Dr.-Ing. Andreas Vath Bosch Rexroth AG Wind Turbine Drive Train ...

Cost of energy comparison for an example onshore turbine
Main assumptions
• rated power 3MW
• rotor diameter 115 m
• 6.5 m/s average wind speed
• 20 years design life time
• raw material cost:
- copper 7€ per kg
- steel 1€ per kg
- magnets 100€ per kg
• complete wind farm cost 1700 to
1900 € kW depending on drive
train concept
Cost of energy [€/kWh]
8.5
8.0
7.5
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.50
Innovations
for further
cost
reduction
1 2 3 4 5
• 97% availability of all concepts
• operation & maintenance costs for
complete turbine (additional costs
for gearbox oil change considered)
• same blade, hub and tower design
of different drive train concepts
• higher cost of energy of direct drives due to the high
amounts of raw and rare earth material
• lower cost of energy with high speed and medium
speed solutions
FC: frequency converter; SESG: separately excited synchronous generator, PMSG: permanently excited synchronous generator;
DFIG: doubly fed induction generator; HTS-SG: high-temperature superconducting synchronous generator,
7
A. Vath | Wind Turbines Innovations | Sept. 2012 | © Bosch Rexroth AG 2010. All rights reserved, also regarding any disposal, exploitation, reproduction,
distribution, as well as in the event of applications for industrial property rights.