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| Fig. 1: Smoky Hills Wind Farm Pictured (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power have recently become a much more widely deployed form of energy generation for several different sectors. They can be deployed in large-scale industrial plants/farms as well as in small-scale residential forms. Wind and solar powers' ability to be scaled down along with their increase in cost-competitiveness makes them an attractive alternative to traditional fossil fuel power generation systems. This report will analyze the economic costs and power output for solar and wind power generation systems in non-urban brownfield sites in Michigan.
Wind energy generation has been of interest in the renewable energy sector for several years as it provides clean energy with competitive production cost. Among the several benefits associated with wind energy over the burning of fossil fuels, the low carbon emissions and low costs are what drive the expansion of wind energy. With increasing incentives on minimizing carbon emissions, low carbon energy production is desired over the burning of fossil fuels. The levelized contract price for wind energy is $80/MWh, while that of coal is $107/MWh. [1] This difference in production costs is attractive to potential investors and has continued to drop to less than $55/MWh as of 2014. Modern wind farms have an equipment lifespan of around 20 years with proper upkeep, leading to high return on investment opportunities for long term investors. [2]
A 100 MW wind farm has a construction period cost of around $54 million, and around $5 million in annual operating costs. [1] The initial investment for a high-power wind farm is high yet is capable of generating more energy than other renewable sources like solar. However, wind energy relies entirely on the wind speed in the farms geographic area. Coastal Michigan is ideal for wind farms as the wind speeds range from 6-10 m/s at 70 meters elevation in these areas. Additionally, brownfields are a potential site for these large wind farms construction with around 51 thousand acres being available for wind farm production. Brownfield sites are real property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. [3] In the available brownfields in Michigan, 2160 turbines can be constructed, potentially generating 4320 MW of energy from wind annually. This vast number of wind turbines would spread throughout Michigan, with a higher concentration in southeast coastal Michigan as that has the highest acreage of brownfield sites at around 26 thousand acres. These wind farms would have a projected total investment of around $8.8 billion, creating over 2300 construction and maintenance and operation jobs. [4] Production of wind farms not only increases the annual power generated for Michigan but also creates jobs and lowers carbon emissions at a competitive market price.
Similar to wind energy, solar energy is restrained by the source of its energy generation: the sun. Sunlight is abundant in Michigan for the majority of the year, however, in the winter months the power generated from solar cells reduces dramatically. One solution to this problem is to have a large number of solar arrays throughout the state, making up for the lost energy between dusk and dawn and throughout the winter months. Brownfield sites, similar to wind energy, are a great geographic resource for potential solar arrays making full use of the available acreage. The smaller form factor individual solar arrays have over wind turbines is an advantage because it allows for more solar arrays to be fit into the same or smaller brownfield sites.
On the same brownfield sites in Michigan, a larger acreage can be utilized for solar energy generation, totaling to around 57 thousand acres. On these brownfield sites, around 383 thousand solar arrays can be constructed, with the highest concentration being in southeast Michigan, similar to the wind farm brownfield sites. These solar arrays are projected to produce 1535 MW of energy, which is considerably less than that produced from the wind farms. However, the construction and maintenance of these solar arrays requires a substantial number of jobs, totaling around 15 thousand jobs created from the project. The vast amount of jobs created, along with the lower projected total investment of around $6.5 billion, makes this project attractive for investors. [4]
Overall, both solar and wind energy generation provide a solution to lowering the carbon emissions in Michigan. While both forms of energy generation are attractive, wind energy generation requires a larger investment and a larger plot of land to build the facilities. Solar energy generation requires less space for each array, leading to a larger total acreage being available for development. This, along with the smaller construction investment, makes solar power throughout Michigan a more economically, environmentally, and technically feasible option to clean energy despite its lower annual power generation.
© Thomas Wooldridge. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] E. Nordman et al., "An Integrated Assessment For Wind Energy in Lake Michigan Coastal Counties," Integr. Environ. Assess. 11, 287 (2014).
[2] P. Padey et al., "A Simplified Life Cycle Approach for Assessing Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Wind Electricity," J. Ind. Ecol. 16, S28 (2012).
[3] "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability," 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. (2011).
[4] S. Adelaja et al., "Renewable Energy Potential on Brownfield Sites: A Case Study of Michigan," Energy Policy 38, 7021 (2010).
