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 Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Rwanda renewable energy sector

Rwanda has made significant progress in developing its renewable energy sector in recent years. The country has set ambitious targets to increase its renewable energy capacity and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Here are some key developments in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector:

Scaling up hydropower: Hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy in Rwanda, accounting for around 50% of the country’s electricity generation. Rwanda has several large hydropower projects, including the 28 MW Nyabarongo hydropower plant and the 80 MW Rusumo Falls hydropower project, which is being developed jointly with Tanzania and Burundi.

Increasing solar power: Rwanda has also been investing in solar power, particularly in off-grid and rural areas. The government has set a target of providing universal access to electricity by 2024, and off-grid solar power is seen as a key solution to achieve this goal. The country has several solar power projects, including the 8.5 MW solar plant in Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village and the 10 MW solar plant in Rwamagana.

Promoting mini-grids: Rwanda is also promoting the use of mini-grids, which are small-scale electricity distribution systems that can serve communities in remote areas. The government has set a target of installing 445 mini-grids by 2024, with the aim of providing electricity to around 200,000 households. Several mini-grid projects have already been launched, including the 4.8 MW Rukarara mini-grid.

Investing in methane gas: Rwanda has significant reserves of methane gas, which can be used to generate electricity. The government has invested in the development of methane gas projects, including the KivuWatt project, which is a joint venture between the government and private sector investors. KivuWatt has a capacity of 25 MW and is the first project in the world to generate electricity from dissolved methane gas in Lake Kivu.

Rwanda’s renewable energy sector is growing rapidly, with significant investment and government support. The country’s ambitious targets and focus on off-grid and rural areas are helping to bring electricity to more people and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Diversity and inclusion are important considerations in the development of any industry, including the renewable energy sector. In Rwanda, efforts are being made to ensure that the renewable energy sector is diverse and inclusive, and that it benefits all members of society. 

Here are some ways that Rwanda is promoting diversity and inclusion in its renewable energy sector:

Gender equality: Rwanda has made significant progress in promoting gender equality and empowering women, and this extends to the renewable energy sector. Women are actively encouraged to participate in the sector, including in leadership and decision-making roles. For example, the Women in Energy Rwanda initiative was launched in 2018 to promote the participation of women in the energy sector, including in renewable energy.

Job creation: The renewable energy sector has the potential to create many new jobs, including for young people and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Rwanda is investing in training and skills development programs to ensure that local people have the necessary skills and expertise to work in the sector. This includes programs that focus on women and other marginalized groups.

Community engagement: The development of renewable energy projects in Rwanda is often done in close collaboration with local communities. This ensures that local people are involved in decision-making and that the benefits of renewable energy are shared fairly. For example, the Mini-Grids for Rural Electrification in Africa initiative works closely with local communities to develop mini-grids that are tailored to their specific needs.

Access to finance: Access to finance can be a major barrier to the development of renewable energy projects, particularly for smaller developers and those from marginalized groups. Rwanda has established several programs to provide financing and support to local developers, including the Renewable Energy Fund and the Energy Access Fund.

Rwanda is committed to ensuring that its renewable energy sector is diverse, inclusive, and benefits all members of society. The country’s focus on gender equality, job creation, community engagement, and access to finance are helping to promote diversity and inclusion in the sector.

Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector – Goverment policy and regulation

The Rwandan government has put in place policies and regulations to promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector. 

Here are some examples:

Gender equality policy: Rwanda has a national gender policy that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment across all sectors, including the energy sector. The policy recognizes the need to address gender disparities in the sector and encourages the participation of women in decision-making and leadership roles.

National energy policy: Rwanda’s national energy policy prioritizes the development of renewable energy sources and emphasizes the importance of promoting access to energy for all members of society. The policy recognizes that access to energy can be a key driver of economic growth and social development, and seeks to ensure that the benefits of renewable energy are shared equitably.

Mini-grid regulations: The Rwandan government has put in place regulations to govern the development of mini-grids, which are an important source of off-grid renewable energy in the country. The regulations require that developers consult with local communities and ensure that the benefits of the mini-grid are shared fairly. The regulations also encourage the participation of women and youth in the development and operation of mini-grids.

Renewable Energy Fund: The Rwandan government has established the Renewable Energy Fund, which provides financing and support to local developers of renewable energy projects. The fund prioritizes projects that benefit rural and underserved communities and encourages the participation of women and youth.

Access to electricity policy: Rwanda’s Access to Electricity Policy aims to provide universal access to electricity by 2024. The policy recognizes that energy access can be a key driver of economic growth and social development, and seeks to ensure that all members of society have access to affordable and reliable energy services, including those in rural and underserved areas.

The Rwandan government is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector through its policies and regulations. The government recognizes that a diverse and inclusive sector can bring benefits to all members of society and is taking steps to ensure that the benefits of renewable energy are shared equitably.

Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector – Financial and International Investment

The promotion of diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector is not only supported by the government’s policies and regulations, but also by financial and international investment. 

Here are some ways that financial and international investment is supporting diversity and inclusion in the sector:

Multilateral and bilateral funding: Rwanda has received significant funding from international financial institutions and bilateral donors to support the development of renewable energy projects. These funds are often accompanied by conditions that prioritize the involvement of local communities and marginalized groups, such as women and youth.

Private investment: Private investors are also becoming increasingly interested in investing in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector. Many of these investors have a strong focus on social impact and are looking for investment opportunities that promote diversity and inclusion. For example, the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) has provided funding for several mini-grid projects in Rwanda, with a focus on involving women and youth in the development and operation of the projects.

Capacity building programs: International organizations and financial institutions are also providing capacity building programs for local developers and entrepreneurs. These programs often include training in areas such as project management, finance, and technical skills, and can help to promote diversity and inclusion by providing opportunities for women and other marginalized groups.

International partnerships: Rwanda has developed partnerships with a range of international organizations, including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and the United Nations Development Programme, to support the development of renewable energy projects. These partnerships often prioritize the involvement of local communities and marginalized groups, and can help to promote diversity and inclusion in the sector.

Financial and international investment is playing an important role in promoting diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector. The involvement of multilateral and bilateral funders, private investors, capacity building programs, and international partnerships is helping to ensure that the benefits of renewable energy are shared equitably across all members of society.

Projects in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Rwanda’s renewable energy sector has seen significant growth in recent years, with a number of projects currently underway. 

Here are some examples Projects in Rwanda renewable energy sector

KivuWatt: The KivuWatt project is a methane gas extraction and power generation plant located on Lake Kivu in western Rwanda. The project uses gas extracted from the lake to generate electricity, providing a reliable source of power to the national grid. KivuWatt has a capacity of 26 MW and is expected to provide electricity to around 100,000 households.

Solar Home Systems: The Rwandan government has launched a program to provide Solar Home Systems to rural households without access to the grid. The program aims to install 3 million Solar Home Systems by 2024, providing electricity to around 9 million people. The program is being implemented by a range of private sector companies, and is supported by the government through policies and regulations that encourage investment in the sector.

Nyabarongo Hydropower Plant: The Nyabarongo Hydropower Plant is a 28 MW run-of-the-river plant located on the Nyabarongo River in southern Rwanda. The plant provides electricity to the national grid and is expected to increase access to electricity in rural areas. The project was funded by the African Development Bank and the Rwandan government.

Gashoma Solar Park: The Gashoma Solar Park is a 10 MW solar power plant located in eastern Rwanda. The project is the largest solar park in the country and provides electricity to around 15,000 households. The project was developed by a private sector company, and is supported by policies and regulations that encourage investment in the sector.

Mini-grids: Rwanda is also promoting the development of mini-grids, which provide off-grid renewable energy to rural communities. A number of mini-grid projects are currently underway, with a focus on involving local communities in the development and operation of the projects.

Rwanda’s renewable energy sector is seeing significant investment and growth, with a range of projects underway that are helping to increase access to electricity and promote sustainable development.

Best Practise from Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

The promotion of diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector has been supported by a number of best practices. 

Here are some examples Best Practise from Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Engage and involve local communities: One of the best practices in promoting diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector is to engage and involve local communities in the development and operation of renewable energy projects. This can be done through consultations, community meetings, and the formation of local committees to oversee project implementation.

Prioritize gender equality: Gender equality is a key priority in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector, with a focus on involving women in the development and operation of renewable energy projects. This can be done through policies and regulations that encourage the participation of women in the sector, and through targeted capacity building programs.

Support entrepreneurship and small businesses: Another best practice is to support entrepreneurship and small businesses, particularly those owned by women and other marginalized groups. This can be done through the provision of finance, technical support, and business development services, which can help to ensure that these businesses are able to compete in the sector.

Promote local content and job creation: Promoting local content and job creation is another best practice in promoting diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector. This can be done by requiring that a certain percentage of project materials and services are sourced locally, and by creating training and employment opportunities for local communities.

Ensure access to finance: Access to finance is a key barrier for many entrepreneurs and small businesses in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector. Ensuring that finance is available to all members of society, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or other factors, can help to promote diversity and inclusion in the sector.

Promoting diversity and inclusion in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector requires a range of best practices, including engaging and involving local communities, prioritizing gender equality, supporting entrepreneurship and small businesses, promoting local content and job creation, and ensuring access to finance. By adopting these best practices, Rwanda’s renewable energy sector can continue to grow in a sustainable and inclusive manner.

Goverment and Private sector efforts for Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Both the government and private sector in Rwanda have made significant efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector. 

