Technology Innovation Pathways for Distributed Wind Balance-of-System Cost Reduction

Abstract

Department of Energy (DOE) reports produced after 1991 and a growing number of pre-1991 documents are available free via www.OSTI.gov.

Distributed Wind Energy Futures Study

“…The biggest drivers for future cost reductions rely on the assumptions that high manufacturing volume will allow original equipment manufacturers to charge a lower overhead per turbine manufactured, cost-effective technological innovations in construction (or balance of plant) including innovations in crane/turbine erection technology and turbine foundations will be available. Additionally, costs associated with zoning, permitting, interconnection, and incentives (driven by fees and extended projects timelines) are also assumed to be streamlined (Bhaskar and Stehly 2021).…”

2021 Cost of Wind Energy Review [Slides]

“…Power curve data available on https://github.com/NREL/turbine-models.• Turbine component cost estimates are derived from the Distributed Wind Market Report: 2022 Edition(Orrell et al 2022). • BOS component cost estimates are obtained from the Land-based Balance of System Systems Engineering (LandBOSSE) model(Eberle et al 2019) and presented inBhaskar and Stehly (2021).• Because CapEx data are scarce for distributed wind projects, further cost details on the individual system components are not presented.• OpEx market data are not widely available for distributed wind projects; therefore, $35/kW/yr are assumed for each wind class.…”