When a power curve falls, is the turbine really ageing?
A measured power curve that drops over the years looks like ageing. Several other causes produce the same shift, and only one is real degradation.
Field notes from the data
Short, evidence-led notes and worked examples on wind, solar and battery storage performance.
A small foundation seal with a big consequence
A simple visual check on a turbine foundation can have a real impact on the life of the asset.
Why state of charge is so hard to estimate in a BESS
State of charge is one of the most important numbers for a battery asset, and one of the hardest to measure accurately.
Diagnosing a faulty anemometer
How a simple sensor cross-check, a distribution comparison and a site-wide ratio map together separate a single faulty anemometer from genuine turbine underperformance.
How wind direction shapes a power curve in complex terrain
In complex terrain, the direction the wind approaches from can noticeably change a turbine's observed power curve.
UK onshore wind is getting more productive, curtailment is hiding it
Headline capacity factors have barely moved since 2004. Add back curtailed energy and the real trend points clearly upward.
Not all grid curtailment is uncontrollable
A solar inverter looked like it was suffering normal grid curtailment. The real cause was high grid voltage at the connection point, and it was fixable.
What a production-based availability contract does not cover
Production-based availability contracts cover less than many owners assume. Here is what typically falls outside the guarantee.
Two icing signatures on a power curve, only one is genuine
A power curve can show two patterns that both look like icing. The time series context reveals that only one of them actually is.
Two different faults, one near-identical power curve
Spotting a problem on the power curve is the easy part. Two very different faults can produce almost the same curve, and telling them apart needs more than the curve.