Estimation of the profitability of a small-scale commercial wind turbine in Costa Rica
Main Article Content
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
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Los autores conservan los derechos de autor y ceden a la revista el derecho de la primera publicación y pueda editarlo, reproducirlo, distribuirlo, exhibirlo y comunicarlo en el país y en el extranjero mediante medios impresos y electrónicos. Asimismo, asumen el compromiso sobre cualquier litigio o reclamación relacionada con derechos de propiedad intelectual, exonerando de responsabilidad a la Editorial Tecnológica de Costa Rica. Además, se establece que los autores pueden realizar otros acuerdos contractuales independientes y adicionales para la distribución no exclusiva de la versión del artículo publicado en esta revista (p. ej., incluirlo en un repositorio institucional o publicarlo en un libro) siempre que indiquen claramente que el trabajo se publicó por primera vez en esta revista.
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/