Here are some examples Goverment and Private sector efforts for Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

Government Efforts:

Policy and regulatory frameworks: The Rwandan government has developed policy and regulatory frameworks that promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector. For example, the National Gender Policy of 2010 and the Energy Policy of 2011 both prioritize gender equality and social inclusion in the sector.

Capacity building and training: The government has also invested in capacity building and training programs to promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector. For example, the Rwanda Energy Group has established a training center to provide technical skills and entrepreneurship training to women and youth.

Affirmative action initiatives: The government has implemented affirmative action initiatives to increase the participation of women and other marginalized groups in the renewable energy sector. For example, the Rwanda Development Board has a program to support women-owned businesses in the energy sector.

Private Sector Efforts:

Investment in diversity and inclusion: Private sector companies operating in Rwanda’s renewable energy sector have made significant investments in promoting diversity and inclusion. For example, Solar Sister, a social enterprise, provides clean energy solutions and entrepreneurship training to women in rural areas.

Local content and job creation: Private sector companies have also made efforts to promote local content and job creation in the renewable energy sector. For example, Ignite Power, a solar company, has committed to sourcing at least 50% of materials and labor locally for its projects.

Partnerships with local communities: Private sector companies have also formed partnerships with local communities to promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector. For example, the mini-grid company Mesh Power has formed partnerships with local cooperatives and entrepreneurs to provide renewable energy solutions to rural communities.

Both the government and private sector in Rwanda have made significant efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the renewable energy sector, through policy and regulatory frameworks, capacity building and training programs, affirmative action initiatives, investment in diversity and inclusion, local content and job creation, and partnerships with local communities. These efforts are helping to ensure that the benefits of the renewable energy sector are shared by all members of society.

The percentage of renewable energy use in Rwanda

Rwanda has made significant progress in increasing its use of renewable energy sources in recent years. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), renewable energy accounted for 32% of Rwanda’s total installed electricity capacity in 2019. This includes a mix of hydroelectric, solar, and geothermal energy sources.

In terms of electricity generation, hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy in Rwanda, accounting for around 25% of the country’s electricity generation in 2020. The country also has a number of small-scale solar projects, including mini-grids and off-grid solar systems, which are helping to increase access to electricity in rural areas.

Rwanda has set ambitious targets to increase its use of renewable energy in the coming years. The country aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2024, with a target of increasing the share of off-grid renewable energy solutions to 48% of total electricity access by 2024. In addition, Rwanda aims to achieve 100% renewable energy generation by 2024, with a focus on increasing the contribution of solar and other renewable sources.

Rwanda has made significant progress in increasing its use of renewable energy sources, and is setting ambitious targets to further increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix. This is helping the country to achieve its development goals, while also promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Conclusion for Diversity and inclusion in Rwanda renewable energy sector

The renewable energy sector in Rwanda has made significant strides in promoting diversity and inclusion, with both the government and private sector making efforts to ensure that the benefits of the sector are shared by all members of society

The government has developed policy and regulatory frameworks that prioritize gender equality and social inclusion, invested in capacity building and training programs, and implemented affirmative action initiatives. Private sector companies have also made investments in diversity and inclusion, promoted local content and job creation, and formed partnerships with local communities.

These efforts are helping to ensure that women, youth, and other marginalized groups have equal access to opportunities in the renewable energy sector, and are able to benefit from the sector’s economic and social benefits. As Rwanda continues to invest in renewable energy to achieve its development goals, it is important that diversity and inclusion remain a priority to ensure that no one is left behind in the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive future.

https://www.exaputra.com/2023/05/diversity-and-inclusion-in-rwanda.html

Renewable Energy

Numbers Associated with Trump’s Incompetence Are Kept Secret

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We won’t know how much damage Trump has done to our county, its people, the world in general, until Trump leaves office.

That’s just one more good reason to make this happen soon.

https://www.2greenenergy.com/2026/07/21/numbers-associated-with-trumps-incompetence-are-kept-secret/

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You’re Being Asked to Believe the Unbelievable

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American voters are being told that progressives hate America.

This type of crap may have some level of acceptance among our least intelligent voters, but fortunately, they’re nowhere near the majority.

You’re Being Asked to Believe the Unbelievable

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Renewable Energy

Omterra Rebrand, Goldwind Warns on Turbine Size

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Weather Guard Lightning Tech

Omterra Rebrand, Goldwind Warns on Turbine Size

Siemens Gamesa rebrands as Omterra, Goldwind questions ever-bigger turbines, and MIT revisits the century-old Betz limit.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTubeLinkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now your hosts

Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall, and I’m here with Rosemary Barnes, who is recovering from a very serious illness, Matthew Stead, who has been healthy pretty much all the Australian winter, and Yolanda Padron in sunny, hot Austin, Texas. Welcome, Rosemary

Rosemary Barnes: Thank you. I am recovering from man flu, and I say man flu because it’s just a cold, but I’m complaining a lot about it.

