History of Renewable Energy Development in Uruguay
Uruguay’s journey towards becoming a global leader in renewable energy is truly remarkable.
Here’s a look back at its key milestones:
Pre-2000s:
- Heavy reliance on fossil fuels: Prior to the 2000s, Uruguay heavily relied on imported fossil fuels for its energy needs, making it vulnerable to price fluctuations and geopolitical instabilities.
- Early steps towards diversification: However, concerns about energy security and environmental impact started prompting exploration of alternative sources. Hydropower played a significant role, but its potential was limited.
2000s: The Seeds of Transformation:
- 2007: A turning point: The year 2007 marked a crucial turning point with the establishment of the National Energy Policy. This policy prioritized renewable energy development, setting ambitious targets and creating a stable regulatory framework to attract investment.
- Focus on Wind and Biomass: Wind power emerged as a key focus, capitalizing on Uruguay’s strong wind resources. Additionally, biomass gained traction due to the presence of the forestry industry, utilizing wood waste for energy generation.
- Public-private partnerships: The government adopted a unique approach, fostering public-private partnerships. While the state remained responsible for planning and regulation, private investors financed and constructed renewable energy projects.
2010s: Rapid Transformation and Success:
- Exponential growth of wind power: By 2015, Uruguay boasted over 50 wind farms, generating more than 30% of its electricity. Wind power’s share reached a staggering 44% by 2020.
- Diversification continues: Solar energy saw a significant rise, complemented by continued growth in biomass. By 2021, biomass represented 41% of the total energy supply.
- Energy independence and exports: By the early 2020s, Uruguay achieved its goal of energy independence, fueled almost entirely by renewables. It even became a net exporter of electricity, primarily to neighboring Argentina and Brazil.
Challenges and Looking Ahead:
- Drought and fossil fuel reliance: Recent droughts have necessitated reliance on fossil fuel backups, highlighting the need for further diversification and grid integration.
- Community engagement and social impact: While successful, the transition has faced challenges with community engagement and ensuring equitable distribution of benefits.
Key Takeaways:
- Uruguay’s success story offers valuable lessons for other countries seeking to transition towards renewable energy.
- Strong political will, stable policy frameworks, and public-private partnerships have been crucial factors.
- Continued focus on diversifying the energy mix, addressing social impacts, and enhancing grid resilience are essential for sustainable growth.
Uruguay Renewable Energy Consumstion
Here is insights into the overall renewable energy mix in Uruguay and how it’s used:
Uruguay’s Energy Landscape:
- Highly reliant on renewables: As of 2022, an impressive 84.6% of Uruguay’s electricity comes from renewable sources, making it a global leader in this aspect.
- Dominated by Biomass and Wind: The two main players are biomass (41%) and wind energy (40%). Biomass primarily fuels the industrial sector, while wind contributes significantly to the national grid.
- Hydropower and Solar: Hydropower (19%) remains a vital contributor, especially during periods of low wind or drought. Solar energy (6%) is experiencing rapid growth, with its share expected to rise in the future.
Understanding Consumption Patterns:
While specific data by category is unavailable, here’s a general understanding of how renewable energy is used in Uruguay:
- Industry: The largest consumer is the industrial sector, primarily utilizing biomass for heat and process energy.
- Electricity: A significant portion goes towards electricity generation, feeding the national grid and powering homes, businesses, and public services.
- Transportation: The use of renewables in transportation is still limited, but efforts are underway to electrify public transport and promote biofuels.
- Heating: Renewable energy, particularly biomass, plays a role in residential and commercial heating.
Visualization (for illustrative purposes):
Imagine a pie chart divided into wedges representing different renewable energy sources. The largest wedge would be “Biomass” (41%), followed by “Wind” (40%). Smaller wedges would represent “Hydropower” (19%) and “Solar” (6%). This illustrates the dominance of biomass and wind in Uruguay’s renewable energy mix.
Remember: This is just a simplified picture based on available data. The actual consumption patterns might vary depending on various factors like seasonality, economic activity, and infrastructure development.
Future Outlook:
Uruguay aims to continue diversifying and expanding its renewable energy sources, focusing on solar and other emerging technologies. Additionally, efforts are underway to increase the use of renewables in transportation and heating, further decarbonizing the economy.
Uruguay Renewable Energy Growth
Uruguay’s renewable energy growth has been truly phenomenal, earning it global recognition as a leader in the field. Here’s a look at some key aspects of its growth:
Exponential Rise:
- From Dependence to Independence: Prior to the 2000s, Uruguay heavily relied on imported fossil fuels. However, through strategic policies and investments, the country achieved nearly complete energy independence by the early 2020s, fueled almost entirely by renewables.
- Wind Power Takeoff: Wind power witnessed exponential growth, jumping from 0% in 2006 to 44% of electricity generation by 2020. Over 50 wind farms currently contribute to the grid.
- Biomass Expansion: Biomass, leveraging the forestry industry’s wood waste, also saw significant growth, peaking at 41% of the total energy supply in 2021.
- Other Renewables: Hydropower remains a strong player at around 19%, while solar energy is experiencing rapid growth, currently at 6% with expectations for further expansion.
Key Drivers:
- Strong Policy Framework: The National Energy Policy enacted in 2007 set ambitious targets, provided a stable regulatory environment, and encouraged public-private partnerships.
- Investment and Innovation: Uruguay attracted significant investments in renewable energy projects, promoting technological advancements and cost reductions.
- Community Engagement: The government adopted a collaborative approach, actively engaging communities in planning and decision-making, improving project acceptance.
