RWE announced that it has won three projects in the German Federal Network Agency’s auction for onshore wind.
RWE will renew existing wind farms in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia and replace them with modern turbines. This repowering will almost double the installed capacity of the wind farms – from 37.4 to 73.2 megawatts. Electricity production at these sites can even be almost tripled thanks to the new turbines with longer rotor blades.
“Modern turbines produce two to three times more electricity with fewer turbines. This shows the potential of repowering. RWE is therefore naturally involved: both in new construction and in the modernisation of older wind turbines,” Katja Wunschel, CEO Onshore Wind and Solar Europe & Australia, RWE Renewables, said.
Two of the three wind farms are located in Lower Saxony: A total of 17 wind turbines in Lesse and Barbecke (Salzgitter and Peine districts) with a total output of 30.6 megawatts will be replaced by 11 turbines with a total of 61.8 megawatts. RWE plans to build new transformer station in the municipality of Sohlde. Construction of both wind farms is scheduled to start in autumn. The projects will have the capacity to supply about 43,500 households with green electricity annually.
In the Paderborn district, RWE is modernising its Elisenhof wind farm. RWE will start the construction of the foundation for this repowering project, with a total output of 11.4 megawatts (old turbines: 6.75 megawatts), shortly. The North Rhine-Westphalian wind farm will have the capacity to generate enough green electricity to meet the needs of 5,500 households.