Investment evaluation of wind turbine relocation

Abstract

Energy has become one of the most important building blocks of many changes inthe world, and it still maintains this quality. The demand for natural resources andenergy continues to increase daily. For this reason, the supply of reliable andsustainable energy has become an important issue that concerns and occupiesmankind. Of the renewable energy sources, wind energy is a clean, reliable andinexhaustible source of energy with low operating costs. Turkey is a rich nation interms of wind energy potential. In this context, the profitability of investmentsmade in utilising domestic and renewable energy potential is important.Investment efficiency is a very important issue before and during the investmentperiod due to the fact that wind energy investments are high cost investments. Inthis study, a solution will be proposed for the replacement of inefficient windturbines which have been installed. In the ideal solution of the issue, the remaininglifetime of the wind turbine which is to be replaced and capacity utilization at thenew location of the turbine will be used as key input factors. The results showedthat it was important for the relocation decision to be made early for the investmentto be more profitable. In the event of delayed decisions to relocate the turbine, ahigh capacity factor is expected in the new location. If a high capacity factor is notachieved, the relocation of the turbine will be meaningless and losses will beincurred for the investor. Also according to the results of the analysis, in the firsttwo years, the turbine operating at a low capacity of 19% and 17% is profitable ifit works at 26% capacity until the end of its economic life when change is made inthe third year.