The article presents material dedicated to the centenary of the outstanding scientist of our time, the patriarch of hydrogen energy, the founder of the international hydrogen association IAHE, the founder of the international journal on hydrogen energy IJHE, Professor T. N. Veziroglu.

Prof. T. N. Veziroglu devoted most of his life to the development of hydrogen energy, going down in history as the founder and leader of a community of scientists and specialists working to implement the concept of building a hydrogen economy, in which the main sources of energy and energy carriers would be materials and technologies, not causing irreparable harmful effects on the environment. In particular, prof. T. N. Veziroglu together with IAAEE President A. L. Gusev, in the period from 2000 to 2021, took an active part in the creation of the Concept of Alternative Energy and Ecology, the creation and development of the International Scientific Journal for «Alternative Energy and Ecology» (ISJAEE), being the Honorary Chief Editor of this journal and an active author of the journal. During these years, he participated in the international scientific project «Hydrogen Sensors» (ISTC#1580) as a project collaborator from the USA, and published more than 25 works in the field of hydrogen energy. Together with A. L. Gusev organized international forums: IFSSEHT-2000; IFSSEHT-2003; IFSSEHT-2006; WCAEE-2006 and others.

Approaching his centenary, Prof. Veziroglu became not just the patriarch of hydrogen energy, but its calling card, the center of international cooperation in efforts to establish a new energy paradigm: the unlimited use of clean energy based on hydrogen technologies.

The article explores the prospects for using natural light in light guide lighting systems as a new generation of devices. The work covers daylighting principles, efficiency factors, and offers design guidelines. Describes a Light Channel system using TracePro optical design software. The use of a solar concentrator to reduce light losses in light guides, especially in underground buildings, is being considered. The findings provide a basis for improving the efficiency of light pipe lighting systems.

The article presents material on the forecast for the development of world energy until 2040, notes the prospects for an increase in the share of electricity in final energy consumption, the transport sector, being the main polluter of the city’s environment, remains the main consumer of motor fuel in the future with the transition to biofuel and gas motor fuel, to electric and hybrid drive of the vehicle; shows the activation of energy production in Russia from renewable energy sources, explains the growth rate of renewable energy production in the world and in Russia, which is due to significant government support for the development of renewable energy sources; further action plans to reduce greenhouse emissions are shown, according to which the improvement of gas and oil production technologies will be developed, and support for the development of renewable energy sources; the possible use of wind turbines for distributed wind energy consumers; the difficulty of operating wind turbines in urban conditions due to the limited free spaces for placement; the availability of free wind flows of the coastal zone, the advantages of wind microgeneration as an energy saving resource are shown. The prospects and design developments of currently operating wind turbines, differing in the location of the axis of rotation (horizontal or vertical), their advantages and environmental disadvantages of horizontal-axial wind turbines, which include the need to use devices to increase the shaft rotation speed – multipliers with a large gear ratio (increase rotation speed in the «wind wheel shaft – generator shaft» system. A new principle of wind microgeneration for low-speed wind flows is proposed, a design diagram of a generating device for a wind engine with a low axial rotation speed is presented, and the principle of conversion is described. The design features of the presented generating device are considered for its possible use as a source of renewable energy in confined spaces in the urban environment and operating conditions in the coastal zone of the city.

This paper examines the problem of synthesizing a two-loop control system for a three-phase voltage inverter designed for an autonomous power supply system. This type of DC/AC converters is an essential part of power supply systems with renewable energy sources as primary sources, and, accordingly, must corresponds to the requirements for the electric power quality. These requirements are met through circuit design solutions, as well as through the construction of high-precision automatic control systems. The paper proposes a method for calculating the parameters of PI controllers with resonant components, based on the time-scale separation method and allowing independent adjustment of the controller components. The introduction of a resonant component ensures high tracking accuracy for a desired main voltage harmonic and selective suppression of external harmonic influences. The proposed approach allows to synthesize an automatic control system that significantly improves the quality of the voltage inverter output parameters.

Proposed a new principle of the energy efficient and small-sized capacitor DC-DC converters that are able to perform not only the conversion function of the output voltage of the several different output parameters of alternative DC voltage sources having a common grounded bus, but also to provide the summation of their power in a common load. Proposed the principle of multi-cycle SSCDC construction, which provides additional improvement of their mass-size characteristics under the increased power of alternative sources conditions. It is shown that the effect is achieved by a multiple increase in the conversion frequency of individual SSCDC modules and practical elimination of the large output capacitor by means of a sharp decrease and multiple increase in the first harmonic frequency of the total output current. The analytical expressions that allow to calculate the reactive elements parameters, analyze and quantify their efficiency has been obtained.

