Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 15-4
Profitability chart for wind farms. (Source: B. Chabot - ADME, France, and Wind Directions,
Magazine of the European Wind Energy Association, London, October 1997. With permission.)
systems without batteries and delivering AC power using inverters, and
0.5 to 0.6 for stand-alone systems using batteries and delivering DC power.
The input to the figures are the initial capital cost of the pv system in
dollars per peak watt capacity I
, the cost of capital, the life of the plant,
the operating and maintenance cost K
up
, the yearly solar irradiation H
, and
om
y
the performance parameter K
as defined above. With these inputs, the chart
gives the overall discounted cost (ODC) of electricity delivered. The life of
the plant in years, n, can be the desired payback period to recover the initial
investment, or the full economic life of the plant. In the latter case, the ODC
is known as the life cycle cost (LCC) of the energy delivered. The chart is
prepared with typical values for large pv farms, such as K
p
of 0.75, 8 percent
cost of capital, 20 years life and 2 percent operating and maintenance cost.
p
