How We Can Compare Power and Energy Generation Methods With No Hidden Agendas?
Contents
Introduction
Efficiency Metrics and Characteristics
Affordability Metrics and Characteristics
Environmental Impact Metrics and Characteristics
Reliability Metrics and Characteristics
Durability Metrics and Characteristics
Flexibility Metrics and Characteristics
Resource Availability Metrics and Characteristics
Adaptability Metrics and Characteristics
Safety Metrics and Characteristics
Security Metrics and Characteristics
Social Acceptance Metrics and Characteristics
Regulation Metrics and Characteristics
Concluding Remarks
Bitesize Edition
For those who don’t know, I did my first degree in mathematics, and occasionally I get the urge to return to it. Over the previous few months, I’ve covered the characteristics of wind power and solar power.
Like many topics, providing mathematical examples can aid understanding. This week will provide a collection of metrics that I’ll use going forward to help compare power generation methods and their effectiveness in these metrics. This will set the groundwork to eventually mathematically compare these methods. I hope that this will demonstrate what I’ve been saying for years now: That each method is important and necessary in our clean energy transition in its own way, and that none should be cast aside.
I’ll group the metrics by the following characteristics that you’ll have seen before in my deep dive masterclasses into energy and power generation methods: Efficiency, Affordability, Environmental Impact, Reliability, Durability, Flexibility, Resource Availability, Adaptability, Safety, Security, Social Acceptance, and Regulation.
Introduction
In the world, die-hard fans of a specific type of power generation exist. Some who love solar won’t hear anything about the advantage of nuclear baseload power. Those who love nuclear won’t listen to a lover of solar and discuss how solar produces 100% of electricity demand throughout the day in some regions of the world. People who don’t like wind power are questioning why we’re investing billions into glorified windmills.
But every power generation method has its place in our hypothetical future of a cleaner future. Decisions are currently being made by politicians when they should be made by engineers.
To aid politicians, they need to know why every production method has a place in our future, and how to not use the clean energy transition as a form of political divide, or to attach its future to some ideology the elites wish to pedal. It’s because all power generation strategies have unique advantages. A clear way to see this is by comparing energy metrics, which is what I’ll set up today by exploring these different metrics.
Efficiency Metrics and Characteristics:
Heat Rate — The amount of energy used by an electrical generator/power plant to generate one-kilowatt hour of electricity.
Conversion Efficiency — The ratio between the useful output of energy and the energy input.
Thermal Efficiency — The ratio of net work output to the heat input.
Overall Efficiency — Ratio of useful work vs the total energy expended.
Exergy Efficiency — The ratio of the thermal efficiency of an actual system compared to an idealised or reversible version of the system for heat engines.
Energy Quality Return on Energy Quality Invested — The ratio of the amount of usable energy delivered from a particular energy resource to the amount of exergy used to obtain said resource.
Energy Concentration
Energy Consumption Per Capita — Total amount of energy consumed divided by a country/region’s population.
Power Plant Energy Payback — The amount of time it takes for a power plant to generate the amount of energy it takes to build the power plant.
Energy Payback — The amount of time it takes for an energy system to generate the amount of energy it takes to generate the system.
Energy Efficiency Pyramid
Affordability Metrics and Characteristics:
Levelized Cost of Electricity — The measure of the average net present cost of electricity generation for a generator over its lifetime.
Net Present Value — The difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time.
Internal Rate of Return — A method to calculate an investment’s rate of return.
Energy Return on Investment — Ratio for describing a measure of energy produced in relation to the energy used to create it.
Cost of Energy
Tariffs and Rates
Energy Burden- The percentage of gross household income spent on energy costs.
Financing
Income Adjusted Costs
Electricity Price
Income-to-Electricity Ratio — Ratio of income vs amount spent on electricity.
Energy Poverty Rate — The rate at which a household must reduce its energy consumption to a degree that negatively impacts the health and well-being of its inhabitants.
Affordability Index — A measure of a population’s ability to afford the purchase of a given good.
Subsidy Dependency
Energy Access — A household’s access to a minimum level of electricity.
Environmental Impact Metrics and Characteristics:
Carbon Intensity — A measure of how much CO2 emissions are produced per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Air Pollutant Emissions
Water Usage
Land Use
Waste Generation
Ecological Footprint
Reliability Metrics and Characteristics:
Capacity Factor — Unitless ratio of actual electricity energy output over a given period of time vs the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that time.
