Capex of an inexpensive flexible wing like NPW

[PierreB]

@PierreB

Knowing that in yo-yo mode you need about 3500 m² of wing (s) for 1 MW with a wind speed of 10 m / s (including the cosine penalty and the division by 2 because of the reel-in phase), the expense is 70,000 euros per wing (s).

By being very optimistic, the production lifespan would be 1 year, or 8760 hours, knowing that the most resistant sails reach 2000 or 3000 hours of service.

Over 20 years, we therefore expect an expenditure of 1,400,000 euros, or $ 1,694,000.

That is about the price of a complete 1 MW wind turbine .

@gordon_sp

@PierreB

Let us take as a base an inexpensive 9.5 m² NPW sold for 223 euros (1 euro = $ 1.21).

As even a flexible wing suffers a mass penalty (less than that of a rigid wing but not negligible) as its surface increases, we will still remain optimistic by evaluating the m² at 20 euros.

The wholesale cost of 70 denier ripstop nylon is presently about 2.0 €/M2. The cost for the kite is therefore mainly manufacturing and assembly. I therefore think that a more reasonable 20 yr cost would be about half or 10 €/M2.

Wind Turbine Cost: Worth The Million-Dollar Price In 2022?

The Breakdown of Initial Wind Turbine Costs

• $2.6 – $4 million per average-sized commercial wind turbine
  • Typical cost is $1.3 million per megawatt (MW) of electricity-producing capacity
  • Most commercial wind turbines have a capacity of 2-3 MW, but offshore turbines can be as large as 16-18 MW
  • Cost increases as turbine size increases, though there are benefits to using fewer, larger turbines – complexity and construction of the overall farm site is greatly reduced with fewer and larger turbines.

Wind Turbine Maintenance Costs

Once built, maintenance is an ongoing expense.

• 1-2 cents per kilowatt-hour produced, or
• $42,000 – $48,000 per year

See also (in French language):

Combien coûte l’énergie éolienne ? - ECO Delta

En France, pour installer un mégawatt d’éolien terrestre, l’investissement initial : le CAPEX, se situe entre 1 et 1,7 millions d’Euros. Tout dépend en effet de la hauteur des pâles de l’éolienne. Concernant la maintenance, le coût s’élève à 40 000€ par mégawatt par an.

Translation:

In France, to install a megawatt of onshore wind power, the initial investment: CAPEX, is between 1 and 1.7 million Euros. It all depends on the height of the blades of the wind turbine. Concerning maintenance, the cost amounts to €40,000 per megawatt per year.

Despite the unknowns of maintaining a wind turbine, we can think that this cost could be approximately similar to the cost of purchasing NPW kites per year and over 20 years (lifespan of a wind turbine) if a real industry is launched, also including the recycling of kites wherever possible.