24 wind farms subsidized for their repowering

• by OEGA
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IDAE has just published the final resolution of the second call for grants for investment in the repowering of wind installations and in the technological and environmental renovation of mini hydroelectric plants of up to 50 MW. This call was carried out within the framework of the “Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – Funded by the European Union–NextGenerationEU.”

In Galicia, 24 wind farms obtained the subsidy for their repowering: Coriscada, Castelo, Serra de Outes, Monte Trecho, Monte Cabeza, Chantada, Farelo, Monte Cabeza II, Penas Grandes, Sotavento, Serra da Loba, Barbanza I, Barbanza II, Santo Andrés, Capelada I, Capelada II, Careón, Monte Carrio, Montouto 2000, Monte Seixo, Serra do Cando, Larouco, Montouto and Paxareiras-Montevós.

All these wind farms, according to Article 2 of the regulatory bases, will proceed with their technological renovation. This is understood as the complete replacement of the wind turbines with new, previously unused ones, without prejudice to the fact that such replacement may partially affect the number of existing turbines compared to the total, regardless of whether the power of the previous installation is increased or not. These actions involve the dismantling of at least the tower, rotor and nacelle of the existing turbines affected by the action, and the construction and commissioning of new turbines at the previously occupied site, even if the position coordinates of the machines are modified and additional installations are potentially included.

The resolution does not indicate how many turbines will ultimately remain at the sites. Only the total power of each wind farm is mentioned, reaching a combined total of 704 MW.

To obtain public funding, among other conditions, the wind farms had to have begun operation before June 30, 2010. As established in the Fourteenth Provision of the Call, the installations must be fully completed before June 30, 2030.

Furthermore, the new installations following repowering may include storage infrastructure integrated into the generation facility, under the conditions established in the call. Of the 24 wind farms, only Coriscada and Sotavento do not include storage capacity. The remaining 22 wind farms do propose it, totaling 605 MWh of capacity.

As might be expected, due to technological improvement, the new wind farms will have higher productivity than the existing ones. The Resolution does not mention how much higher that production will be. This figure is of the utmost importance both to justify the substantial public aid (156 million euros in subsidies for an estimated investment of 1.044 million euros) and to estimate the annual economic impact these wind farms will have on local communities.

Collaboration form GWO

The Galician Wind Observatory specializes in advising local communities facing repowering processes. In our most recent track record, we have carried out a series of actions that significantly improved the economic outcomes for the rural communities hosting these infrastructures. Any public entity, such as municipalities, or private entity, such as forest commons communities, can contact us by email to request our assistance.