Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
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Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#2Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better.
Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#3So if they increase the energy supply by investing/purchasing in renewable energy that would increase supply which would bring their energy costs down hypothetically?
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#4Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
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Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#5Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
From a long-term point of view, the cost of the wind energy is just the depreciation of the turbines plus the maintenance costs on the farm. Those two dollar inputs will create a fairly predictable number of kilowatt hours output. The problem of getting those kwh when you want/need them is one of selling into the grid when you have them and buying out when you need them, but I guess from the point of view of Google, they are calculating: we will consume X kwh, so we need to build X khw, and wind provides a very predictable source of those kwh. Macro vs micro.
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#6Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
Theyre writing long term contracts for power production which provide a fixed price for the resource developers and by consequence provide them with a fixed cost.
Typically, these types of contracts, providing price certainty, are required to build develop new renewable assets.
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#7So if they increase the energy supply by investing/purchasing in renewable energy that would increase supply which would bring their energy costs down hypothetically?
Doubtful. You have a captive audience, so why would suppliers suddenly lower their prices?
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#8Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
It seems the author is using the phrase "do not fluctuate" to explain wind supply prices in the same way most people think, or assume, the value of the dollar does not fluctuate.
Everything fluctuates, but some things are less prone to wild fluctuation, by quite a large margin.
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#9Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
Once you spend the capital on wind turbine hardware and infrastructure, the price of your energy generation is fairly constant. Price on energy supply from fossil fuels always depends on the fluctuating price of those fuels, which introduces uncertainties to future costs of energy.
Re: Google says it will run entirely on renewable energy in 2017
#10Unlike carbon-based power, Mr. Kava said, wind supply prices do not fluctuate, enabling Google to plan better. Can someone explain this? It seems like wind energy prices should fluctuate based on weather patterns (more wind == lower prices).
Weather fluctuates, but climate is relatively stable. As long as you have some kind of storage and base-load supply, you can plan yearly wind-power usage based more around climate than weather, at least to my understanding.