The Global Community for Sustainable Energy Professionals
1 hour / Central European Time (Brussels, Paris, Berlin)
Walter Hulshorst, Fernando Nuno
In countries that started early with wind energy (Germany and Denmark), old wind turbines are often placed at locations where the wind is very good. Since the best locations for wind in these countries are occupied by old wind turbines with lower energy outputs compared with new wind turbines, programmes were started to replace the old turbines (5 up to 15 years old) with modern ones. With repowering, first-generation wind turbines can be replaced with modern multi-megawatt wind turbines.
The first-generation wind turbines can then be used in developing countries. Growing energy demand in developing countries stimulates the use of renewable energy sources, such as wind power, to provide a sustainable and environmentally-friendly power supply. For most of these countries, projects with new wind turbines have proven to be unaffordable: that is why using these lower-cost turbines may be an option.
This webinar summarises results of repowering programmes and used wind turbine projects.
Log in to post comments
Comments
During the planning and building of a wind farm, two of the most difficult issues are
When modifying a farm, especially when the height of the turbines is increased, revised planning permission will be needed and a higher connection capacity will be required. What is your experience on these issues so far?
During the seminar 'Strategic purchasing of green energy or producing in-house?' of the KVIV TI in Brussels two weeks ago, Alex Polfliet of Siemat Energy talked about the repowering of wind turbines in Belgium. He regretted that the Belgian regions have no regulatory framework in place for granting extra incentives to repowering projects, in contrast to countries like Germany and Spain. According to his figures, a repowering of all wind turbines in Belgium to 2 MW would double the wind capacity in this country.
is relatively young, there is only limited amount of practical expierence
on the removal of wind turbines. While repowering programms are starting
nowadays, the aging wind turbines can be used for new developing markets
were wind energy projects just started. In case the wind turbine can not
be used for the used market or as a spare part, dismantling of the
windturbine is necessary. A study performed by Vestas (Vestas, 2005, Life cycle assessment of offshore and
onshore sited wind power plants based on Vestas V90-3.0 MW turbines)
shows that about 90% of the iron and copper used can be recycled and the
remaining 10% is land filled. 100% of the glass fibre and plastics are
incinerated.
have designed the wind turbine for the location were the wind turbine is
used. In case you want to replace the wind turbine to an other location
with higher ambient temperature the cooling should be an point of
attention. Either you can upgrade your cooling to have similar output
(MVA) or you accept less output at higher temperatures. In case you want
to upgrade the cooling you can expect that the manufacturer will not take
liability, since the orginal design of the wind turbine was at a location
with a lower ambient temperature.
“Repowering and Used Wind Turbines” gives several aspects which has to be
checked.
but the wind turbine market is still growing fast over the couple of
years. China and India
already have their own manufacturers of windturbines. The impact of the
credit crises is hard to predict on the repowering market.
second hand turbines can either be asked by manufacturers of the
windturbine of some companies specialised in used wind turbines as listed
by question 3.
the Indian market, it can be expected that repowering programs are rare in
India since just
recently the wind turbines market in India started.
windenergy worldwide. Merril lynch expects that it will be about 200 GW in
2011, with an installed power of 108 GW in Europe and 47 GW in North
America and 37 GW. The rest of the world will be about 11 GW. The main
challenge for wind turbine manufacturers and their suppliers is to cope
with the growth in demand for windturbines. The main bottlenecks have been
in the supply of gear boxes and large bearings. As in the manufacture of
wind turbines, there have been few new entrants to this market as,
historically, the technology risks have been perceived as high. In
addition, turbine manufacturers try to avoid using those new suppliers who
can demonstrate only limited industry experience, or who do not have
established track records. Based on the expected double digit growth in
the wind turbines market and the relatively small list of companies that
supplies gear boxes, it can be expected that the costs of wind turbines
will not be lower.