Fryowa
Administrator
Been out of it for a long time, but when I was working the Alliant project managers said they were about a million dollars installed. That would be purchase, transport, construction site, and installation. I'd imagine it might be double that now. A lot of it depends on the windmill. There are a million different heights, generator brands, generator capacities, etc. Hard to say because every project is different.
I think the dismantling escrow money just pays for teardown and returning the site back to farmable condition. If I remember right there was also consideration for topsoil loss at the footings and roads. Again, I don't think there's a chance in hell that they'll walk away from a site so it's probably moot. There have been some interesting academic studies that say the net payback period of a wind mill (both financial and environmental) is about 6 months, and a typical turbine creates more energy than it consumed in it's manufacture within about a year. You do still have a contingent arguing against that, mainly because they use differing criteria.
Either way, they make power companies an assload of money.
Last edited: