Costs:
- American Wind Energy Association claims levelized costs to be
4.8 cents per KWH
- Electrical
Power Research Insitute claims the 1993 levelized cost was 7.3 cents
per KWH
- In 1980, the levelized cost was about 25 cents per KWH
- Projected future costs are 3-3.5 cents per KWH
- Lower costs reflect economies of scale and improved turbine
design
Domestic Production in California:
- 1992: Wind produced 1.1% of total electricity used
- 15,000 wind turbines located at Altamont Pass (East of San Francisco),
Tehachapi (near Bakersfield) and San Gorgonio Pass (near Palm Springs)
- This is 54% of the world's production! (Denmark has 20%)
- Peak capacity is 1600 MW
Other States:
- Southwest Minnesota --> 25 MW capacity sold at 5 cents per KWH
- Planned 100 MW facility for Northern Minnesota for 1996 to be sold
at a cost of 4.2 cents per KWH
- State law in Minnesota --> by 2002 wind energy capacity should
reach 425 Mega Watts
Potential Wind Capacity at Some Locations in the US:
Note: Total electrical energy generated by fossil-fuel plants
in 1990 was 2000 billion KWH
- Along the Aleutian Chain --> 402 Billion KWH
- Offshore New England --> 318 Billion
- Offshore South Carolina --> 283 Billion
- Great Plains effort (see below) --> 210 Billion
- Off Shore Texas Gulf Cost --> 190 Billion
- East-West Axis of Lake Superior --> 35 Billion
- North-South Axis of Lake Michigan --> 29 billion
- North-South Axis of Lake Huron --> 23 Billion
- East-West Axis of Lake Erie --> 23 Billion
- East-West Axis of Lake Ontario --> 23 Billion
- Total Capacity --> 1500 billion or 75% of fossil fuel
capacity
Some Large Scale Projects:
Aleutian Project --> Stretch turbines out over the entire
1300 mile chain. Use electricity to create Hydrogen. Liquefy
the Hydrogen and ship it to California.
Great Plains I: --> One turbine Tower per square mile stretched
out from Texas to Canada.
Problems: (?)
- In some locations it will be difficult to connect to the
existing grid --> therefore make hydrogen or store energy in batteries
- Installations may be unsightly (but so is air pollution)
- Could interfere with functions on agricultural land
- Susceptible to storm damage (tornado alley) so replacement
costs have to be well-calculated
- They are a hazard to migrating birds
- Worse of all - they could potentially interfere with TV reception
Conclusions:
- Price of wind power is coming down.
- There is enormous capacity
- Wind power is a lot more promising that Solar PV production
line facilities
- Energy storage, however, is still a problem
- Costs to the consumer will only be competetive if mass production
of wind turbines is achieved
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The Electronic Universe Project
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