ABSTRACT
Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FPV) plants, also known as floatovoltaic plants are showing great potential in the renewable energy sector all around the world. They can contribute to the national grid and provide support to the existing hydropower plants. Moreover, they positively impact the environment by reducing evaporation and improving aquatic lives simultaneously. Despite a decade of research, there has been no study on the technical potential of FPV plants on a riverine country like Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there are several water infrastructures to accommodate FPV plants. In addition, a considerable amount of solar irradiation is available throughout the year because of the country's geographical location, making FPVs a significantly viable option for generating electricity. To this end, this study provides the first technical potential and economic feasibility assessment of some of the important water bodies of Bangladesh. The technical potential study is performed with the help of solar PVGIS and focuses on the contribution these plants can make to the national grid. The economic viability assessment simulations are done in System Advisory Model (SAM). Moreover, a thorough comparison between FPVs and inland solar plants is also conducted. The results show that after the installation, even with a conservative approach, FPV plants will be able to meet 1.1% of the demand of the capital Dhaka, the city with one of the highest population densities. In addition, FPV installation at Kaptai lake, which already has an existing hydropower plant, can meet up to 7% of the demand of the port city Chattogram. Moreover, economic parameters NPV, IRR and LCOE all indicate the projects are profitable and can be deployed in large-scale. This study will open doors to further research into the FPV potential of Bangladesh and help implement FPVs to meet the renewable energy goals of the country.
ABSTRACT
Stress has been shown to be associated with altered homeostasis that may lead to oxidant-antioxidant imbalance. Non-enzymatic antioxidants are important regulators of reactive oxygen species produced in extra-cellular milieu and represent the first line of defense against them. Extra-cellular non-enzymatic antioxidants may be disturbed by the production of superoxide and nitric oxide and this has not been studied in stressful situation previously. In the present study, effects of immobilization stress (IS), both acute (IS x 1) and repeated (IS x 7) were assessed on extra-cellular total antioxidant capacity measured as plasma ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and protein sulfhydryls, and oxidative stress measured as leukocyte superoxide generation, plasma nitric oxide production (total nitrates and nitrites, NOx) and lipid peroxides in rats. Effects of pretreatment with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors and vitamin E were also studied on these biochemical parameters. The results showed that both IS x 1 and IS x 7 resulted in extra-cellular oxidant-antioxidant imbalance as oxidant generation was increased and non-enzymatic antioxidants were depleted. Pretreatment either with NOS inhibitors or vitamin E restored stress-induced extracellular oxidant-antioxidant imbalance implying their potential role as antioxidants. Our data suggest that there is extra-cellular oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in the stressed rats, with greater magnitude of severity in repeated stress paradigm. Augmentation of antioxidant defenses might be beneficial in long-term stress.
