Heuristic Energy

Heuristic Energy

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Sustainable Aviation Fuels: A not so cost-effective solution

TL;DR Sustainabile Aviation Fuels may be one of the best (and only) ways to decarbonize long-haul flights. But we may be better off reducing investment and deployment of SAFs given the price premium relative to other carbon abatement options and limited low-cost waste resources for conversion. Sustainable aviation: a

How cheap do batteries need to get? (VERY)

TL;DR While battery costs have plummeted, truly long-term energy storage beyond daily cycling requires significantly cheaper solutions than current lithium-ion technology can likely deliver. We do not yet have technology that can service storage durations on the order of week or longer. Emerging technologies show promise but face their

How much storage do we need and how long-term is long-term?

TL;DR For a fully decarbonized German electricity grid, we would need about 191TWh of storage capacity with most of it seasonal and annual storage by capacity (92%). However, weekly storage delivers the largest share of energy (38%) given the higher frequency of cycling. Even massive overbuilding won’t eliminate

The Renewable Free Energy Fallacy – we won’t have unlimited free energy

TL;DR Despite the allure of a world with unlimited free, clean energy built on free solar and wind power, the practical costs of building more infrastructure makes this impossible. Every new project must be financially viable and since total costs can’t go to zero, revenues also can’t

Why long lifetimes are not necessarily a "good investment"

TL;DR For projects with long lifespans, a high discount rate significantly reduces the impact of future costs and revenues on the Net Present Value (NPV). This means periods beyond, say, 20 years, often add surprisingly little value to the project's NPV from a high-yield investor's

LCOS explained with some examples

TL;DR Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) is a great metric for determining per kWh cost of storage ($/kWh). LCOS has a simple and flexible formula that can be adjusted for varying degrees of complexity of the system allowing us to compare different technologies and conditions directly. LCOS can also