Domestic application of micro wind turbines in Ireland: Investigation of their economic viability

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• 作者：Zhe Li ; ^{zhe.li@dit.ie} ; ^{zhe.li_bruce@hotmail.com} ; Fergal Boyle ; Anthony Reynolds
• 关键词：Renewable energy ; Wind energy ; Micro wind turbine ; Economic viability ; Sustainable living ; Ireland
• 刊名：Renewable Energy
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：May 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：41
• 期：Complete
• 页码：64-74
• 全文大小：1330 K

文摘

Electricity generation from renewable sources of energy will be a key part in the development of future strategies for many countries globally. This renewable electricity generation will be hugely important for Ireland, due to its lack of fossil fuel resources. The extremely good wind resource available provides Ireland with the opportunity of generating vast amount of electricity from wind energy. Large-scale wind electricity generation reached 1264?MW installed capacity by January 2010 in Ireland. However, micro scale wind electricity generation has not been very popular in Ireland to-date. The unclear economics of micro wind turbines, under Irish conditions, is considered the biggest obstacle for expanding micro wind turbine installation in Ireland. This paper presents a methodology to accurately evaluate the economic viability of a micro wind turbine on a case-by-case basis. The methodology utilises the software programmes HOMER and Microsoft Excel 2007 for the energy and economic analyses. This paper also presents a realistic economic analysis of a number of micro wind turbines available in Ireland.