The new principle of designing of small-sized capacitor DC-DC regulators providing energy-efficient conversion and multizone regulation of output voltage of the alternative low-voltage power supply sources is proposed. It consists in alternately changing the low-voltage sub-ranges regulation by discretely changing the number of resonant chains involved in the conversion of a step-up capacitor DC-DC converter combined with a smooth change of the charge level of its first chain by a classic low-power PWM DC voltage regulator. Improvement of the regulator energy characteristics is achieved by multi-zone regulation and soft switching of the power circuit transistors of the capacitor DC-DC converter. The energy properties of the proposed DC-DC regulators are examined. It is shown that with increasing the number of resonant chains in the capacitor DC-DC converter, there is a tendency of regulator efficiency growth. For the considered in this paper circuits with a classic Buck and Boost PWM regulators the regulating characteristics are obtained and investigated and their efficiency is comparatively evaluated. The comparative analysis of energy and design properties shows a significant simplification of the power circuit by three semiconductor and two reactive elements, and also an increase in efficiency, on average over the control range by 1,5 % in the circuit with Boost PWM regulator.

The cost of protecting modern nuclear engineering installations is 20-30% of the cost of the facility. Therefore, optimization of the composition of radiation protection materials is an important measure to reduce the total cost of radiation protection at maximum protective properties of materials. At the same time, the use of natural resources, the deposits of which are located near these facilities, makes a significant contribution to minimizing the costs of the construction of the nuclear power plant.

Composite radiation protection materials (REM) with a matrix (glass, polymers, cement, etc.), which contains various fillers, play an important role as protective materials when using radiation technologies. At the same time, it becomes possible to design the optimal composition of fillers in relation to the planned irradiation conditions, which are determined by the isotopic composition of radioactive contaminants. Both natural materials and industrial waste can be used as fillers, which helps to solve the problem of their removal (in this case, their disposal).

The article presents the results of computational and experimental studies of samples of natural minerals from the northern part of Vietnam, representing one of the stages of a complex of studies of the radiation-protective properties of natural minerals and their combinations, as well as industrial waste to assess the potential possibility of their use as part of building materials for radiation protection of nuclear energy facilities (OIAE), which are conducted more than 10 years at the Department of Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy of UrFU.

To calculate the radiation-protective properties of minerals using the XCOM database, the sample densities were determined by the Archimedes method using the MH-300A density meter, and the chemical composition of the samples was studied using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in the laboratory of the Egyptian Nuclear Materials Administration (Cairo). Experimental studies of the shielding properties of the samples were carried out using the Robotron spectrometric installation using a cesium-137 gamma source.

The results of the study of 8 samples of natural materials showed that green granite (sample GG 8.2), mined in Sapa, can be used as a concrete filler in the construction of nuclear power plants and other nuclear energy facilities in Vietnam.

Natural gas is one of the key energy carriers in the global energy sector of the XXI century, the role of which is increasing every year due to its operational characteristics. In the future, hydrogen fuel should replace natural gas. Hydrogen is the most efficient and environmentally friendly fuel. In Russia, the technology of adiabatic methane conversion (ACM) has been developed, producing methane-hydrogen fuel (MHM) with a hydrogen content of up to 50 %. This technology significantly simplifies the industrial process of producing hydrogen, since it does not require oxygen production and occurs at lower temperatures (up to 680°C).

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the effectiveness of the participation of nuclear power plants in combination with a hydrogen complex in covering peaks of electrical load in the power system according to the criterion of the rate of release of peak power, taking into account the working life of the most important components of the turbine unit rotor-rotor blades and disks.

Modern conditions for the development of nuclear energy in Russia impose maneuverability requirements on nuclear power plants. In particular, this is dictated by the energy development strategy of Russia for the period up to 2035, which sets the task of attracting nuclear power plants to participate in regulating daily unevenness of electrical load in the range of up to 50% of the rated power. In addition, nuclear power plants will be involved in the primary frequency regulation, which will oblige them to carry out unloading operation during the day. Since nuclear power plants in the power system always carry a base load, all these circumstances force us to look for ways to provide a base load. The traditional solution has been the use of pumped storage power plants (PSPP). But due to the specifics of their construction, the combination of nuclear power plants + pumped storage power plants is not effective. It is more effective to use a hydrogen complex based on the electrolysis of hydrogen and oxygen for the purpose of using them to overheat the working fluid in the steam turbine cycle of nuclear power plants during peak periods of electrical load in the power system. In this case, it is critically important to assess the rate of peak power release based on the criterion of the working life of the most important components of the turbine unit rotor-rotor blades and disks. In the article, based on well-known methods and models for fatigue wear, the working life of the working blades and disks of the first stage of the HPC rotor, as the most susceptible to cyclic wear, is assessed using the example of the C-1000-60/1500 turbine under conditions of using steam-hydrogen superheating of fresh steam.

