Economic analysis of wind‐generated electricity in remote areas of South Africa

Costs of wind‐generated electricity from a stand‐alone wind generator with a two‐day autonomous battery storage are compared with costs of diesel‐generated and grid electricity for a remote outpost in a game reserve in South Africa. Comparative inflationary costs for diesel and wind were 53 and 33c/kWh, respectively. The cost of connecting to the national electricity grid were estimated to be 248c/kWh. Analysis of the availability of the wind and related power output of a selected wind generator revealed that the wind speeds fell between cut‐in and cut‐out speeds for approximately 80% of the time. In the light of the positive nature of these preliminary computations it is contended that a combined wind‐diesel system, in which the diesel would act as backup storage, would be an economically viable mode of electricity generation in a remote area.