Page 27 - Fluid Power Engineering

Overview of W ind Energy Business 5

Installed Fuel Price, O&M Cost,
Technology Cost, €/kW €/MWh €/kW
Gas-fired 635–875 US: 16 19–30
EU: 27
Coal-fired 1300–2325 US: 12 30–60
EU: 18
Nuclear 1950–3400 3.6–5.5 80–96
Onshore wind 1300–1500 N/A 33–50
Offshore wind 3000 N/A 70

Source: Milborrow, D. “Annual Power Costs Comparison: What a Difference a Year
Can Make.” WindPower Monthly. 2010, January.

TABLE 1-1 Total Installed Cost, Fuel Cost, and O&M Cost of Energy
from Different Sources

fuel–based energy generation, no pollutants are produced. In the
United States every megawatt-hour of wind energy production that is
not produced by a conventional source reduces greenhouse gas emis-
sion by an equivalent of 0.558 tons of CO 2 . According to the DOE’s
20% Wind Energy by 2030 Technical Report, 4,5 overall 25% of CO 2
emissions from the electricity production sector can be reduced in the
United States if 20% of electricity is produced by wind energy. In the
United States, wind energy production in 2007 reduced CO 2 emissions
by more than 28 million tons.

180 Deep Offshore
Land-Based Offshore
Class 7 Class 7
160 Class 6 Class 6 Shallow Offshore
Levelized Cost of Energy, $/MWh 120 The United States has ample wind resources,
Class 5
Class 5
140
Class 4
Class 4
Class 3
Class 3
Land-Based
100
80
60
40
the most affordable type to hamess.
20 including more than 8,000 GW land-based–
0
2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000
Quantity Available, GW
FIGURE 1-6 Estimated cost of energy production in the United States based
4
on wind classes. Cost excludes cost of transmission and integration.