Online example shown below, based on 5 x 3-4 hour sessions.
For questions or customisation requests contact: info@greycellsenergy.com
Course objectives – is this for you?
This course is intended for those seeking a time-effective, wide-ranging and independent perspective on wind power, on- and offshore.
You will leave with a clearly explained, business-focused summary of wind power technology and its cost determinants, utilising learnings taken from a global perspective. You want to gain a good understanding of the key factors in the wind power business from an integrated, multidisciplinary and commercial viewpoint, including: resource assessment, technology trends, project delivery processes, financing factors, best practices and on vs. offshore cost structure and risk differences.
Session 1: From wind flow to electricity: wind turbines and wind farms
Wind turbine technology & trends
What’s in a wind turbine: a review of the key components and technology trends (including blades, drivetrains and generators)
Drivers for - and constraints on - bigger turbine sizes
Understanding ‘power curves’ and their impact on turbine selection and capacity factor
Examining the key data from wind turbine specifications
Where will continued cost reductions come from?
Energy output losses and risks
Wind farm layout and energy losses, such as ‘wake effects’
Availability losses vs. turbine performance losses
Solutions to extreme operating conditions, including cyclones and low temperatures
External constraints including curtailment, grid connection and market integration; plus solutions
Session 2: Understanding and measuring wind resources
Understanding the wind resource
Wind speed maps and preliminary assessment resources: illustration using an online wind resource map example
Why average wind speed doesn’t say much about the viability of a project
Understanding additional complexity in wind resource: the impacts of height, shear, turbulence, direction, humidity and other factors
Technologies and requirements for bankable wind resource assessment (WRA) campaigns
Wind resource risk and annual energy output
Wind speed distribution and its importance
Combining a real wind speed dataset and turbine power curves to calculate annual energy output (AEP)
Understanding and applying resource uncertainty to AEP outcomes: the meaning of exceedance probabilities (‘P50’, ‘P90’ etc.)
Assessing other uncertainties and risks to the expected AEP.
The growth of hybrid projects (wind plus solar and/or storage) to compensate for resource variability
Session 3: Successful delivery of wind power projects
Project delivery processes and timeframes
Defining the stages and likely timescales for wind farms from development to operation
Land use challenges and site selection criteria
Key reports and contracts (with illustrative example documents)
Environmental and social impact studies: contents and outcomes
New channels to markets, including corporate PPAs
Identifying and mitigating key project delivery risks
Stakeholder identification, mapping, prioritisation and engagement
The key aspects of planning and contracting issues around the grid connection
Planning and permitting risk assessment
Comparing and contrasting project planning, permitting, construction and operating risks at different sites
Session 4: Taking wind power offshore
Developing & constructing offshore wind farms
Development studies including seabed environmental, geotechnical and right-of-way data
Offshore wind foundations: their construction, costs and selection criteria.
Offshore grid and cabling, for both inter-array and export connections.
The onshore element of an offshore wind farm.
O&M offshore, including technology innovations and operational best practices to reduce costs
What to watch in offshore wind
Reviewing world markets for offshore wind (including growth trends)
Cost reduction in offshore wind: where is it coming from?
Who is investing in offshore wind? (And why this differs from the onshore wind sector)
Analysing the potentially disruptive impact of floating turbines on the offshore wind business
Integrating offshore wind with other energy sectors, including oil & gas, and hydrogen
Session 5: Making money from wind power projects
Identifying the key business case considerations
Reviewing the cash flow and risk/return variables behind a successful wind power project business case
Illustrating the impacts of business and project risks on rates of return (IRR)
Quantifying and explaining the variability of installed cost estimates and cost structure details in wind power projects
Identifying key financial risk considerations at different stages during the project lifetime
How project development and policy can reduce financial risks
Understanding the market value of wind-generated electricity, now and in future
Levelised costs (LCOE), marginal costs, long-term costs and the impact of wind on ‘merit order’ pricing
LCOE calculations and their limitations: when they should and shouldn’t be used
Curtailment, negative prices and the myth of “free wind electricity”
The risks facing ‘merchant’ (market-facing) wind power projects
Examining the impact of different sources and costs of finance, and their impact on wind energy price competitiveness
Further inquiries to: info@greycellsenergy.com