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"For the first 5 years, the district will also pay $8,000 for a maintenance contract with NEG Micon, but Grove hopes the district will have its own maintenance crew trained by the end of that time. This low-interest financing package combined with the area’s decent, but not outstanding wind resource made this project economically viable. "

It turns out that the Eldora case did have mention of maintenance.

It turns out that the Eldora case did have mention of maintenance.

Well, I missed it in the article you posted. Most importantly, it wasn't in the table that showed their net cost effect. They showed a predicted (assuming the winds stay in about the right range) $12000 operating surplus. If you take out $8000, they get pretty close to break-even - and that only because of a large loan subsidy.

That doesn't get better if they pay their own maintenance guy. He might be able to do some things, but a lot of the maintenance problem is up on the tower, and it takes a specialist (or at least, more and expensive specialist equipment) for that.

And they also didn't show any allowance for materials - perhaps the $8000 allows for some repair/refurbishment, but electrical motors don't last forever. It wouldn't surprise me to see parts at 5-10% of initial purchase price each year - and there goes even your subsidized break even.

All those costs are inherent in the price you pay for electricity from the supplier, and a 'fair' comparison needs to recognize that.

One last thing - if it were a business, there would be a recognition of depreciation. However, if they're paying a mortgage on the generator, that is an equivalent sort of cost. In other words, you don't have to add additional costs to the table to pay for replacement of the entire unit, but you also can't assume away the payments for the loan. By the time the loan is paid off, you're probably going to need to buy a new unit - more or less. (Obviously, you might have a 5 year wearout/depreciation with a 10 year mortgage, or vice versa, but the cost item that reflects purchase needs to remain in the table.)

Bottom line: Your Eldora cast study says it's probably not at break even at current technology even with the large loan subsidy. As I said before, I'm all for research, but until it can compete with no artificial factors like loan or tax subsidies then it's still a research item, not a proven technology.