Economic analysis of small wind turbines

The market of small wind turbines is analysed from the economic point of view. The analysis judges investments in small wind turbine power plants on the basis of different economic indicators, such as Simple Payback (SPB), Net Profit Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Turbines from European and Polish markets were considered as the rated power of up to 10 kW was established to be the main criterion for that selection. Calculations of the tip-speed ratio and the power coefficient based on the wind resource reference data were conducted. On the basis of those considerations, an economic effectiveness study was performed via an estimated profit income from the turbine purchase. The model was further used to determine costs of a small wind turbine power plant that could compete on the current prosumer market dominated by photovoltaic and solar panels.