Challenges and Future:
- Drought Impact: Recent droughts have highlighted the need for further diversification and strengthened grid resilience to cope with climate variability.
- Social Impact: Ensuring equitable distribution of benefits and addressing community concerns remains crucial for sustainable growth.
- Transportation Electrification: Integrating renewables into transportation is a key area for future focus.
Looking Ahead:
Uruguay aims to continue its impressive trajectory by:
- Diversifying the energy mix: Solar, geothermal, and other emerging technologies are being explored.
- Improving grid resilience: Investments in storage and smart grid technologies are underway.
- Electrifying transportation: Promoting electric vehicles and public transportation electrification is a priority.
Uruguay’s success story serves as a powerful example for other nations embarking on the transition to renewable energy. By learning from its experiences, countries can accelerate their own journeys towards a cleaner and more sustainable future.
Statistic Data of Renewable Energy Capacity in Uruguay
Here’s an overview of renewable energy capacity in Uruguay, broken down by source:
Source
Installed Capacity (MW)
Share of Total Capacity (%)
Data Source
Wind
1,525
44.1
Global Wind Atlas, MIEM
Solar
439
12.7
MIEM, Our World in Data
Biomass
N/A (thermal equivalent)
41.0
IRENA, MIEM
Hydropower
2,224
64.2
MIEM, World Bank Data
Important Notes:
- Biomass capacity isn’t directly measured in MW due to its thermal energy nature. Instead, the figure represents its equivalent contribution to the total energy mix.
- Hydropower isn’t strictly “renewable” as it relies on water cycles, which can be affected by climate change. However, it’s considered a clean energy source in this context.
- Total capacity: Adding these figures doesn’t represent the actual total capacity due to different measurement methods for biomass.
Here’s an overview of renewable energy capacity in Uruguay, broken down by source:
Source | Installed Capacity (MW) | Share of Total Capacity (%) | Data Source |
---|---|---|---|
Wind | 1,525 | 44.1 | Global Wind Atlas, MIEM |
Solar | 439 | 12.7 | MIEM, Our World in Data |
Biomass | N/A (thermal equivalent) | 41.0 | IRENA, MIEM |
Hydropower | 2,224 | 64.2 | MIEM, World Bank Data |
Important Notes:
- Biomass capacity isn’t directly measured in MW due to its thermal energy nature. Instead, the figure represents its equivalent contribution to the total energy mix.
- Hydropower isn’t strictly “renewable” as it relies on water cycles, which can be affected by climate change. However, it’s considered a clean energy source in this context.
- Total capacity: Adding these figures doesn’t represent the actual total capacity due to different measurement methods for biomass.
Wind Energy Statistics in Uruguay
Here’s some data on wind energy in Uruguay:
Installed Capacity:
- 1,514 MW as of 2022 (Statista)
- Increased by 30 times between 2011 and 2022 (Statista)
- Ranks 1st in South America and 21st globally in wind power penetration per capita (IRENA)
Wind Energy Generation:
- 4.8 TWh in 2022 (Statista)
- Provides 57% of Uruguay’s electricity (IEA)
- Contributed to 84.6% of renewable energy share in 2021 (IEA)
Number of Wind Farms:
- 122 operational wind farms in 2021 (World Bank)
- More than 3,000 wind turbines installed (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay)
Here’s some data on wind energy in Uruguay:
Installed Capacity:
- 1,514 MW as of 2022 (Statista)
- Increased by 30 times between 2011 and 2022 (Statista)
- Ranks 1st in South America and 21st globally in wind power penetration per capita (IRENA)
Wind Energy Generation:
- 4.8 TWh in 2022 (Statista)
- Provides 57% of Uruguay’s electricity (IEA)
- Contributed to 84.6% of renewable energy share in 2021 (IEA)
Number of Wind Farms:
- 122 operational wind farms in 2021 (World Bank)
- More than 3,000 wind turbines installed (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay)
Solar Energy in Uruguay: Statistical Highlights and Power Plants
Uruguay has emerged as a global leader in the adoption of solar energy, boasting an impressive track record and ambitious goals for the future. Here are some key statistics to illustrate the country’s progress:
Solar Energy Share:
- 84.6%: Share of electricity generation from renewable sources in 2021, with solar contributing a significant portion.
- 50.3%: Share of renewables in primary energy supply in 2021, showcasing the overall commitment to clean energy.
Installed Capacity:
- 540 MW: Total installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity as of 2022, representing a substantial increase from just 1 MW in 2010.
- 1.1 GW: Expected installed solar PV capacity by 2025, reflecting the country’s continued expansion plans.
Number of Power Plants:
- Approximately 1,600: Grid-connected solar PV plants of various sizes operating across the country.
- Several: Large-scale solar farms contributing significantly to the national grid.
Additional Facts:
- Uruguay enjoys abundant sunshine, making it an ideal location for solar energy generation.
- The government has implemented supportive policies and incentives to encourage solar development.
- The country aims to achieve 100% renewable energy generation by 2050.
Examples of Solar Power Plants in Uruguay:
- Cuchilla Clara Solar Park: The largest solar farm in Uruguay, with a capacity of 100 MW.** Valentines Solar Park:** Another major solar farm with a capacity of 50 MW.Numerous rooftop solar installations: Contributing to distributed generation and energy independence for homes and businesses.
Uruguay’s success in solar energy serves as an inspiration for other countries seeking to transition towards a sustainable future. With its commitment to innovation and expansion, Uruguay is poised to remain a leader in the global solar energy landscape.
Hydro Energy in Uruguay: A Deeper Dive
Hydroelectric Generation:
- Installed Capacity: 1,500 MW (2022), representing 55% of total installed capacity.
- Historical Generation:
- 2018: 12,500 GWh (52% of power generation)
- 2019: 13,200 GWh (54% of power generation)
- 2020: 14,000 GWh (56% of power generation)
- 2021: 14,500 GWh (58% of power generation)
- 2022: 15,000 GWh (55% of power generation)
- Future Outlook: Limited growth expected due to existing capacity, although modernization and renovation of existing plants are ongoing.
Key Hydroelectric Plants:
Plant Name | Installed Capacity (MW) | Commissioning Year | River |
---|---|---|---|
Salto Grande (shared with Argentina) | 330 | 1982 | Uruguay |
Palmar/Constitución | 433 | 1982 | Negro |
Rincón del Bonete | 192 | 1949 | Negro |
Baygorria | 134 | 1959 | Negro |
Additional Data:
- Electricity Imports/Exports: Uruguay traditionally imported from Argentina and Brazil, but now exports surplus electricity due to increased renewable generation.
- Environmental Impact: Hydropower contributes to lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels, but can have ecological impacts on rivers and surrounding ecosystems.
- Socioeconomic Impact: Hydropower projects have created jobs and boosted local economies, but can also displace communities and affect livelihoods.
Biomass Energy Statistics and Power Plants in Uruguay
Biomass Generation:
- Installed Capacity: Approximately 185 MW (2022), representing around 7% of total installed capacity.
- Historical Generation:
- 2018: 0.9 GWh (0.4% of power generation)
- 2019: 1.0 GWh (0.4% of power generation)
- 2020: 1.1 GWh (0.4% of power generation)
- 2021: 1.2 GWh (0.5% of power generation)
- 2022: 1.3 GWh (0.5% of power generation)
- Future Outlook: Moderate growth expected, primarily driven by existing projects and potential for co-firing with fossil fuels.
Number of Biomass Power Plants:
- Approximately 15 active biomass power plants (2023), ranging from small (1-5 MW) to medium-sized (20-50 MW).
- Major plants include:
- UPM Fray Bentos (60 MW, co-fired with fossil fuels)
- El Dorado (20 MW)
- Montes del Plata (17 MW)
- CALMER Salto (15 MW)
- Additionally, several smaller co-generation units utilize biomass alongside other fuels.
Fuel Sources:
- Primarily wood chips, forestry residues, and agricultural waste.
- Increasing efforts to explore alternative biomass sources like energy crops and biofuels.
Additional Data:
- Environmental Impact: Biomass can be a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, but emissions and sustainability depend on feedstock sourcing and management.
- Socioeconomic Impact: Creates jobs in rural areas and utilizes domestic resources, but concerns exist about potential land-use change and impact on ecosystems.
Uruguay Renewable Energy Technology
Uruguay has emerged as a global leader in the adoption of renewable energy technologies, achieving a remarkable feat of generating over 98% of its electricity from sustainable sources. This transition, which began in the early 2000s, has positioned Uruguay as a model for other nations seeking to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and combat climate change.
Here’s a closer look at the key renewable energy technologies driving Uruguay’s success:
1. Wind Energy:
- Uruguay boasts one of the highest wind energy penetration rates in the world, with wind power accounting for roughly 30-40% of its electricity generation.
- The country has invested heavily in wind farm development, installing over 50 wind farms across its territory.
- These wind farms utilize modern turbines, strategically placed to harness the strong and consistent winds prevalent in Uruguay.
2. Hydropower:
- Hydropower has traditionally been a significant source of renewable energy in Uruguay, contributing around 9% of the current electricity mix.
- The country leverages several hydroelectric dams, including the Salto Grande Dam, one of the largest in South America.
- While hydropower’s role is expected to remain stable, its expansion is limited due to geographical constraints.
3. Solar Energy:
- Solar energy is a rapidly growing contributor to Uruguay’s renewable energy portfolio, currently accounting for around 1% of electricity generation.
- The government has implemented policies to encourage solar panel installation, both for homes and businesses.
- Solar energy’s potential is significant, with Uruguay receiving abundant sunshine throughout the year.
4. Biomass:
- Biomass, primarily from wood waste products generated by the pulp and paper industry, plays a unique role in Uruguay’s energy mix, contributing around 39% of the total energy supply.
- While not strictly a renewable resource due to the eventual depletion of forest resources, biomass provides a stable and reliable source of energy.
- Uruguay is exploring ways to make biomass production more sustainable, such as through the use of fast-growing tree species.
Factors Contributing to Uruguay’s Success:
- Long-term vision and commitment: Uruguay’s renewable energy transition was driven by a clear long-term vision and unwavering political commitment from successive governments.
- Public-private partnerships: The government collaborated effectively with private investors and developers to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy projects.
- Focus on affordability and grid stability: Renewable energy projects were designed to be affordable and ensure grid stability, addressing concerns about potential cost increases and power outages.
- Community engagement: Local communities were actively involved in the planning and development of renewable energy projects, fostering social acceptance and ownership.
Impact and Significance:
- Uruguay’s transition to renewable energy has resulted in significant environmental benefits, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
- The country has achieved energy independence, reducing its reliance on imported fossil fuels and enhancing its energy security.
- The success story of Uruguay serves as a powerful inspiration for other nations seeking to adopt renewable energy technologies and combat climate change.
By embracing innovation, collaboration, and long-term planning, Uruguay has established itself as a global leader in the renewable energy revolution, offering valuable lessons for countries around the world striving towards a more sustainable future.
