The repowering potential in France in the coming years
Meteolien offers specific studies for wind farms that are no longer under a purchase obligation. Repowering will enable those farms to optimize their future production while combining them with the new generations of turbines. According to ADEME, in France, repowering could reach from 0.8 to 1 GW/year between 2020 and 2030. This means that more than 500 turbines within the range of 750kW-1MW could potentially be repowered between 2019 and 2038. Most of the turbines in these wind farms at the end of the cycle have heights of around 50m for the hub and rotors between 40 and 60m.
Even if the dimensions of the turbines during those years were far smaller than today, it is interesting to note that most of the “old” existing sites in France would no longer be authorized today. Therefore, this raises many questions regarding Repowering :
- Would a change of dimension be rejected or would it result in significant delays in terms of procedures ?
- Is it necessary to switch back to turbines of similar dimensions or would it be possible to optimize with the current turbines ?
- Is it worth opting for this technological solution rather than another ?
Meteolien supports Repowering project leaders by carrying out the necessary preliminary simulations for their decision-making and secures their process as they go along.
Most importantly, Meteolien positions itself as a neutral partner to evaluate the different solutions and help developers to optimize repowering projects.
*Data source – ADEME and the Wind Power