Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233

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Renewable Energy
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Life Cycle Assessment of Dernah (Libya) wind farm

S.H. Al-Behadili a, W.B. El-Osta b, *
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Higher Institute of Polytechnic Professions, Trhuna, Libya
b
Center for Solar Energy Research and Studies, Libya

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages
Received 13 October 2014 of a product's life from-cradle-to-grave (i.e., from raw material extraction through materials processing,
Received in revised form manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling). Wind energy is one of
22 April 2015
clean energy forms during the operation phase of the project, but it includes some environmental
Accepted 19 May 2015
Available online 18 June 2015
pollution during other stages of its life cycle such as manufacturing and dismantling of the wind turbines.
The aim of this study is to analyze and evaluate the LCA and real impact of the first wind farm to be
installed in Libya considering the whole life cycle. This wind farm is located in Dernah, east coast of Libya.
Keywords:
Lifecycle analysis
The analysis revealed that the energy payback period is 0.475 year (5.7 months), and the pay back ratio is
Wind farm 42.1, which confirms very well with other results in the literature. The electricity generated by one wind
Environmental impacts turbine 1.65 MW (model M. Torres (TWT 1.65/82)) land based in this wind farm is expected to emit
Net energy analysis approximately 10.42, 0.02713, 0.03823, 0.0001474, 0.0001065, 0.0003469 and 0.0112237 g m per kWh
Dernah CO2, SO2, NOx, N2O, CH4, NMVOC and CO respectively. The results obtained in this study confirm that
Libya wind energy produces the lowest CO2 emissions per kWh of electricity (~10 g m/kWh) compared to fossil
fuel and other renewable energy sources. By recycling the wind turbine material the specific emissions of
CO2 is 4.65 g m/kWh of energy generated. The amount of fuel savings is 85,700 m3/year or
79,013,800 kgfuel/year, which is equivalent to $2,804,900/year (more than fifty six million dollars over the
life time of the wind farm) if the local subsidized price of HFO was considered. The savings could reach a
value as high as $63,404,570/year ($ 1.3
109 over the entire life time of the wind farm) if the inter-
national prices of HFO were considered.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction be considered. On the other hand if the technology can provide

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analysis method or a technique
designed to evaluate and assess various aspects associated with the
environmental impacts of a product or process throughout the
product's life (i.e. cradle to grave) starting from raw material
extraction, through production processing, manufacturing and use,
and finally to an end-of-life or disposal of a product or system. LCA
is an instrument to quantify all impacts of the entire energy supply
chain, e.g. to obtain the cumulative energy demand (CED) for
production of a power plant, its life cycle carbon emissions, etc.
Another important application of LCA is net energy analysis. If a
technology consumes more energy than it produces, it could not
provide any useful contribution to an energy system and should not
positive net energy output, then it should be adopted and it would
be favorable for use.
The life cycle impact of typical renewable energy systems is
important when comparing them to conventional fuel-based sys-
tems for rational choice of energy sources. LCA studies should
systematically and adequately address the environmental aspects
of products or systems. The depth of the details and time frame of
an LCA study may vary to a large extent, depending on the defini-
tion of goal and scope. The scope, assumptions, description of data
quality, methodologies and output of LCA studies should be
transparent. As defined by the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) 14044:2006 standard (ISO 2006), LCA studies
are comprised of four phases: Goal and scope definition, Inventory
analysis, Impact assessment, and Interpretation.

* Corresponding author.
1.1. The goal of the study
E-mail addresses: saadhh66@yahoo.co.uk (S.H. Al-Behadili), e_wedad@hotmail.
com (W.B. El-Osta). The goal of developing a LCA for the first wind farm to be

