Author: Francesco Miceli

  • Esteyco’s braced foundation: an update

    Esteyco’s braced foundation: an update

    This article is an update to the post I have made some time ago on Esteyco’s Braced Foundation. I have been contacted by David Sarrasín, Product Development Director at Esteyco. He provided an interesting presentation of the braced foundation solution. He also gave me more context on the solution. This is the additional info he…

  • Transporting wind turbine blades: when something goes wrong

    Transporting wind turbine blades: when something goes wrong

    A collection of videos featuring the transportation of wind turbine blades – some truly impressive.

  • Live Long and Prosper: useful life of wind farms

    Live Long and Prosper: useful life of wind farms

    The useful life of wind farms continues to increase. When I started working on the first wind projects in the 2000s, the ‘standard’ useful life was 20 years.Now it is not uncommon to see projects with a useful life of 30 or 35 years, and it seems that in some cases it is up to…

  • Evolution of wind energy CapEx in the US

    Evolution of wind energy CapEx in the US

    Wandering around the net, I found this interesting dataset of US wind projects:https://emp.lbl.gov/wind-energy-capital-expenditures-capex It is the parte of thw ‘Land-Based Wind Market Report 2022‘ study, done by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is a very interesting collection of data – the CapEx of dozens of wind projects built…

  • Deep Impact: rising interest rates & wind energy

    Deep Impact: rising interest rates & wind energy

    How strong was the impact of rising interest rates on the renewable energy sector? A lot, if we look at the S&P Global Clean Energy index. The index consists of the major companies in the renewable energy sector – not only folks likes of First Solar, Vestas and Ørsted (formerly Dong Energy), but also Chinese…

  • What is a Site Assessment Report?

    What is a Site Assessment Report?

    The Site Assessment report (also known as wind resource assessment or site suitability) is a document containing the results of a detailed study to confirm that a specific turbine model can be used in a project and how much energy it will produce. Both points are extremely important: not only is it necessary for the…

  • Wind farm siting and environmental considerations

    Wind farm siting and environmental considerations

    Wind farm siting, i.e. the decision of where to place the wind farm we are working on, is obviously crucial: while many other aspects can be changed at a later date (turbine model, tower height, installed power, etc.) the choice of the area in which we want to install the wind farm cannot be changed….

  • Hacked!

    Hacked!

    If you have visited this website before maybe you have noticed a renewed look – and possibly even the fact that the website has been down for a couple of days. The reason behind was a hacker attack, that forced me to rebuild it totally. In case you are interested in the topic, here you…

  • Making new friends: grid friendly wind turbines

    Making new friends: grid friendly wind turbines

    Renewable energy is revolutionizing the global power sector, with wind energy emerging as a key player in the transition towards a sustainable future. Wind farms, harnessing the immense power of nature, are sprouting across landscapes, powering homes and industries while reducing carbon emissions. In this website we explored the advancements in wind farm engineering and…

  • Pandemic, war, inflation & Balance of Plant

    Pandemic, war, inflation & Balance of Plant

    What were the consequences of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine on balance of plant (BoP) prices? If you are reading this article, you probably know that the Balance of Plant (BoP) refers to all civil and electrical works necessary for the operation of a wind farm, excluding the turbines. The BoP will therefore…