May 18 2006
After the boom for new wind turbines in Germany in the past years, the repowering of these turbines gains more and more importance today. In the future, larger units will replace the smaller and older wind turbines, especially at sites with strong wind conditions. Siemens Power Generation (PG) is to supply a total of 17 wind energy turbines for three repowering projects in Germany. Of these, seven wind turbines will be for the Marienkoog project, and seven will be for the Norderhof Wind Park in the North Frisian area, in Schleswig-Holstein. Additionally, three wind turbines are soon to be installed in Bremerhaven.
The seven 3.6-megawatt (MW) machines for Marienkoog will replace 15 aging wind turbines. The operator of these plants is Bürgerwindpark Galmsbüll GmbH. With an installed capacity of over 50 MW, this project will be the largest wind farm in Germany when it begins commercial operation scheduled for mid-2007. In addition to the large 3.6-MW machines, Bürgerwindpark has selected seven 2.3-MW wind turbines for Norderhof Wind Park.
Also, in Bremerhaven, aging wind turbines are being replaced by new equipment. At the Weddewarden Wind Park three 2.3-MW machines, with a rotor diameter of 93m and a hub height of 103m, are replacing four small units. This will increase the installed capacity from 2 MW to nearly 7 MW.
“Repowering of existing wind energy sites has great potential. This approach involves replacing existing wind turbines with larger machines. The advantage is more generating capacity in the same site area,” noted Andreas Nauen, head of the Siemens Wind Power division.
This past spring, Siemens already replaced 15 existing smaller wind turbines with four 2.3-MW and four 3.6-MW machines for one of the first repowering projects in Germany, the Bürgerwindpark Braderup GmbH & Co. KG, in northern Schleswig-Holstein. The installed capacity on the same space thus doubled up to 23.6 MW.
http://www.siemens.com/powergeneration