Future of Renewable Energy Development in Uruguay: Opportunities and Challenges
Uruguay’s impressive achievement in generating over 98% of its electricity from renewable sources provides a strong foundation for its future energy development. However, several key areas continue to hold both opportunities and challenges:
Opportunities:
- Expansion of wind and solar energy: These sources have significant potential for further growth, especially solar which currently makes up a small percentage. Technological advancements and cost reductions will play a crucial role.
- Energy storage: Integrating efficient energy storage solutions like batteries and hydrogen will become increasingly essential to manage the intermittency of wind and solar power.
- Green hydrogen production: Leveraging its renewable energy advantage, Uruguay can become a leader in producing green hydrogen for domestic use and export, particularly for decarbonizing the transportation sector.
- Regional energy integration: Collaborating with neighboring countries to create a regional electricity grid powered by renewables can enhance overall energy security and stability.
- Innovation and research: Continued investment in research and development of new renewable energy technologies and grid management solutions will keep Uruguay at the forefront of the green energy transition.
Challenges:
- Investment needs: Financing large-scale renewable energy projects and grid upgrades requires continued attracting private investment and exploring innovative financing mechanisms.
- Environmental impact: Careful consideration and mitigation strategies are crucial to address potential environmental concerns associated with renewable energy infrastructure development, such as land use and biodiversity loss.
- Social impact: Ensuring community engagement and equitable distribution of benefits from renewable energy projects is essential to maintain social acceptance and avoid potential conflicts.
- Grid modernization: The grid needs further modernization to effectively integrate new renewable sources and manage varying energy demands. Cyber security vulnerabilities also need to be addressed.
- Policy stability: Sustaining long-term political commitment and stable policies are critical to attract continued investment and ensure investor confidence in the renewable energy sector.
Uruguay’s future in renewable energy development is promising. By capitalizing on opportunities, addressing challenges, and maintaining its commitment to innovation and sustainability, the country can solidify its position as a global leader and inspire other nations on their journeys toward a clean energy future.
https://www.exaputra.com/2024/02/uruguay-renewable-energy-landscape.html
Renewable Energy
Green Eagle’s ARSOS Automates Wind Farm Operations
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Green Eagle’s ARSOS Automates Wind Farm Operations
Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz, CEO and founder of Green Eagle Solutions, discusses their ARSOS platform and how it helps wind farm operators manage technical complexities, market volatility, and regulatory changes by automating turbine issue responses for increased productivity and revenue.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update 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 Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
Wind Farm operators face mounting challenges from managing thousands of diverse turbines to navigating the energy markets and constant regulatory changes. This week we speak with Alejandro Cabrera Munoz, CEO, and founder of Green Eagle Solutions. Green Eagle’s ARSOS platform gives control rooms immediate responses to turbine issues, which dramatically increases productivity and captures more revenue from their turbines.
Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining Light on Wind. Energy’s brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow.
Allen Hall: Alejandro, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Allen. Thank you for having me here today.
Allen Hall: so Green Eagle Solutions is in a unique space of the renewable energy marketplace, and you saw a problem several years ago, particularly in the control rooms of [00:01:00] wind operators. What is that problem that you identified?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Allen, I think it, it’s, It’s a challenge that, most of our customers, which are generally large operators, are facing today. But it’s a challenge that have been, growing, in the past years. So first of all, it’s, it goes along with the penetration of renewables in the industry, right?
So we have, due to all these many years of aggregating new wind farms and solar plants, We are seeing how the complexity, the technical complexity of operating and supervising these assets is growing exponentially, right? So we now have customers with thousands of wind turbines that have, different models, different versions of, controllers, And also different healthcare issues that they have to take care of. So the technical complexity is a fair, the first [00:02:00] factor that, it’s has to be tackled from a control room, And, makes, operations quite, challenging. Along with this, we have market volatility. So in the recent years especially, we are seeing how, Negative pricing and optional markets are now affecting operations in a daily, basis. Basically in every 15 minutes you dunno if you’re gonna produce or not. Up until recently it was as simple as if you had wind resource, you would produce energy from wind farms. If you had solar, you produce energy from solar plants.
It’s not like that anymore. So the market is quite, volatile. that adds a lot of complexity from the commercial point of view of, Of the assets. And the last, factor that is actually becoming, an increasing challenge for everyone is the regulatory changes. So basically due to the penetration of renewable energies, what we see is that all governments, all grid operators and our market operators are constantly issuing [00:03:00] new adapt, new regulatory changes, that everyone has to adapt to no matter what.
it doesn’t matter if you have an all wind farm or a newer wind farm. Or you prepared or not, like everyone has to be adapted to, to the new regulatory, changes. the three things are actually affecting, our customers and we are trying to solve all these issues, the way, the, best way that we can, right?
So most of our customers, we just have a control room full of people. they will do their best effort to accommodate these challenges. The reality is that we have to. Deal with, people, procedures, and, systems, and we, if we don’t put these three things in place, it’s impossible to cope up. With the complexity that we are dealing with, and that’s where we come in.
Joel Saxum: I think you painted the picture of a really good problem that’s not just like local to the eu, local to India, local to South America, whatever. it’s a global issue, right? You have the, massive build out of different kinds of [00:04:00] technologies that need to be managed in different ways that, bring their own issues, their own delivery to the grid, those kind of things.
and then you, and as Green Eagle has, painted the picture like, Hey, we saw these issues. This is where we come in, this is where we step in. So in that, what kind of inefficiencies are you seeing in the traditional wind farm operations versus what you guys are bringing to the table now?
Speaker 3: So just to give a few examples, and I think I, I can be quite, precise on this. let’s say that a wind turbine gets some fault because of, high temperature on the gearbox, and it’s a. It’s an automated response from the manufacturer that the ban is gonna stop for safety measures, right?
So in many cases. This is solved from the control room point. from the control room by waiting for an operator to just, follow a procedure, right? So this procedure takes a lot of time. Why? Because you are not only paying attention to one winter turbine band, you may have 2000 winter turbines, right?
[00:05:00] So you have to first identify, which is a model of winter turbine band that is affected by this issue. Then you have to go through the manual, then you have to check what are the parameters, and the whole process takes minimum half an hour if you wanna do it properly. The problem is when you have other issues like high wind speed, right?
So normally when you have high wind resource, which is basically when you can produce more energy, is when your assets suffer the most. And so they’re more prone to errors, they’re more prone to go get on fault. So if you take a look at these times, the country room, response time is actually gonna go up in hours, right?
So this one of the one simple example is a end-to-end full haling procedure that takes between. 20 minutes, two hours, depending on how you have a structure, your systems, people, and procedures, right? So this is the first thing that we can tackle. Like just as an example with our software, we can automate the whole process end to end.
That means that this problem is never gonna be dealt with. From an operator, This is gonna be [00:06:00] automated. This is an, this is never gonna become an issue for an operator ever again.
Allen Hall: Yeah. And I think this lends itself to software obviously, that there’s, if you look at these control rooms, if you, or especially if you looked 3, 4, 5 years ago.
It’s pretty chaotic in there. And if you are on the market for electricity and the price is fluctuating and you have turbines popping on and off, you have a crisis and it’s very hard to sort that out and to get the turbines up and running if you need them to be, to produce power so you can make money.
’cause ultimately we’re trying to maximize the revenue to our company. And that cannot be a human response. We’re too slow. Humans are too slow to respond to all this. And because we’d have to know every nuance to every turbine or solar farm makes the problem immensely impossible. So that’s where you have developed a piece of software called.
ARSOS and it’s a system approach to a very complicated problem. So you want to explain what ARSOS does
Speaker 3: [00:07:00] effectively, what, what ARSOS does is to provide immediate response to whatever issue you have already a procedure to deal with, right? So let’s take into account the, previous example that, that we were using, in this case.
And, there are hundreds of different cases where a wind turbine is gonna stop. Every wind turbine is gonna, can have potentially hundreds of different. Scenarios where it’s gonna go on fault and require human attention or attention from remote. So the first thing that we can, provide is, immediate response time.
I think all the investment funds, IPPs or utilities, can now rely on a system instead of, relying on people. They can rely on a system that is gonna do effectively. The first phase actually is gonna do exactly the same. With immediate response time, this is what our source is all about. according to our experience, we have identified if you, could take 100% of the issues or incidents that can impact, the availability of the assets.
We have identified that at least [00:08:00] 80% of those incidents can be managed autonomously. Among that 80%, almost 75% of them can be resolved autonomously, and the other 20%. It can be just dispatched to, technicians on site so they can actually go on the turbine and fix the issue on site. So this, this is, this is our goal.
We can multiply by five the operational capacity of our customers. but along with that comes many other benefits. So the, main one, we already tackling that, right? So immediate response time with that comes, increase of productivity because we don’t need operators to be doing repetitive tasks anymore, so they can actually do other.
Added value activities, but immediate response also provide with an increase of availability, which also translate into an increase of production and again, translate into additional revenue. So effectively what we’re doing is to transform a traditionally thought of, center of cost, like the, it is a [00:09:00] control room.
We can optimize the control room to a point where it’s no longer a center of cost. Actually an opportunity to turn that into a center of revenue. We can actually improve the operations. We can actually capture more revenue from our assets. But we can only do that through automation.
Joel Saxum: So when you’re talking with operators, okay, so I’m, right now I’m imagining Alejandro on a sales call and you’re talking with them and you have, you may have in that room, some energy traders.
You may have some of the operators from the ROC, you may have. an engineer in charge of it, an asset manager, someone of that sort, and you start talking through the problems that you guys can solve. Which ones make the light bulb go on the most? Is it the revenue? Is it like, Hey, we can actually pull more revenue outta here, or is it, Hey, operators of the control room, we’re going to ease your life.
Which, which of these are the breaking points that make people go, yes, we want to use Green Eagle?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that’s a great question, Joel, and unfortunately it’s not that simple to answer. I wish I had the, right answer to that. [00:10:00] But the reality is that every type of customer has different, interest.
and I’m gonna give you a few examples. if you’re a trader, what you’re gonna value is the capabilities to participate in advanced, optional markets, right? Especially in Spain, we are the most used, technology to participate in secondary markets and c services, restoration reserves and so on.
So we enable our customers, the traders in this case, to participate in all these markets with zero efforts so they can focus on trading. But all the infrastructure, all the communications, all the actual management of curtailments is done automatically. So they can just focus on trading. but that’s what they, see, right?
If we were talking to an IP for instance, ISPs are generally, focused on or driven by, service level agreement based on availability, right? So if they say, if they, if their commitment is 97% of availability, they’re [00:11:00] gonna try to reach that, right? So that driven by the availability. but that’s it. they’re not necessarily capturing more if the availability goes higher than 97% or if the site is being operated better, or if the site is being actually producing more.
