Economic Feasibility of a Small-Scale Wind Turbine in Coastal Area of South Sulawesi

Abstract

To evaluate the exploitation potential of wind energy in the coastal area of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, an investigation on the economic feasibility of this project was performed. A 300-watt horizontal wind turbine was used as an example installed turbine. The wind speed range of 4-7 m/s which was the wind speed data in the coastal area of South Sulawesi was computed. The main economic analysis method employed was Capital Budgeting Analysis (CBA) method. In this method, 4 (four) indicators were used to evaluate the feasibility of the project which are payback period (PBP), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). A visual basic computer program based on the CBA method was also developed to make the computation more convenient. From the study, it was found that the wind speed range of 4-6 m/s resulted in a non-feasibility project while the highest wind speed (7 m/s) was found to be quite strong to make the project feasible.