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.05.041
0960-1481/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1228 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233
established in Libya (Dernah WF) is to get an over view of the
benefits of using wind energy as a source of energy in Libya. It will
be helpful for decision makers in the ministry of electricity and
renewable energy and to other institutions related to this project,
including Renewable Energy Authority of Libya (REAoL) since the
feasibility study which was performed by the consultant to REAoL
did not include the environmental impact.
1.2. The objectives
The main objective of this work is to perform a LCA for the
Dernah wind farm which contain 37 wind turbines of 1.65 MW
(Mtorris). Results will give a good impression on the benefits of
using wind energy and to proceed further for establishing other
wind farms.
2. Methodology
There are principally two different approaches for quantifying
life-cycle emissions and resource use. 1) Process analysis (PA): In
this method a bottom-up approach is taken, defining and
describing all contributing processes in physical terms. 2) Input-
output analysis (I/O A): In this method a top-down technique is
applied. Both methods are used in wind energy LCAs. Although,
both methods are valid, each has its advantage and drawbacks that
can affect the LCA of the wind turbine or project. Much attention
has been devoted to developing hybrid methods which combines
process-based LCA with I/O data in a manner that the advantages of
both approaches can be exploited.
This study applied the LCA outlined in ISO 14044, since it allows
quantifying the overall impact of a wind turbine and each of its
components and then the whole wind farm. Applying this meth-
odology, the wind turbine is analyzed during all the phases of its life
cycle, from cradle to grave, with regard to the manufacture of its
key components, transport to the wind farm, subsequent installa-
tion, start-up, full operation, maintenance and final dismantling.
3. Life cycle inventory analysis
The inventory analysis considers the resource inputs of metals,
sands and concrete, glass, petrochemical products and energy. The
application of the ISO 14044 standard allows us to make an LCA
study quantifying the overall impact of a wind turbine and each of
its components and then the whole wind farm. The life cycle in-
ventory consists mainly of developing a flow diagram of the pro-
cesses to be evaluated, data collection and evaluation of the results.
In order to quantify the emissions, resource consumption and
energy use (collectively known as environmental stressors) mate-
rial and energy balance are performed in a cradle-to- grave manner
for all operations required to transform raw materials into useful
products. All resources emissions and energy flows were invento-
ried within the boundaries of the system to determine a total pic-
ture of the environmental impacts.
3.1. Scope of the analysis
To obtain a complete life cycle analysis/assessment of Dernah
wind farm, a broad scope of analysis was adopted. The system
scope is defined as the lifecycle stages of material acquisition;
manufacturing, installation and operation of wind turbine system;
as well as dismiss and waste disposal. The lifetime of wind turbines
are assumed to be the same span of 20 years that is commonly
found in the specification of various systems (Table 1). The life cycle
analysis of a typical wind turbine is shown in Fig. 1. When we assess
such system it is logical to account for the energy flow as well as the
emission potential of all phases of the project as indicated in the
figure. The phases up to the manufacturing the energy is consumed
which implies that the system have a negative impact on the
environment. During the operational phase, the energy is gener-
ated without any pollution and the system has a positive impact to
the environment.
3.2. Location of the wind farm
The wind farm is located on east coast of Libya, at latitude of
32.45 deg. and longitude of 23.00 . The purpose of choosing this
site is the high wind speed, easy access to the site, proximity of the
port to supply the equipment that would be shipped to the site,
proximity to the electric network for electricity interconnection as
well as to the cement factory which is close to the wind farm site.
3.3. Wind turbine model
Dernah Wind farm phase I, consists of 37 wind turbines
1.65 MW each with total installed capacity of 60 MW. The wind
turbine model is M. TORESS (TWT 1.65/82). The layout of the tur-
bines is shown in Fig. 2. Specifications of the turbine is given in
Table 1. The estimated net energy output from the wind farm is
226715 MW h/year [1].
4. Procedure of assessment
In this study it is intended to evaluate environmental advantage
of using wind energy through assessing the life cycle of Dernah
Wind Farm as follows:
1. Data collection concerning the project and LCA of wind turbines.
2. Performing LCA in terms of:
- Net energy analysis: evaluating energy payback period and en-
ergy payback ratio.
- Lifecycle emissions including all emissions during all stages of
the project and comparing it with other technologies.
4.1. Functional unit
When performing life-cycle analysis of wind power, it is usually
that the quantified flows are related to a reference unit. One unit of
electricity output (e.g. kWh, MJ) is the agreed upon reference unit
(functional unit) for LCA studies of wind energy systems. In this
study, the kWh electricity produced by the wind turbines in the
above mentioned wind farm was selected as the functional unit for
the evaluation of emissions e.g. gm CO2/kWh, also called intensity
index.
5. Life cycle analysis of Dernah wind farm
The first step in LCA of a wind farm is to quantify the material
required to this wind farm. This includes the material needed for
the fabrication of the different components of the wind turbines,
the foundations and other accessories. The type and quantity of
material depends on the size, design, and site conditions.
5.1. Calculation of material required for 1.65 MW land based
windturbine
A typical wind turbine contains 89.1% steel, 5.8% fiberglass, 1.6%
copper, 1.3% concrete (cement, water, aggregates, and steel rein-
forcement), 1.1% adhesives, 0.8% aluminum and 0.4% core materials
[3].
 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233 1229

Table 1
Specifications of M.TORRES TWT 1.65/82 wind turbine [2].

