Modelling of cost indicators for wind turbines of multimegawatt class in various sizes

Abstract

The choice of wind turbines to fit various specific wind conditions for the purpose of ensuring maximum generation of electric power at least investment expenditures is among the wind power sector overarching challenges. Solving this task involves the evaluation of cost indices for wind turbines of various sizes. A well-known and rather popular with investigators model, made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA) has been improved for the first time with the aim of determining the cost of wind turbines of various sizes on the basis of their main parameters (rated power, rotor diameter, hub height) for current conditions of application. The established correlation relationships between the cost of wind turbine and its main parameters made possible the transformation of a well-known complex model into a model with linear equations and minimization of computations. Based on the research studies of the evolution of wind turbines main parameters and an average (global) cost of 1 MW of their power, the authors have suggested the first-ever original linear mathematical models that enable evaluating the wind turbine cost for any year of research. In illustration of application of the first ever developed technique, we have made the assessment of operating efficiency of the US wind farms from 2010 to 2019. The results obtained convincingly indicate the high quality of the developed model.