Repowering will be critical to the German Federal Government’s climate protection programme achieving its goal of renewable energies accounting for 65% of the national gross electricity consumption in 2030, according to Nordex.
The replacement of old turbines with modern turbines will essential prerequisite for achieving this goal, the company said.
In the next few years alone, 16GW will be phased out of the feed-in remuneration (EEG) in Germany.
For example, at the Immenberg project in Lower Saxony, Germany, BayWa r.e. is replacing eight S70/1500 turbines with a hub height of 65 metres in the Uetze-Süd wind farm near Hanover, which the Nordex Group installed in 2002.
The eight new N117/3600 turbines with a hub height of 141 metres will increase the installed capacity by a factor of 2.4. Installation is due to begin at the beginning of 2021 with commissioning scheduled for the second quarter May 2021.
Nordex group head of sales for Germany Siegbert Pump said: “More and more turbines in Germany are reaching an age at which repowering makes economic sense.
“Thanks to today’s turbine technology the yield from a wind farm can in some cases be tripled while the number of turbines can often be significantly reduced as well.
“In spite of their greater efficiency, nowadays our turbines – both the 117 and the 149 rotor blade class and our N163/5.X turbine – are quiet and less conspicuous thanks to their lower rotational speed.
“BayWa r.e is now taking advantage of these benefits in the Immenberg wind farm.”