International Journal of Environmental Science and Research

International Journal of Environmental Science and Research

Economic Feasibility and Assessment of Installing Small Wind Turbines for Power Generation: a case study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Master Student, Department of Economics and Marine Insurance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Khorramshahr University of Marine Sciences and Technology, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Marine Insurance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Khorramshahr University of Marine Sciences and Technolog, Iran.
3 Associate Professor , Department of Economics and Marine Insurance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Khorramshahr University of Marine Sciences and Technology, Iran
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Marine Insurance, Faculty of Economics and Management, Khorramshahr University of Marine Sciences and Technology, Iran
Abstract
Iran is an energy-rich country, with its electric power industry heavily reliant on natural gas. This jeopardizes the security of sustainable power supply, which should be addressed through the development of renewable energy sources such as wind power. This feasibility study investigated the economic feasibility of installing small wind turbines for power generation in four southern Iranian regions in Khuzestan Province (Abadan, Ahvaz, Omidiyeh and Bandar Mahshahr). The aforementioned regions were studied over an 11-year period (2010-2020) using the Weibull distribution. The findings showed that the studied regions are not suitable for grid-connected wind turbine installation due to low wind power density. However, because of the speed of launching small wind turbines at 2 m/s and higher, as well as the hours of wind in the classes above 2 m/s in the studied regions, Mahshahr and Omidiyeh Counties are suitable for the installation of small low power wind turbines for off-grid usages. RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software and three small wind turbines with different capacities (11, 25, and 50 kW) and three variable costs (5,000 $, 3,000 $, and 7,000 $ per kWh) as well as two specific scenarios with different inflation rates and bank loan interest rates were used to assess the economic feasibility. The results showed that the first scenario was not cost-effective and had to be rejected due to high inflation and interest rates. In the second scenario, given the inflation rate specified in the Sixth Development Plan and the interest rate suggested by the Bank of Industry and Mine, the results showed that Mahshahr and Omidiyeh are suitable for the installation of small wind turbines, specifically Energie PGE turbines. However, due to the low-capacity factor and high energy cost of these turbines, the installation of small wind turbines in Abadan and Ahvaz is not cost-effective
Keywords