Reconditioning Wind Farms Can Extend Their Lives

Reconditioning Wind Farms Can Extend Their Lives




Around 40% of Germany’s wind turbines will soon be 15-years old.  The French, Italian, Spanish, and British fleets are also aging. More than 86 gigawatts of Europe’s wind capacity is scheduled to be decommissioned by 2030. A new report from New Energy Update describes an alternate solution, which is reconditioning wind farms.

I particularly enjoyed the insights this study gave me into the long term considerations and finances of this industry.

“As the cost of maintaining the farm increases and your margins get tighter and tighter anything you can do to reduce those maintenance costs on the back half is very good. When we look at life extension we look at extending the life of the actual component to take it out to a 25 or 30 year life,” says Kevin Alewine, Director of Marketing at wind electrical machinery repair and maintenance services company Shermco Industries.

According to Rubén Ruiz de Gordejuela, Chief Technology Officer at Spanish life extension service provider Nabla Wind Power, the cost of extending turbine life is often a tenth of what it would take to build a new turbine.

Key Contractual Questions

Operators also need to review their consents, leases, power purchase agreements, and grid connection to determine the viability of continuing operations.

Yet there is much to gain if a wind farm’s life can be extended.

“In Germany around 7,000 turbines are reaching the end of design life by the end of 2020. This corresponds to a capacity of 5,000 MW,” says Stukenbrock.