Chapter Ten

Economic Considerations

Predicting the Economic Reality of an Installation

With contributions from

Trudy Forsyth and Frank Oteri

Abstract

The variability of the wind resource, installed turbine costs, and competing electricity sources are the most important factors that determine the profitability of small wind systems. A wind turbine connected to the electric grid produces income in the form of displaced energy for direct use and as a surplus sold to the utility. Simple payback and cost of energy are two quick methods for estimating income or time to recover the initial investment. A cash flow analysis produces the most information about the profitability of individual wind systems. The value of power from a machine installed ...

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