Sustainability & CSR
Repowering onshore wind turbines in Taiwan
Repowering onshore wind turbines in Taiwan presents a significant opportunity to enhance the efficiency and capacity of the country’s renewable energy sector.
By Bart Linssen with contributions from Raoul Kubitschek
Introduction
Taiwan’s Energy Administration released a “current policy direction and challenges plan” (當前再生能源政策方向及挑戰) on 3 October 2024. The document mentions almost all renewable energy technology available, except the cheapest and most mature technology of them all, onshore wind. The reason for the omission is to some degree understandable; onshore wind projects can be controversial, onshore wind doesn't have the scale in Taiwan that offshore wind has and neither does it have the local manufacturing champions in the industry that solar has; so why bother?
Nevertheless, compared to all other renewable energy technologies, onshore wind is incredibly competitive, producing electricity at less than NT$2 per kWh (ca. US$0.062) compared to Taipower’s current cost of producing electricity of NT$3.6679 (ca. US$0.11) per kWh in August 2024.
Yes, sure, there are challenges; Taiwan is crowded, and it is difficult to find locations for wind turbines, but so is the situation in the Netherlands and Belgium which each have an onshore installed base (7GW and 3GW respectively) that is several times the current installed capacity of Taiwan, with plans to add more. The common approach adopted in the Netherlands and Belgium is to locate windfarms along highways, in harbours and inside industrial parks, and for other locations community invested wind farms is a popular approach. Korea and Japan have already noticed the potential of community wind and the first community windfarms have already started there. None of this has been seriously tried, let alone realized in Taiwan and the only reason for that is a lack of political will and lack of a clear renewable energy policy pushed down to local governments.
Recent observations give the impression the Taiwan government does not want any onshore wind at all; new projects can't go ahead and even repowering, replacing existing turbines with more powerful efficient ones is discouraged. In this respect Taiwan is missing an opportunity to maintain affordable green energy prices. Through repowering, Taiwan could double, or triple onshore wind installed capacity without the need to develop new windfarms.
What is wind turbine repowering?
Wind turbine technology is continuously evolving and there are ongoing improvements in production capacity and efficiency. Newer turbines run slower and are quieter. The lifetime of a wind turbine is around 20-25 years at which point it is technically and economically interesting to carry out an upgrade. The existing turbine is dismantled and replaced with a new turbine, either at the exact same location or in the close vicinity. Generally, you may improve production capacity by between two and four times. Taiwan has an installed base of 915MW, so there is a potential to add 1GW or more without the need for construction at new locations.
For this very reason, repowering has attracted a lot of attention in Europe. Repowering is a relatively straightforward and effortless way to increase your installed renewable energy capacity. However, under the current regulations in Taiwan, repowering although theoretically allowed, is practically impossible for even the most seasoned developers to get done. In Taiwan, the same regulation and requirements are applied to repowering as for new wind turbine projects, and the process is lengthy and fraught with uncertainties.
Repowering elsewhere
Looking around at what is happening elsewhere in the world, we see that the potential of repowering is recognized across many countries and jurisdictions.
In the UK, to encourage the repowering of retiring windfarms, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has exempted repowering projects from the requirement to show that the proposed project site is located in an area identified in the relevant development plan by the local planning authority as suitable for wind energy generation and exempted from the requirement to show that the concerns of local community and stake holders are fully covered and assessed. This makes sense. If wind turbines are already there, it should not require a full assessment.
In addition, in Scotland, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) related studies for repowered windfarms are simplified. For example bird assessments and ecological impact studies do not require fieldwork.
In Germany, the government has been strongly promoting a further increase of onshore wind energy to meet its renewable energy targets. Repowering existing onshore wind parks is recognized by the government as one of the measures to increase wind energy capacity. Germany went through a series of significant legislative amendments to help the development of renewable energy. The Onshore Wind Energy Act (2022) was enacted to achieve the goal of allocating 2% of its national land for wind power generation by 2032. The German government also simplified the approval and EIA process and requirements for small-scale and/or repowering projects. In general, monitoring data from the existing or neighbouring wind turbines and desktop study results can be used to support baseline assessments.
The German government has also introduced a financial incentive (€0.5 cents per kWh) to repower wind turbines that were put into operation before 2002.
In Australia, the existing planning and EIA frameworks work favourably for repowering projects compared to developing new green-field sites. Developments at already-disturbed sites without altering the purpose of use are much less likely to require a full-scale EIA. Environmental assessments under local planning schemes generally involve a smaller number of assessment aspects. The average duration needed for securing approvals is much shorter, although this varies depending on the development's size.
In the US, the State of Minnesota has a relatively well-defined, simplified permit approval system and associated guidelines, specifically for repowering projects. This makes it possible to reuse the assessments conducted to get approval for the original development and/or for nearby existing facilities. The average duration of the permit approval and environmental review process for repowering projects are significantly shorter than they are for new wind energy projects.
Aside from Minnesota in other states of the US, regulations or guidelines pertaining specifically to repowering projects seem to be absent. However, the Subsequent Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) process tends to be applied for upgrading or rebuilding projects including wind repowering projects. This also allows developers to streamline the approval and environmental review process, thus requiring less effort in obtaining permits.
The US has also extended tax incentives to repowering wind projects since 2016. This encourages wind farm owners to upgrade existing wind energy facilities to be more efficient even prior to their end of life.
Closer to Taiwan, Japan introduced Feed-in Premiums (FiPs), which are designed to support existing installations undergoing upgrades or repowering efforts. This transition reflects a shift towards providing stable financial incentives for both new and existing renewable energy projects.
Conclusion
Current regulations in Taiwan make repowering of onshore wind turbines nearly impossible. This is a missed opportunity. Repowering can double or triple the installed wind energy capacity in Taiwan without the need to develop windfarms at new locations.
Industry requires renewable energy at affordable rates. In addition to a competitive cost of less than NT$2 per kWh, the size and capacity of onshore wind farms brings renewable energy within reach of small and medium sized businesses.
Recommended policies to encourage repowering are a simplified EIA including for situations where the repowering project is done with different turbine specifications such as increased output power, higher towers and bigger rotor diameter; a wind park has already been built and is in operation at one site, so a full EIA should not be necessary. A simplified EIA process will decrease upfront costs and greatly reduce project uncertainty. In Taiwan, subsidies for onshore wind are not strictly needed since current market prices of CPPA’s make development of onshore wind projects or repowering of onshore wind projects financially attractive.
If repowering policies are not implemented, we will most likely see operators run wind turbines until the turbine’s end of life, potentially leading to safety risks, and in a worst-case scenario, leading to events affecting the image of renewable energy. Without repowering we will see a reduction in installed capacity of onshore wind by several hundred MWs in the next five years and this will negatively contribute to Taiwan's renewable energy goals and the affordability of renewable energy.
Bart Linssen is the Director of Renewable Energy at RCI Engineering.
Raoul Kubitschek has worked in Taiwan’s renewable energy sector since 2008 and is currently the Taiwan Country Manager for NIRAS. He is concurrently Co-Chair of the ECCT’s Energy and Environment committee.