Allen Hall: there’s gonna be a new name for Siemens Gamesa. So it was Siemens and then Gamesa’s a separate company. They merged. Siemens Energy, uh, broke off from Siemens AG. So [00:01:00] that’s a very well-known name, Siemens. It’s– Everybody knows Siemens at this point around the world.

And the, the one family had, as a company, had s- label on everything, right? So it’s, uh, Werner von Siemens started it 150 years ago. It’s been a long time since Siemens was started, but it’s everywhere. It’s on turbines, transformers, and power plants around the world, and now they’re changing their name, right?

So when Siemens Energy broke off from Siemens AG, they, they had a limited time they could use that name, so they have rebranding themselves or are about to rebrand themselves, and I wanna pronounce this right, Omterra. O-M-T-E-R-R-A. Now, we did a little research on this, and I think it’s Latin for all of the world.

It’s kind of a conjoined, uh, set of words, Latin words, kind of a, a schmear in a sense. So, uh, so the company that, you [00:02:00] know, that spun off in w- roughly 2020, if I remember this right, Matthew, does that sound right? It was roughly 2020 when Siemens Energy was established on its own. Uh, they’re gonna be changing their name to Omterra.

So instead of seeing, seeing Siemens Gamesa publications or Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, I guess they’re gonna have this new name, Omterra. What do we all think?

Matthew Stead: I think it’s great. I think, and if you go back to, you know, GE Vernova, um, I, I thought Vernova was a bit weird for a while, but now it just rolls off the tongue and easy. It just makes so much sense. Um, so I’m, I’m, I’m for it. I, I like it. I’ve already… You know, can already say it. It took a lot longer to say Vernova than it’s taking to say

Terra.

Rosemary Barnes: I think that it– But it’s not Vernova, it’s GE Vernova, right? So everyone knows what it is. Whereas my understanding is it’s not Siemens Omtera, it’s just Omtera, which makes it sound like a new budget kind of [00:03:00] brandless, history-less, uh, company. So that’s… Yeah, I’m no

branding expert, but I think that, uh, like they, they must have not been able to use the word Siemens at all, um, because otherwise you surely would, because it has a very…

Outside of, you know, their blade issues and bearing issues of a couple of years ago, they do have a, like a solid engineering reputation across many fields, so you wouldn’t probably intentionally divorce yourself entirely from that. So, um, yeah, I, I think it will take some getting used to for me

Matthew Stead: but everyone remembers. I mean, it’s not like– The people in the wind industry know their heritage, they know their history, so I don’t think it matters. I mean, you know, you know, they, they purchase the Senvion, you know, technologies or, you know, licenses in Europe. You know, y- y- you don’t forget these things, so I don’t think it matters.

I think it’s just a, it’s a color, it’s a, it’s a label

Yolanda Padron: I think it’ll be fine. I just think that there will be a little [00:04:00] bit of confusion down the line as with everything, right? Like I’ve, I’ve been on the side of conversations where I have to explain like Siemens versus like SGRE on paper and it’s like, oh, it’s– this is why th- there was that paper trail, uh, because people would think it was an absolutely different thing.

Um, so I, I can totally see those conversations coming, coming to play in the future where someone thinks that Ontier is a completely different entity that maybe they changed OEMs or something, um, for a site. But nothing a little history lesson won’t fix, I guess.

Matthew Stead: You just want people talking about you

Rosemary Barnes: Name change every year

Allen Hall: Change your name every year. Well, that’s, that’s one way to approach it. I w- always wonder what the boardroom looks like and sounds like when this discussion is going on, because Siemens, Siemens Energy is a big company, and there had to be outsourcing of this to probably several marketing firms, mostly [00:05:00] in Germany, I’m guessing.

And they came back with a bunch of pitches, and eventually they picked one. But boardrooms are probably not the place to pick a name. And I always think like, “Oh, you just had such a opportunity to do something really cool or really impressive.”

Allen Hall: Well, we’ll see how it goes with Omterra. The, it’s gonna be, I’m sure, a huge marketing effort, and you’ll probably see commercials for it during the Super Bowl.

Developers are [00:06:00] eyeing Britain’s next big renewables auction and have been waiting to learn the rules and most importantly, the price. Well, this week the UK government delivered both. It confirmed a package of changes to the CFD scheme ahead of allocation round eight, aimed at simplifying the process and keeping good projects from being tripped up by some paperwork.

So AR7 was super successful, and they’re hopefully gonna have a, a great allocation round eight. Uh, unchanged from last round, here are some pieces to it. AR7 brought in 15 gigawatts of, of new capacity, uh, well below the ceilings, and the government is betting that that’s stability from AR7’s gonna exist for AR8, so they’re keeping the pricing limits the same.

