Question

HELP PLS SHOW WORK

West Fremont is a community consisting of 3,000 homes. A small coal-burning power plant currently supplies electricity for the town. The capacity of the power plant is 12 megawatts (MW) and the average household consumes 8,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electrical energy each year. The price paid to the electric utility by West Fremont residents for the energy is $0. 10 per kWh. The town leaders are considering a plan, the West Fremont Wind Project (WFWP), to generate their own electricity using 10 wind turbines that would be located on the wooded ridges surrounding the town. Each wind turbine would have a capacity of 1.2 MW and each would cost the town $3 million to purchase, finance, and operate for 25 years.

(c) Assuming that the electrical energy needs of the community do not change during the 25-year lifetime of the wind turbines, what would be the cost to the community of the electricity supplied by the WWP over 25 years? Express your answer in dollars/kWh.

Answer 1

$0.01/kWh.

Step-by-step explanation:

First, we need to calculate the total energy needed by the community over 25 years:

Total energy needed = (8,000 kWh/year) x (3,000 homes) x (25 years) = 6,000,000,000 kWh

Next, we need to calculate the total capacity of the wind turbines needed to generate this energy:

Total capacity needed = (6,000,000,000 kWh) / (8,760 hours/year) / (25 years) = 24 MW

Since each wind turbine has a capacity of 1.2 MW, we need a total of 20 wind turbines:

Number of wind turbines = (24 MW) / (1.2 MW/turbine) = 20 turbines

The cost of purchasing, financing, and operating 20 wind turbines for 25 years is:

Total cost = (20 turbines) x ($3 million/turbine) = $60 million

To find the cost per kWh, we divide the total cost by the total energy generated:

Cost per kWh = ($60 million) / (6,000,000,000 kWh) = $0.01/kWh

Therefore, the cost to the community of the electricity supplied by the WFWP over 25 years would be $0.01/kWh.