Energy Transfers

DavidPoli

Cost-effective, efficient, regional transfers of renewable energy. Not all areas are rich in renewable energy, or it may not make economic sense to generate it locally. As urbanization trends progress, alongside increasing reliance on renewables, the distance between points of generation and consumption will, in many instances, increase. Future reliance on renewables depends on the ability to move them around effectively, yet, negative public perception of transmission lines is on the rise.

Against current state-of-the-art comparable technology, what markers must innovations in this space meet to overtake the fossil fuel-driven energy?

Benchmark | What is the current state-of-the-art and/or most common technology/process to evaluate against?
Cost | Based on the chosen benchmark, what is a competitive capital cost and/or O&M/service cost?
Duration/Distance | Based on the chosen benchmark, what is the warranted distance? What would be the audacious, yet realistic, distance?
Efficiency | based on the chosen benchmark, what is a target efficiency?
Lifecycle | based on the chosen benchmark and industry trends, what is the warranted lifecycle?

Please share details and resources if possible.

Shashi

Hi @akb, @agval, @Shepard, @bernardsaw, @gyyang, @adventureashr - This is another discussion on energy transfers, wherein we are trying to understand the innovation markers in this space. You might have some thoughts to share on this important discussion.

akb

This is where the calculations and relative merits of different approaches get complex. One aspect that might be helpful here is the concept of "levelized cost of energy":
https://www.google.com/search?q=levelized+cost+of+energy

Another aspect worth considering is that relying on a high proportion of energy from renewable sources is unlikely to be viable, unless there is energy transfer (or a stable source of baseline energy and/or energy storage). So for some scenarios energy transfer might be necessary, if a high proportion of renewable energy is desired.

Shashi

Hi @skunsman, @khajehoddin, @kpalanisamy79, @zhangx, @fezzani, @RenewableNexus - You might have some inputs to share on - Against current technology, what benchmarks for cost, distance, efficiency and lifecycle must innovations in energy transfer space meet to overtake the fossil fuel-driven energy?

Shashi

Hi @tsamo, @Poshgero, @gzissis, @jcmontero, @Blauadler2, @Ruslana - Curious to know if you have some inputs to share on this discussion on benchmarks for cost, distance, efficiency and lifecycle in energy transfer space against current technology.

Shashi

Hi @sanjeevi_12, @wkenworthy, @Ksehgal and @anis - We are trying to understand the energy transfer space against current technology. Would love to hear your thoughts on this discussion and the comments so far.

mattymatt

Thank you everyone for allowing me to be a part of the conversation
It hard for me to give an educated opinion on the bottom questions but I was able to visualize people getting upset about putting up cable lines in their neighborhoods. I think it would be beneficial to promote the story of renewable energy along with the building of the transmission lines.....and most communities should get behind the community project. But for the communities that are adverse to renewable energy, a cost incentive would most likely change anyones mind. The potential of storing energy in a Home battery that would effectively hold enough energy for the house to sustain itself, will eventually hopefully be the future. For people to feel naturally incentivize to buy into the future, will allow the process to move faster.

Would love to hear anyones thoughts 😁?

erinnvw

Hi @Shashi and all,
I would like to suggest a different approach: Rather than looking at "technical" metrics as the markers and milestones to achieve, we should instead look at "what would the customer buy?" That is, what will be the motivating factors for an investor / government agency to say "yes" to funding our work, and what exactly will they be funding? Furthermore, who is this customer? What do they need? How badly do they need it? What is their current solution, and why is it insufficient? How do they make their decisions?
And most importantly, who is the FIRST customer, who has the highest and most urgent need, and therefore is willing to pay a premium for our new solutions? That way, we aren't worrying about lowest cost while we are trying to disrupt the market. A great book to read on this exact business strategy is "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen.
By switching paradigms and focusing on what the spender needs to solve their problem (the entrepreneur's approach), rather than what we ourselves can accomplish on a technical level, then we will come closer to developing something that someone wants right away, and so closer to funding the pathway to the broader and larger solutions we believe are ideal. Once we know what the customer needs, we can work backwards to fill in the tech specs.
This is the approach we take at my company, VanWyn Technologies regarding wireless power transfer, space power, and the internet of energy, and it has led to some recent successes in attracting interest among customers in U.S. Government and Defense.