And let me give you some of the numbers here. So everything’s in 2024 prices, just so we have a baseline here. It, 113 pounds per megawatt hour [00:07:00] for fixed bottom offshore wind, 271 pounds for floating offshore wind. That’s, uh, pounds per megawatt. And then 92 pounds per megawatt for onshore wind, and s- 75 pounds per megawatt for solar. So 271 pounds per megawatt hour in 2044 dollars is, you know, you’re probably talking, what, 290 pounds per megawatt hour. That’s a really good strike price or ceiling to allow, uh, some more floating wind into the UK waters

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Well, the UK have this newly signed agreement with Japan, right, to, to progress development of that technology. I feel like I, I haven’t looked up any numbers to back this up, but I feel like the gap between fixed bottom and floating is narrowing. It’s barely more than double now, which, um, yeah, I think is not that bad considering how little development there has been for floating offshore wind compared to fixed bottom.

So [00:08:00] yeah, I think that it is an interesting technology to develop. I, I know with the, um, auction rounds and ’cause it’s a government thing, it’s easy to think, “Oh, why are you spending any money on anything other than the cheapest one?” Because y- you know, like, it, it feels weird that the government would play, you know, when they’re purchasing power for their grid, that they would do any more than trying to just get, you know, bulk power at the cheapest price possible whilst ensuring, you know, reliability.

Um, but in the previous or the previous, the one– last one or the one before that, they had quite a few tidal projects announced that certainly, you know, an expensive and not mature technology. But I think that you can’t say the same thing about floating offshore wind. I think that it is on a, like a good, a good development trajectory, and there are certainly places on Earth where floating offshore is one of the most appealing technologies.

You know, if you think of through to 2030s, 2040s, there’s plenty of places where, um, you know, slightly higher [00:09:00] price paid for floating offshore wind will still be worth it because they have so few other options available. So it makes sense as an industry to in- invest in capabilities there.

Matthew Stead: think it’s a really interesting method. It seems to be really successful, the contract for di-difference approach. So, um, I’m, I’m surprised that it’s not adopted more widely, um, in other locations,

Rosemary Barnes: it is around a bit.

I would like to see it, like, in, in Australia, we are, we are developing some new wind projects, but not as fast as we need to, to, you know, hit our upcoming targets. And I think, like, while the government is doing some things to help move or help incentivize developers, it’s not working that well, and maybe CFD would be a, you know, a bit of a better way to, like, just actually guarantee that these projects are gonna go ahead.

Allen Hall: Australia has a shipping problem. there’s been a concern at state-owned transport hubs are becoming less supportive of [00:10:00] wind energy projects with ACEN Renewables saying that they will now have to truck a large transformer from a wind project or for a wind project in northern New South Wales from the Port of Adelaide.

That’s not necessarily close. And h- they also said that the Port of Brisbane has refused to accept passage of some big transformers for a solar farm. also there’s some, uh, something about blades not being able to be accepted in certain ports. Like some of the, uh, Australian state-managed or state-owned ports are not accepting renewables.

Rosemary Barnes: I think

also that blades in Queensland can only be transported to site like one per day with a full police escort or something. It’s wild to

me ’cause, you know, like I lived in, in Denmark for so long and there were blades going up and down just the normal highway every single day, multiple like, uh, and three– they would go in sets of threes for obvious reasons.

Um, yeah, but the, the, the [00:11:00] Queensland government changed like a, a year ago or, or so, and it changed to a very anti-renewables government and they just threw all of the state’s renewable plans in the bin,

Allen Hall: such a recent change that when they, at least the news articles I’ve seen about it, I’ve only seen a handful, that they have, um, like last year some big transformers, like really difficult to move items have come through those ports and they’re just not letting them through now. How does that work?

If you have a, a, a legal right to build a wind farm or a solar farm or, or substation or whatever’s going on there, how do they reconcile not allowing those components to come through a port? In what world does that make sense?

Matthew Stead: I mean, most of the ports are– yeah, most of the ports are privatized, so it’s up to the individual commercial entity that’s running the port, I would, I would imagine. So it’s beyond the control of the government, would be my first guess.

Yolanda Padron: it seems like it’s an, a federal sort of thing that would give permits.

Matthew Stead: No, I mean, I’ve done a bit of work in the Port of Melbourne and, [00:12:00] um, it’s facilitated by the government, uh, state government, not federal, and but the ports are largely privatized.

Rosemary Barnes: I just pulled up an article and it says that it’s state-owned transport hubs are becoming

less supportive of wind energy projects. Um, yeah, and that’s the reason for why they’ll have to get that transformer in northern New South Wales, so very close to Queensland. They have to go from Adelaide, where you live, Matt, all the way through South Australia, maybe Victoria, New South Wales, and then, yeah, up to nearly the border.