Rotor
Diameter 82 m
Swept area 5365 m2
Number of blades 3
Position Upwind
Rotor speed Variable between 6 and 18 r.p.m.
Control Pitch controlled with independent electrical blade actuators
Generator
Type Variable-speed, direct-drive multipole synchronous generator with independent electrical excitation
Power 1650 kW
Voltage 690 V
Nacelle
Construction Monocoque in steel
Yaw system Active system with electrical motors
Corrosion protection Epoxy coating
Tower
Type Tubular conical steel
Hub height 71 m
Corrosion protection Epoxy coating
Operation data
Wind turbine class IIIa, according to GL (Guideline for the Certification of Wind Turbines)
Cut in wind speed 3 m/s
Cut out wind speed 25 m/s for more than 10 min
32 m/s for more than 0.7 s
Survival speed 52.5 m/s
Other
Design life 20 years
Protections Lightning protection integrated in blades and structure
Control Optimized with strategies base on QFT adaptable predictable robust control
Power electronics Two three-phase symmetric and reversible bridges, controlled with IGBT's
Power quality According to IEC 61400-21, Low voltage dips ride-through Cos 4 variable regulation  0.94,Inductive/Capacitive
Optional: Cos 4  0.90

Based on estimated requirements for materials per megawatt
capacity of electricity for representative wind turbine technology,
the total weight of all materials required for a 1.65 MW land based
wind turbine is 1,236,263 kg [4].
In previous assumptions which was used to find out the weight
of materials required for a 1.65 MW land based wind turbine, it was
assumed that the turbine has a three-stage gearbox, while the
Mtorres 1.65 MW wind turbine used in Dernah wind farm is direct
drive, i.e. no gearbox [2]. So, in these calculations the weight of
gearbox was subtracted from the total weight of the wind turbine,
taking into consideration the following:
- Nacelle comprises 25 to 40% of the weight of the wind turbine [3].
- Gearboxes comprise primarily cast iron and stainless steel, with
minoramounts of aluminum and copper [3].
- Gearbox approximate weight for 1.4e1.8 MW at 16-20 RPM
input speed is 14,969 kg [5].
Therefore, the total weight of Mtorres 1.65 MW wind turbine
would be 1,221,294 kg (1,236,263 kge14,969 kg).
According to the supplier, the gear mainly consists of steel and
cast iron [6], which would lead to the weight of steel and cast iron
of (189,750 kg þ 39,435) 14,969 kg ¼ 214,216 kg.

Fig. 1. Various stages of the life cycle of a wind turbine.

1230 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233
Fig. 2. Layout of 37 TWT 1.65/82 wind turbines [1].
5.2. Calculation of energy required for a 1.65 MW land based
windturbines
The calculations of energy required for a 1.65 MW land based
wind turbine were based on estimations in previous studies [4,7,8].
The results showed that the total energy consumed for one Turbine
is 2828 MW h. So, it could be noticed that the total energy
consumed by a land based wind farm, in respect to its material of
construction is 104639 MWh (2828 MW h * 37).
It is obvious that wind turbines do not consume energy during
the operational phase of its life cycle. However, energy is required
for decommissioning the system after its life period. Also, energy is
required for dismantling, transporting, and disposal or recycling
the components. The energy demand in this regard can be taken as
0.1e0.4 MJ/kg [7] of the materials used. In this study the energy
demand is taken as 0.25 MJ/kg [7] and since the total weight of the
turbine is 1,221,294 kg, then the energy required for disposing the
turbine is 85 MW h and the energy required for disposing the
whole wind farm is 3138 MW h.
This makes the total energy requirement of the land based
turbines in Dernah wind farm during its life cycle is 107,777 MW h.
5.3. Energy savings
To calculate the fuel savings, it is necessary to determine the
amount of heavy fuel oil (HFO) consumed annually by the Dernah
steam power plant that is equivalent to the energy produced by the
wind farm (226,715 MWh annually). Also, it is necessary to know
the rate of fuel (Q) to produce 1 MW h, which is (0.378 m3) ac-
cording to the data from the General Electric Company of Libya [9].
The following equation was used to calculate the fuel savings:

