More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source • Hacker News Board

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#31

Post by kumarvvr » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

Gibbon1 wrote: post #12

anovikov wrote: post #3

Best news is that cost of these installations is now quite low: less than $1.5 per watt peak. What about capacity utilisation factor of newly installed turbines? Does it trend downwards? Which means, are we close to exhausting potential of wind? PS: It's not, it's actually trending a bit up. Which is explainable because average capacity of a turbine trends up -> the turbine is bigger and taller -> wind blows faster a…

The short answer scaling heavily favors huge turbines. The taller they are the larger swept area of the blades. More are more wind energy captured. (Good old area = distance squared) And higher up the more consistent the wind, higher the average wind speed, and thus higher capacity factor.

Recently read in an article about turbine scaling, that an 18% increase in blade length translates into 45% increase in power output.

Scaling is extremely lucrative. And break even for these turbines is aroun 5 to 8 years, with active life of around 30.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#32

Post by adrianN » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

google234123 wrote: post #11

anovikov wrote: post #3

Best news is that cost of these installations is now quite low: less than $1.5 per watt peak. What about capacity utilisation factor of newly installed turbines? Does it trend downwards? Which means, are we close to exhausting potential of wind? PS: It's not, it's actually trending a bit up. Which is explainable because average capacity of a turbine trends up -> the turbine is bigger and taller -> wind blows faster a…

Also, how useful is peak wind power? Often is it not peak?

It is useful because the energy produced by a wind turbine at a certain location is proportional to its peak output.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#33

Post by adrianN » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:34 AM UTC

asien wrote: post #24

What I’m more worry about those Renewables stuff is their ressource footprint , when you look at how much « rare earth » « composite » material is needed to build just one its seems like a nonsense to use wind their are many documentaries on this topic. Today the vast majority of those turbines are not recycled. On top of that wind being intermittent you need gas power plant to provide. France power provider RTE esti…

12 times its gas capacity doesn't sound like very much. France doesn't have a lot of gas capacity today afaik.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#34

Post by kumarvvr » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:35 AM UTC

asien wrote: post #24

What I’m more worry about those Renewables stuff is their ressource footprint , when you look at how much « rare earth » « composite » material is needed to build just one its seems like a nonsense to use wind their are many documentaries on this topic. Today the vast majority of those turbines are not recycled. On top of that wind being intermittent you need gas power plant to provide. France power provider RTE esti…

I guess one solution is smart devices and processess that can be optimized to load whwn there is peak power.

Some industrial processess, such as smelting, crushing, etc can be incentivized to do that.

At domestic levels, its more difficult

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#35

Post by adrianN » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:36 AM UTC

seibelj wrote: post #5

fulafel wrote: post #4

Is there a plan to eliminate coal and gas as big elements in USA's eletricity production?

If it’s cloudy and an extended period of calm wind, it’s unacceptable for me to not have electricity, and neither is it for hospitals or nursing homes. We will always need some form of petro backup unless our queasiness with nuclear is solved.

That backup needn't be fossil fuels or nuclear. It can for example be Methane made from water and carbon dioxide.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#36

Post by creato » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

asien wrote: post #24

What I’m more worry about those Renewables stuff is their ressource footprint , when you look at how much « rare earth » « composite » material is needed to build just one its seems like a nonsense to use wind their are many documentaries on this topic. Today the vast majority of those turbines are not recycled. On top of that wind being intermittent you need gas power plant to provide. France power provider RTE esti…

> Today the vast majority of those turbines are not recycled.

I really doubt this is true in any meaningful sense. First of all, I'd expect the majority of all turbines ever produced to still be in their useful service life. Second, many of the materials are valuable as scrap. It would be blatantly idiotic to just destroy and bury these materials, even if your goal is to spite environmentalists. Third, even the unsubsidized cost of wind turbines is not that high. These materials don't just appear out of thin air, they're accounted for in the costs.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#37

Post by jopsen » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

asien wrote: post #24

What I’m more worry about those Renewables stuff is their ressource footprint , when you look at how much « rare earth » « composite » material is needed to build just one its seems like a nonsense to use wind their are many documentaries on this topic. Today the vast majority of those turbines are not recycled. On top of that wind being intermittent you need gas power plant to provide. France power provider RTE esti…

> material is needed to build just one its seems like a nonsense to use wind their are many documentaries on this topic.

[citation needed], careful you're not falling for a disinformation campaign.

The counter argument is clearly made here: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/06/whats-the-carbon-...

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#38

Post by lrem » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

google234123 wrote: post #11

anovikov wrote: post #3

Best news is that cost of these installations is now quite low: less than $1.5 per watt peak. What about capacity utilisation factor of newly installed turbines? Does it trend downwards? Which means, are we close to exhausting potential of wind? PS: It's not, it's actually trending a bit up. Which is explainable because average capacity of a turbine trends up -> the turbine is bigger and taller -> wind blows faster a…

Also, how useful is peak wind power? Often is it not peak?

It really depends on the terrain I guess. Having lived all my life either on the shore or in the mountains, I've always seen winds to be pretty stable in a given season.

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#39

Post by kumarvvr » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:38 AM UTC

anovikov wrote: post #3

Best news is that cost of these installations is now quite low: less than $1.5 per watt peak. What about capacity utilisation factor of newly installed turbines? Does it trend downwards? Which means, are we close to exhausting potential of wind? PS: It's not, it's actually trending a bit up. Which is explainable because average capacity of a turbine trends up -> the turbine is bigger and taller -> wind blows faster a…

Capacity utilization factors on land are 0.26 to 0.52.

They are around 0.5 on offshore installations.

https://css.umich.edu/factsheets/wind-energy-factsheet

Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source

#40

Post by void_mint » Tue, Aug 31, 2021, 5:40 AM UTC

typon wrote: post #19

void_mint wrote: post #17

I had the luxury of working on software in support of wind turbines a few years back. I loved it. I was very proud of the work we were doing and the value we added to the space. I would love to continue working in the wind energy space if the opportunity arose again.

What companies are doing the software? Who's the leader in the field?

I worked for an EU-based arm of Siemens, who I would love to work for again. I worked with lots of EU mechanical and software engineering consultants that were building custom hardware/software to better accommodate turbine maintenance workers. I don't really know if anyone is building turbine-specific software.