Installing a Wind Farm: costs and pre-conditions

Wind is the fastest growing segment of the renewable energy, and represents a grounded hope in order to surpass global warming and today's energy crisis. And wind farms are the main element of that hope.

Small and micro wind systems may have their very positive role, but the production of the huge amount of electricity demanded by our cities or industries can only come from wind farms, either onshore or offshore.


Wind resources demanded by wind farms

Wind farms demand good windy sites (offshore or onshore). Wind resources are critical, and a minimum annual average wind speed of about 12-13 miles per hour (6 meters per second) or more is indispensable.

See, for details on wind speed, characteristics and wind resource maps: Wind speed and wind maps.


Proximity of existing infrastructures

High voltage lines cost thousands of dollars per mile. Consequently, if a site is near voltage lines and other infrastructures that’s a significant positive point. The proximity of existing lines is a key element to consider in the assessment of a wind farm project.

Easy Access to the turbines

Roads and easy access to the wind farm turbines are also an element to consider when studying a wind farm project, namely onshore. Landowners and local communities may demand compensations for the use of their land, their roads or their structures, and those costs count in the assessment of a wind project.

The investment

A wind farm is an expensive project. Although the prices of wind turbines are lowering, a large 1 MW (Megawatt) wind turbine may cost around $1 million dollars. On the other hand, since any wind farm involves a reasonable number of turbines to get lower costs and economies of scale (costs reduction, due to a higher dimension of the project) any sustainable wind farm may demand an initial investment of $20 million dollars of dollars or so (supposing, in this case, the installation of 20 turbines of 1MW to get reasonable economies of scale, and to attenuate the impact of the costs connected to studies and infrastructures).

Due to this large initial investment, a careful dialogue with project developers or turbine manufacturers is critical. The machines presented to market by the different manufacturers are different products, even if they have similar power ratings. There are modern machines responding to particular climates and load winds… And there are multiple legal requirements and equations that you should also consider (through developers…).

See also:
Prices and Investment & Wind Generators
Wind Energy payback and financial incentives

Onshore or offshore wind farms

See, for details: Onshore and offshore turbines

Legal requirements

Legal demand concerning wind farms vary widely among jurisdictions, and may comprise zoning bylaws, safety and technical requirements, environmental assessments, liabilities and insurances...

See, for details: Legal requirements

Other Sources on wind farms:
USA: Windustry
GB: British Wind Energy Association
Australia: Clean Energy Council
Canada: Canadian Energy Associantion

See, for more information:
Wind Energy Basics
Wind Turbines Manufacturers and Dealers





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