Availability Factor — The amount of time that a power plant is able to produce electricity over a certain period, divided by the amount of time in said period.
Forced Outage Rate — The hours a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility is removed from service, divided by the sum of the hours it is removed from service plus the total number of hours the facility was connected to the electricity system.
Planned Maintenance Downtime — The sum of scheduled times when a system may be limited or unavailable to allow for maintenance, upgrades, repairs, or testing.
Reserve Margin — Amount of unused available capacity of an electrical power system as a percentage of total capability.
Frequency and Duration of Interruptions
Response Time To Outages
Power Density — Amount of power per unit volume.
Durability Metrics and Characteristics:
Mean Time Between Failures
Mean Time To Repair
Component Lifespan
Maintenance Intervals
Environmental Resistance
Failure Analysis
Warranty Claims and Service Records
Flexibility Metrics and Characteristics:
Ramp Rate — The speed at which a generator can increase or decrease generation.
Start-Up Time — Time required from when the input voltage is turned on until the output voltage reaches 90% of the rated output voltage.
Minimum Operating Load — The amount of load required for a particular power supply to operate reliably.
Fuel Flexibility
Cycling Capacity — The maximum amount of charge for a fully charged battery to release a stored amount of electricity at a specific current level over a specified time.
Grid Compatibility
Dispatchability — Sources of electricity that can be programmed on demand at the request of power grid operators, according to market needs.
Resource Availability Metrics and Characteristics:
Resource Capacity — The maximum amount of work, task, or project that can be accomplished by a particular resource over a specific period of time.
Resource Utilization Factor — The ratio of the time that a piece of equipment is in use versus the total time it could be in use.
Resource Availability Factor — The amount of time that electricity is produced divided by the amount of time in the period.
Resource Mapping and Assessment
Techno-Economic Potential
Resource Diversity
Temporal Availability Profiles — The ability of a system to remain operational over time, despite potential disruptions or changes in the environment.
Energy Density — The amount of energy that can be stored in a given system, substance, or region of space.
Energy Density Curve
Adaptability Metrics and Characteristics:
Technology Upgradability
Flexibility To Fuel Switching
Modularity and Scalability
Grid Integration Compatibility
Regulatory and Policy Compliance
Resilience To External Shocks
Innovation and Research Investment
Energy Diversity — Using different energy sources, suppliers, and transportation routes to reduce dependence on a single resource.
Energy Independence
Finite vs Infinite Energy Sources
Safety Metrics and Characteristics:
Incident Rate
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate — The number of lost time injuries occurring in a workplace per 1 million hours worked.
Fatalities Rate
Near-Miss Reporting Rate — An event or situation that could have resulted in injury, illness, damage, or loss but didn’t do so due to change, corrective action, or timely intervention.
Compliance With Safety Regulations
Safety Training and Certification
Safety Culture Surveys
Security Metrics and Characteristics:
Physical Security Measures
Cybersecurity Resilience
Supply Chain Security
Emergency Response Preparedness
Critical Infrastructure Protection
Resilience to Geopolitical Risks
Continuity of Operations
Social Acceptance Metrics and Characteristics:
Public Opinion Surveys
Stakeholder Engagement
Community Participation
Social Impact Assessments
Benefit-Sharing Mechanisms
Conflict Resolution Mechanisms
Long-Term Monitoring and Feedback
Regulation Metrics and Characteristics:
Regulation Compliance
Regulatory Enforcement
Regulatory Transparency
Regulatory Stability
Regulatory Flexibility
Regulatory Efficiency
Regulatory Impact Assessment
Photo by Concluding Remarks
Are there any other metrics that exist that you’re aware of that I haven’t explored? Let me know below! I tried to cover an extensive amount but as always, there are gaps in my knowledge. Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore solar power and wind power through the scope of mathematics, using many of the metrics listed above.
Thanks for reading! If you want more then subscribe on Substack for these posts directly to your email inbox. I research history, geopolitics, and financial markets to understand the world and the people around us. If any of my work helps you be more prepared and ease your mind, that’s great. If you like what you read please share with others.
Key Links
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