Investment evaluation of wind turbine relocation

Abstract

Energy has become one of the most important building blocks of many changes in the world, and it still maintains this quality. The demand for natural resources and energy continues to increase  daily. For this reason, the supply of reliable and sustainable energy has become an important issue that concerns and occupies mankind. Of the renewable energy sources, wind energy is a clean, reliable and inexhaustible source of energy with low operating costs. Turkey is a rich nation in terms of wind energy potential. In this context, the profitability of investments made in utilising domestic and renewable energy potential is important. Investment efficiency is a very important issue before and during the investment period due to the fact that wind energy investments are high cost investments. In this study, a solution will be proposed for the replacement of inefficient wind turbines which have been installed. In the ideal solution of the issue, the remaining lifetime of the wind turbine which is to be replaced and capacity utilization at the new location of the turbine will be used as key input factors. The results showed that it was important for the relocation decision to be made early for the investment to be more profitable. In the event of delayed decisions to relocate the turbine, a high capacity factor is expected in the new location. If a high capacity factor is not achieved, the relocation of the turbine will be meaningless and losses will be incurred for the investor. Also according to the results of the analysis, in the first two years, the turbine operating at a low capacity of 19% and 17% is profitable if it works at 26% capacity until the end of its economic life when change is made in the third year.