Wind power – not as cheap as we think

A common claim in the media is that wind power is the cheapest option for electricity generation, but these are unconfirmed claims by wind experts and not based on verified data.

Professor Gordon Hughes (Hughes,G 2020. Wind Power Economics-Rhetoric and Reality. School of Economics, Edinburgh University,2020-11-04.) has extensively studied investment and operating costs and lifetime over many years. Efficiency factor for thousands of wind turbines in Denmark and Great Britain. Contrary to the media picture, his results show that the investment cost increased from 15.1 to 21.4 MSEK/MW/MW during the period when land-based wind power generation installed in Great Britain increased from 0.5 to 15 GW.

In 2008 operating costs increased to 567kSEK/year/MW operating year 1 and 781kSEK/year/MW operating year 12. In 2018, operating costs are estimated to rise to 920kSEK/year/MW in year 1 and then increase to 1260kSEK/MW. year/MW operating year 12. For offshore wind power, the cost of total wind power in Europe increased from 22.7 to 56.7 mSeq/MW as installed power increased from 0.5 to 20 GW. This is more expensive than the well-known nuclear power plant OLK 3 in Finland and leads to a tenfold increase in energy costs.

Note that this is an average value for many creations and not a failure: something to think about before the planned investment of a conversion to offshore wind power. In comparison, South Korea has built nuclear power at a cost of around 20 MSEK/MW in 4-5 years.

Operating costs of offshore wind power will increase from 630kSEK/year/MW installation year 2008 to 2520kSEK installation year 2018 (400 percent). For plants since 2008, operating costs increase to 1134kSEK/year/MW in year 12, while operating costs for 2018 plants are expected to increase to 4536kSEK in year 12.

Professor Hughes’ research shows that serious failures occur earlier in new works and that actual lifespans are significantly shorter than calculated. (15 years on land and 12 years at sea).

In conclusion, a quote from ABB’s former CEO Percy Barnevik: “In Sweden we have cheap electricity, we have clean electricity, we have safe electricity, in short we have an energy supply that all other countries would like to have. And our main concern is how we can recover from this situation in the shortest possible time.” .”