Repowering 1,000 wind turbines

How do you repower a wind turbine?

When it comes to wind turbine blades, size does matter. You can get two to three times more power by lengthening the blades and adjusting the tower to a more efficient structure. So we're identifying the older generation of turbines and doing just that.

The process to build any new energy generator can be long and difficult. Everything from upgrading the local networks to getting planning permission can take ages. It typically takes seven years for a new turbine projects to get fully operational. Actual construction can be completed in a year: most of the time is taken up by lengthy planning and grid connection processes.

Tuning up our existing turbines can take far less time. We already have the most spot on data for wind speeds on site and local topography. Consultations with the local community are far quicker because they've already had a turbine in their neighbourhood – we're just adjusting what's already there. Because a lot of the most time-consuming work is already done, we can get more green electrons down the wires in months, not years.

The UK has about 9,000 wind turbines on its shores. Upgrading just 10% of them could unlock enough new power for hundreds of thousands of homes a year.

Repowering wind turbines is quick, easy ‘low hanging fruit’. And while we tune up the turbines we already have, we're also working to build new wind faster. There's huge appetite for local green generation: 8,000 communities have told us they want to be part of a local Fan Club that gives them up to 50% cheaper power from their neighbourhood turbine. We’re matching them up with landowners who are keen to host a wind turbine (since it’s a bit like a dating app for renewables, we call it Winder).

The super exciting part of all this is where these two projects collide. With their new increased power capacity, these regenerated wind turbines have the potential to become future Fan Club projects too.