Allen Hall: Is that just a temporary blip that the next election cycle it’ll revert back or is this something that’s more long term?

Rosemary Barnes: uh, it’s not obvious that it’s gonna flip straight back, that’s for sure

Allen Hall: [00:13:00] for years, the race in wind has run mostly in one direction: bigger and bigger blades, bigger towers, bigger machines.

And now a chief engineer f- at one of China’s largest turbine makers says it’s time to pump the brakes. Bo Juul Petersen, uh, Goldwind’s chief engineer in Denmark, argues that scaling turbines up no longer makes economic sense. So it’s not an engineering question, it’s an economic question. His reasoning rests on a simple rule of geometry, the square cube r- law, which says that as a turbine grows, its materials and costs climb faster than the rotor area that earns the revenue.

Past a certain point, he says, bigger simply costs more than it makes. Have we crossed that threshold yet? Is 20 megawatts that, [00:14:00] uh, pivot point where it doesn’t make any more sense to make a larger turbine?

Matthew Stead: didn’t we have problems when we went from three to six?

Allen Hall: One to two.

Matthew Stead: I, I, I think, uh, I think it’s good that someone’s actually coming out and saying this

Yolanda Padron: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rosie’s on the podcast.

Rosemary Barnes: yeah, ex-excuse me, this is one of my topics of obsession that I constantly carry on about. I made a whole, a whole video about it with, um, equations to back up my opinions about scaling, um, and a very nifty tug of war metaphor between economic factors that favor big wind turbines and economic fav- factors that favor small ones.

And I think that we’re always a little bit ahead of, of what the right, the right balance is between those. So, you know, the benefits from having bigger turbines are that, um, you have fewer electrical connections, for offshore especially, that means less subsea cables and, um, yeah, just like much faster Faster construction of all that, you [00:15:00] know, less, uh, substructures and less, less of everything to install, less of everything to maintain as well.

You know, it doesn’t take so much longer to get up and do your annual maintenance checks of a big turbine compared to a small one. Like, it takes longer, but not, not that much longer. Um, but then all of the structural factors favor smaller turbines over bigger ones. blades especially, as they get longer, you get so many more problems in O&M, but they don’t show up on the developer’s spreadsheet, you know. The spreadsheet that you’re using to decide, um, your f- your final investment decision, it, it doesn’t, it doesn’t know that you’re gonna have a whole bunch of blade issues.

It doesn’t wanna know and so I think that that’s one factor that has pushed us past the economic point of where wind turbine size should be. And I think the other thing is prestige. I know that when I worked at LM, you know, we had the longest blade in the world.

It was 88 meters, was our first, um, world record that we set while I was working there. They’d had many before that. We had– They [00:16:00] had a, like, one-to-one scale printout of it that they took to WindEurope or WindHamburg, um, that everyone stood in front of, and then they lost it to somebody, and then they got it back again with the blade for the Halieade-X.

And we all know how well that went to, you know, have the world’s longest blade. Y- you know, it wasn’t so easy to make it, turned out. It’s very easy to announce and not so easy to make, um, with reliable quality. And now we’ve got all these Chinese companies, especially MingYang, is constantly announcing the world’s biggest something.

Um, don’t sell so many of them, but it’s not the point, isn’t to sell them, it’s to have the prestige of making the world’s biggest something.

Allen Hall: Yeah, what would be the technology breakthrough that would allow it to be more stable at a 20 or 25 megawatt? Because right now I’m, I’m seeing 1% improvement here and there, not 5%, 10%.

Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I mean, 1% improvement will eventually add up to what, what you need. Maybe it’s in

20 years’ time, not 10 years’ time. But y- you know, like you can imagine anything. maybe [00:17:00] they start somehow, like aero and automotive manufacturing technologies get cheap enough that we can start making wind turbine blades with all prepregs instead of y- you know, um, you know, dry fabric and infusion.

For example, maybe 3D printing gets cheap enough that you can make your whole, whole blade from an additive process. Like a- anything like that. But it can also be other things like maybe the cost of subsea cables in- increases like a whole lot, and then if, you know, like things on one side getting more expensive can make it more worthwhile to save hard problems somewhere else. So that’s why I say it’s like a, it’s a, a ve- it’s a multivariable optimization problem that changes every time you have a…

Like for every project to project from year to year, it’s always gonna be slightly different. So I don’t think it’s wise to definitively say 20 megawatts is the threshold that we should never cross. Like I, I don’t agree with that.

Allen Hall: It’s one of those arguments, I think, about [00:18:00] any sort of technology about where the endpoint is. There’s too many variables to predict it. I always point to aviation in which older airplanes will hang around and hang around and hang around until the fuel price goes up enough where it doesn’t make sense to operate them.

