WindFront a project by whit.

Podcast 26 episodes June 2013 – December 2013

WindFront

A weekly wrap up of the world of energy. We deep dive to find the latest concerning the Wind, Solar and Power Industry in Australia and around the world.

A finished archive. 26 weekly episodes ran from June 2013 to December 2013 and the show has not resumed — but the arguments about market design, storage and the utility death spiral have aged interestingly. It is all still here, and the feed still works.

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Australian Wind and a new wind technology

Episode 26 4:54

AEMO's Statement of Opportunities update on which wind projects are actually committed, plus Sheer Wind's hexagonal funnel turbine.

Download MP3 4.5 MB 4:54

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New to the show? These three give you the range of it.

Episode 4 20:57 Electricity Prices Lower Because of Wind Ben Burge, CEO of Meridian Energy Australia and Powershop, on how the LRET and wind are pushing the price you pay for electricity down. InterviewsWindMarket designRetail Episode 19 8:59 Best performing NEM turbines Three months of NEM data, ranked: capacity factor, dollars per MW installed, and wind-weighted average price. Hallett 1 wins twice. Wind Episode 16 4:54 AGL: Our baseload is 9GW overweight AGL says Australia is 9 GW overweight on baseload. The same economist said 3.4 GW in 2006 — and asked for a capacity market both times. Market design

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All 26, newest first.

Episode 26 4:54 Australian Wind and a new wind technology AEMO's Statement of Opportunities update on which wind projects are actually committed, plus Sheer Wind's hexagonal funnel turbine. WindAEMO Episode 25 4:11 LED street lighting Networks own the street lights and have no reason to make them efficient. Victoria's upgrade campaign claimed $7M a year — the sums say $3M. Demand side Episode 24 4:43 Solar forces rate rethink Californian households on the top tariff tiers installed 1800 MW of solar and stopped paying anything. AB 327 puts the fixed charge back. SolarRetailInternational Episode 23 4:45 Utility Death Spiral Companies turn to battery tech A Californian hotel put in a $100k battery to dodge demand charges. The arithmetic is marginal, which is exactly why it is evidence of a death spiral. StorageDemand sideInternational Episode 22 2:55 Daylight Savings Time doesn't save energy Daylight saving is meant to save energy. Comparing eastern-state demand either side of the change — against Queensland, which doesn't switch — it doesn't. Demand side Episode 21 6:18 Niche Australian Electricity Retailers Over 40 market customers are registered in Australia. One of them wants to retail electricity exclusively to swimming pool owners. Retail Episode 20 6:51 AEMO Demand Side Management What NYISO and PJM pay for demand response, what AEMO's demand-side scheme actually offers, and the gap between them. AEMODemand sideInternational Episode 19 8:59 Best performing NEM turbines Three months of NEM data, ranked: capacity factor, dollars per MW installed, and wind-weighted average price. Hallett 1 wins twice. Wind Episode 18 5:17 Online Utility to Sell Power at a Discount utility.com raised $52M to sell power 20% cheaper because it was online. A look at how that went in the dot-com era's deregulated US markets. RetailInternational Episode 17 4:24 AEMO Technical report on wind integration AEMO expects 9 GW more wind on top of today's 2.7 GW. In South Australia installed wind already exceeds minimum demand. AEMOWind Episode 16 4:54 AGL: Our baseload is 9GW overweight AGL says Australia is 9 GW overweight on baseload. The same economist said 3.4 GW in 2006 — and asked for a capacity market both times. Market design Episode 15 3:57 Bulk buying your power to save a buck Groupon logic applied to electricity. Bulk-buying campaigns get you 15% off, and the broker gets a $100 kickback per switch. Retail Episode 14 2:52 Wind Power - From under the sea MIT's Alex Slocum wants to anchor floating offshore turbines with hollow 30m concrete spheres — pumped storage, anchor and artificial reef in one. WindStorage Episode 13 5:14 SPS Alpha - NASA's plan to beam solar power from space NASA's SPS-ALPHA feasibility study reckons solar power beamed from orbit could land at 9c/kWh, using a design copied from an ant colony. SolarInternational Episode 12 5:33 Wind Analytics the best place for your turbine? Does WindAnalytics' siting software beat the layman's approach of putting the turbine as high and as clear as you can? Wind Episode 11 4:54 SXSW Eco Festival Texas From SXSW Eco in Austin: Fluitec Wind, predicting turbine failures from operating data so maintenance happens before the breakdown. WindInternational Episode 10 6:05 Wind capture and storage Notrees in West Texas pairs a wind farm with 36 MW of lead-acid battery storage. Forty minutes at full wind, for $22M. WindStorageInternational Episode 9 5:30 Australian Air Born Wind Energy Bought by Google Makani Power — a Sydney engineer's kite-based turbine, built from a forgotten 1970s paper — gets bought by Google. Wind Episode 8 7:53 Should you invest in a community wind farm? Crowdfunding logic, applied to wind. Hepburn raised nearly $10M in community shares — and you don't have to live in the community to buy in. Wind Episode 7 4:04 Will PV and Wind crush traditional generation? Clean Energy Week: Bloomberg says wind and solar are already the cheapest new build, Reuters calls the market “unhelpful”. Both can't be right. WindSolarMarket design Episode 6 9:04 Should we Reform the Electricity Market? The UK tabled sweeping electricity market reform: contracts for difference and a capacity market. Would either work here? Market designInternational Episode 5 10:44 Are rumours of Germany's solar industry implosion greatly exaggerated? Forbes said Germany's solar industry was imploding. The generation records say otherwise — so who is exiting, and why? SolarInternational Episode 4 20:57 Electricity Prices Lower Because of Wind Ben Burge, CEO of Meridian Energy Australia and Powershop, on how the LRET and wind are pushing the price you pay for electricity down. InterviewsWindMarket designRetail Episode 3 6:05 Musselroe, the largest wind farm in Tasmania Musselroe comes online — 168 MW, $400M, and the largest wind farm in Tasmania, part-owned by Hydro Tasmania and Shenhua. Wind Episode 2 6:36 Wind Integration Inertia: AEMO Special Report AEMO's Wind Integration Study, read properly: why wind farms don't contribute inertia, and whether they should have to. AEMOWind Episode 1 8:04 What is really behind the 20% power price spike in Queensland? Queensland power prices jumped 20%. The number turns out to be about network spending, not generation — and Energex looks a lot like a death spiral. Market design