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Trouble Brewing for Wind?

Report finds sharp increase in operating and maintenance costs

1 min read

Amid much good news for wind--an onging global surge in wind energy installations, the go-ahead from the U.S. government for the immensely controversial Cape Wind project--comes a report detailing a sharp rise in wind operating costs and poor performance relative to other countries. Prepared by the independent business intelligence service Wind Energy Update, the Wind Energy Operations & Maintenance Report finds that current O&M costs are two or three times higher than first projected and that there has been a 21 percent decrease in returns on investments in wind farms. O&M costs were found to be especially high in the United States, "now the world's largest wind power market."

Based on surveys, the report estimates average world O&M costs at 2.7 U.S. cents per kilowatthour, which compares with the 2 c/kWh at which costs roughly equal the value of U.S. wind production credits.* The report says that while close to 80 percent of the world's wind turbines are still under warranty, "this is about to change." R&D is focusing especially on gearbox reliability: "Many gearboxes, designed for a 20-year life, are failing after six to eight years of operation."

POSTSCRIPT (5/27/10): to listen to a podcast interview with the author of the report, click here

* My apologies to readers for the inexcusable typo that appeared in the original version of this post, and for my having been so slow to notice alerts to the mistake in comments

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