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Search results for: “renewables”

  • Siemens Gamesa: giant wind turbine breakthroughs?

    Siemens Gamesa: giant wind turbine breakthroughs?

    Siemens Gamesa is a leader in offshore wind, pushing the boundaries towards a 14MW turbine with an incredible 222m rotor diameter. Our main debate from reviewing its patents is whether the engineering challenges of large turbines is consistent with deflation expectations.

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  • Windy physics: how is power of a wind turbine calculated?

    Windy physics: how is power of a wind turbine calculated?

    This data-file is an overview of wind power physics. Specifically, how is the power of a wind turbine calculated, in MW, as a function of wind speed, blade length, blade number, rotational speed (in RPM) and other efficiency factors (lambda). A large, modern offshore wind turbine will have 100m blades and surpass 10MW power outputs.

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  • Offshore wind: will costs follow Moore’s Law?

    Offshore wind: will costs follow Moore’s Law?

    Some commentators expect the levelized costs of offshore wind to fall another two-thirds by 2050. The justification is some eolian equivalent of Mooreโ€™s Law. Our 16-page report draws five contrasts. Wind costs are most likely to move sideways, even as the industry builds larger turbines. Implications for developers are explored.

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  • Small-scale wind turbines: leading companies?

    Small-scale wind turbines: leading companies?

    This screen compares the offerings of a dozen small-scale wind turbine providers, with power ratings below 30kW, for residential energy generation. Costs range from $1,000-6,000/kW.ย The three key challenges are performance, relaibility and cost.

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  • Shoals: solar-electronic breakthrough?

    Shoals: solar-electronic breakthrough?

    Shoals Technologies Group manufactures electrical balance of system solutions for solar energy projects, focused on promoting reliability, safety and ease of installation. Electrical installation costs can be lowered 40%. Our patent review finds a technology moat on 35% EBITDA margins.

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  • Inter-correlations between solar assets?

    Inter-correlations between solar assets?

    This data-file aggregates granular data from seven solar assets around Western Europe over a sample week. Absolute volatility is around 2-4% of nominal capacity every 15-minutes, while inter-correlations range from 60-90% depending on the distance between the different assets.

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  • Monolith: turquoise hydrogen breakthrough?

    Monolith: turquoise hydrogen breakthrough?

    Monolith claims it is the “only producer of cost effective commercially viable clean hydrogen today” as it has developed a proprietary technology for methane pyrolysis. But overall this was not one of our most successful patent screens. Some specific question marks are noted in the data-file.ย ย 

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  • Grid volatility: are batteries finally in the money?

    Grid volatility: are batteries finally in the money?

    UK power price volatility has exploded in 2021. The average daily range has risen 4x from 2019-20, to 35c/kWh in 3Q21. At this level, grid-scale batteries are strongly โ€˜in the moneyโ€™. So will the high volatility persist? This is the question in today’s 6-page note.

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  • Synchronous condensers: the economics?

    Synchronous condensers: the economics?

    This data-file captures the costs of installing a synchronous condenser, downstream of a renewable power facility, to emulate the inertia, reactive power and short circuit power from conventional generators. 1.0 – 2.5 c/kWh of costs may be added to the power supplies flowing out of the SC.

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  • Wind power: energy costs, energy payback and EROEI?

    Wind power: energy costs, energy payback and EROEI?

    This data-file estimates 3MWH of energy is consumed in manufacturing and installing 1kW of offshore wind turbines, the energy payback time is usually around 1-year, and total energy return on energy invested (EROEI) will be above 20x. These estimates are based on bottom-up modelling and top-down technical papers.

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