Europe is failing to fully reap the benefits of repowering old wind farms, according to trade body WindEurope.
More and more wind turbines are approaching the end of their operational lifetime and technology is rapidly advancing.
Data analysed by WindEurope shows that repowering on average reduces the number of turbines in a wind farm by 25%, while more than tripling the output of the wind farm and quadrupling the output per wind turbine.
But repowering is only slowly gaining traction across Europe.
“More electricity with fewer turbines – repowering is a no-brainer.
“But Governments are not doing enough to drive it.
“Most old wind farms just carry on with inefficient turbines,” said Giles Dickson (pictured), WindEurope CEO.
Paula Rey Garcia, deputy head of unit for renewables and energy system integration policy at the European Commission’s directorate general for Energy, said: “The European Commission has put forward key permitting and repowering provisions in the revised Renewable Energy Directive.
“They now need to be implemented.
“We believe repowering should be a big contributor to achieving our energy and climate targets.
“Accelerating implementation efforts is a key priority for the new Commission.
“We will support the Member States here.”
The repowering of wind farms is not equally distributed between EU Member States.
More than half of all repowered projects are located in Germany.
This is partly because Germany is the biggest market for wind energy in Europe and home to many first-generation wind farms.
Spain, Europe’s second largest onshore wind energy market, only hosts 3% of repowered projects, due in part to securing new grid connections for repowered wind farms.
According to WindEurope, France is hampered by restrictive tip height rules that don’t allow for larger, taller turbines.
Dickson said: “The oldest wind farms are usually in the best wind sites – because they were the first to be built.
“But if we don’t repower them then they have the least efficient turbines.
“That needs to change.
“Governments must implement the excellent new EU permitting rules, which make it easier to repower.
“Repowering ticks all the boxes: you use the old site, you don’t need a brand new grid connection – and the local communities support the wind farm and the benefits it brings and want it to continue.”