.  the system is often termed as the Energy Payback Ratio (EPR). Thus,
Q ¼ Average fuel consumption m3 MWh
*Energy production ðMWh=yearÞ
This would lead to a fuel savings of 85,700 m3 per year. This
could be translated to money savings. Since Libya is an oil pro-
ducing country and the fuel is heavily subsidized by the govern-
ment, the cost savings will be calculated in two ways according to
the local subsidized price and the international price.
The subsidized price of heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is 96% sub-
sidized, during the period 2009-2012 is 36 L. D/m3 [10], or $ 28.26
US/m3 (the dollar against the Libyan dinar was (1.274) LD/$ ac-
cording to the exchange rate of the Central Bank of Libya) and
considering the transportation cost of one cubic meter of 5.7 LD ($
4.47/m3) [11], this would make the total price as $32.73/m3 and the
total savings of fuel of $2,804,900/year and more than fifty six
million dollars during the life time of the wind farm. If we consider
the international price of 917 LD/m3 ($735.36/m3) [10], and adding
the transportation cost, this would lead to a total cost of $740/m3
and total savings per year of $63,402,570 and savings over the life
time of the wind farm of $ 1.268
109 i.e. over a billion dollars.
5.4. Monetized emissions savings
The amount of carbon savings can be calculated knowing the
annual electricity produced by the wind power plant and the
emission factor. For Libya, CO2 emission factor is (0.87 tCO2/MWh)
[12e14]. The energy production from the wind farm was computed
using WASP and Wind Farmer softwares as 226715 MW h/year [1].
This would lead to carbon savings of 197,242 tCO2/year. The amount
of emissions savings that can be prevented could be translated to
money using carbon reduction certificates. The prices per metric
ton of carbon dioxide according to the World Bank for emissions
trading and through the carbon market, was 4.31V/tCO2 as an
average for the first three months of 2013 [15]. This would lead to
carbon savings of $ 1,130,303/year or $ 22,606,060 during the entire
life of the proposed wind farm (Dernah Wind Farm (ɪ)).
6. Net energy analysis (NEA)
To measure the energy performance of wind energy systems,
there are mainly two energy indicators: energy payback ratio and
energy pay back period.
In the NEA, we compare the useful energy produced by the
system (EP) with the energy consumed by it throughout its life cycle
(ECL). The ratio between the energy developed and consumed by
Ep E $L
EPR ¼ ¼ A (1)
ECL ECL
where EA is the annual energy production from the system and L is
the life period. All the energy consumed during the manufacturing,
operation and disposal phases of the technology should be included
in ECL. Another point of interest is to estimate the time required for
the system to pay back all the energy consumed by it. This is called
the (EPP). Thus we have:
ECL
EPP ¼ (2)
EA
Modern wind turbines are more efficient and use fewer
 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233 1231

materials and hence pay back the energy much quicker than the Emission Factori: Consumption of material i 's emission factor.
earlier designs. The emission factor from the 2006IPCC for the national Green-
house gas Inventories was used in the calculations as well as the
6.1. Calculations of energy payback period and energy payback emission per kg of material produced from Refs. [7,8].
ratio The specific emissions from 1.65 MW land based wind turbine
were calculated by dividing the total Lifecycle emissions by the
Life time of the land based farm can be taken as 20 years as lifecycle energy output (emissions per kWh generated) and pre-
indicated in (Table 1). Hence, the Energy Payback Ratio (EPR) can be sented in Table 2 [4].
calculated as follows:
The net energy generated from the Dernah Wind Farm (ɪ) is 7.2. Calculations of the specific emissions during the lifecycle with
226715 MW h/year [1]. Therefore, from Eq. (1), the energy payback Recycling the wind turbine
ratio:
  The calculations were repeated with recycled wind turbine
22; 6715 MWh materials. In 2 MW wind turbine LCA [17], 54.8% of the total energy
year $20 year
is recovered and a net reduction of CO2 emissions by 55.4% is ob-
EPR ¼ ¼ 42:1
107777:14 MWh tained by recycling the wind turbine at the end of its lifetime.
Similarly, the Energy Payback Period (EPP) of the farm can be Therefore, for Dernah wind farm, the net reduction of CO2 emis-
evaluated using Eq. (2) as: sions by recycling the wind turbine material 767446 kg which
would give a total emissions of 569532 kg and a specific emissions
107777:14 MWh of 4.65 g m of CO2/kWh energy generated.
EPP ¼ ¼ 0:475 years
22; 6715 MWh=year
7.3. Annual reduction in atmospheric emissions due to Dernah
EPP ¼ 5.7 month.
WindFarm (ɪ) compared with Dernah steam power plant

