Category: Economics
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Cryptocurrencies from wind energy
In the first half of 2017 cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Ether, etc.) experimented an incredible growth – considered a bubble by some and as a proof that times are changing by others. What is interesting (at least to someone working in the renewables like me) is this link between cryptocurrencies and renewables. Cryptocurrencies are created with…
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Envision business model
Internet is evolving very fast – now it’s possible to find a free and fast connection almost everywhere. So, during a VERY long bus trip, I was able to get online and keep investigating on one of the fact that puzzle me more in the wind industry: the fact the Chinese WTG manufacturers are not…
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Wind turbines manufacturers business model
Today I’ve been asked by a reader about the business model of wind turbines manufacturers (also called OEM, Original Equipment Manufacturer). As I think it’s interesting question, I decided to write a post about it. In a nutshell, wind turbine manufacturers are selling a product. This product is assembled pretty much like a car –…
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Going Glocal: how to create local content
It is not unusual for public tenders in the renewable energy industry to request for a certain percentage on “local content requirements” (LCR). This requirements exist (and are usually very demanding) in the majority of countries in South America (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) and in several other emerging countries (Morocco, Russia, etc.). The required percentage can…
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Sell a service, not a product: the Indian way to wind energy
India is becoming a very big market for wind energy. After the decline of many European markets (Spain in primis) India is now fighting with Germany to be the third bigger nation in terms of yearly installed megawatts (somewhere around 3600 MW). You can see the other in the graphic above, that I’ve stolen from…
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Top 5 owners of wind turbines
Ever asked yourself who is buying wind turbines? There are quite a lot of customers profiles – from tiny companies (or even a couple of farmers joining their strengths and lands in a renewable energy project) to professional developers, factories interested in using the energy produced all the way up in the ladder to the…
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Chinese wind turbines – are they coming?
Well, apparently the answer to this question is “not yet”. I’ve been through an interesting article from Bloomberg – the images of this post are taken from the same source. As you can see, in addition to a new reshuffle in the top 3 (Vestas up again, together with GE), there is another important piece…
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Ineffable concepts: bankability of a wind farm project
Wind energy, as probably all niche sector, is full of acronyms and hard to define terms. One of them is the “bankability” of an EPC project. In a nutshell, it express the idea that the lenders are fine with the development and are ready to put on the table a relevant percentage of the money…
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Cost drivers in Electrical Balance of Plant
Due to my education as a Civil Engineer there I already wrote a substantial number of posts regarding cost of the civil BoP. However I do not want to neglect the electrical side, which as you might already know is usually accountable for approximately 50% of the total cost of the balance of plant of…
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EBoP vs CBoP – where is the money?
There are several recurring questions that I normally hear at least 3 or 4 time each year. Some are variants of things like “How much does it cost 1 Km of road in Brazil?” – this was asked by my ex colleague Pau many, many years ago but it’s still a classic for me, and…