In this episode, Phil walks Allen and Joel through new research from IntelStor on optimal wind turbine models for maximizing asset owner profits. Turns out that bigger isn't always better--stick with a 1.5-2.5 MW machine from a good manufacturer with a good PPA. Asset owners and investors, visit IntelStor.com for more actionable intelligence on optimizing your renewable energy projects.



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Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com







Allen Hall: I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Guard Lightning Tech, and I'm here with the founder and CEO of IntelStor, Phil Totaro and the chief commercial officer of Weather Guard, Joel Saxum, and this is your News Flash. News Flash is brought to you by our friends at IntelStor. If you need actionable information about renewable projects or technologies, check out IntelStor at intelstor.com.



IntelStor released information on onshore wind turbine profitability on LinkedIn. It provided a unique insight into the specific turban profitability and garnered several hundred thousand views. Okay, Phil, explain what that chart means and why we should care.



Philip Totaro: This chart on asset owner net profit after they've achieved a net positive return on capital.



What that means is, if you've spent, let's say, 200 million dollars on building a project, once your project has paid back that 200 million plus, how much is really left over? And which makes and models of turbine are actually giving you the best possible financial return? What we came to the conclusion of with this was, the turbines that are towards the top of this list are the ones that have a fairly reasonable net capacity factor, but they also have pretty high legacy PPA. That's usually on the order of, 65, 70, 75 dollars plus. Those are the turbines that are going to end up producing the best financial performance for you. Not necessarily just the ones with the best technical performance.



Joel Saxum: What if we're talking, we want to talk apples to apples. So if I have the same piece of ground and the same wind resource in one spot, what is the best performing technically turbine?



What make model should we be actually installing and why?



Philip Totaro: In that ranking, what we've got are GE and Vestas are at the top. And then you've actually got Siemens, Siemens Gamesa, and Goldwind are actually the three and four. And GE and Vestas do get a bit of preferential treatment that they've got the better performing project sites, but at the end of the day, the turbine availability is going to be one of the largest determining factors of that profitability, because whatever your net capacity factor is, it's just, what the site does.



So a project site that's got, let's say a 45 to 50 percent net capacity factor, but only a 12 a megawatt hour PPA, financially, is going to underperform a project site that's got, a 25 percent capacity factor, but an 80 a megawatt hour PPA.



Allen Hall: But when it gets down to same site, which turbines are better?



And what I think I'm seeing in this data, Phil, is the smaller turbines outperform the bigger turbines, and it's not even really close.



Philip Totaro: They are, and the reason for that is they benefit a lot from the legacy power purchase contracts. Basically, it makes up for the fact that their net capacity factor is a lot lower then a brand new, shiny turbine that's got like a 50 percent net capacity factor.