Renewable Wind

 This offshore development is due, in no small measure, to the limitations on suitable locations on land due to dense populations and existing developments.                                                                                 

Transporting large wind turbine components (tower sections, nacelles, and blades) is much easier over water than on land, because ships and barges can handle large loads more easily than trucks/lorries or trains.

On land, large goods vehicles must negotiate bends on roadways, which fixes the maximum length of a wind turbine blade that can move from point to point on the road network; no such limitation exists for transport on open water.

Construction and maintenance costs per wind turbine are higher for offshore wind farms, motivating operators to reduce the number of wind turbines for a given total power by installing the largest available units.

Denmark generates nearly one-fifth of its electricity with wind turbines, the highest percentage of any country, and is ninth in the world in total wind power generation.

Denmark is prominent in the manufacturing and use of wind turbines, with a commitment made in the 1970s to eventually produce half of the country's power by wind.

In recent years, the United States has added more wind energy to its grid than any other country, surpassing Germany's capacity in 2008.

California was one of the incubators of the modern wind power industry, and led the U.S. in installed capacity for many years; however, by the end of 2006, Texas became the leading wind power state and continues to extend its lead.

 Many potential sites for wind farms are far from demand centres, requiring substantially more money to construct new transmission lines and substations.

In some regions this is partly because frequent strong winds themselves have discouraged dense human settlement in especially windy areas.

The wind which was historically a nuisance is now becoming a valuable resource, but it may be far from large populations which developed in areas more sheltered from wind.

Since the primary cost of producing wind energy is construction and there are no fuel costs, the average cost of wind energy per unit of production depends on a few key assumptions, such as the cost of capital and years of assumed service.

The marginal cost of wind energy once a plant is constructed is usually less than 1 cent per kilowatt-hour. Since the cost of capital plays a large part in projected cost, capital risk will affect projected costs per unit of electricity.

The commercial viability of wind power also depends on the pricing regime for power producers.

Electricity prices are highly regulated worldwide, and in many locations may not reflect the full cost of production, let alone indirect subsidies or negative externalities.

Customers may enter into long-term pricing contracts for wind to reduce the risk of future pricing changes, thereby ensuring more stable returns for projects at the development stage.

These may take the form of standard offer contracts, whereby the system operator undertakes to purchase power from wind at a fixed price for a certain period (perhaps up to a limit); these prices may be different than purchase prices from other sources, and even incorporate an implicit subsidy.

In jurisdictions where the price for electricity is based on market mechanisms, revenue for all producers per unit is higher when their production coincides with periods of higher prices.

The profitability of wind farms will therefore be higher if their production schedule coincides with these periods.

If wind represents a significant portion of supply, average revenue per unit of production may be lower as more expensive and less-efficient forms of generation, which typically set revenue levels, are displaced from economic dispatch.

This may be of particular concern if the output of many wind plants in a market have strong temporal correlation. In economic terms, the marginal revenue of the wind sector as penetration increases may diminish.