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Search results for: “renewables”

  • Integrated energy: a new model?

    Integrated energy: a new model?

    This 14-page note lays out a new model to supply fully carbon-neutral energy to a cluster of commercial and industrial consumers, via an integrated package of renewables, low-carbon gas back-ups and nature based carbon removals. This is remarkable for three reasons: low cost, high stability, and full technical readiness.

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  • SolarEdge: solar-electronics breakthrough?

    SolarEdge: solar-electronics breakthrough?

    SolarEdge specializes in the power-electronics needed to use solar energy in practical power systems. Our patent review finds a good, but broad array of incremental improvements. They suggest a vast future market in solar-battery energy systems.

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  • California curtailment: key numbers from 2021?

    California curtailment: key numbers from 2021?

    This data-file tracks curtailment of wind and solar assets in California. c25% of California’s total grid demand in 2021 was met by wind and solar. On average, 0.4% of the wind and 4% of the gross solar generation were curtailed throughout the year. But the data are highly variable.

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  • Power transmission: raising electrical potential?

    Power transmission: raising electrical potential?

    Electricity transmission matters in the energy transition, integrating dispersed renewables over long distances to reach growing demand centers. This 15-page note argues future transmission needs will favor large HVDCs, costing 2-3c/kWh per 1,000km, which are materially lower-cost and more efficient than other alternatives.

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  • HVDC transmission: leading companies?

    HVDC transmission: leading companies?

    The global HVDC market is $10bn pa, and it might typically cost cโ‚ฌ100-600 M to connect a large and remote renewables project to the grid or run a small HVDC inter-connector. This data-file reviews the market leaders in HVDC, based on 5,500 patents. A dozen companies stand out, with c$40bn of combined revenues from power…

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  • World’s largest energy assets: by category and risk?

    World’s largest energy assets: by category and risk?

    The largest hydrocarbon mega-projects are still 10-25x larger than the world’s largest solar and offshore wind projects. Risks are different in each category. But on a risked basis, global energy supplies may come in c2% lower than base case forecasts

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  • Scope 4 emissions: avoided CO2 has value?

    Scope 4 emissions: avoided CO2 has value?

    Scope 4 CO2 reflects the CO2 avoided by an activity. This 11-page note argues the metric warrants more attention. It yields an โ€˜all of the aboveโ€™ approach to energy transition, shows where each investment dollar achieves most decarbonization and maximizes the impact of renewables.

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  • Supercapacitors: case studies for renewable-heavy grids?

    Supercapacitors: case studies for renewable-heavy grids?

    Supercapacitors are well suited to smoothing short-term volatility in increasingly renewables-heavy grids. Typical systems are 10kW-10MW, 1M chage-discharge cycles, 5-30 seconds storage and $30/kW costs. Expect the market to surprise to the upside, especially in combination with other power-electronics. Who benefits?

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  • Energy demand forecasts: making predictions about the future?

    Energy demand forecasts: making predictions about the future?

    How accurate are energy demand forecasts? Long-term forecasts for total global energy demand can easily be wrong by +/- 10%. Oil market forecasts tend to be amiss by 0.6% x the number of years away. Oil and coal seem to have been consistently under-estimated since 2020. Solar and wind were consistently underestimated in 2010-20, but…

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  • Decarbonizing global energy: the route to net zero?

    Decarbonizing global energy: the route to net zero?

    This 17-page report revisits our roadmap for the world to reach โ€˜net zeroโ€™ by 2050, after integrating over 1,000 pieces of research from 2019 through 2022. Our updated roadmap includes large upgrades for renewables and energy efficiency; less reliance on new energies breakthroughs; but most of all, simple, pragmatic progress is needed as bottlenecks and…

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