WIND ENERGY SYSTEMS - Cd3wd

Chapter 9—Wind Power Plants 9–31
There are other costs associated with installing a windfarm. Somewhat arbitrarily, we
have grouped these into the following categories:
1. Electrical
2. Turbine
3. Fixed
4. Auxiliary
We have just considered the electrical costs in detail. This includes the low voltage wire,
the distribution voltage wire, trenches, transformers T 1 and T 2 , and circuit breakers CB2 and
CB3.
Turbine costs include the following:
1. Purchase price of the turbine
2. Shipping
3. Import duty (for imported turbines)
4. Import broker fee
5. Concrete and other foundation costs
6. Labor
7. Circuit Breaker CB1
Fixed costs are those costs which are not strongly sensitive to the size of the windfarm,
such as buildings and legal documents. We include the following in this category:
1. Permits. These are required and granted by local government agencies.
2. Zoning. Agricultural land will probably need to be rezoned to industrial use (or other
category) before a permit can be granted.
3. Wind Study. Wind speeds need to be measured at the proposed site for an appropriate
amount of time (up to a year) before a decision is made to build a windfarm.
4. Power Purchase Agreement. This would include the engineering and legal fees incurred
in writing an agreement with the utility buying the electricity produced by the windfarm.
Wind Energy Systems by Dr. Gary L. Johnson November 21, 2001