The work is devoted to the development of a device for protecting the turn insulation of transformer equipment and wind generators. In order to increase the reliability of operation of energy systems, renewable energy installations and energy storage devices. The paper presents the results of experimental studies of the parameters of a prototype frequency-dependent device. As well as an assessment of the suppression efficiency of the proposed device for high frequency pulse overvoltages. The results of four measurements are shown, the results of which were compared with each other and the results of previously conducted computer simulations. The proposed device is shown to be highly effective in influencing the slope and amplitude of short high-frequency overvoltage pulses. It is shown that the parameters proposed earlier in the simulation allow the device to be used effectively. A brief analysis of alternative methods and means of protection is provided, and the prospects for using the device as protective equipment for wind power plants are also considered.

Electrochemical hydrogen storage is considered as the safest mode compared to the other storage forms, which is why it has attracted a significant research attention in the past decade. Carbon-based porous mediums offer many benefits that favor hydrogen adsorption in it. The presented work investigates the feasibility of coconut shell derived activated carbon for hydrogen adsorption by ascertaining its physical and chemical characteristics. The procedure employed for characterization is disclosed. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, average crystalline size of the activated carbon was found to be 51,7 m2 /g and average crystalline size using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to be 10,69 nm, respectively, which is comparable with the published data in literature. The scanning electron microscopy illustration of the field emission revealed the presence of well-developed pores on the surface of the sample activated carbon. The Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis (FTIR) spectrum was employed to determine the existence of essential functional groups. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-V) is used to confirm the presence of π- π* transition within the activated carbon. Working in the similar direction, the presented work is an experimental investigation on ionic hydrogen storage in an activated carbon electrode integrated in a modified reversible polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC) for transport applications that is carried out. The ingress and egress of hydrogen within the developed PEMFC of 6,25 cm2 active area successfully stored 559,65 mAh/g during charging and give out 510,51 mAh/g while discharging. The result analysis revealed the feasibility of the coconut shell based activated carbon to be a suitable candidate for hydrogen storage applications.

The issues of using digital twin technology today are relevant in various areas of economic development, and the electric power industry is no exception. Electric power industry is an industry with a complex structure. People are not always able to quickly process a huge amount of data, identify dependencies and make the best decision, so without digital technologies it is impossible to compete in modern realities. The article discusses the development and application of algorithms for determining types of damage to main equipment based on digital twin technology. Determination of the damage mode is based on the method of analyzing analog and discrete signals present in the technological data transmission network. As a result of the research, algorithms for a digital twin of relay protection and automation at an operating hydroelectric power station were developed, tested and implemented. The digital twin is aimed at reducing the time for detecting and localizing faults and damage to main equipment, as well as increasing information content about the operating modes of relay protection and automation devices. The results obtained can be implemented into the existing automated control system of hydroelectric power plants to improve the decision-making process. Flexible configuration allows not only to adapt algorithms to any equipment, but also to expand their functionality.

Current work presents an investigation of the generation of magnetic vibrations in electric machines with fractional slot concentrated windings and permanent magnets, proposed as a traction drive for electric transport, is carried out. The study considers the design of the magnetic system with the location of permanent magnets on the cylindrical surface of the rotor. The analysis is carried out using the method of harmonic components. Expressions describing the creation of radial forces, which are the cause of vibrations, at a smooth non-magnetic gap are obtained. The results obtained in this study can be used in the design of the considered class of traction motors for electric transport.

Kazakhstan is one of the countries in the world most affected by climate change and water shortages. The consequences include changes in precipitation patterns, more frequent extreme temperatures, and increased aridity. Most countries of the world associate water security with the importance of scientific investments, foresight studies in adaptation programs to global climate change, man-made emergency events, an increase in the frequency and duration of floods, droughts and fires, population growth, agricultural intensity, industrialization leading to a decrease in water levels. groundwater. Soil moisture at the root level decreases, intensifying the processes of desertification and soil salinization. In this regard, the strategy of many countries is to increase investment in water-soil scientific research programs, direct cooperation with joint scientific and practical research of emergency security agencies and agriculture, and widespread involvement of the population in joint programs with research scientists. The presented review analyzes and proposes options for strengthening the sustainable development of Kazakhstan with more efficient use of water resources and the development of the domestic hydrogen market. In Kazakhstan, scenarios and regions for hydrogen production are being considered, including in Western Kazakhstan, the Mangystau region, using the water of the Caspian Lake. The alternative region is considered in this review involves the creation of hydrogen production facilities in Northern Kazakhstan, which will use part of the water from 16.5 cubic meters. km of water that annually flows into the Arctic Ocean from Kazakhstan through Russia. In addition, in Northern Kazakhstan there are capacities to produce electricity with big coal reserves. In cooperation with Russia, natural gas can be used, as well as Russian water resources, including those from the Arctic Ocean. Climate change and rising temperatures lead to rising ocean levels; coastal zones of the oceans and islands will go under water. Stimulating the development of technologies for the use of water from the rivers flowing into the oceans is becoming relevant in many regions of the world.

