The useful life of wind turbines is between 20 and 25 depending on the location and can reach up to 30 with some investments. The old blades are then removed and They are recycled in the most diverse ways and the wind turbines (some) are replaced by others. Or almost not, because the iconic Montes de Cierzo wind farm in Tudela is practically going to stay bald.
Paradoxically, it will produce almost double.
The skyline of Montes de Cierzo is going to change a lot. One of the autonomous communities that previously and most intensively opted for wind energy was Navarra, reaching become the Silicon Valley of wind turbines. Its deployment began in 1994 in the Sierra del Perdón, covering its territory from north to south that decade. What does that mean? Taking into account its useful life, in recent years there has been a renewal of its machinery. Latest, that of the Montes de Cierzo in Tudela.
On the Statkraft roadmap is removing these veteran wind turbines from the Navarre park this year, removing 41 wind turbines to replace them with four latest generation models. Before, in the first phase of this renovation project, had already retired 44 machines to replace them with 10. In short, the park is going from 85 wind turbines to 14, with what that means in terms of visual impact. For this purpose, the company will allocate 40 million euros and has already been selected to receive aid of up to 24% from the IDAE.
Less mills, more energy. Of course, the wind turbines will have a nominal power of around 6.5 MW (standardized by common companies such as Siemens Gamesa either Nordex). Thus, when the park is operational, there will be 84% fewer wind turbines disturbing the horizon of the Ebro Valley, but that will not mean that Monte del Cierzo takes a step back in energy supply, quite the contrary.
We are facing a full-fledged repowering: the installed power will go from 60 MW to 90 MW, growing by 50%. Annually, the production estimated by the Norwegian company will go from 145 GWh/year to around 300 GWh/year, almost double. This change of wind turbines will be accompanied by storage systems.
Repowering with hybridization. Having fewer mills and producing more is the standard for updates, but this project hides a technical singularity: the incorporation of a lithium ion battery system with 14.26 MW of power and 28.51 MWh of capacity. In fact, it is one of five projects by a Norwegian company to combine sun or wind and storage. only in the Spanish state.
With a loading and unloading capacity of two hours, the park will be able to carry out peak shaving and energy shiftingor what is the same, smooth out production peaks and be able to move energy at times where it is needed or the price is higher. In addition to better peak management and improving efficiency, the company explains that this system will allow you to reinforce the security of supply.
Why is it important. Because although there are fewer machines, power increases by 50% and production doubles. Furthermore, with this system the wind farm will function as if it were a bank: if there is excess energy, it will be stored for when the wind stops or there is high demand. In this way, it minimizes one of the endemic evils of renewable energy such as wind or solar, which depend on external and unrelated factors such as the climate.
On the other hand, cleaning the horizon by almost decimating the number of wind turbines is also important from an environmental point of view. Finally, Statkraft has explained that will prioritize companies in the area in the construction of the project, which will directly generate employment in 2026.
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