Report on Evolution and Economics of Wind Power Available

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “The Evolution and Economics of Wind Power” report to their offering. 

Chapter 1 The wind resource and global wind generating capacity

Wind is the movement of air generated by the earth’s rotation and by the heating of the atmosphere by the sun. The wind resulting is both intermittent and unpredictable. The amount of wind energy available varies with position on the globe and some regions have much better resources than others. Wind atlases can help reveal the best resource regions but site measurements are usually necessary to evaluate a particular wind project.

Chapter 2 Wind technology and market trends

Modern large wind turbines follow a standard design with a horizontal axis carrying a rotor fixed to the top of a tall tower. This standardization has allowed manufacturers to concentrate on development of key turbine components. A major trend has been a continued increase in turbine size with larger turbines generally more economical than smaller units. This has been accompanied by developments to allow manufacture of longer and lighter blades. Blades and towers are being designed in segments so that they can be more easily transported to difficult sites.

Chapter 3 The economics of wind power

Wind power is capital intensive with most of the investment required upfront. The largest capital cost component is the turbine itself which can account for between 40% and 80% of the total capital cost of an onshore wind installation. Costs offshore are higher because of the more expensive operating environment and the greater difficulty establishing a foundation so the proportion of capital cost taken by the turbine is generally lower than onshore.

Chapter 4 Wind prospects

The cost of wind power has continued to fall compared to many other technologies over the past five years and is now approaching the level at which it can compete with conventional technologies. Power from natural gas and coal remains cheaper (without carbon capture and storage) but the steady growth in renewable penetration from both wind and wind power is leading to coal and gas-fired plants operating for less of the time, a factor which adversely affects their economics.

Key findings of this report

• The economically competitive onshore potential in Europe was put at 9,600TWh in 2020 and 27,000TWh in 2030.
• China could profitably generate 6,960TWh of wind energy at $75/MWh.
• The second largest capacity at the end of 2013 was in the USA where total capacity was 61,091MW but annual additions only amounted to 1,084MW.
• Denmark has 12 wind farms and 1,271MW of generating capacity offshore while Germany has 13 wind farms and 520MW.
• Vestas which after a difficult two-year period has now consolidated its position as the world’s leading supplier of wind turbines.

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