Cost of Wind Energy - Is It Worth It?
Wind,
a form of solar power is caused due to various factors
like the irregularities of the earth’s surface, earth’s
rotation and uneven heating of the earth’s surface by
the sun’s rays. This unequal heating gives rise to wind
that flows from the cooler areas to the warmer zones
thereby circulating the energy. This kinetic energy
created by wind flow when harvested and machinated by
modern methods is called wind energy. Since wind is the
resource, the cost of wind energy involved is an
interesting subject to ponder upon.
Cost
of wind energy: Financing a wind power
plant
Today,
wind energy shows the fastest growth rate in the world
amongst any new source of electricity. The two majorly
used wind energy generators are the wind turbines and
the wind mills. The cost of wind energy depends on
several factors. The cost of wind energy generators
installed in the early 1980s was as high as 30 cents per
kilowatt-hour. However in the last 20 years a
considerable drop in the cost of electricity from the
wind energy generators has taken place and this has been
by at least 80% if not more. And now the high tech wind
energy generators at first-class locations are yielding
electricity at an unbelievable rate like 5 cents per
kilowatt-hour.
Apart
from the reduced rates, wind energy proposes other
economical gains that ensure its competitiveness in the
long run.
Wind energy generators are free of the dependency
on fossil fuels which is facing serious problems of
supply breaks these days. On the other hand, wind is a
consistent and free resource that can be relied upon
wisely enough. The environmental impacts that the
conventional power plants pose is also reduced per unit
of electricity produced by the wind energy turbines thus
making resource planning a very critical decision to be
taken. The use of land by the wind energy generators
ensures a long-term and fixed income of the farmers and
ranchers who lease their farm lands for this wise
purpose.
A
cost effective wind energy generation bets on the
selection of a suitable site. The power generated is
directly proportional to the speed of wind, so a site
with a wind speed of at least 5 meters per second is
desirable to generate a decent supply of power.
Cost
of wind energy can be cut
short
A
smart and clever financing can easily cut down wind
power costs. If obtained on the same terms as that of
financing gas power plants, wind energy costs can be
reduced largely. Also owning a wind project by a utility
helps in a substantial reduction of the wind power cost.
Like, when owned by a wind developer, a standard 50MW
wind plant would deliver wind power as a rate of 5 cents
per kilowatt-hour. The same plant when financed by an
IOU or investor-owned utility would deliver power at a
30% reduced rate which is 3.5 cents per
kilowatt-hour.
Save
the environment at a lower
cost!
When
comparing between a coal power plant and a wind energy
plant, the latter gets more points in the favor of
saving the environment from polluting agents like
greenhouse gases and acid rains causing global warming
and visibility degradation. The minute dust-particles
released in coal emissions has some more deadly effects
on the humans like cardiovascular and respiratory
disease, asthma and a higher mortality rate. Wind, being
a clean source of energy is highly accepted
worldwide.
Coming
to the cost of wind energy, it’s much less than
that involved in the coal power plants. The first and
foremost and possibly the biggest plus point of wind
energy is that it is a non-polluting resource that is
free and renewable ‘n’ number of times. Besides saving
power, wind energy generators are also easy on the
economy as compared to the fossil fuel plants since they
have a minimum life-cycle cost like no fuel purchasing
and minimum operating expenses. Last but not the least,
wind power industry is still quite fresh in the market
and would need to create a long term contract in this
power regeneration domain so as to reduce the finance
cost by lowering the market
risks.
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