Wind turbines from the leading international wind turbine manufacturers are usually type-certified to withstand the vagaries of a particular local wind climate class safely for 20 years, although they may survive longer, particularly in low-turbulence climates.
Wind conditions at sea are less turbulent than on land, hence offshore sites are type certified to last 25-30 years on offshore sites. In view of the substantially higher installation costs at sea, life extension is a possibility.

Most of the wind turbines that were installed in the 1980s are either still running or were replaced before the end of their technical life due to special repowering incentives. An investor will be very concerned with the pay-back time, that is, how long it takes for a wind turbine to pay back the initial investment. Usually banks and finance institutions require a pay-back of 7-10 years.
After the investment is paid off, the cost of producing electricity from wind energy is lower than any other fuelbased technology and, hence, generally lower than the electricity price. The longer the wind turbine runs after the pay-back time the more profitable the investment. As we learned previously, wind energy is a capital intensive technology. Once the investment is covered, the income from selling the electricity only has to be higher than the (very low) O&M cost, for the turbine to keep running.

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