ENN554

Code for ENN554 Design of Renewable Energy Production Systems

Installation

This guide assumes that you have python installed on your machine (e.g. from https://www.python.org/downloads/). Since there is no PYPI package (yet?) the recommended procedure is to clone this repo to your machine and create an experimental install. The recommended install procedure is as follows.

Set up the virtual environment

Open up a terminal and create a virtual environment

python -m venv [foo]/enn554

where you'll need to replace [foo] with the location where you wish to store the virtual environment.

Clone the repo.

The easiest way to do this is using GitHub Desktop. Download and install https://desktop.github.com/. Open the app and sign in with a GitHub account (free). You can then clone the repository by

1. Click File → Clone repository
2. Select the URL tab
3. Paste the repository address: https://github.com/cholette/enn554
4. Choose where to save it on your computer.
5. Click Clone

Click Show in Explorer (Windows) or Show in Finder (Mac). You now have a normal folder on your computer containing the notebooks and code. Alternatively, if you prefer the terminal, you can simply navigate to the desired folder and execute

git clone https://github.com/cholette/enn554

Install the code

To install the code, activate your environment by executing the following in a terminal:

[foo]\enn554\Scripts\Activate.ps1

for Windows and

source [foo]/enn554/bin/activate

for macOS / Linux.

Now, in your terminal, navigate to inside the enn554 directory that you just cloned and execute the following command

python -m pip install -e .[notebooks]

or

python -m pip install -e .[all]

if you want the developer tools. This is only necessary if you plan on contributing to the repository.

Create the data and ouptuts directories

In the main folder of the repo, create these folders. The contents of the data folder will need to be periodically updated with files from the Canvas site.

Opening Jupyter Notebooks

If all has gone well, you will be able to execute the following command

jupyter-notebook notebooks/lectures/2_energy_fundamentals.ipynb

which will open one of the notebooks that doesn't require data. If you can run this, your installation has succeeded. Other notebooks may not work yet because they need input files to be placed in data, which we will do as the semester progresses.

Alternative ways of running notebooks

VS Code is a popular programming tool that allows you to run notebooks. Also, If you don't have your own machine handy, the eResearch folks at QUT have a JupyterLab environment that can be used to run the code. The steps are similar to the above.

Code summary

This repository provides companion code for the unit and includes Python and MATLAB utilities for the tutorials and lecture content. The Python library currently includes:

• sun.py --- a class for computing sun position using standard equations.
• parabolic_trough.py --- a class for thermal modelling of parabolic trough collectors. Includes a dynamic model that is a synthesis of state-of-the art models.
• wind.py --- a class for basic analysis of wind speed data and the annual energy production of wind turbines using power curves -collector_geometry.py --- a currently very incomplete set of methods for computing surface normals and view factors.
• utilties.py --- a set of general use utilities (e.g. for reading in TMY files).

You will need to create data/ and outputs/ folders locally --- the former is to hold input files (e.g parameter files, TMY files) while the outputs/ folder is for dumping any code outputs that need to be saved (jsons, output spreadsheets).

Acknowledgements

This repository was developed with support from the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooporative Research Centre (HILT CRC) Coursework Development Grant.