Renewables: the levelized cost paradox?
…Renewables reduce grid utilization rates because their load factors are low and their output is volatile. Unit costs rise when fixed costs are spread across lower utilization. Some countries that…
Electrowinning: costs and energy economics?
…mining processes, which are increasingly important for energy transition. Interesting, we also think almost all of these mining technology can smooth our volatile power grids by demand shifting. We have…
Battery degradation: causes, effects & implications?
…causes degradation, and how it can be improved. Are lithium ion batteries a good fit for backing up volatile renewables inputs? We answer this question on pages 12-13. There is…
Eaton: breakdown of revenues by product category?
…for power electronics, in order to integrate volatile wind and solar resources into grids, protect sensitive equipment and electrify more industrial and consumer processes. We have written excitedly about power…
Methane slip: how much gas evades combustion?
…the thermodynamics of the Brayton Cycle. Although slippage rates are higher when turbines first start up, or when they are throttled aggressively in volatile power grids. Gas heaters and boilers…
Hydrogen: overview and conclusions?
…shift. Conversely, we are not even sure an electrolyser can run off of a volatile renewables input feed without incurring 5-10% pa degradation, or worse (if you read one TSE…
Industrial gases: out of thin air?
…like batteries, by scaling up and down to smooth out an increasingly volatile power grid? What implications for blue hydrogen, green hydrogen, Allam Cycle oxy-combustion, direct air capture energy economics?…
Air conditioning: energy consumption?
…air conditioning energy performance are through higher COPs, improved home insulation, and smart controls to optimize cooling. Efficiency gains are particularly helpful to smooth out increasingly volatile grids (best note…
Hydro power: generation by facility, availability over time?
…or down. https://thundersaidenergy.com/2023/11/16/renewable-heavy-grids-dividing-the-pie/ For longer-duration renewables volatility, hydro may be a less effective backstop, however. Especially for solar. The availability factors of hydro follow a clear annual pattern, ranging from…
Goldwind: frequency response from wind turbines?
…a different operating state. Third, there is always a danger that the wind drops at the precise moment you want to implement your frequency response, due to natural wind volatility….