An Approximate Cost Equation of Offshore Wind Turbine Blade

Since many years, energy poverty and climate change are the pivotal issues faced by societies. Harnessing offshore wind energy would be a reliable solution to both of these issues. Offshore wind energy is an attractive source of green energy, because of abundant of wind resources in the sea. In compression to the onshore wind turbine, visual and noise impact no more an issue in case offshore wind turbine. Developing offshore wind turbines 15–30 km away from shore experience hostile environmental loads such as ocean currents, storm wave loading, ice loads, and potential ship impact loads significantly contributes the high cost in offshore structure. The turbine blade is an important constituent of the wind turbine. It costs around 22% of the total cost of a wind turbine. In this paper, an approximate cost equation for turbine blade was derived. This cost equation is sensitive to the quantity of various materials used in turbine blade and diameter of the wind turbine. This cost equation can be used to compute the material cost for a wind turbine up to a diameter of 80 m.