Economic Feasibility of a Small-Scale Wind Turbine in Coastal Area of South Sulawesi

To evaluate the exploitation potential of wind energy in the coastal area of South
Sulawesi, Indonesia, an investigation on the economic feasibility of this project was
performed. A 300-watt horizontal wind turbine was used as an example installed turbine. The
wind speed range of 4-7 m/s which was the wind speed data in the coastal area of South
Sulawesi was computed. The main economic analysis method employed was Capital
Budgeting Analysis (CBA) method. In this method, 4 (four) indicators were used to evaluate
the feasibility of the project which are payback period (PBP), net present value (NPV), internal
rate of return (IRR), and benefit-cost ratio (BCR). A visual basic computer program based on
the CBA method was also developed to make the computation more convenient. From the
study, it was found that the wind speed range of 4-6 m/s resulted in a non-feasibility project
while the highest wind speed (7 m/s) was found to be quite strong to make the project feasible.