How long until a wind turbine pays for itself?

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asked Oct 1, 2020 in Green Living by TomTeed (200 points)
How long until a wind turbine pays for itself?

2 Answers

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answered Oct 2, 2020 by Siddall (2,560 points)
Most wind turbines that produce electricity will pay for themselves in energy production within 5 to 8 months.

However some wind turbine electric generators may take as long as 1 to 2 years to pay for themselves and most wind turbines have a lifespan of around 20 years before they need replaced.

But during those 20 years the wind generators would have paid for themselves many times over and made money for the energy companies which would be enough to purchase new wind turbines years later without need to get loans.

Electric Utility companies make millions of dollars per year from producing and selling electric energy and using wind generators is cheaper for them to make the electricity that people use and buy from the electric utility companies.

If you have a home wind generator then it may take 1 year to 2 years to pay for itself in energy savings depending on the size of wind generator you have.
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answered Mar 3, 2022 by y78se09 (7,330 points)
Wind Turbines automatically shut down when the wind speed gets to at least 55 MPH to prevent damage to the wind turbine.

If the wind turbine spins too fast then it could produce too much voltage and destroy the generator and components and also destroy the blades etc.

So during high wind events the wind turbine must shut down to prevent costly damage.

To prevent damage to the wind turbine the wind turbines are shut down at wind speeds of 55 MPH.

Wind turbines are made so that the wind turbines shut down automatically once they get to a wind speed of 55 MPH.

High wind speeds can cause the wind turbines to generate too much electricity and can cause the wind turbine blades to break off as well.

So to prevent damage the wind turbine blades shut down at 55 MPH and stay shut down until the wind speeds drop below 55 MPH.

Wind turbines cost a lot of money so they must be protected from damage.

The maximum wind speed for wind turbines is around 30 to 40 miles per hour and anything above 40 miles per hour wind speed could potentially cause damage to the wind turbines.

When wind speeds get to 50 MPH the wind turbines are shut down to prevent damage because at 50 MPH wind speeds and above severe damage can be caused to the wind turbine.

The high wind speeds can cause the blades to fly off through the air or burnout the generator by creating too much electricity.

So when the wind speeds are forecast or get to 50 MPH the wind turbines are shut down to prevent damage.

The amount of copper that a wind turbine contains varies due to the size of wind turbine and how many megawatts the wind turbine electric generator is.

The average wind turbine however contains around 3.6 tons of copper per megawatt.

Copper costs around $7,000.00 per ton so the average wind turbine that is used to generate electricity from a wind farm contains around $20,000.00 of copper per wind turbine.

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