Design and development of megawatt wind turbines - Wind Power Generation and Wind Turbine Design - page 248

A trade-off between the turbine and BOP cost is apparent as rating is
increased. A site using a larger number of relatively inexpensive ($/kW) small
turbines will have a lower turbine and higher BOP project cost proportion than a
site using fewer expensive large turbines. Many BOP costs, such as roads and
cabling, are more dependent on the total land area that the plant occupies than the
rating of the turbines used. The larger turbine therefore has a BOP cost advan-
tage on a MW-constrained site due to the reduced number of turbines required
for a specifi ed block of power. These factors reduce the specifi c cost ($/kW) of
BOP as turbine ratings increase. Turbine cost behaviour further drives this
proportionality trend as the specifi c cost of a turbine increases with rating (Fig. 41).
Figure 41 : Additional detail - onshore WPP cost breakdown.