So they will fly an airplane un-until they can no longer structurally do it. But if the price of oil shoots up and the price of aviation fuel bumps up, those airplanes get parked, and then they’re buying the new airplane with a more efficient engine. It’s a similar thing, I think. There’s just– You can’t tell where the technology’s gonna go or what the economic impacts of any part of that business will force you to do something different.

So it’s gonna be higher than 20 megawatts, guarantee you that.

Yolanda Padron: Well, it’s one of those things too, right? Where if we’re repeating the, the same blade type and we’re getting smarter about operating that same blade type, then the economic cost goes down, [00:19:00] right? Like, eventually. ‘Cause then you’re not just experimenting on every new thing or having to take all of the, the funding into tr- specializing techs or getting very specialized techs onto your site and finding a new– kind of the wheel every so often. [00:20:00] So speaking of larger wind turbines, evidently we’ve been doing this all wrong, that we’ve had the calculations for the, uh, Betz limit has been off, and, uh, a group of MIT engineers, I guess, uh, have, have made a breakthrough.

Allen Hall: So basically every wind turbine that is spinning today is based on some fundamentals, uh, math, empirical data in, in some level, but on formulas that have led us to design the wind turbines and that core formula called the momentum theory. And if you hear blade designers who hang around blade designers, which I don’t necessarily recommend, but if you do hang around blade designers, they, they’ll say the momentum theory, momentum theory, like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it.”

It, it, the– MIT is saying it breaks down exactly at the operating point where modern turbines try to live. Um, so for a century the fix [00:21:00] was a patchwork of corrections and useful, but with no real theory behind them. Now, a team at MIT said it has rebuilt the math from first principles, creating what they call a unified momentum model. It even nudges at the famous Betz limit, the century-old ceiling on how much energy a rotor can capture, and it bumps it up by a few percentage points, and that would be the first uptick to the Betz limit in over 100 years. All right, Rosemary, as our official Betz limit expert, does this make any sense?

Have the MIT folk something new?

Rosemary Barnes: a wind turbine blade, its aerodynamics are just the same aerodynamics as what keeps an airplane in the sky, right? It’s, it’s all the… It’s just an airfoil. It’s just facing a wind speed, um, you know, a local wind speed. It’s complicated by the fact that [00:22:00] a wind turbine blade is also rotating, so the wind speed is different along the whole span, and that’s, uh– and so is the flow angle, and that’s why blades are twisted and tapered.

Um, but you know, essentially when you wanna figure out how much energy, uh, a wind turbine is gonna generate or you wanna design the blade so that it optimizes that amount, you’re just slicing it up into a whole bunch of little bits of 2D flow, exactly the same as an, an airplane. So if it doesn’t work for wind turbines, then it shouldn’t work for airplanes either.

So that’s one fundamental thing. And also at Betz limit, it’s not like it’s not driving design. It’s more like if you, if your design exceeds the Betz limit for a, um, a horizontal axis wind turbine, then you– it’s like a sanity check that you’ve done something wrong. Uh, that’s, that’s what I would say you would mostly use it for.

Um, but what I don’t understand, and maybe Alan, presumably you did read the, read the research or at least the press [00:23:00] release. Are they arguing that y- um, like the tips of a wind turbine blade are rotating, are moving fast enough that it’s approaching transonic flow? ‘

Allen Hall: Yeah, it’s a rental number thing.

Rosemary Barnes: there’s different types of aerodynamic equations depending on how fast the, airfoil’s moving.

And my understanding is transonic is like 0.8 Mach, um, 0.8, which is 274 meters a second, which is more than double what, um, the fastest tip speeds are currently. So I would think that you’re not quite approaching that yet. They’re– It’s not like a cutoff that, you know, all of a sudden at that exact, exact speed the air behaves totally differently.

But, um, y- yeah, like it seems far enough away that it’s not that relevant. But is that what they’re getting

at or, or is it something different?

Allen Hall: I like doing sanity checks when I read things from MIT. So what blade [00:24:00] manufacturers and/or wind turbine OEM has designed a set of blades and go, “Oh my gosh, we’re getting more energy than what we calculated,” and not thought to themselves, “Huh, maybe we should look into that”? It’s, it’s, it’s hilarious almost that all the engineers working in wind for 100 years wouldn’t have stumbled across this, where the turbine produces more power than the Betz limit would say it would.

Y-

Rosemary Barnes: yeah, as many people have commented on, you know, any one of my YouTube videos about wind turbine aerodynamics, if they would just put more blades in there, then, you know, less wind would just fly through without ever being, um, y- without ever hitting a blade.

So, you know, like obviously wind turbine, uh, blade aerodynamics people are stupid because if they weren’t, then they would see that you just put more blades in and you get more, twice as many blades, twice as much energy and w- What about three times as many blades? Three times as much energy.

