Wind Tubine Cost of Electricity and Capacity Factor

Abstract

Wind turbines are currently designed to minimize the cost of electricity at the wind turbine (the busbar cost) in a given wind regime, ignoring constraints on the capacity factor (the ratio of the average power output to the maximum power output). The trade-off between these two quantities can be examined in a straightforward fashion; it is found that the capacity factor can be increased by a factor of 30 percent above its value at the cost minimum for a ten percent increase in the busbar cost of electricity. This has important implications for the large-scale integration of wind electricity on utility grids where the cost of transmission may be a significant fraction of the cost of delivered electricity, or where transmission line capacity may be limited.