Applying Systems Engineering in a Renewable Energy Research & Development Environment

Abstract

Systems Engineering (SE) practice has largely developed around a few specific industries, especially aerospace/defense and IT. SE is well understood by, and remains associated with, these industries. The classical systems engineering process starts with conceptual development of a specific system that will ultimately be produced and deployed. In the renewable energy R&D environment, neither of these normal cases apply; the work is being conducted in a culture that is generally unfamiliar with systems engineering, and the R&D activities are mostly oriented toward technology development and refinement rather than toward development of a specific deployable system. Nevertheless, systems engineering principles can be applied to enhance the management of the Research & Development (R&D) process, but significant tailoring of SE processes is required, and enhanced modeling and simulation techniques must be applied to deal with all the unknowns at a very early part of the system lifecycle. The lessons learned from several years of experience in this unique environment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as well as a number of new ideas for future process enhancements, will be explored in this paper.

A system dynamics approach to technology sustainability assessment: The case of biodiesel developments in South Africa

“…With respect to renewable and clean energy technology development, some studies acknowledge the need to analyse the developments as complex systems (Afgan and Carvalho, 2002;Jones, 2008;Synder and Antkowiak, 2010). Thus, the approach to use to assess the sustainability of such technologies will need to be in a position to account for the assumptions regarding sustainable development (Brent, 2009;Musango and Brent, 2011b).…”

Systems dynamics modelling to assess the sustainability of renewable energy technologies in developing countries

“…An expectation of technology assessment was that it should reveal the future consequences of new technology that otherwise would not have been recognized [7]. With respect to renewable and clean energy technology development, some studies acknowledge the need to analyse the development as a complex system [8][9][10]. Thus, the approach to use in assessing the renewable and alternative energy technology development for sustainability will need to be in a position to account for the assumptions regarding sustainable development [4][5][6].…”