Estimation of the profitability of a small-scale commercial wind turbine in Costa Rica

Main Article Content

Rosa Matarrita-Chaves
Gustavo Richmond-Navarro
Gustavo Murillo-Zumbado
Maximino Jiménez-Ceciliano

Abstract

Renewable energies are increasingly participating in the electricity matrix in Costa Rica. This paper determined the profitability of installing a small-scale commercial wind turbine in different locations in Costa Rica. It used historical information from the wind speed recorded by National Meteorological Institute in 36 stations across the country, at 10 meters above the ground. This information was combined with the power diagram of the commercial turbine and the annual energy production that can be expected in each location was determined, with this information the estimated savings using the cost of energy in Costa Rica was obtained, besides the net present value (NPV) and the internal return rate (IRR) of this type of investment were calculated. It was obtained that, of the 36 stations studied, 15 have wind resource conditions with the potential to produce more than 1000 kWh/year which represents maximum annual savings of $ 785. Because the characteristics of the wind resource in the analyzed points in Costa Rica and the cost of available electricity, although the country bets on renewable energies, it is not economically profitable to install small-scale commercial turbines in the localities and heights above the ground that were considered, it is recommended to study alternatives such as: generate studies of the wind resource at low altitudes to identify more windy locations, consider towers of greater height or use turbines designed specifically for the wind resource shown in this research.

Article Details

How to Cite
Matarrita-Chaves, R., Richmond-Navarro, G., Murillo-Zumbado, G., & Jiménez-Ceciliano, M. (2022). Estimation of the profitability of a small-scale commercial wind turbine in Costa Rica. Tecnología En Marcha Journal, 35(7), Pág. 5–18. https://doi.org/10.18845/tm.v35i7.6329
Section
Artículo científico

References

Global Wind Energy Council, “Global Wind Statistics”, Brussels, 2019.

Grupo ICE, “Somos electricidad renovable y solidaria”, 2020.

D. Henao león, A. C. Báez Alarcón, y J. B. Pedroza Rojas, «Metodología para determinar la viabilidad de

generación de energía eléctrica por medio del recurso eólico», Investigación e Innovación en Ingenierías, vol.

, n.º 2, pp. 6-15, jun. 2018. https://doi.org/10.17081/invinno.6.2.3108

Posso, F. (2002). Energía y ambiente: pasado, presente y futuro. Parte dos: Sistema energético basado en

energías alternativas. Geoenseñanza, 7(1-2), 54-73. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36070206

F. Eraso Checa y E. Escobar Rosero, “Metodología para la determinación de características del viento y evaluación

del potencial de energía eólica en Túquerres-Nariño”, Rev. Cient., vol. 31, n.º 1, pp. 19–31, ene. 2018.

https://doi.org/10.14483/23448350.12304

Marco Carpena, A. “Modelización y predicción de energía eléctrica producida en un aerogenerador utilizando

modelos estocásticos temporales a partir de series de viento”, Tésis, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2017.

http://hdl.handle.net/10251/84261

Cooney, C., Byrne, R., Lyons, W. & O’Rourke, F. “Performance characterisation of a commercial-scale wind

turbine operating in an urban environment, using real data.” Energy for Sustainable Development, vol. 36, pp.

-54, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESD.2016.11.001

M. Elnaggar, E. Edwan, and M. Ritter, “Wind Energy Potential of Gaza Using Small Wind Turbines: A Feasibility

Study,” Energies, vol. 10, no. 8, p. 1229, Aug. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10081229

P. Morano, F. Tajani, L. Marco, “GIS application and econometric analysis for the verification of the financial

feasibility of roof-top wind turbines in the city of Bari (Italy)”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol.

, pp. 999-1010, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.12.005.

R. Hosseinalizadeh, E. Sadat Rafiei, A. Shafiei Alavijeh, S. Farid Ghaderi, “Economic analysis of small wind

turbines in residential energy sector in Iran”, Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, vol. 20, pp.

-71, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.018.

F. Fazelpour, E. Markarian, N. Soltani, “Wind energy potential and economic assessment of four locations

in Sistan and Balouchestan province in Iran”, Renewable Energy, vol. 109, pp. 646-667, 2017. https://doi.

org/10.1016/j.renene.2017.03.072

A. Jhud Mikhail, A. Gallego-Schmid, L. Stamford, A. Azapagic, “Design and environmental sustainability

assessment of small-scale off-grid energy systems for remote rural communities”, Applied Energy, vol. 258, p.

, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.114004

T. Prabatha, J. Hager, B. Carneiro, K. Hewage, R. Sadiq, “Analyzing energy options for small-scale off-grid

communities: A Canadian case study”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 249, pp. 119320, 2020.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119320

G. Richmond-Navarro, G. Murillo-Zumbado, P. Casanova-Treto, J. Piedra-Segura. “Estado actual de la investigación

sobre turbinas eólicas en Costa Rica”. Tecnología en Marcha. vol. 32-2, pp. 54-67, 2019. https://doi.

org/10.18845/tm.v32i2.4349

G. Murillo, G. Richmond, P. Casanova, J. Rojas. “Generalidades del recurso eólico en Costa Rica: caso

de estudio de la provincia de Cartago”. Tecnología en Marcha. Vol. 34-4, 2021. https://doi.org/10.18845/

tm.v34i4.5274

K. Torres-Castro, C. Torres, G. Richmond. “Microgeneración de energía eólica en un entorno boscoso en

Costa Rica: estudio de caso”. Tecnología en Marcha. Vol. 34-3, pp. 61-69, 2021. https://doi.org/10.18845/

tm.v34i3.5063

V. Salas-Mora, G. Richmond-Navarro. “Safety Design of a Hybrid Wind-Solar Energy System for Rural Remote

Areas in Costa Rica”. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research (IJRER), vol. 10(1), pp. 33-44, 2020.

https://www.ijrer.ijrer.org/index.php/ijrer/article/view/10263

G. Murillo, G. Richmond “Características del recurso eólico en Costa Rica”. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa

Rica. 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.33796.68482/1

M. Alabi. “Nuevo mensaje de Dyscresa.com”, Correo personal (03 de abril de 2018).

A. Elia, M. Taylor, B. Ó. Gallachóir, & F. Rogan. “Wind turbine cost reduction: A detailed bottom-up analysis of

innovation drivers”. Energy Policy, vol. 147, pp. 111912, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111912

A. Suresh, & S. Rajakumar. “Design and experimental investigation of a micro wind turbine”. International

Journal of Advances in Engineering Research (IJAER), 10, 216-224, 2015. https://ijaer.com/admin/

upload/1451677792_A_Suresh_22.pdf

A. Ali, S. Golde, F. Alam, and H. Moria, “Experimental and computational study of a micro vertical axis wind

turbine”. Procedia Engineering, vol. 49, pp. 254–262, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2012.10.135

Electrovento Energía Alternativa. [En línea, última visita el 13/11/2021] https://www.eletrovento.com.br/site/

produto/modelo-elv-h2-7-500-w/7/

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>