How much does it cost to run a wind power farm?

Question

How much does it cost to run a wind power farm?

Answer 1

I answered your other question about the cost of wind turbines.  Commercial wind turbines cost about 1 million dollars per mega watt they produce.  It costs about another 1/2 a million per wind turbine for instalation.

Commercial wind turbines are designed to last 20 years.  They pay themselves back in 3-8 years (with 5 being the average).

Cost to run the entire farm can varry greatly, depending on the size of the farm, and the amount of damage from nature, and thieves and vandals.

If a blade breaks in an ice storm, your looking at several hundred thousand dollars for the new blade, and cost of the crane to come in an install that new blade.

Some wind farms have no snow, or ice problems.  They may have HUGE theft, or vandalism problems however.  There's a lot of copper wire in wind turbines.  Thieves (who risk death by electrocution) sometimes come and steal the wire.  Sometimes vandals shoot the padmounts, or the blades.  All of that can cost hundreds of thousands in repairs.

Copper theft is such a big problem in some areas they must hire night guards.

Even with initial cost, theft, vandalism, breakage, and normal operating costs, wind farms pay back the cost on average in 5 years, and then begin to turn a profit.  After the initial cost is paid back, the profit/cost margin entirely depends on breakage, theft, vandilism.  

By the way, wind farms do NOT recieve Government subsidies.  They recieve tax breaks.  Tax breaks and subsidies are NOT the same thing at all.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 2

It depends on how big the wind turbines are and how many you have. If you are using it for your own purpose and sell a little back to the power company, you can build your own wind turbine for personal use for about $2,000.00. It is very easy to do, and there are step by step instructions on how to do it. If you buy used equipment, the price of course will be lower. If you install alot of theses on your land, you can generate enough power to get of the grid yourself. The cost is minimal if you look at what you could save by not buying electric power from your supplier.