Repowering Gives New Life to Old Wind Sites

Wind Energy / Installation Technology

Date posted: 10/30/17

James Lawson reported that by 2020, swapping aging wind turbines with more powerful modern units will have raised annual electricity generation at refurbished sites from 1,524 GWh to 8,221 GWh ( as well as the cost?). A 2-MW wind turbine coming off the production line with a rotor diameter of 80 meters can generate four to six times as much electricity as the 1-GWh annual yield of a 500-kW wind turbine with a 40-meter rotor built in 1995. This is the fundamental thinking behind wind repowering. Replacing old machines with fewer, larger and taller modern units that are quieter, far more reliable, and capable of producing vastly more electricity is an activity that has increased significantly during the last five years, according to GlobalData's 2012 report Wind Repowering. The report says the value of the world's repowering market will grow massively in the next five years. In 2011 wind farms producing around 183 GWh annually were replaced with turbines capable of generating 774 GWh. But by 2020, repowering will drive an increase in annual power generation at repowered sites from 1,524 GWh to 8,221 GWh. “Fifteen years ago many countries had just started installing wind turbines, but Germany, Denmark, the U.S. and the Netherlands already had a decent amount of wind capacity,” says Prasad Tanikella, GlobalData senior analyst. These wind energy pioneers are now at the forefront of the repowering movement. And, as their onshore fleets age, Spain, Italy, Portugal, India, and the UK are becoming repowering hot spots too. “There's no doubt it's a vital and growing market, and the chief driver is the vast improvement in turbine technology over the last 20 years,” says Aris Karcanias, managing consultant with Navigant's BTM Consult. “Replacing old technology with new turbines can raise yield by a factor of two or more, depending on a multitude of factors.”