Why repowering wind is key to meeting the AI power surge

A new report has been released by software provider Shoreline Wind that highlights the potential role of repowering legacy wind assets in meeting the increasing demand from AI and data centres in the US. 

According to Shoreline Wind, many greenfield power projects face lengthy transmission and interconnection delays, which makes repowering a fast way to bring large amounts of power online.

Research featured in the report, Data Drive: Opportunities for wind in AI boom, states that “repowering aging assets could more than double US onshore wind capacity-adding 161GW of capacity to existing fields to reach a total of 314GW”.

Some 40GW of the US wind fleet will reach the 20-year operational milestone by 2030 and a number of assets built in 2016 due to the production tax credit are now hitting their 10-year mark, making them prime candidates for partial or full repowering, states Shoreline Wind. 

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Furthermore, long-term, AI-related off-take agreements are offering wind operators greater revenue stability and superior contract terms, making repowering an economically viable solution.

To achieve needed capacity increases and ensure the always-on approach demanded by data centres, the report recommends wind farm owners implement advanced O&M and end-of-life strategies, as well as AI-powered simulation and planning tools to transition from reactive maintenance to predictive asset modelling. 

Ole-Erik Endrerud, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Shoreline Wind, commented on the findings of the report: "Availability has always mattered for project economics, but now more than ever, operators need to squeeze every single bit of power they can out of their projects."

In Austria, wind repowering is something project developer ContourGlobal is all too familiar with. Over the past five years, the company has renewed around 40 turbines and has another 40 in line for repowering. 

Bernhard Haider, ContourGlobal’s manager in Austria highlighted the advantages: “You already have the land secured, you have the commitment of the communities, you have a permitted zone: so, you don’t have to start from scratch.”