Wind power project size and component costs: An Alaska case study
Many communities in Alaska, especially along the coast, have excellent wind resources and serve as ideal laboratories for microgrids around the Arctic and the world. Wind power systems have been installed in a number of locations in Alaska, both in remote areas and along the road system. As more iso...
| Published in: | Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AIP Publishing
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4986579 https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jrse/article-pdf/doi/10.1063/1.4986579/15715528/061703_1_online.pdf |
| Summary: | Many communities in Alaska, especially along the coast, have excellent wind resources and serve as ideal laboratories for microgrids around the Arctic and the world. Wind power systems have been installed in a number of locations in Alaska, both in remote areas and along the road system. As more isolated microgrids are developed worldwide, understanding the cost and performance of wind power in these systems is of increased importance. In this review of wind power project sizes and costs in Alaska, the costs per kilowatt for the different components of wind turbine installations generally were found to decrease with increasing sizes. Capacity factors ranged from approximately 10% to 40%, with variability from rated wind speeds, wind turbine heights, and the resolution of the wind power class map. Due to the size of communities in Alaska as well as other factors, turbines installed in Alaska are smaller than the trend in the larger market. Evidence indicates that installing overcapacity wind farms, together with energy storage and significant diversion into thermal loads, would allow communities to achieve diesel-off and least-cost energy when considering displacement of diesel fuel for both electricity and heat. However, the size of wind turbines that can be installed in Alaska is limited by the small size of the state's communities and the challenges of integrating high penetrations of wind power into microgrids. Demonstrations of different high-penetration wind power integration techniques are still needed. |
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