THE LIFE CYCLE IMPACTS OF WIND

Siemens’ Wind Farm Life Cycle Assessments

December 1, 2014 (Energy Matters)

“German wind energy company Siemens has published… Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of four defined Siemens wind power projects: two offshore wind plants with 80 wind turbines, and two onshore wind projects with 20 wind turbines…LCAs are a cradle-to-grave tool for calculating the energy payback time of a power generation system – the amount of time a plant must operate to produce as much energy as it consumes…An onshore wind farm featuring 20 Siemens SWT-3.2-113 wind turbines shows an energy payback time of 4.5 months. During its entire life-cycle it will produce 57 times more energy than it consumes and just four grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour (g/kWh) of electricity generated, compared to 865 g/kWh for a fossil fuel powered plant. This return includes all manufacturing, installation, operations, maintenance and dismantling of the wind farm over an estimated 25-year life cycle…Even greater savings are found in examination of an offshore wind project…[with] a CO2 emission of only seven g/kWh compared to the 865 g/kWh found with average global fossil power production.” click here for more

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