GE's turbines lead rival OEMs for net capacity factor in US
GE's turbines lead rival OEMs for net capacity factor in US | Windpower Monthly
IntelStor analysed audited data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of the US Department of Energy to reach its conclusions.
GE’s lead was driven by “prime placement of turbines in the best performing sites nationally”, said IntelStor. Other OEMs appeared to lag GE, but this was largely due to resource conditions at project sites, the analysts cautioned.
The average NCF for all installed turbines in the US was 34.61%, a reduction of 0.7% from the prior year overall market average. This was despite an uptick in average performance for projects starting operations in 2022 compared with 2021.
Goldwind, which has around 140MW of installed capacity in the US, came in second after GE with 34.57%, while Vestas was third with 33.76%. Siemens Energy, at 33.36% and Nordex Acciona, at 31.58% made up the top five.
Assets owned by Algonquin Power & Utilities had the best performance for all project owners with 91.66% of their turbines meeting or exceeding a P50 energy yield. A P50 value has a 50% probability that it will be exceeded.
In second place was Xcel Energy, which retained 86.12% of its fleet at or above P50. Berkshire Hathaway Energy - including MidAmerican, Pacific Corp. and Rocky Mountain Power – were third with 74.07% of their fleet at or above P50.
Nebraska overtook South Dakota as the geographic leader last year, with a lifetime average NCF of 43.83% for its wind projects. South Dakota’s was at 42.09% while Kansas was in third place at 41.27%.
IntelStor cautioned that the capacity factor for US states relied heavily on average wind speeds at project sites.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: hydropower
Hydropower — electricity generated by turbines capturing energy from moving water — was for many years the primary contributor of renewable energy to the U.S. electricity grid. Its growth was rapid into the 1970s, and since then has offered a stable supply of power, while a declining share of all generation. For many years, hydropower was seen as clean energy and an unalloyed good, but a greater understanding of the impact of dams on ecosystems and wildlife has led to the removal of some dams. As of 2019, hydropower trails wind as a renewable source of power generation.