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Search results for: “volatility volatile”

  • Global oil production by country?

    Global oil production by country?

    Global oil production by country by month is aggregated across 35 countries that produce 80kbpd of crude, NGLs and condensate, explaining >96% of the global oil market. Production has grown by +1Mbpd/year in the past two-decades, led by the US, Iraq, Russia, Canada. Oil market volatility is usually low, at +/- 1.5% per year, of…

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  • Energy trading: value in volatility?

    Energy trading: value in volatility?

    Could renewables increase hydrocarbon realizations? Or possibly even double the value in flexible LNG portfolios? Our reasoning in this 14-page report includes rising regional arbitrages, and growing volatility amidst lognormal price distributions (i.e., prices deviate more to the upside than the downside). What implications and who benefits?

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  • Solar volatility: interconnectors versus batteries?

    Solar volatility: interconnectors versus batteries?

    The solar energy reaching a given point on Earthโ€™s surface varies by +/- 6% each year. These annual fluctuations are 96% correlated over tens of miles. And no battery can economically smooth them. Solar heavy grids may thus become prone to unbearable volatility. Our 17-page note outlines this important challenge, and finds that the best…

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  • Coal-to-gas switching: what CO2 abatement cost?

    Coal-to-gas switching: what CO2 abatement cost?

    Coal-to-gas switching halves the CO2 emissions per unit of primary energy. This data-file estimates the CO2 abatement costs. Gas is often more expensive than coal. But as a rule of thumb, a $30-60/ton CO2 price makes $6-8/mcf gas competitive with $60-80/ton coal. CO2 abatement costs are materially lower in the US and after reflecting efficiency.…

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  • Manufacturing utilization rates by industry?

    Manufacturing utilization rates by industry?

    This data-file tabulates the utilization rates of different industries over time, based on a variety of data sources. Manufacturing utilization rates ran at almost 80% prior to the COVID crisis, underpinning 11% of US GDP and 25% of US energy consumption. No manufacturing industry can realistically be profitable running at the c35% utilization rates of…

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  • Coal power generation: minute-by-minute flexibility?

    Coal power generation: minute-by-minute flexibility?

    Coal power generation is aggregated in this data-file, at the largest single-unit coal power plant in Australia, across five-minute intervals, for the whole of 2023. The Kogan Creek coal plant produces stable baseload power, with average utilization rate of 85%. But it exhibits lower flexibility to backstop renewables than gas-fired generation.

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  • Load bearing: will solar+gas be cheaper than gas alone?

    Load bearing: will solar+gas be cheaper than gas alone?

    The costs to power a real-world load โ€“ e.g., a data center โ€“ with solar+gas will very often be more expensive than via a standalone gas CCGT in the US today. But not internationally? Or in the future? This 9-page note shows how solar deflation and load shifting can boost solar to >40% of future…

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  • Duck curves: US power price duckiness over time?

    Duck curves: US power price duckiness over time?

    In solar-heavy grids, power prices trough around mid-day, then ramp up rapidly as the sunset. This price distribution over time is known as the duck curve. US power prices are getting 25-30% more ducky each year, based on some forms of measurement. Power prices are clearly linked to the instantaneous share of wind/solar in grids.

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  • California power generation over time?

    California power generation over time?

    California’s power grid ranges from 26-61GW of demand. Utility scale solar has almost quadrupled in the past decade, rising from 5% to almost 20% of the grid. Yet it has not displaced thermal generation, which rose from 28% to 36% of the grid. We even wonder whether wind and solar are entrenching natural gas generators…

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  • Renewables: share of global energy and electricity by country?

    Renewables: share of global energy and electricity by country?

    This data-file is an Excel “visualizer” for some of the key headline metrics in global energy: such as total global energy use, electricity generation by source and growing renewables penetration; broken down country-by-country, and showing how these metrics have changed over time.

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