Course Documents -> Week 5 -> Building a Wind Farm
This video will give you a good sense of the infrastructure needed to install a wind farm and of the basic requirement for good roads to move in this massive equipment.
Shell Pulls out This is an indicator the uneasy relationship between private industry and governments in the area of large scale renewable projects.
Details on the Casselman Wind Farm project in PA:
- 23 turbines @1.5 MW each: 35 MW
- Located on an Appalachian Ridge Line
- 35 MW is about 10% of the power demand for Eugene
- Average employment was 100 workers during construction
- OPM Jobs = 3
- Construction began in May 2007 - Partially on line in Feb 2008 - fully on line in Oct 2008
- Total project cost = $61 million ($1750/KW) - current wind costs vary from $1500 to $2000 per KW.
- Project services 10,000 homes.
- Supposed you meter the product at 5 cents per KWH - what is the payback time to recover $61 million?
- @1/3 efficiency timescale = 21 years
- @ 7 cents per kwh and 40% efficiency time = 12 years
- Hence, this is a sound investment.