Technical-economic evaluation of a 94.5 MW wind power plant at different elevation heights. A case study in Peru's countryside

Abstract

The scarce promotion of wind energy generation in Peru leads to using fossil fuels and polluting the environment with greenhouse effect gasses. Furthermore, the countryside at height provides some of the areas with great wind resource potential and it has not been exploited yet. This study aims to examine five cases in the Peruvian countryside located at heights ranging from 2400 to 4200 m above sea level to explore the effect of elevation height in energy production and economic indicators. Wind data from the Global Wind Atlas and POWER were used for each area, and a comparative analysis was conducted to assess the accuracy of these datasets. For the economic analysis, break-even Levelized Cost of Energy and Net Present Value were calculated. The findings indicate that the Levelized Cost of Energy was the lowest, ranging between 35 and 39 $/MWh, for elevations between 3000 and 4200 m above sea level. Conversely, the highest costs, ranging from 50 to 79 $/MWh, were observed at lower elevations. This suggests that these high-altitude provinces offer significant wind energy potential, making them suitable for wind farm development.