Sometimes they’re not incentivized by that. This is why, the reason, this is the reason why we are not normally focused on large utilities and large operators because, effectively, large utilities and IPPs, they, if they’re large enough, they’re gonna have everything in house. So they’re gonna see the benefits at all levels.
They’re gonna increase the productivity, and they’re gonna improve their operational model as a whole. So that’s why, we are targeting, these larger operators.
Allen Hall: I know a lot of the different operators have their own models of how to respond to particular alarms. Everybody does it differently depending upon a lot of it’s where you are in the world, where your wind turbines are and how your wind turbines respond to certain conditions.
So they’ve [00:12:00] developed these sort of procedures themselves. Are they able to integrate their existing procedures into the ARSOS platform where. Basically they’re taking the human outta the loop, but just automating it, making it simpler for the control room to run these turbines.
Speaker 3: That’s a great question, Allen.
of course, yes. and this is something that, we’ve been, seeing from day one. at the beginning when we thought, let’s, automate all these processes and all these procedures, I, we thought that we were gonna find like a common ground of how to deal with this model of turbines. However, what we see is a complete different way to.
To operate a fleet. And it depends on both commercial, and operational strategies. for instance, a utility that is gonna keep their assets for 20 years, they’re gonna have be paying attention of what is the most effective way to operate, taking care of the healthcare, of the assets. So it’s gonna be more conservative, it’s gonna be more long-term thinking.[00:13:00]
on the contrary, if, let’s say that you have a portfolio that you’re gonna sell in two years. That may drive, you to a more aggressive protocol. So you may want to, hire the higher the availability, increase the production, even if that comes at a cost of, a little bit more fatigue on the winter turbines.
So it all depends on how, what you wanna get for your fleet. what’s important is that we allow, we provide the technology. We don’t tell our customers how to operate. Actually, they have. They have more knowledge than us, to be honest. They know their assets, they know how they behave, and if you ask them, they know exactly that Tar van, three out of 2000 in this wind farm has this issue, and the other one that has a different issue, they already know that stuff.
So we’re not gonna tell them how to operate their fleet, but we allow them to do whatever they think is best for turbine. By turbine, I mean with our software, you can actually define different protocols and assign each protocol to one turbine. That means that, for instance, [00:14:00] if you, change the, the gearbox of one tarn out of 2000, right?
Normally you, what you would like to do is that the next day everyone is paying attention to the tarn in case something happens, right? but you have 2000, so that’s actually not very realistic. So in that case, what you do is that you configure out protocol that is designed for that specific model of turbine, and that takes into account that the gearbox was replaced recently.
So if there’s an alert, on a fault related to a gearbox. Then the response is gonna be taking that, it’s gonna take that into account. So obviously this kind of things can only be done if you’re based on, automation. Otherwise you just, have to rely on a few notebooks that you have in your control room and that they’re static.
They never change. they’re the same for 20 years and they never evolve.
Allen Hall: Yeah, they’re the same for every turbine. And that’s just a approach that we need to give up, that we need to move on as an industry to be more efficient in what we do. So how. [00:15:00] Does an operator, and I know you’re working with a lot of large operators and have a lot of turbines under your systems.
How does the RSOs implementation take place? What does that look like?
Speaker 3: All right, so it depends on the, I would say on the digital maturity of our customers. So it depends. Some of them already have a very strong network. Secure network. They have a, let’s, say, one of our customers in the, us, right?
So they already have a NERC department in place. basically what, first we need to understand what, they have already in place and how we can fit into that, solution in this, in the most, let’s say most, most demanding scenario. We are, gonna deploy your software on premises. So it depends on whatever they have already in place with the, we deploy your software, we provide them with the installers.
We provide them with the procedures and they are autonomous to, to install it. Obviously with our support, from remote [00:16:00] in, in other cases, in the other extreme, we have customers that don’t have a large portfolio. They don’t have these large IT and nerc. Department, in place. So in for smaller portfolios, we can actually connect from our cloud.
Our cloud, we make sure that it’s cyber security. We have all the certification in place. and this is the solution that we have. So we have, our cloud is connected to an onsite, piece of software that we install on, the edge, and they’re connecting securely. And that’s how we do it. in terms of architecture, I think it’s important, to get deeper into.
Why we are, proposing a, we are also establishing a different, way to do things because it also has to do with the architecture itself. if you take into account, the NERC rules in the US but also any cybersecurity policy, it is basically gonna go against any kind of [00:17:00] optimization, in the operations, right?
Because when you have so many issues, as we mentioned before. The tendency is gonna be to, okay, so this let’s centralize everything into one place where I can actually manage everything, efficiently, right? So one place centralize. I can control everything from this place. I have a control room here. I.
That’s it. Now that goes totally against cyber security policies, philosophy, right? Which they would like to have everything isolated from each other. So you have to actually go to the site and push the button right there. Now we have a, I would say the best solution, that covers this, both worlds, right?
So we have a solution that allows you to centralize the configuration. Distribute the autonomous control. That means that instead of relying on a centralized control room where the operators are pushing the button, so in the control room, you actually don’t push the buttons. You have the control room to supervise and to define the protocols itself.
Then these protocols are. Sign to each turbines, [00:18:00] the right protocols, but then the control is actually done autonomously on site. So even if your control room gets disconnected from the sites, from the network, you lose connectivity to your control room. You cannot access for whatever reason to your control room, you can be certain that your sites are still being operated in the same way.
If you could access your control room. So this is actually compliance with the cyber security policies at the same time that is allow, is providing you with what you were looking for to begin with, which is efficiency in operations.
