Darrell Ross

The title for this post is the title for my MS thesis. The abstract follows:

Abstract
A model for the creation of a distributed power generation system based on renew-
able energy sources while using existing fossil fuel sources to cover for power deficits
is proposed. Available renewable sources are modeled using stochastic processes to
describe their highly variant natures. Available non–renewable resources (e.g. captial,
fossil fuels) are inputs. The model will output a building schedule and timeline for
renewable based power generators optimizing for minimum cost and maximum energy
from renewable sources ending with 100% of power generated by renewable sources.
Using real data for Humboldt County, the model will show that such a system is fea-
sible and will describe how much it would cost to build and when it would be finished
given different starting scenarios.

Well the above abstract is interesting because I wrote it so long ago. Let me give a clearer version of that abstract now:

Abstract
A model for the creation of a distributed power generation system based only on renewable energy sources is proposed. Solar, wind, and wave energy provide the bulk of generation while biomass covers for intermittence. Using local hourly data for one year, the model assumes a new transmission system has replaced the current aging infrastructure. Using real data for Humboldt County, the model shows that such a system is feasible and describes several possible functional scenarios under which such a system could exist.

Still needs more polish.

Well I’ve been a bit distracted. The shiny fresh blog I created feels neglected now much like most of my websites I build for myself. At least this one still feels shiny.

After over a year working full-time for Humboldt Internet, I am changing to part-time starting next week. I am excited to have the extra time to devote to my thesis and at the same time apprehensive about the loss of nearly 1/2 of my monthly income.

In the past month, I have focused on acquiring data to use for my thesis. For solar data in Humboldt County, I chose to use the hourly data gathered by the HSU Renewable Energy Student Union (RESU) Solar Radiation Monitoring Station (SoRMS). The data is available on their site here.

One RESU member mentioned that I could acquire possible useful hourly wind and wave data from NOAA so I’ve been spending a week working on that. If I can make NOAA wind and wave hourly data applicable and useful, especially in time with the SoRMS data, then I will have the three intermittent power sources for my thesis running off of real data instead of theoretical data. This would help immensely since it is a “Feasibility Study” after all.

WordPress causes some problems when trying to use JavaScript inside a post. For that reason, I am going to create a very simplistic plain HTML & CSS section of my site that allows me to run as much code as I like.

I have dubbed it Chaos Section for now.