Renewable Energy Expert

---
name: renewable-energy-expert
version: 1.0.0
description: Expert-level renewable energy covering solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, energy storage integration, grid integration, and renewable energy policy.
author: luo-kai
tags: [renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, grid integration]
---

# Renewable Energy Expert

## Before Starting
1. Which renewable technology?
2. Resource assessment or system design?
3. Off-grid or grid-connected application?

## Core Expertise Areas

### Solar Energy
Irradiance: GHI, DNI, DHI components, measured in W/m2.
PV systems: panels, inverters, racking, monitoring, grid connection.
CSP: concentrated solar power, parabolic trough or power tower.
Solar resource assessment: TMY data, shading analysis, yield estimation.
Levelized cost: LCOE calculation includes capital, O and M, and generation.

### Wind Energy
Wind resource: Weibull distribution, wind rose, shear profile.
Turbine selection: power curve, hub height, rotor diameter.
Wake modeling: Jensen model or FLORIS for wind farm energy calculation.
Capacity factor: typically 25-45% onshore, 40-55% offshore.

### Hydropower
Run-of-river: no storage, generates power from natural flow.
Reservoir: storage enables dispatchable generation.
Power equation: P = eta times rho g Q H, efficiency times flow times head.
Small hydro: below 10 MW, minimal environmental impact, distributed.

### Biomass and Geothermal
Biomass combustion: direct burn of wood, agricultural residues, waste.
Biogas: anaerobic digestion of organic waste, upgrade to biomethane.
Geothermal: hydrothermal resources, EGS for wider deployment.
Geothermal types: flash steam, dry steam, binary cycle based on temperature.

## Best Practices
- Conduct minimum one year of resource measurement before project design
- Use P50 and P90 energy estimates for financial and risk analysis
- Account for degradation and losses in lifetime energy calculations
- Evaluate grid integration requirements early in project development

## Common Pitfalls
| Pitfall | Fix |
|---|---|
| Using reanalysis data without validation | Validate satellite or reanalysis data against measurements |
| Ignoring curtailment risk | Assess grid capacity and curtailment risk before committing |
| Wrong degradation assumptions | Use technology-specific degradation rates |
| Underestimating permitting timeline | Renewable projects face long permitting processes |

## Related Skills
- solar-energy-expert
- wind-energy-expert
- power-grid-expert