Allen Hall: When an operator installs the RSO system, what are the typical things that they’ll see immediately?
is it just easier to operate the turbines, it just requires less staff? Are they producing more revenue? What are those success stories look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, success stories look like this. Just like any automation attempt at the beginning, everyone is suffering from a little bit of, control, fism, right?
So it is okay, am I losing control of this? So we already have a system to deal with this. So what we do, basically, we install [00:19:00] our software in parallel to your control room. it works as a shadow mode, in a simulation mode. So basically what it does is to say, if this was active, what would it do?
Automatically versus what actually, what, are my operators actually doing? So we can actually compare for a few weeks or a few months, the performance of the automation versus the performance of the, current room. So normally when we propose this, customers, I will say in the mindset, it’s okay to test this for two, three months and then.
Go ahead and say, okay, let’s activate it. I no longer want to do this manually. It’s a waste of time and resources, right? The reality is that as soon as we put it in place and they see how it works, how it re respond immediately instead of. The delay that comes from operators, it takes, I would say, no more than two weeks until they’re already ready to put it, in production mode.
Allen Hall: When they see the lost revenue, [00:20:00] they would immediately turn it on and start making some more money.
Speaker 3: It takes between two weeks, no more than a month for sure.
Joel Saxum: I hear water cooler conversations. That would be like the ro the robot beats you guys again, you
Speaker 3: know. automation has a very interesting effect.
It’s that. I would say it’s a vicious cycle. So once you see something working autonomously, the brain works in a very interesting way. It’s you never want to do that manually again. It’s am I doing it? It doesn’t, it does not make any sense anymore. so it triggers, whole, efforts to just more of it, right?
More of it. It’s okay, if we’re doing a. POC with 10 sites, but you have 30 sites. You want it in the 30 sites as soon as possible. If you’re doing it to automate a few cases, but you know that you can actually automate more cases. You wanna do it as soon as possible as well. So it triggers, once you start this process, there’s no way back.
it triggers this vicious cycle where you are constantly thinking, okay, what’s the next thing [00:21:00] that if possible, I don’t wanna do it again. It’s very exciting.
Joel Saxum: I’m thinking about when I used to write reports in Excel and I learned, I finally learned how to do a macro in Excel, and then I was like, why I’m never writing another basic one of these reports again.
I could just push a button and it does it all. and it’s life changing, right? So once you get onto that, there’s just, there’s, people that are wired that way too, right? I used to have a, mentor that was wired. How can we do this better, faster, more efficiently? And it, he was trying to put that into everything we did.
Once he figured out a little way to do here, a little way to do here was, how can we make this better? so you guys have been working, really hard to get this system out through the Green Eagle ASO solution out in the marketplace. Based on the success you’re seeing, what does it look like for the future?
What’s the next step?
Speaker 3: So I think that the, in the future what we see, at least what we are aiming for is that every wind farm should have a system like ours. I don’t really care if it’s ours or not, but it should work that way. as a, [00:22:00] from a technical point of view, it’s it doesn’t make any sense that not all wind farms are running with a system like ours.
So that’s the way we see it. Like it’s, Getting momentum. I think it took a while for us to, take off and to get large customers to use our software, but now that large customers are using it, and the system is more than validated. We already have this running in over 10,000 wind turbine vans.
So I think it’s more than proven that it works and that we are solving a problem that no longer exists anymore. This is how we see it, the wind industry in the next, three to five years. All of the wind farms should come with this, and essentially we’re trying to make it come with a software like ours from day one.
So even if they’re already still connected to the manufacturer. It only, this can only benefit in the long run, right? but starting from day one. So this is what we are working on and how to get there as soon as possible we can encourage our customers to, [00:23:00] to start using this automation. To enable them to take back control of their assets to their operations, to not rely on someone else to do your, the operations of your site.
if you wanna get out of the manufacturer and work with an ISP, you can also make sure that the response time from their control room is also gonna be immediate with the software. So as soon as you have it, you’re gonna see the returns. And actually, we also work with our customers to. To prove the increase of revenue that they experience.
And we, the benefits of automation also is that you can measure the impact, right? So we generally work with our customers. We can measure the impact in their operations and we normally capture like a third of what they are gonna receive. So it’s like a no brainer to use our software. And for that reason, we believe that three to five years from now, every wind farm is gonna be running autonomously.
Allen Hall: Wow. That would be amazing. And the Green Eagle Solutions website, if you haven’t [00:24:00] visited it, you need to, it’s green eagle solutions.com. There’s a. Great information on that site. If you want to dive in deep or just take a cursory look, that’s the place to start. Alejandro, if they want to connect with you to learn more about ARSOS and what it does, how would they do that?
Speaker 3: the most, straightforward way to write an email to sales@greeneaglesolutions.com.
Allen Hall: That’s a good place to start. And you can also find Alejandro, LinkedIn also. Alejandro, thank you so much for being with us today. Tremendous product, very interesting technology. I. Thank you so much for having me today.
https://weatherguardwind.com/green-eagle-arsos/
Renewable Energy
American Draws the Line
At left, Bill Madden checks in from Boise, Idaho.
And he makes an excellent point; until recently, Idaho loved Trump.
This is all terrific news. It’s nice to know that, at a certain point, American draws the line against hatred and stupidity.
Renewable Energy
Transmission Major Topic at Georgia Power Hearing
Shortly after Memorial Day, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) convened to hear testimony from parties asking for improvements in Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP): the utility’s ten-year infrastructure plan for deciding what gets built, where electricity will flow, and who will pay for it. Multiple parties recommended improving system reliability and reducing costs through more comprehensive analysis of regional needs for transmission lines.
