Solar Vs Wind Power Cost

Utilities and large scale operations heavily utilize wind energy while homeowners prefer solar energy.

Solar vs wind power cost.

In the united states wind power is significantly more popular than solar. Meanwhile for solar systems you will need a 7 kw system to produce the same amount of power. Thus unless natural gas prices. Below we ll discuss the reasons why people would consider wind energy over solar energy despite the difference in cost.

That s more than twice the cost per watt of solar energy. Ok solar and wind are very different but which one is cheaper in terms of cost per kwh. The report notes that photovoltaics have reached prices that are roughly equivalent to wind but those got there from a starting point of about 150 mw hr in 2009. Per watt this translates into about 5 5 per watt.

According to u s department of energy s 2014 distributed wind market report the average cost for turbines 2 5 to 10 kw in size a 10 kw turbine for example is a reasonably sized unit for powering a large home was 7 200 per kw with small wind turbine installed costs trending downward. A wind turbine of 10 kilowatts enough to fully power a large house will cost about 55 000. Wind turbine systems can run as high as 65 000 installed while the average cost nationally for a professionally installed solar panel system is about 8 to 9 per watt. And if the wind turbine lasts 10 years then each kwh of power costs 0 20.

That means a 2 kilowatt kw grid tied system with no battery back up can run to 16 000 and a similar 5 kw system could cost upwards of 40 000. And the national average cost of installing solar is 3 08 per watt thus making the cost of a 7 kw system 21 480 before the 30 tax credit. On average a 5 kw wind turbine of decent quality will cost about 20 000 and will generate between 8 000 12 000 kwh per year. So if the wind turbine lasts 10 years then each kwh of power costs 0 20.