Coal-fired generation has long been and still is one of the leaders in global power generation. According to the International Energy Agency, the current share of coal-fired generation is about 39%. Despite the global trend of decarbonization, global coal-fired power generation is steadily growing. In 2019, the growth of coal-fired generation amounted to about 1,5 %. As of 2019, global proven coal reserves are concentrated in the United States (23 %), the Russian Federation (15 %), Australia (14 %) and China (13 %) and amount to about 1,070 billion tons. Consumption of high-sulfur viscous fuel oils as a stoking, reserve or main fuel leads to emissions of such harmful substances as benz(a) pyrene and vanadium pentaoxide in addition to toxic sulfur, nitrogen and carbon oxides. At formation of sulfur oxides the dew point temperature of flue gases increases, which leads to formation of sulfuric acid and, as a consequence, to frequent repairs of tail parts of boiler units due to their corrosion. The article presents a review of modern technologies of pulverized coal-fired boiler units ignition, and also presents the original technology of electric ignition and the experience of implementation at the operating energy enterprises.

In the course of operation of NPP power units, radioactive deposits accumulate in the pipelines of various systems, which subsequently create high dose loads on the personnel performing work on the dismantling of these pipelines as part of the repair or decommissioning of NPP power units.

There are experimental results of abrasive cleaning of metal surfaces from accumulated contaminants which imitate radioactive deposits of steam-water circuits of nuclear power plants. The quality of cleaning surfaces with various abrasive compositions was compared with using a standardized visual method. Recommendations are given on further steps in the development of non-dismantling in-line abrasive decontamination methods.

The relevance of the study lies in the research of methods, means, modes and conditions for the inclusion of local power supply systems with small-scale generation in the network of an external electric power system (EPS). At the same time, the operation of local power supply systems in EPS becomes possible only with the implementation of new approaches to controlling automated mode and emergency control means while overcoming existing technical barriers to parallel operation with EPS.

The article generally describes a method and technical means for solving the problem of reliable and efficient energy supply to consumers during the development of small-scale distributed generation technologies and the formation of local power supply systems (LPS) on its basis. The low-cost integration of LPSs into existing electrical networks of centralized power supply systems with a mode of parallel operation of generators in a common network while controlling special emergency and mode automation and high-quality transformation of LPSs into local smart power supply systems (LSPS, Minigrid) are proposed.

The full implementation of LSPS into the existing power system for small-scale distributed generation is an evolutionary stage in its development, since this will allow small power facilities to operate not only in an autonomous mode, but also as part of a regional centralized power system. Due to which LSPSs have additional technical effects, primarily in terms of ensuring the reliability of power supply to consumers.

It is known that the greatest influx of solar energy to the surface takes place during the normal incidence of the sun’s rays on it. However, systems for tracking the position of the Sun and the orientation of solar installations (tracking) require electric drives, are very energy-consuming, expensive and unreliable in operation.

The purpose of this research is to develop a power module based on the dialotometric effect in liquids and solids to create a passive solar tracker, as well as to select a liquid and search for effective polymer additives to create composite working fluids in tracking systems.

It has been experimentally shown that pure ethyl alcohol has the greatest effect of volume change in the temperature range of 20 to 80 °C. Other organic liquids (oils, antifreezes) can also be used in passive solar tracking systems. The addition of solid polymer additives to the liquid phase does not increase the effect of volumetric expansion.

It is shown that as a result of heating a liquid in a closed volume of a hydraulic cylinder with a diameter of 20 mm, masses weighing up to 10 kg can be moved.

Based on the research, the concept of the power module of a passive solar tracker is proposed.

One of the most complex and responsible kinds of protection in networks with rotating generation, which includes hydrogen fuel generation, is protection against loss-of-synchronism. And it is a challenging task to simulate input signals corresponding to the exact settings of the out-of-step protection to make sure it operates correctly. This is because one has to simulate exact parameters of impedance locus (its radius, coordinates of the center in the impedance plane, spin direction, speed, etc.) while available tools embedded in testing devices often don’t support such parameters directly. To deal with the problem, the authors present the approach to simulate instantaneous values of line currents and phaseto-ground voltages during the out-of-step operation. All the proposed solutions proved to reduce the time required for commissioning of out-of-step protection and thereby increase tests quality and speed.