7. Life cycle emission (LCE)
Wind Energy in itself does not possess any threat to the envi-
ronment during power generation phase. However, during other
phases such as extraction of raw material, transporting these raw
materials, manufacturing different parts of the wind turbine,
transporting the wind turbine to the site, construction work,
commissioning and decommissioning phases of the project require
energy and therefore emissions will be transmitted to the
environment.
LCA is used in order to assess the environmental impacts on
electricity generation which would help producers to take the best
decision concerning best type and technology to be used for power
generation. Environmental impacts include emissions into the
environment and the consumption of resources as well as other
interventions such as land use, etc. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a
technique for assessing environmental loads of a product or a
system so for a complete environmental assessment the LCA should
be combined with other environmental studies and assessment.
Fuel is not required to produce wind power. When wind energy
is produced, it saves significant amounts of fuel costs in the form of
coal, gas and oil that would otherwise have been needed for power
production as well as reduction in atmospheric emissions. Dernah
steam power plant is using heavy fuel oil (HFO). The specific gravity
and heating value are 0.922 kg/L and 12.1 kW h/kg respectively
[10,18].
As it was mentioned in section 5.3, the amount of fuel savings is
85,700 m3/year or 79,013,800 kgfuel/year. Since the NOx emission
rate is 0.005640, SO2 is 0.04 and CO2 is 3.17 kg/kgfuel [18], then this
would result in the following emissions savings of 445,638 kg/year
of NOx, 3,160,552 kg/year of SO2 and 250,473,762 kg/year of CO2 as
shown in (Table 3).
8. Discussion of results
The calculations of LCA for Dernah wind farm showed that the
total weight of all material required for MTorres 1.65 MW land
based wind turbine (which is proposed to be installed in the wind

7.1. Calculation of specific emissions during the LC of 1.65 MW land

based wind turbine Table 2
Specific emissions from a 1.65 MW land based wind
The net energy generated from Dernah wind turbine.

farm ¼ 22,6715 MW h/year [1]. The number of wind turbines in the Pollutant Gm/kWh
farm is 37, therefore the energy generated by each wind turbine is SO2 0.0271291
6127.5 MW h/year, and during its lifetime of 20 years is NOX 0.0382147
12,2550 MW h. CO2 10.420169
The emissions from different materials used for 1.65 MW wind N2O 0.0001474
CH4 0.0001065
turbine can be calculated as [16]:
NMVOC 0.0003469
CO 0.0112237
X
n
Emission ¼ Emissioni
i¼1
Table 3
Annual reduction in atmospheric emissions due to Dernah wind farm (ɪ),
X
n
Emission ¼ Activity Leveli
Emission Factori (3) compared to Dernah steam power plant.

i¼1 Pollutant Reduction, kg/year

Emissioni: Amount of SO2 or NOx, CO2, N2O, CH4, NMVOC, CO Carbon dioxide(CO2) 250,473,762
emitted from the consumption of material i (e.g. steel). Sulphur dioxide(SO2) 3,160,552
NOX 445,638
Activity leveli: Material consumption for material i.
1232 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233

Fig. 3. Comparison of energy payback ratio of various energy sources [7,19,20] with Dernah wind farm (ɪ) project.

