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Cost of wind energy: comparing distant wind resources to local resources in the midwestern United States.
Abstract
The best wind sites in the United States are often located far from electricity demand
centers and lack transmission access. Local sites that have lower quality wind resources
but do not require as much power transmission capacity are an alternative to distant
wind resources. In this paper, we explore the trade-offs between developing new wind
generation at local sites and installing wind farms at remote sites. We first examine
the general relationship between the high capital costs required for local wind development
and the relatively lower capital costs required to install a wind farm capable of
generating the same electrical output at a remote site,with the results representing
the maximum amount an investor should be willing to pay for transmission access. We
suggest that this analysis can be used as a first step in comparing potential wind
resources to meet a state renewable portfolio standard (RPS). To illustrate, we compare
the cost of local wind (∼50 km from the load) to the cost of distant wind requiring
new transmission (∼550-750 km from the load) to meet the Illinois RPS. We find that
local, lower capacity factor wind sites are the lowest cost option for meeting the
Illinois RPS if new long distance transmission is required to access distant, higher
capacity factor wind resources. If higher capacity wind sites can be connected to
the existing grid at minimal cost, in many cases they will have lower costs.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Conservation of Energy ResourcesCost Allocation
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Electricity
Energy-Generating Resources
Midwestern United States
Power Plants
Wind
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4026Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1021/es100751pPublication Info
Hoppock, David C; & Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia (2010). Cost of wind energy: comparing distant wind resources to local resources in the midwestern
United States. Environ Sci Technol, 44(22). pp. 8758-8765. 10.1021/es100751p. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4026.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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