diesel, the government is in need of an alternative power supply which is much affordable, and they are thinking of a wind generation system as an alternative power supply. Primarily, the goal of this paper is to determine various wind generation system that would be suitable for the area. It has been noted that the area has a consistent off shore winds which are regularly between 20 km/h and 30 km/h.
3. Demographics of Palm Island and their Healthcare Needs
Great Palm Island most commonly known as a Great Palm Island is a tropical island having a resident community of approximately 2,000 people. The island is often described as a classical tropic paradise because of its natural endowments. The community which is generated by their history has been beset by various problems including the aspect of health. In the 2006 census, the island had 1,984 residents, in which 93.4% are of indigenous origin (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). The indigenous population of Palm Island generally determine with either the Manbarra (conventional connection) or the Bwgcolman (historical link with Palm Island) people. As compared with other regions or areas in the nation, the island community is much younger with 35.6% under 15 years of age and only 6.4% over 55 years of age. The life expectancy in the region is 50 years which is thirty less than that of the Australian average (ABS 2006).
It has been reported that the health conditions of the residents in Palm Island resembles those condition of a third world country (McDougall, 2006). Joyce Palmer Health Service which is based at the Palm Island Hospital is the one that provide services in the community of the island. The PIH has emergency departments with a 15-bed general ward to serve the residents. Although, it is said that the healthcare providers are doing their best to achieve optimal health among people, the issue of health in the community is still considered as one of the most critical issues, specifically for new born babies.
4. Wind Generation of Power
It has been mentioned that part of the healthcare service improvement in the Palm Island is the establishment of the incubator. In doing so, the Remote Power Inc. is in need of details of wind generation of power suitable for the consistent off shore winds in Palm Island.
The wind generator, most commonly known as wind mill or wind turbine is a device utilised for converting the power of the wind to mechanical rotation with a low velocity turbine which is designed for compressible fluids (Nelson, Gilmore & Starcher, 1993). Herein, the power that comes from the wind is being extracted by acting on a rotor or moving wing, which converts the power into torque (Spera, 1994; Ackermann, 2005).
It is said that the wind generators are not practical in various areas as the available power increases as the cube of the average wind speed. In this regard, an area with prevailing winds of 30 km/h is eight times as essential as an area with only 15 km/h. The general rule of applying or implementing wind generators is to apply it on areas where the average wind speed is greater than 20 km/h. Since, Palm Island has consistent offshore wind speeds which are regularly between 20 km/h and 30 km/h. It can be noted that the offshore wind turbines (Eggleston & Stoddard, 1987) can save money and less unsightly if shorter towers is used. Hence, the wind generator suitable for Palm Island is a shorter tower since it is an offshore wind. The power output from a wind generator is directly proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Wind generators ranges from small four hundred watt generators for residential use to several megawatt machines for offshore winds (Gipe, 1993; Introduction to Small Wind Systems, 1993) but since this will be used in hospitals for the incubators, other wind generator system can be considered to ensure that it will provide continuous electric power to run the incubators in the hospital.
5. Environmental Impact of Wind Generators
The underlying objective and need to which the Remote Power Inc is responding is to provide an alternative power supply facility which utilised the distinctive wind resources in waters offshore of the Palm Island through the use of a technology that is presently available, economically viable and technically feasible in the island which can interconnect and provide power supply to the Hospital of the island and make a substantial contribution to improving the healthcare services in the region and achieving renewable electricity (Cavallo, Hock and Smith, 1993) requirements under the standards of the Australian government and locals of Palm Island.
The wind generator system is the most feasible alternative energy supply to be used. However, the consideration of this alternative power supply has also some consequences, specifically in the environment. The determination and description of activities, operations, materials, equipments and processes of the construction of the wind generator in the Palm Island ha the potentialities to create impacts on natural environment. The environmental impact may occur under normal situation of the construction process and under the non-routine condition in the construction process. The environment impact of wind generation construction includes the destruction and disturbance of both land and water resources. The construction may have some pollutants that will damage the environment. Operation of the vessels that will be used which include those to be utilised during the decommissioning, construction and routine maintenance would have a possibility of creating bottom disturbance. Furthermore, the operation of vessels, which requires engine power for movement, as well as the combustion of fossil fuels, whether it is diesel or gasoline may results in the production of exhaust air pollutants. The release of these pollutants like carbon dioxide, sulphuric oxides, CO2 nitrous oxides, and water vapour can lower the quality of the air, and when the compounds precipitate out of the atmosphere into the land or ocean, can impact the quality of the water as well as plant growth and the health of both humans and animals (Gipe, 1993).
