How much do wind turbines cost?
Wind turbines come in many shapes and sizes, but here is a general guideline on how much they cost:
Total costs for installing a commercial-scale wind turbine will vary significantly depending on the cost of financing, when the turbine purchase agreement was executed, construction contracts, the type of machine, the location of the project, and other factors. Cost components for wind projects include wind resource assessment and site analysis expenses; the price and freight of the turbine and tower; construction expenses; permitting and interconnection studies; utility system upgrades, transformers, protection, and metering equipment; insurance; operations, warranty, maintenance, and repair; legal and consultation fees. Others factors that will impact your project economics include your financing costs, the size of your project, and taxes.
The costs for a commercial scale wind turbine in 2007 ranged from $1.2 million to $2.6 million, per MW of nameplate capacity installed.
Most of the commercial-scale turbines installed today are 2 MW in size and cost roughly $3.5 Million installed.Wind turbines have significant economies of scale. Smaller farm or residential scale turbines cost less overall, but are more expensive per kilowatt of energy producing capacity. Wind turbines under 100 kilowatts cost roughly $3,000 to $5,000 per kilowatt of capacity. That means a 10 kilowatt machine (the size needed to power an average home) might cost $35,000-$50,000.
If you would like to find companies that produce wind turbines and view the cost of the machine only, you can use these links. They are connected to our Company Directory that provides reputable companies in the field of wind.
For More Information:
- Windustry has developed a WindProject Calculator to provide cash flow modeling for your wind project.
- Bergey Windpower, a small wind turbine manufacturer has a project calculator that will help you calculate the total costs of your small wind project.
- The Windpowering America Wind Energy Payback Workbook is a spreadsheet tool that can help you analyze the economics of a small wind electric system and decide whether wind energy will work for you.