By Kari Andresen
Abstract
The estimated cost for the first phase of installing 100 wind turbines and building operation structures is $3.5 billion. The second phase would be an additional $2.2 billion for 200 more turbines.
Our proposal for a wind farm 25 miles off the coast of Nassau County will require significant funds for materials and labor. We intend to use Siemens 3.6-MW wind turbines because they have already been used for many successful wind farms (London Array and Horns Rev 2) as mentioned in the chapter about existing wind farms. The wind turbines are estimated to cost about $8 million each (1). The project will need 80-miles of array cable to be cut as needed to connect the array of wind turbines and the turbines to the offshore substation. The substation would then need four heavy-duty export cables of about 40 miles long to connect the offshore substation to the onshore substation, which must be buried under the seabed, requiring special installation machinery. Labor will be required for the installation of wind turbines, the cables, and the offshore substation and the construction of the onshore substation, as well as the process of integrating the power plant into the New York grid. Wages would also be paid to those involved in the managing, planning, operating, and researching aspects of development.
Stage 1:
| 100 Wind Turbines (Siemens-3.6-120)@ $8 million each | $800 million |
| Array Cable (80 miles long) | $20 million |
| 4 Export Cables (each 40 miles long)@ $40 million | $160 million |
| Installation Machinery | $200 million |
| 2 Substations (one offshore, one onshore) | $800 million |
| Real Estate (Industrial real estate for sale in Freeport, Long Island) | $5 million |
| Infrastructure (connection to the grid) | $3 million |
| Labor- 6,000 workers for 2 years@ $90,000 year/person | $1.1 billion |
| Miscellaneous (construction costs, cost overrun, etc.) | $400 million |
| Total | $3.5 billion |
If the project moves onto the second stage, we will add 200 turbines to the wind farm. These would require about 120 miles more of array cable, but no additional export cables since the ones installed in Stage 1 would suffice to transmit the energy from the offshore substation to the onshore substation. Less labor would be required as construction has already been completed.
Stage 2:
| 200 Wind Turbines (Siemens-3.6-120)@ $8 million each | $1.6 billion |
| Array cable (120 miles long) | $30 million |
| Labor- 2,500 workers for 2 years@$90,000 year/person | $450 million |
| Miscellaneous (machine malfunction, cost overrun, etc.) | $100 million |
| Total | $2.2 billion |
The total cost of both phases would be about $5.7 billion dollars, expecting a construction and installation processes to take two years for each phase.
References:
- “How Much Do Wind Turbines Cost?” Windustry. Windustry® & Great Plains Windustry Project, n.d. Web. May 2014. <http://www.windustry.org/resources/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost>.
