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Life span of
Wind Turbines
Employment
External Costs
Property for Wind
Turbines
Inst. Capacity in General
Inst. Capacity Europe
Inst. Capacity Others
Values for the Region
Cost of Electricity
Production
Electricity Production

Life span of Wind Turbines

According to manufacturers the life span of wind turbines amounts to 25 years.

Important influences on the life span are site specific (wind speed, storms, icing conditions) and the quality of the maintenance of the turbines (compare a car which is regularly taken care of to one which is not).

Employment

Over 70.000 people worked worldwide in the wind power industry in 2003. In Europe over 45.000 jobs in 1.000 companies have been created.

The installation of one MW of electricity from wind creates 15 to 19 jobs. In Germany 2.5% of power consumption is covered by wind energy and 35.000 jobs in the wind power industry exist.

Compare this with electricity produced from coal: with a 20% share of the market, only 80.000 jobs were created in this industry. That means a ratio of 3:1 for the wind power industry.

In comparison to nuclear power, which covers 31% of Germany´s electricity consumption and employs 40.000 workers, wind power has created 10 times as many jobs.

In Austria in 2003, 2.300 "wind jobs" existed, this number is increasing (in 2001 it was only 600!).

External Costs

External costs are not a part of the investment and operation costs. They are paid by the tax payer and therefore by the public.

Examples of external costs for fossil fuel and nuclear electricity production are political and military securing of the access to these energy sources, police operations during the transporting of nuclear wastes, cleaning up of spilled oil and other similar activities. (Chernobyl, Golf War, Gorleben).

There are no external costs for the production of electricity from wind. Wind power is a product with no hidden costs and economically the most inexpensive form of energy production.

Property for Wind Turbines

Most of the property owners are farmers and, by leasing their land to the wind park operator, they have an additional source of income. The price paid for property leases for wind turbines is many times more than would normally be earned by farming the property.

A wind turbine needs an area of up to 500 m² (foundation is max. 15m x 15m) and the rest of the property can still be farmed without any problem.

A wind turbine can also be easily and quickly dismantled and is therefore not an obstruction for generations to come.

Installed Capacity in Europe, most important countries

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Germany	1132	1545	2080	2874	4443	6113	8754	11994	14609
Spain	133	249	512	834	1225	2235	3337	4825	6202
Denmark	637	857	1116	1450	1761	2300	2417	2889	3110
Italy	33	71	100	180	283	427	697	788	904
Netherlands	249	299	325	363	411	446	493	693	912
UK	200	270	320	334	353	406	474	552	649
Sweden	69	105	117	150	215	231	290	345	399
Greece	28	29	29	39	82	189	272	297	375
Ireland	7	11	51	63	73	118	125	137	186
Portugal	9	20	38	60	60	100	125	195	299
Austria		3	20	30	42	77	95	140	415
France	3	10	10	19	22	66	78	148	239
Finland	6	8	12	17	38	38	39	43	51
Rest Europe		29	31	51	68	76	124	210	266
Total sum	2506	3506	4761	6464	9076	12822	17320	23308	28706

Installed Capacity in General

Germany with over 14.609 MW installed capacity (as of 31.12.2003) is the country with the most wind power in Europe; Spain and Denmark follow. These countries lead the statistic because their governments ensured a minimum tariff for renewable energy.

Following the EWEA (European Wind Energy Association) the growth of windpower in Europe in the year 2003 comes to 23,4% (5.411 MW). The strongest countries are, like in the years befor, Germany and Spain. Apart from these two Italy (116 MW) and the Netherlands (226MW) showed a relatively high growth.

67% (28.706 MW) of the 40.000 MW worldwide installed capacity are situated in Europe, 22% in North America and 11% in the rest of the World. Altogether they could cover 19 million average European households.

Since 1998 more capacity for wind power has been installed annually than the erection of new nuclear power plants.

Installed Capacity, other countries

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
USA	1591	1582	1611	2141	2465	2495		4685	6374
India	576	820	940	1022	1062	1138	1507	1702	2110
China	44	79	146	200	261	316	400	468	568
Canada	21	22	26	83	125	137		236	317
Japan			18	40	68	135	274	414	686
Egypt			5	5	35	68
Marocco			0	0	0	54
Costa Rica			20	26	46	51
New Zealand			4	5	35	35
Australia			11	17	17	31	73	105	198
Brazil			3	17	25	20
Argentina			9	12	13	14
Iran			11	11	11	11
Rest Others	2	2	15	15	25	26		310	335
Total sum	2234	2505	2819	3594	4188	4521

Value for the Region due to a wind farm

A wind park is an added tourist attraction for a region drawing new visitors to the area.

The inhabitants of a region identify themselves with the new wind park and the idea that their region is concerned about environmental issues.

Wind parks are often financed partly by the public who buys shares in the project and therefore the park belongs to private people from the area.

25-30% of the total costs for a wind park are paid to local construction and electric companies. The regular maintenance of the wind turbines amounts to 5-7% of the turbine costs.

In 2001 Austria imported wind turbines with a value of 25 million euro. Austria exported wind turbine components to the amount of 51 million euro, double the amount of what was imported.

Costs of Electricity Production

Wind power has developed to become the most inexpensive renewable energy source.

When a wind park is carefully planned, its costs are 50% lower than they would have been in 1990-1995.

The energy content of the wind increases with the cube (the third power) of the average wind speed. This is the reason that the economics of a wind park depend strongly on the wind conditions at the site. But also the local infrastructure (access roads for transportation and maintenance, cables, transformer station) are important factors.

According to the costs for infrastructure, a kW of installed capacity costs between 880 € and 1,385 €. (At the Tauernwindpark a kW costs 1,240 €.)

Electricity Production

The total electricity consumption of the world could be covered by renewable energy. Only ten minutes of sunshine produces enough energy that the world´s population uses in one year.

It can be said that a 1.5 MW wind turbine produces between three and five million kilowatt hours per year according to the site conditions. This is enough energy for 1,000 to 2,000 four person households.

In other words, the surface of a rotor of a 500 kW turbine amounts to 1,275 m². Only 4 m² of rotor surface would be enough to supply a four person household with electricity for one year.