And I [00:25:00] didn’t even go to MIT and that’s just, you know, like just

brilliant

Allen Hall: Obvious

Rosemary Barnes: off the top of my head here.

Allen Hall: it’s sort of ludicrous, honestly, and I see these things in wind occasionally. I see it more often in other areas, particularly aerospace, where, where you just have to go, “What are we spending time on?

Really? We’re working on this? On a fraction of a percentage point that we may have a slight error in?” Like, it does not matter. What are you gonna do with that?

Rosemary Barnes: there’s two issues. One is that the person writing up the press release is not the person that did the research, and they will always blow it up to be much more groundbreaking than the engineers who actually worked on it probably think it is.

So, the, like, I think you have to, like, reserve your criticism of the work and try and criticize the press release. And then the second error that I commonly see is that people don’t have an un- good understanding of a status quo. So they think that they have smashed the status quo, but really it’s more to do with them not understanding the status quo than it is through [00:26:00] some legitimate, like, massive im- improvement.

So it could well be that this is all very good and correct work, just with limited practical implication. That would be my most expected, um, from this.

Allen Hall: Rosemary, how many times a month do you get queries about wind turbine improvements that are just physically impossible?

Rosemary Barnes: Oh, I mean, if I read all of the comments on my YouTube channel, then probably quite, quite frequently. But, um, yeah, the most common one is just people thinking you can just add more blades and get a proportional increase in, um, in energy, you won’t get more power from adding more blades if that’s the only thing that you do, because in a well-designed wind turbine, which modern ones are, every, e- every air molecule that goes through the rotor disc is gonna interact with the, um, with, with a blade.

That’s how it’s, it’s designed. The blades are moving really fast, and so every molecule doesn’t get hit, but, you know, every, every molecule is affected and has some energy extracted from it. Um, then the other thing is people [00:27:00]who think if you reduce drag, like if you can come up with a lower drag airfoil or a higher lift airfoil, then you think, they think that that relates to more energy proportionally.

So they’re like, “Oh, this airfoil has twice as much lift, so it’s gonna be twice as much power.” It’s like, actually, you know, wind turbine designers are aware of the full range of, you know, airfoils that are available, including high lift ones, and they’re not using it because, you know, the same reason the airplane wings aren’t just, you know, like the highest, highest lift airfoil.

Y- you know, it’s more of a lift to drag ratio type thing, and that’s true for wind turbine blades as well, but also there’s structural considerations probably more so in a wind turbine blade than there are in, um, in airplane wings. So, you know, there’s some sacrifices made for that. Um, yeah, but those are the two, two main families of, of mistakes that I’d say people make.

Allen Hall: So

Rosemary Barnes: Matt

Allen Hall: up to his hand up for

to MIT media representatives

Matthew Stead: uh,

I had a couple of sort of quick and simple points. The first of all, uh, I’m actually a graduate of [00:28:00] MIT. I’ve graduated from, uh, from a course at MIT. Um, so that’s the first thing. Um, not in engineering. Um, the next one is like, so what? I mean, we can’t even reliably measure, um, you know, AEP the other one is all models are wrong.

Yolanda Padron: But not just wind

Matthew Stead: the world is not perfect. All models are wrong, so trying to improve something that’s wrong, you know, might help a little bit, but does it really matter?

Rosemary Barnes: But it is also the job of academics to improve these models. So there’s nothing wrong with MIT spending a lot of energy to, um, you know, improve on an incorrect model with another incorrect model. Uh, if it’s more useful, that’s great, and even if it’s not, like isn’t that the job of

Matthew Stead: yeah.

Matthew Stead: you should add to where it has the most impact on humanity. You should actually put the effort into areas that have a greater impact on pushing the boundary. You know, pushing small boundaries does not help the world

Allen Hall: Matthew is an MIT graduate, [00:29:00] the one thing that Matthew brings to the table is real-world experience. And that if you shelter yourself inside a laboratory at MIT, and I understand why you would do that, because I’m sure it’s a very pleasant place to work, and there’s a lot of benefits to that.

However, the way that MIT used to work back in the day, and not everything was roses then, but oh, okay, y- that people had industry experience. They had a knowledge of what was going on on the ground, and they were engineers, and they realized that formulas and reality don’t always align. And maybe we lost that somewhere in the ’80s and, or ’90s, but it does continue to be a problem, where back to Matthew’s point, if you’re going to use that amount of brain energy, put it to something that can help the world.

This isn’t necessarily helping the world That wraps up another episode of the Uptime: Wind Energy podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, and I’m sure that it will, we’d love to hear from [00:30:00] you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

So for Yolonda, Rosemary, and Matthew, I’m Allen Hall, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime: Wind Energy podcast.

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