Wind power cost nears Dalton, Ga, pricing (not San Diego)

Bigger and better turbines on taller towers have brought the cost of wind power down 80% to 5¢/kwh, the American Wind Energy Assn (AWEA) writes.

     That figure includes the value of tax incentives no longer available this year.
     Size has grown from just 25 kw 20 years ago to 1.5 mw -- the size of today's most popular turbine -- and newer turbines are even larger, more efficient and more reliable, AWEA added.

     Typical turbines were available to operate only 20% of the time two decades ago but now generate 98% of the time the wind is blowing.
     Future turbines will be even bigger, AWEA predicts, with 2-mw and even 3.6-mw turbines being installed or demonstrated.

     Costs will fall tied to incremental improvements in turbine components, AWEA predicted, as turbines get bigger and lighter - so they can be installed closer to load -- and towers get taller to take advantage of winds higher up.

     Components are so large -- a 3.6-mw turbine's rotor covers a path wider than a football field -- that manufacturers meanwhile are looking for ways to mold blades on site.

     Parts are getting too large to be transported through highway tunnels, AWEA noted.

     Bigger towers require expensive cranes to lift them into place, driving wind manufacturers to look at self-erecting models and lighter materials.

     As towers grow higher, problems caused by wind patterns at higher levels need solving. They put different stresses on the blades, AWEA explained. 

(Story originally published in Restructuring Today 3/2/04)