In one of many newest editions of Windletter, particularly No. 72, Sergio Fernández Munguía has mentioned the problem of wind power within the 12 months 2023 after the report printed by the wind power employers’ affiliation in Europe, the place the info and statistics of the sector are collected in 2023 and a few future forecasts are made. After studying the Wind Europe report, right here I deliver you essentially the most notable issues for my part, I hope you prefer it.
1.Picture.-The expansion of wind power capability in Europe, 2014-23. (Supply: WindEurope – Wind power in Europe – 2023).
Within the final decade, the put in capability within the wind sector in Europe has doubled, going from 134 GW to 272 GW. The reality is that the expansion may be very stable, since not even the slowdown of the pandemic has lowered the set up of extra wind generators.
If we concentrate on the 12 months 2023, the overall power generated by the wind crops within the European Union was 466 TWh, which made it doable to cowl 19% of the electrical energy demand (16.8% of onshore wind power and a pair of.2% of offshore wind).
Wind power reached a report every day manufacturing on December 22 (2,932 GWh), similar to a mean manufacturing of 122 GW or roughly 55% of the fleet that produced at its most energy all through the day.
The day with the bottom electrical energy manufacturing generated was August 23, 2023 when the overall technology was 433 GWh, masking 6% of the demand within the EU that day.
When you observe, between the minimal and most wind manufacturing there’s a ratio of virtually 7x (2,932 GWh (12/22/23) and 433 GWh (08/23/23)).
2.Picture.- Annual capability of onshore and offshore wind power put in in Europe. (Supply: WindEurope – Wind power in Europe – 2023).
New wind installations in Europe amounted to 18.3 GW in 2023, with 14.5 GW of wind capability put in onshore and three.8 GW offshore. Of which, 16.2 GW are new installations within the EU-27. Outdoors the EU, the two.1 GW put in have been attributable to the UK (1.4 GW), Turkey (397 MW), Serbia (114 MW), North Macedonia (36 MW), Norway (35 MW) and Switzerland (14 MW).
For the EU to achieve its goal of 42.5% renewable power by 2030, wind power installations should common 33 GW per 12 months between 2024 and 2030. That is based mostly on an put in wind power capability goal of 425 GW.
Wind farm installations in Germany have been the best in Europe final 12 months, representing 25% of put in onshore capability. The entire set up determine amounted to three.9 GW, together with 329 MW of offshore wind.
3.Picture.- New onshore and offshore wind installations in Europe in 2023. (Supply: WindEurope – Wind power in Europe – 2023).
Offshore wind generators accounted for 21% of installations in Europe, with 3.8 GW of grid-connected wind farm capability.
Virtually half of the brand new linked offshore wind capability was within the Netherlands (1.9 GW), with the rest coming from the UK (833 MW), France (360 MW), Denmark (344 MW), Germany ( 329 MW) and Norway (35 MW).
Germany put in the most important wind power capability in 2023 with 3.9 GW, of which 91% was onshore (3.6 GW) and the remaining offshore. Probably the most notable factor is that 1.1 GW got here from repowered wind farms.
Germany additionally linked 257 MW of offshore wind capability within the Baltic Sea, all from the Arcadis Ost 1 wind farm. With a further 72 MW coming from capability modifications to current generators, put in offshore wind capability grew by 329 MW throughout 12 months.
The Netherlands set a brand new nationwide RECORD for installations in a single 12 months with 2.4 GW, 78% of which have been offshore.
Offshore wind installations within the Netherlands accounted for half of all put in offshore wind capability in Europe in 2023.
Sweden put in virtually 2 GW, all of it onshore. It is extremely notable that within the final 3 years it has put in 6.5 GW, particularly understanding that the nation’s inhabitants are solely near 10.5 M.
France put in 1.8 GW, of which 1.4 GW onshore. That is the second highest quantity in a single 12 months after the report 2.1 GW put in in 2022.
The UK put in 1.4 GW of wind energy capability, 60% offshore (833 MW). Onshore 553 MW have been put in, virtually solely in Scotland.
Spain put in a complete of 764 MW, all of them land-based apart from a 2 MW floating wind turbine, which is a part of a DemoSATH pilot venture by Saitec (listed below are 2 analyzes I carried out the place I describe intimately how the floating platform was assembled. : 106) Lego in actual life: DemoSATH Challenge and 107) Megastructures within the Sea: DemoSATH Challenge. Half II). I wish to emphasize that Spain has put in lower than half as a lot as in 2022, which amounted to a complete of 1.7 GW.As a assessment, it’s value highlighting that 14 international locations didn’t set up any wind power capability in 2023, 8 of them have been EU Member States.
Offshore wind
In whole, 3.8 GW of offshore capability was linked to the European community. In 2023, there have been 11 wind farms in six international locations connecting generators to the grid, in addition to an illustration venture in Spain, particularly within the Bay of Biscay with a 2 MW wind turbine.
4.Picture.- New offshore wind farms in Europe in 2023. (Supply: WindEurope – Wind power in Europe – 2023).
The Netherlands linked 1.9 GW of offshore wind generators on the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm (760 MW) in addition to the remainder of the generators that needed to be linked at Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-4 (1.5 GW). The latter is now the most important working offshore wind farm on the planet.
Decommissioning and repowered capability
Wind farms have a restricted operational life. For older wind farms, that is often between 15 and 25 years. Though newer wind farms, constructed with extra trendy generators, will probably have an extended lifespan.
When the wind farm reaches the tip of its operational life (assuming its helpful life will not be prolonged by changing elements or blades), the generators can be shut down, dismantled and eliminated. This is called decommissioning.
It typically is smart to repower the wind farm, as this implies changing all generators, cables and grid connections with trendy, extra highly effective and environment friendly generators and equipment.
The unique capability that’s changed is called repowering capability. It’s a matter that has all the time me, since, in Euskadi, the final wind farm (5 x 2MW of Siemens Gamesa generators = 10 MW) constructed was Punta Lucero within the Port of Bilbao in 2006. Due to this fact, The helpful life can not appear very distant.
5.Picture.- Capability decommissioned and repowered in 2023. (Supply: WindEurope – Wind power in Europe – 2023).
In 2023, 736 MW of wind power can be decommissioned in 9 international locations. Decommissioning occurred in Germany (534 MW), France (50 MW), Denmark (49 MW), Italy (37 MW), Austria (19 MW). , Belgium (17 MW), United Kingdom (16 MW), Finland (12 MW) and Sweden (2 MW).
Of the 18.3 GW of wind energy capability added in Europe in 2023, 1.5 GW got here from repowering tasks. A lot of the repowering occurred in Germany (1.1 GW), with some additionally carried out within the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, France, Czechia and Belgium.
Due to this fact, the dismantling of parks and/or repowering are phrases that little by little will enter society’s vocabulary.
Older tasks are usually situated in the most effective wind places and asset house owners should be very aware of website circumstances, with a few years of operational knowledge. A lot of the infrastructure is already in place (roads, substations) and there’s usually much less opposition from native communities (though it’s nonetheless necessary to contain communities given the probably enhance in wind turbine dimension).
