3. 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 this 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 surrounds 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.



(a) Assuming that the existing power plant can operate at full capacity for 8,000 hrs/yr, how many kWh of electricity can be produced by the plant in a year?



(b) At the current rate of electrical energy use per household, how many kWh of electrical energy does the community consume in one year?



(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 WFEP over 25 years? Express your answer in dollars/kWh.

Respuesta :

Power is the rate of doing work, and the power of the generating plant or

turbine and the duration of generation, gives the energy generated.

The correct responses are;

  • (a) 96 × 10⁶ kWh
  • (b) 24 × 10⁶ kWh
  • (c) 0.05 dollars/kWh

Reasons:

Number of homes in the town = 3,000 homes

The given capacity of the power plant = 12 MW = 12,000 kW

Power consumed by a household = 8,000 kWh per year

The price for electrical energy = $0.10 per kWh

Number of wind turbines = 10

WFWP = The West Fremont Wind Project

Capacity of each wind turbine = 1.2 MW

Cost of each wind turbine for 25 years = $3 million

(a) Number of hours of operation of the power plant = 8,000 hrs/yr

Required:

The amount of kWh of electricity produced in a year by the plant.

Solution:

The energy produced = Power × Time

∴ The energy produced = 12,000 kW × 8000 hr = 96,000,000 kWh

Therefore;

The energy produced by the plant in a year, E = 96 × 10⁶ kWh

(b) Energy consumed = Energy consumed per home × Number of homes

Therefore;

Energy consumed = 8,000 kWh/home × 3,000 homes = 24,000,000 kWh

The energy the community consumes in one year = 24 × 10⁶ kWh

(c) The cost per kWh = $0.10

The cost, C, of the energy per year is therefore

C = 24,000,000 kWh × $0.10/kWh = $2,400,000

The cost for 25 years = 25 × C = 25 × $2,400,000 = $60,000,000

The number of wind turbines = 10

Cost per wind turbine = $3 million

Total cost to operate the 10 wind turbine = $3 million × 10 = $30 million

Energy consumed = 24,000,000 kWh

Therefore;

24,000,000 kWh × 25 = $30 million

[tex]\displaystyle 1 \ kWh = \frac{\$ 30 \ million}{25 \times 24,000,000 \ kWh} = \mathbf{\$0.05/kWh}[/tex]

The cost to the community of the electricity supplied by WFWP over 25 years is $0.05/kWh.

Learn more about energy and power here:

https://brainly.com/question/24592300