As wind power continues to increase as a percentage of overall domestic and global electricity generation, integrated resource planners and project developers rely on wind turbine cost and performance information to support business decisions. As they consider making new or expanded investments in wind power, they need accurate technical information—such as current wind farm costs and performance data—to support their choices.
This report provides utility decision makers with information on current wind industry capital cost and operations and maintenance (O&M) trends, as well as plant performance estimates based on projects currently being installed. Updated third-quarter 2021 cost and performance analyses are presented for onshore and offshore wind technologies in several U.S. and international regions with a wide range of wind resources. A wind farm design is selected for each region, and the associated capacity factor is assessed based on typical capacity factors for wind farms operating in the region. Capital and O&M cost estimates are broken down to show detailed turbine, balance of plant, and indirect cost components. Costs are adjusted by location to reflect the effect of differences in labor costs, productivity rates, and other regional inputs. From these results, the nominal-dollar levelized cost of electricity for each location is calculated.