WIND IS BEST DEAL EVER

Cost Of Wind Energy Trending Toward An All-Time Low
2 February 2012 (North American Windpower)

"The levelized cost of wind energy (LCOWE) is headed toward an all-time low - approaching approximately $0.03/kWh in the best wind resource sites…[A] new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)…notes, however, that these numbers are dependent on the continuation of current federal tax incentives, such as the production tax credit, which is set to expire for wind energy at the end of this year.

"When only capital cost and capacity factor trends are considered, the LCOWE based on current turbine pricing is estimated to be approximately 5% to 26% below the previous low in 2002-2003, depending on the quality of the wind resource. When plausible assumptions for operations and maintenance (O&M), financing and turbine reliability trends are also considered, levelized cost reductions are estimated to be between 24% and 39% since 2002-2003…"

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"These trends have been driven primarily by sizable improvements in capacity factors within individual wind resource classes due to hub-height and rotor-diameter scaling, and by the drop in wind turbine prices over the last two years. Longer-term improvements in O&M, reliability and financing are also playing a role…

"…[L]ow-wind-speed technology [advances] have…[opened] new areas of the U.S. for potential development…[T]he amount of land area in the U.S. that can support 35%+ project-level capacity factors has increased by 130% to 270% since 2002-2003…The amount of land area that can support wind projects with costs of under $0.05/kWh (with federal tax incentives) has increased by almost 50%..."