Adaptation and change in Queensland’s rangelands : cell grazing as an emerging ideology of pastoral-ecology

Does the current global political economic framework, or more specifically, the cost-price squeeze associated with primary production, restrict the choices of Australian cattle graziers in moving to more sustainable practices? It has often been argued by primary producers and academics, alike, that current terms of trade have resulted in reduced profitability at the property level, and as such, have made it difficult for landholders to shift to practices which are environmentally sustainable. Whilst there is mounting evidence that this is case, there is also evidence that some graziers have been able to adapt to the prevailing market conditions through an ideological as well as ‘practice’ shift. Findings from qualitative research in Central Queensland, Australia has highlighted how ‘cell grazing’ departs from the traditional or conventional aspects of grazing which can be described as productivist, to an approach closely approximating Lang and Heasman’s (2004) ‘ecologically integrated paradigm’. It is argued that cell grazing is, at present, a marginal activity that requires an ideological and cultural shift, as well as an investment in new infrastructure, however, current cell grazing activities may also demonstrate that beef grazing has the potential to be both economically and environmentally sustainable.

A toothless chihuahua? : the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, neoliberalism and supermarket power in Australia

During the Senate Inquiry into 'milk price wars' in 2011, Senator Nick Xenophon accused the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of being 'less effective than a toothless Chihuahua'. This follows the ACCC's lack of action regarding the reported abuse of market power of Australia's supermarket duopoly, where an extensive inquiry into the competitiveness of retail prices in 2008 found grocery retailing to be 'workably competitive' despite numerous claims to the contrary. How can farmers' submissions to the inquiry that cite market abuse be reconciled with the ACCC's finding that all is well in the food supply chain? Following an in-depth examination of 53 farmer submissions to the inquiry, we conclude that the findings of the ACCC are commensurate with the neoliberal economisation of the political sphere, where commercial entities 'legitimately' govern beyond their corporate boundaries, often using disciplinary measures that were once exclusive to governments. We argue that such clear structural inequalities between farmers and major corporations is reason to re-regulate markets and reinsert a stronger role for government to 'level the playing field'.

Product ecosystems : an emerging methodological approach to study the implementation of disruptive innovations : the case of the CityCar

The car has arguably had more influence on our lifestyle and urban environment than any other consumer product; allowing unprecedented freedom for living, working and recreation where and when we choose. However, problems of pollution, congestion, road trauma, inefficient land use and social inequality are associated with car use. Despite 100 years of design and technology refinements, the aforementioned problems are significant and persistent: many argue that resolving these problems requires a fundamental redesign of the car. Redesigned vehicles have been proposed such as the MIT CityCar and others such as the Renault Twizy, commercialized. None however have successfully brought about significant change and the study of disruptive innovation offers an explanation for this. Disruptive innovation, by definition, disrupts a market. It also disrupts the product ecosystem. The existing product ecosystem has co-evolved to support the conventional car and is not optimized for the new design: which will require a redesigned ecosystem to support it. A literature review identifies a lack of methodology for identifying the components of product ecosystems and the changes required for disruptive innovation implementation. This paper proposes such a methodology based on Design Thinking, Actor Network Theory, Disruptive Innovation and the CityCar scenarios.

Power sharing control with frequency droop in a hybrid microgrid

A microgrid may contain a large number of distributed generators (DGs). These DGs can be either inertial or non-inertial, either dispatchable or non-dispatchable. Moreover, the DGs may operate in plug and play fashion. The combination of these various types of operation makes the microgrid control a challenging task, especially when the microgrid operates in an autonomous mode. In this paper, a new control algorithm for converter interfaced (dispatchable) DG is proposed which facilitates smooth operation in a hybrid microgrid containing inertial and non-inertial DGs. The control algorithm works satisfactorily even when some of the DGs operate in plug and play mode. The proposed strategy is validated through PSCAD simulation studies.

Investigation of the effects of various types of wind turbine generators on power-system stability

It has become more and more demanding to investigate the impacts of wind farms on power system operation as ever-increasing penetration levels of wind power have the potential to bring about a series of dynamic stability problems for power systems. This paper undertakes such an investigation through investigating the small signal and transient stabilities of power systems that are separately integrated with three types of wind turbine generators (WTGs), namely the squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG), the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), and the permanent magnet generator (PMG). To examine the effects of these WTGs on a power system with regard to its stability under different operating conditions, a selected synchronous generator (SG) of the well-known Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC three-unit nine-bus system and an eight-unit 24-bus system is replaced in turn by each type of WTG with the same capacity. The performances of the power system in response to the disturbances are then systematically compared. Specifically, the following comparisons are undertaken: (1) performances of the power system before and after the integration of the WTGs; and (2) performances of the power system and the associated consequences when the SCIG, DFIG, or PMG are separately connected to the system. These stability case studies utilize both eigenvalue analysis and dynamic time-domain simulation methods.

Development route of the wind power industry in China

Wind power is one of the world's major renewable energy sources, and its utilization provides an important contribution in helping solve the energy problems of many countries. After nearly 40 years of development, China's wind power industry now not only manufactures its own massive six MW turbines but also has the largest capacity in the world with a national output of 50 million MW•h in 2010 and set to rise by eight times of that amount by 2020. This paper investigates this development route by analyzing relevant academic literature, statistics, laws and regulations, policies and research and industry reports. The main drivers of the development in the industry are identified as technologies, turbines, wind farm construction, pricing mechanism and government support systems, each of which is also divided into different stages with distinctive features. A systematic review of these aspects provides academics and practitioners with a better understanding of the history of the wind power industry in China and reasons for its rapid development with a view to enhancing progress in wind power development both in China and the world generally.

