Utility companies pay wholesale prices for wind-generated electricity: $25-$60 per megawat-hour.
World consumption of electricity 2022: 25.5 thousand terawatt-hours (Trillion watt-hours). At a price of, say, $40 per megawatt-hour, the wholesale value of global consumption totals over one trillion dollars.
Wind Power’s share of electricity production n 2023, worldwide, was 7.3%, according to i-net sources.
The top three wind turbine manufacturers: Vestas, GE Renewables, Siemens/Gamesa. These three share over one-half the global market for utility-scale wind turbines. Revenues in 2023 were $17 billion for Vestas, about $15 billion for GE Renewables, and about $9.9 billion for Siemens /Gamesa.
The power rating for utility-scale wind turbines ranges upward from about one megawatt. A typical onshore turbine costs $1-2 million per rated megawatt, installed. The most powerful turbines are installed offshore, these ranging upwards to 15 megawatts rated capacity. The installation costs for these are estimated at $2-$4 million per rated megawatt.
Compared to other methods of power generation, such as through steam turbines, wind power is inefficient and costly. Without tax incentives and other types of subsidies, returns on wind farm investments would be unattractive. Now there is talk of a need for increased subsidies, if investor interest in wind power is to be sustained. With WindLode, these economics will alter and investors will realize profits unimaginable, by today’s standards.
Wind turbines currently used in the generation of power for commercial distribution, as in wind farms, are of the horizontal axis category.
