Carbon fiber: energy economics?
Carbon fiber production costs are estimated at $25/kg in this data-file, in order to generate a 10% IRR at a new world-scale carbon fiber plant. Energy economics are broken down…
Diet and climate: should energy transition include agriculture?
…10 tons of CO2 per year, around 50-70% of the average Western CO2 footprint. To be clear, our existing thesis – on the amazing climate potential of large-scale reforestation –…
Grid volatility: are batteries finally in the money?
UK power price volatility 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 ‘in the money’….
Insulating materials: deliver us from gas shortages?
…imports from Algeria. The thermodynamics of home insulation are laid out on pages 3-4, explaining the W/m.K metric, why it matters, and scoring different materials. The scale of the opportunity…
Carbon capture: how big is the opportunity?
…help CCS scale by c25x, accelerating over 500MTpa of projects in the next decade, which could prevent almost 10% of the US’s current CO2 emissions. Our numbers include blue hydrogen…
Power electronics: market size in energy transition?
…In turn, this means we expect c$100bn pa growth in the market for compensatory power-electronics solutions by 2030 (this number excludes grid-scale batteries). Different devices, examples, market sizes and costs…
Compressor costs: a simple overview?
…might typically cost around $850/kW on an installed basis (data above). In the energy industry, larger compressors can surpass 10MW-scale. Costs can vary by around 10x depending on the context….
Power plants: cold starts and ramp rates?
…nuclear plant. But the average facility is 1.1GW. So even a 1% ramp rate is equivalent to adding 10MW per minute, similar in size to the average utility-scale solar plant….
Solar decline rates: causes and solutions?
…inverter strategy is explored on pages 11-13. Our work supports the shift from central inverters towards smaller inverters, possibly micro-inverters at utility scale. Companies covered in the report include Enphase,…
Global coal supply-demand: outlook in energy transition?
…may be particularly challenging to substitute. We have reviewed the costs of green steel here. We have seen some interesting but smaller-scale options in bio-coke. We have been less excited…