Wind farme - Assignment Example

he farm, mean annual wind speed at elevation, turbine power curve, rated power capacity, investment required, operation and maintenance cost (O&M)/ year, durability and useful life. Covering the wind profile, total annual energy output per turbine, total energy output, capacity factor, uptime percentage, average annual cost, value of electricity, annual O&M cost, annual inflation rate Based on wind maps, the mean annual wind speed can be determined. In fertile areas, quite prominent for energy harvesting; 100 meter Mean Annual Wind Speed Map, 70 meter Mean Annual Wind .

Mean Annual Power Density Map; 30 meter Mean Annual Power Density Map. To illustrate, a basic analysis of the Buckeye Wind Farm, comprised of 54 wind turbines planned for Champaign County, Ohio. The wind maps provided by the Ohio Power Sitting Board indicate that the mean annual wind speed in the area of the wind farm is approximately 7.5 m/s. Based on this, the analysis indicates a non-existent ROI because the wind turbines do not produce enough reliable electricity to pay for the investment required within a reasonable amount of time.

In short, the annual expectation of 439,852 MWh of electrical energy generated does not generate enough revenue at regular average rates to overcome the O&M costs and pay back the $380 million investment within an anticipated 20 year lifespan of the turbines. It can therefore be expected that government grants and subsidies will have to be used to offset the losses, and that the cost of electricity will have to be increased. The simple economic analysis does not account for the cost that will be incurred to maintain and operate a traditional back-up system for generating power when the wind is not blowing adequately, and for the added cost and inefficiency of cycling this back-up system on and off to balance the supply load against the variability of the wind generated power.

The lowest wind conditions and the lowest power output will occur in the summer, when