Despite the reduction in Feed in Tariff (FiT) support for UK wind energy, medium wind turbine installations will continue to provide considerable returns for both landowners and commercial users. That is according to recent market projections from Norvento, manufacturer of the nED100 100kW turbine.
The findings have been shared after a further FiT degression this week that has seen the tariff for turbines of 15kW – 100kW fall to 8.54 p/kWh. Although early adopters of medium wind were able to use the high FiTs to offset the Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE) and, in many cases, managed to make a healthy profit from tariff payments as an additional revenue stream, the new reduced tariff scheme will limit these possibilities. However, as technology and installation costs have fallen, and, following improvements in turbine efficiency, the unsubsidised LCOE for on-site wind power production is set to reach grid parity with, and eventually fall below, retail electricity prices for the first time this year, according to calculations from Norvento. Moreover, over the next decade, this LCOE is set to continue falling, even as electricity prices continue to rise. Norvento’s projections, based on 30, 20 and 10-year averages, suggest that electricity prices will rise by as much as 40% (a 5.5% year on year increase) by 2025, while the total cost of on-site distributed wind energy production will fall by between 20 and 40% in the same period.