Digital tablets as a tool for blended learning in power engineering education

Digital tablets have been identified as a tool for enabling blended learning and supporting online teaching and learning. A small scale trial was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of this technology when applied to power engineering education. Critical findings and experiences gained from this trial, including potential benefits, presentation techniques and the resulting student feedback are presented in this paper.

A new approach for evaluating the benefits of smart grid development

In this paper, the inherent mechanism of benefits associated with smart grid development is examined based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model from resource economics. The emerging types of technology brought up by smart grid development are taken as pressures. The improvements of the performance and efficiency of power system operation are taken as states. The effects of smart grid development on society are taken as responses. Then, a novel method for evaluating social benefits in energy saving and CO2 emission reduction from smart grid development is presented. Finally, the benefits in a province in northwest China is carried out by employing the developed evaluation system, and reasonable evaluation results are attained.

Wide-area control of aggregated power systems

This paper proposes a new method for stabilizing disturbed power systems using wide area measurement and FACTS devices. The approach focuses on both first swing and damping stability of power systems following large disturbances. A two step control algorithm based on Lyapunov Theorem is proposed to be applied on the controllers to improve the power systems stability. The proposed approach is simulated on two test systems and the results show significant improvement in the first swing and damping stability of the test systems.

Identification of reduced models of power system areas using phasor measurement units

In this paper an approach is presented for identification of a reduced model for coherent areas in power systems using phasor measurement units to represent the inter-area oscillations of the system. The generators which are coherent in a wide range of operating conditions form the areas in power systems and the reduced model is obtained by representing each area by an equivalent machine. The reduced nonlinear model is then identified based on the data obtained from measurement units. The simulation is performed on three test systems and the obtained results show high accuracy of identification process.

Control, operation and power sharing among parallel converter-interfaced DERs in a microgrid in the presence of unbalanced and harmonic loads

This paper demonstrates power management and control of DERs in an autonomous MG. The paper focuses on the control and performance of converter-interfaced DERs in voltage controlled mode. Several case studies are considered for a MG based on the different types of loads supplied by the MG (i.e. balanced three-phase, unbalanced, single-phase and harmonic loads). DERs are controlled by adjusting the voltage magnitude and angle in their converter output through droop control, in a decentralized concept. Based on this control method, DERs can successfully share the total demand of the MG in the presence of any type of loads. This includes proper total power sharing, unbalanced power sharing as well as harmonic power sharing, depending on the load types. The efficacy of the proposed power control, sharing and management among DERs in a microgrid is validated through extensive simulation studies using PSCAD/EMTDC.

Voltage regulation, power balancing and battery storage discharge control by smart demand side management and multi-objective decision making

A novel intelligent online demand side management system is proposed for peak load management. The method also regulates the network voltage, balances the power in three phases and coordinates the battery storage discharge within the network. This method uses low cost controllers with low bandwidth two-way communication installed in costumers' premises and at distribution transformers to manage the peak load while maximizing customer satisfaction. A multi-objective decision making process is proposed to select the load(s) to be delayed or controlled. The efficacy of the proposed control system is verified through an event-based developed simulation in Matlab.

State Estimation in Smart Power Grids

In this chapter, the role of State Estimation (SE) in smart power grids is presented. The trend of SE error with respect to the increasing of the smart grids implementation investigated. The observability analysis as a prior task of SE is demonstrated and an analytical method to consider the impedance values of the branches is developed and discussed by examples. Since most principles of smart power grids are appropriate to distribution networks, the Distribution SE (DSE)considering load correlation is argued and illustrated by an example. The main features of smart grid SE, which is here named as “Smart Distributed SE” (SDSE), are discussed. Some characteristics of proposed SDES are distributed, hybrid, multi-micro grid and islanding support, Harmonic State Estimation (HSE), observability analysis and restore, error processing, and network parameter estimation. Distribution HSE (DHSE) and meter placement for SDSE are also presented.

Loss reduction experiences in electric power distribution companies of Iran

The experiences of the loss reduction projects in electric power distribution companies (EPDCs) of Iran are presented. The loss reduction methods, which are proposed individually by 14 EPDCs, corresponding energy saving (ES), Investment costs (IC), and loss rate reductions are provided. In order to illustrate the effectiveness and performance of the loss reduction methods, three parameters are proposed as energy saving per investment costs (ESIC), energy saving per quantity (ESPQ), and investment costs per quantity (ICPQ). The overall ESIC of 14 EPDC as well as individual average and standard deviation of the EISC for each method is presented and compared. In addition, the average and standard deviation of the ESPQs and ICPQs for the loss reduction methods, individually, are provided and investigated. These parameters are useful for EPDCs that intend to reduce the electric losses in distribution networks as a benchmark and as a background in the planning purposes.

The idea of women : representations of power in the work of Charles Bukowski

This thesis is a comparative textual analysis of Charles Bukowski's representations of power in relation to the idea of women. The exegesis explores Bukowski's idea of women and power as exemplified by the representational differences between his short stories for Hustler Magazine and his novel Women. The creative piece, a novel, "Many a Broken Hearted Woman" informed and was informed by this research.