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.

[PierreB]

@PierreB

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.

That is, over 20 years, a total of €2,500,000 for a 1 MW wind turbine.

The price of our NPW would therefore be lower, assuming their lifespan is 1 year, which we do not know, knowing that we must take into account the reeling cycles which are certainly very tiring for the material, and a permanent use.

Now for AWES using NPW (or other kites), it is appropriate to add the cost of other components and the financial costs which are included in the cost of the wind turbines: generator and all the mechanics, ground station, possible electricity smoothing, reduction of secondary uses on the operating area, security measures, insurance, and so on.

It will be necessary to see the threshold of the AWE benefit when the exploitation of higher and more powerful altitude winds (possibly including the Low Level Jets (LLJs)), the saving in material (if we except the regular replacement of the kites) compensate for a lower efficiency of kites compared to wind turbine rotors, and the disadvantages linked to safety and high control requirements.