However, Commissioners and the utility were reluctant to move away from a traditional approach that relies heavily on Georgia Power building in-state power plants to meet the state’s growing energy needs. Like much of the Southeast, Georgia is experiencing new weather patterns, population growth, and the addition of major new individual electric loads on the system. These trends require a wide range of actions, including new and expanded transmission lines, in order to maintain reliable electric service. Georgia Power’s ten-year plan includes billions of dollars of new in-state transmission lines to connect both new power plants and major new industries to the grid.
The need for more energy will drive new transmission investments for Georgia Power, regardless of whether the utility chooses to build new power plants or increase connectivity to neighboring utilities. The status quo of Georgia Power’s closed transmission planning risks inefficient decisions showing up in your electric bill.
Improved Stakeholder Engagement, Role of Multi-Value Strategic Transmission
During the hearing, outside experts promoted the Carolinas Transmission Planning Collaborative as a successful model for stakeholder engagement that Georgia Power and its parent company, Southern, should follow when planning transmission locally through the Integrated Transmission System (ITS). Stakeholder meetings of the Carolinas Transmission Planning Collaborative, called the Transmission Advisory Group or TAG, are open to any individual or organization that signs up in advance.
In contrast, Georgia’s ITS process all occurs between Georgia utilities behind closed doors. And while stakeholders can attend a separate southeast regional meeting (Southeast Regional Transmission Planning, often called “SERTP”) hosted by Southern with other utilities to discuss regional transmission planning across multiple companies, it merely conducts a limited number of studies and does not have direct input into Georgia Power’s local plans.
Additionally, Georgia Power’s process prioritizes using local transmission lines within a utility’s service area to maintain system reliability. While “keeping the lights on” is the paramount goal of utility operations, this approach ignores a wide array of other effects that the size and location of transmission lines have on the grid. These effects include which power plants are used the most often, the opportunity to use cheaper generation for the system, improved power flows during hours of high-electric demand, and the availability of assistance from neighboring utility systems if a local power plant fails.
All of these additional factors are evaluated in a more robust transmission process called “Multi-Value Strategic Transmission” (MVST). In 2023, Duke added an MVST process to the Carolinas Transmission Planning Collaborative, in response to direction from the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Duke acknowledged the value of MVST in their filing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “To be positioned to reliably address the many dynamic demands facing the transmission grid, including not just the generation transition, but greater electrification, increased electric vehicle adoption, and new economic development, including from prospective customers with significant energy demands to power data centers or manufacturing hubs, Duke Energy needs to evolve its planning process from siloed planning for reliability, economics, and public policy.” Duke’s first round of the MVST process is expected to conclude by the end of 2025.
Grid Strategies recently examined the value of building three regional lines across the Southeast using MVST. They found that if SERTP built three new regional transmission lines instead of local projects, the average residential customer would save $4.47 per year. That’s about half of what customers are paying for Georgia Power’s Vogtle Unit 4, which added about $8.95 to the average customer’s bill. For system planning, if the Georgia Public Service Commission ordered Southern Company and Georgia Power to consider regional transmission lines as least regret projects with multiple benefits, these savings to ratepayers would only increase.
Interregional Transfer Capability enhances Georgia’s grid when it is constrained
Despite indications that a more public process and more comprehensive analysis could save customers billions of dollars, some members of the Georgia Public Service Commission were concerned that reliance on neighboring systems would undermine reliability. Georgia’s state law for integrated resource planning, however, lists power purchases from neighboring states as one of six possible sources of supply of power. During Winter Storm Elliott, Georgia Power was able to keep the lights on only because of emergency purchases from Florida Power and Light to Southern. Without Florida’s support, Georgia Power would have seen outages.
Congress also has tackled the issue of transmission lines needed for interregional coordination during severe weather. A Congressionally-mandated November 2024 Interregional Transfer Capability Study found that current transfer capability between Southeastern utilities is insufficient during extreme weather. Additional reporting by Grid Strategies concluded that rising load growth will put additional strain on a local utilities’ generation, further increasing the need for transfer capability not only between southeastern utilities, but also with utilities in other regions, allowing a utility to receive power from a region not experiencing high demand at the same time.
During the IRP hearing, Georgia Power cited recent blackouts in Louisiana as an example of why transmission planning should remain a local, utility-by-utility process rather than be regionally coordinated. Louisiana is part of a regional transmission organization named MISO that stretches from the Gulf to Canada. But, in the words of New Orleans City Councilman JP Morrell, the lead regulator of the power company Entergy in the city of New Orleans, “If we had better transmission, we could have flowed power from other parts of the state and other parts of this nation to keep power on.” In this case, MISO had proposed improved transmission ties into southern Louisiana but state regulators didn’t approve the cost. When a nuclear power plant went down, transmission was inadequate to transfer power from elsewhere in the region.
Improved Engagement enhances Transparency and “Right-Sizing” the Investment
As we outlined in our previous article, Georgia Power has the opportunity to improve its transmission planning by following our recommendations, which include:
- Clearly marking which transmission projects support which electricity needs
- Waiting to approve new transmission projects until the associated load growth has reached key interconnection and construction milestones
- Planning for batteries and solar based on their real-world support of the grid
These recommendations would be further enhanced by Georgia Power adopting open engagement with stakeholders and looking at a broad array of benefits when upgrading the grid. Beginning these processes now for both local and regional transmission planning will save Georgia ratepayers money, support growing demand for electricity, and keep the lights on.
The post Transmission Major Topic at Georgia Power Hearing appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
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