By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2009-06-10 05:30
Design improvements provide the main potential - material costs the main barrier
When predicting the learning curve of wind energy, a distinction should be made between on-shore and off-shore wind. While the former started to develop in the mid 1970s, the latter only took off around the year 2000 and is consequently still lacking extensive historical data. As the figures of the NEEDS study show, today’s off-shore wind and on-shore wind electricity prices are of the same order of magnitude.
Cost of system drops faster than cost of turbine
Historical cost development curves of on-shore wind show large differences that depend mainly on the timeframe, the system boundaries, and the geographical area. As a general rule one can say that the experience ratio is higher for the complete system than for the turbine alone. This is confirmed by the bottom-up study of NEEDS, which shows that the relative share of the turbine cost in the complete wind energy cost increased in the past decades.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2009-04-24 14:18
Market trends and potential energy production
Compared to the traditional wind market, the market for small wind turbines is growing at a slow speed. But according to Miamari Siitoinen, Marketing Director of Eagle Windpower Oy, 'the wind is turning' and small wind turbines are currently witnessing a strong increase in demand.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-07-25 12:31
By E Diaz-Dorado et al
In wind energy, an incentive payment related to the reactive power compensation is applied. In the past, the maximum incentive was achieved when the cos φ, that was calculated as a monthly mean, was almost unitary (cos φ = 1.00). The payment is a percentage of the average reference tariff (ART).
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-04-04 16:20
The wind power market is booming. The EU plans to have 20% renewable in the energy balance of 2020 will further help the integration of technologies such as wind power and solar energy.
Courtesy Energy Pictures Online
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By Bryony Samuel / Published on Thu, 2008-01-17 18:47
Distributed generation (DG) and renewable energy sources (RES) are attracting special attention. Both are seen as important in achieving two key goals:
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