Life-cycle Energy Analysis Of Wind Turbines – An
Assessment Of The Effect Of Size On Energy Yield
Author(s)
R. H. Crawford
Abstract
Wind turbines, used to generate non-fossil fuel based electrical power, are
typically considered to take only a number of months to produce as much energy
as is required in their manufacture and operation. With a life-expectancy of
upwards of 20 years, the renewable energy produced by wind turbines over their
life can be many times greater than that embodied in their production.
Many previous studies of the life-cycle energy requirements of wind turbines
are based on methods of assessment now known to be incomplete. These studies
may underestimate the energy embodied in wind turbines by more than 50%,
potentially overestimating the energy yield of those systems and possibly
affecting the comparison of energy generation options.
With the increasing trend towards larger scale wind turbines comes a
respective increase in the energy required for their manufacture. It is important to
consider whether or not these increases in wind turbine size, and thus embodied
energy, can be adequately justified by equivalent increases in the lifetime energy
yield of such systems. This paper presents the results of an assessment of the
effect of wind turbine size on their life-cycle energy yield and addresses the issue
of incompleteness associated with many past life-cycle energy studies.
Energy yield ratios of 21 and 23 were found for a small and large scale wind
turbine, respectively. This represents an 11% increase in the energy yield ratio of
the larger turbine over that of the smaller turbine. The embodied energy
component was found to be more significant than in previous studies,
emphasised here due to the innovative use of a hybrid embodied energy analysis
method. The life-cycle energy requirements were shown to be offset by the
energy produced within the first 12 months of operation.
Keywords: life-cycle energy, wind turbines, embodied energy, energy yield.
Keywords
life-cycle energy, wind turbines, embodied energy, energy yield.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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