farm phase I) is 1,221,294 kg and the total energy required is
2828 MW h and for the whole wind farm is 104,639 MW h and the
energy requirements for the wind farm during its life time is
107,777 MW h. The net energy analysis showed that the energy
payback ratio is 42.1 and the energy payback period is 0.475 years
or 5.7 months. This shows that the energy produced by the wind
farm will be recovered in less than half a year.
The energy payback period (EPP) and the energy payback ratio
(EPR) provide a measure for energetic efficiency of the different
technologies. Some renewable energy technologies, such as wind
and PV, have a declining EPP and increasing EPR over the last few
years due to advancement of technology and economies of scale.
Figs. 3 and 4 show comparison of various energy payback period
(EPP) and energy payback ratio (EPR) technologies [7,19,20] with
Dernah wind farm (ɪ) project. We can see that wind energy has the
highest EPR and lowest EPP, which is a clear indication of the
environmental advantage of wind energy over other technologies.
The fuel saved by the wind farm will be 85,700 m3 per year
(79,013,800 kgfuel/year), which is equivalent to $2,804,900/year or
more than fifty six million dollars over the life time of the wind
farm when we consider the local subsidized price of HFO. This
savings could reach a value as high as $63,404,570/year and savings
of $ 1.3
109 i.e. over a billion dollars over the entire life time of the
wind farm if we consider the international prices of HFO.

Fig. 4. Comparison of payback period of various energy sources [7,19,20] with Dernah wind farm (ɪ) project.
 S.H. Al-Behadili, W.B. El-Osta / Renewable Energy 83 (2015) 1227e1233
Fig. 5. Annual reduction in atmospheric emissions due to Dernah wind farm (ɪ)
compared to Dernah steam power plant.
The amount of emission savings are 445,638 kg/year of NOx,
3,160,552 kg/year of SO2 and 250,473,762 kg/year of CO2. This will
encourage the decision makers to promote the installation of phase
II of this wind farm and the proposed wind farms in other sites
according to REAoL plans and strategies. The expected LC emissions
from the 1.65 MW wind turbine are illustrated in Fig. 5 and the
specific emissions are presented in Table 2.
As it could be noticed that the specific emission was reduced by
recycling from a value of 10.42 gm/kWh in case of without recycling
to 4.65 g m/kWh in case of recycling. The production phase
contribute the most to the overall emissions, while recycling after
decommissioning could reduce the emissions by almost half the
value [21].
The results obtained in this study confirm that wind energy
produces the lowest CO2 emissions per kWh of produced electricity
compared to other technologies including renewable energy sour-
ces. This places wind energy to be the best and the most environ-
mentally desirable renewable energy source.
The results of annual reduction in atmospheric emissions due to
Dernah Wind Farm (ɪ), Compared to Dernah steam power plant is
shown in Fig. 5.
Even though most turbines are made of similar materials, there
can belarge variations between studies due to several factors
including theenergy content of materials, scope and breadth of the
studies, themethodology used, the country of manufacture of the
components, theestimated service life of components, and choice
of a concrete or steel tower.
9. Conclusions and recommendations
It could be concluded that the results obtained in this study
confirms that wind energy produces the lowest CO2 per kWh of
electricity (10.4 gm/kWh) compared to fossil fuel and other
renewable energy sources and this value is reduced to 4.65 g m/
kWh in case of recycling the wind turbines. In addition, it produces
the lowest amounts of other pollutants. The amount of fuel savings
is 85,700 m3/year or 79,013,800 kgfuel/year. This fuel savings were
translated to money savings as $2,804,900/year or more than fifty
six million dollars over the life time of the proposed wind farm
when the local subsidized price of HFO was considered and the
savings reached a value of $63,404,570/year (or $ 1.3
109 i.e. over
a billion dollars over the entire life time of the wind farm) when the
international prices of HFO were considered.
The emissions savings are 445,638 kg/year of NOx, 3,160,552 kg/
year of SO2 and 250,473,762 kg/year of CO2 as shown in (Table 3).
The net energy analysis showed that the energy payback period
1233
is 0.475 year (5.7 months), and the energy pay back ratio is 42.1.
Also, it could be concluded that one of the biggest problems on the
operational side when doing LCA studies is to get data that can be
used for comparison. The data of materials that are used for wind
turbines are too few and too uncertain at present.
This study was performed to Dernah wind farm and it can be
used for further work in the following areas:
 Implementing the same study for the second phase of the
project
 Implementing these results as part of the economic study to
evaluate the social costs of wind energy and its effect on the real
costs of the Libyan electricity system
 Studying the emission rate of the different types of fuel in the
Libyan power plants.
 Encourage comprehensive studies concerning the determina-
tion of the local electricity emission factor.
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