The costs of wind power are falling, not only for turbine cost and performance, but also for operating and maintaining onshore wind farms. In just the last four years, operation and maintenance costs have dropped 38 percent, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Wind Operations and Maintenance Price Index.
The figures are based on average prices for full service operation and maintenance contracts in onshore wind farms between 2008 and 2012. For the report, which appeared in the first issue of the O&M Price Index, Bloomberg analysts examined confidential operation and maintenance contract data from 38 major wind power developers and service providers around the world.
The costs of wind power are falling, not only for turbine cost and performance, but also for operating and maintaining wind farms. Shown here, Siemens service engineers work in a wind turbine's gondola. (Source: Siemens)
Service providers consisted of turbine manufacturers, primarily in Europe and the Americas. The price data included 104 confidential and undisclosed contracts in more than 24 markets. Typical contracts considered in the report included replacement costs of major components -- for example, blades, gearboxes, and generators -- as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance work.
Compared to the costs of gas-fired and coal-fired generation, the capital costs of wind power have already become more competitive due to better turbine siting and wind farm management, as well as lower cost, more technically advanced turbines, said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in a press release.
Wind project owners and investors are becoming increasingly interested in improving the performance and efficiency of wind assets, since better planning and more efficient management of spare parts can improve output and generators’ margins by cutting unplanned, unexpected downtime.
We've previously reported on remote-controlled climbing robots developed to make wind tower maintenance easier, cheaper, and safer by doing it remotely. Although these have not yet been deployed in anything resembling huge numbers, their use could also bring maintenance costs down even more in the future.
bob from maine, thanks for your comments on the danger to aquifers. I live in a county with compromised aquifers: so far, no chemical poisoning, but definitely, ones with levels too low to sustain a growing population, and perhaps even to sustain a non-growing one. (Hence the discussions here about desalination). The point is, once we've messed them up, fahgeddaboutit for the future. I don't see how risking one's water supply is an "acceptable risk," in any sense of the term.
Thinking_J, thanks for the input about what's behind the previous separate price drops due to better turbine performance and design. FYI, the photo caption info was taken directly from Siemens, the providers of the photo and of the wind system. OLD_CURMIDGEON, the reason O&M costs dropped 38%was because the providers dropped their prices due to increased competition, as the article states.
Thanks for your comments about storage, Charley468. I agree, it's an important issue, but not one that this study addressed. Jerry, thank you also for your inputs on the storage issue.
There's another point to consider regarding the investing of "foreign" compounds into the soil to act as a detergent. One need look no further than the evidence that has been amassed regarding the trace levels of so many different patent medicines which have been identified in the public water supplies, lakes, rivers, underground aquefers, etc. Researchers have identified almost the full range of these products from aspirin to estrogen compounds.
We are constantly reminded by the "health" industry why it is important to drink several glass of water per day, yet in doing so, we may actually be precipitating some negative health condition in the future.
NOTHING that occurs on the face of this Earth, occurs in a "vacuum", and as such, it is imperative that people everywhere realize this! For every effect, there IS a cause! The challenge has always been to recognize & isolate those which ARE TRULY beneficial, and those which ARE TRULY harmful.
You are right that energy cannot be destroyed. However, friction is just one of many forms that decreases the amount of stored energy that can be removed from storage. And from what I have read there are not very efficient ways to store energy. Often when energy is stored a percentage of that energy is lost.
Good points, Bob from Maine. The data doesn't seem to be in when it comes to the possibility of fracking polluting water. Generally, the fracking is well below the water aquifers.
Good points, Old_Curmudgeon. Let the data tell the story. There has been some anecdotal stories of gas coming out of water pipes near fracking. Others say that's nonsense. Ultimately, data will tell the story.
IF you consider that it is always POSSIBLE for chemicals to seep from an ostensibally sealed pipe under thousands of pounds of pressure, through a seemingly geologically isolated strata and mix with an underground aquifer, and further that the possibility seems somehow proportional to the qualification and motivation of the PEOPLE doing the work, then yes, there is a possible hazard. The chemicals are not suitable for human consumption. The aquifer, once compromised cannot be either isolated or recovered in situ. We daily depend on research done by scientists and machinery and processes developed and implemented by engineers to protect us from serious and often fatal occurances. We rely on their judgement of what constitutes "acceptable risk" and most of us (but not all) are comfortable with that. There is no possibility of debate when using emotion to discuss scientific issues (thus speaks an ex politician). Yes, there is risk; No, most of us have no or limited concept of the science involved.
Be careful WHO you seek information from regarding fracking's (possibly negative)environmental impact. Just as in so many cases in the past 30 or so years, you'll find some very staunch opponents who base their convictions on alchemy, and will not be convinced even by acknowledged nonpartisan scientific experts. That's probably one main reason why I've always trusted instruments for accurate answers vs. human beings. Instruments & domestic animals share one IMPORTANT trait ..... they're incapable of Rationalization! Humans, NOT SO!
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
The airframe of Airbus's A350 XWB consists of a bigger proportion of carbon-fiber-reinforced composite structures than any other commercial jet to date: over 53 percent by weight.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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