Wind Tubine Cost of Electricity and Capacity Factor
- 1 November 1997
- journal article
- Published by ASME International in Journal of Solar Energy Engineering
- Vol. 119 (4) , 312-314
- https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2888038
Abstract
Wind turbines are currently designed to minimize the cost of electricity at the wind turbine (the busbar cost) in a given wind regime, ignoring constraints on the capacity factor (the ratio of the average power output to the maximum power output). The trade-off between these two quantities can be examined in a straightforward fashion; it is found that the capacity factor can be increased by a factor of 30 percent above its value at the cost minimum for a ten percent increase in the busbar cost of electricity. This has important implications for the large-scale integration of wind electricity on utility grids where the cost of transmission may be a significant fraction of the cost of delivered electricity, or where transmission line capacity may be limited.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- High-Capacity Factor Wind Energy SystemsJournal of Solar Energy Engineering, 1995
- Wind energy: Current status and future prospectsScience & Global Security, 1993
- Wind Energy SystemsJournal of Solar Energy Engineering, 1985
- Dependability of Wind Energy Generators with Short-Term Energy StorageScience, 1976