As with the wind construction project, various sold wastes would be produced within the staging area which ranges from the paper and wood materials to scrap metals, garbage, and most especially oily wastes and these can also provide environmental destruction if not properly dispersed. Furthermore, minimal disturbance might also occur in sand and sediments as a result of the pile driving operations and other environmental impact is the existence of floating trash and debris during the operation (Cavallo, Hock & Smith, 1993; Dodge, 1993).
6. Storage of Electrical Energy
Energy storage systems are considered as a modern means of adapting the variations of the demand for power to the given degree of power generation. In line with the use of Renewable Energies, in other types of distributed power generation, stored energy can be utilised also as an additional sources, or as the energy buffers in times of stochastic or non-schedulable generation, like wind power (Ackermann, 2005).
The Remote Power Inc can choose from a variety of electrical storage system for an alternative energy sources for the Palm Island. Some electrical storage technologies have been recognised into those which are intended firstly for high power ratings with a significantly small energy content that makes them suitable for the power quality.
7. Proposed Wind Turbine Generator
The following figure is the sketch of the proposed wind generator for the Palm Island.
Exhibit 1
Remote Power Inc.
Proposed Wind Turbine Generator
Palm Island
8. Recommendation
The problem faced in creating or implementing the Wind generation project includes the perceived environmental impact to the Palm Island. In this regard, it is highly recommended that the management of remote Power Inc along with the government representatives should ensure that the environment is protected from destruction and that the beauty of Palm Island would be preserved. In addition, it is also recommended that an appropriate and effective project plan should be considered to meet the goal of the Australian government and the goal of the implementation of Wind Generation System.
9. Conclusion
The report provides information on important aspects to be considered in the proposed wind generation project for the Palm Island, to provide continuous source of energy for the incubators to be established in the Island. In addition, it also provides information on the demographic profile of the Palm Island as well as the environment impact of the implementation of the Wind Generation Project in the island. Furthermore, this report also provides information on the importance of the storage of electrical energy, specifically in adhering to the needs of the hospitals and incubators to be set in the island as part of the Australian government initiative of providing quality healthcare services in remote area. It can be concluded that the company that would handle the project should ensure that the Wind generation system would be able to provide continuous energy supply in the island’s hospital.
10. Reference
8.1 Books
Ackermann, T 2005. Wind power in power systems. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, UK.
Cavallo, AJ Hock, SM, Smith, DR 1993. “Wind Energy: Technology and Economics.” Chapter 3 in Renewable Energy: Sources for Fuels and Electricity. Edited by T.B. Johansson, H. Kelly, A.K.N. Reddy, and R.H. Williams. Washington, DC: Island Press; pp. 121-156.
Dodge, DM 1993. “Wind Power Rising.” The World & I. Washington, DC: The Washington Times Corporation; pp. 187-193.
Eggleston, DM and Stoddard, FS 1987. Wind Turbine Engineering Design. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, Inc., pp. 352.
Gipe, P 1993. Wind power for home and business: renewable energy for the 1990s and beyond. Chelsea Green Pub.Co., Post Mills, USA, pp.157-175.
Introduction to Small Wind Systems 1993. Washington, DC: American Wind Energy Association; pp. 22
McDougall, S 2006. Palm Island: Future Directions – Resource Officer Report.Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy.
Nelson, V, Gilmore, EH, Starcher, K 1993. Introduction to Wind Energy. 93-3. Canyon, TX: Alternative Energy Institute; pp. 28
Patel, MR 2006. Wind and solar power systems: design, analysis and operation. Taylor & Francis, Florida USA, pp.25-31 and 61-69.
Spera, DA 1994. Wind Turbine Technology: Fundamental Concepts of Wind Turbine Engineering. No. 100368. Fairfield, NJ: American Society of Mechanical Engineers; pp. 700.
8.2 Internet
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008. 2006 Census QuickStats : Palm Island (S) (Statistical Local Area). Retrieve March 26, 2008 at http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=345155770&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401
Australian Bureau of Statistics 9 August 2006. “Census has not forgotten Palm Island”. Retrieve March 26, 2008 at http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/latestproducts/2903.0.55.002media%20release232006?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=2903.0.55.002&issue=2006&num=&view=
Queensland Government 1996. Health of Queensland’s Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Status Report. Retrieve March 26, 2008 at http://www.eatwellbeactive.qld.gov.au/publications/corporate/sr1/default.asp.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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