Around 6,000 wind turbines with an output of over 4 gigawatts will be removed from the guaranteed EEG remuneration on 01.01.2021, and further thousands of turbines will follow in the following years. This leads to a high degree of uncertainty for the operators of these turbines.

The ENOVA Group uses the expertise of more than 30 years in the wind energy sector and has flexible solutions for a long-term, economical and also carefree continued operation of wind turbines.

In addition to the former core business, project planning, ENOVA has positioned itself as a specialist in the wind energy sector in the last few years with additional business lines focusing on old plants.

ENOVA supports the operators comprehensively in a possible repowering of the old systems. Starting with the first planning steps up to the construction of the new plant. In order to minimize the increased risk of the repowering, ENOVA now also offers joint repowering with the newly founded network company ENOVA Value through a proportionate purchase of the old wind farm shares.

In addition to a proportional purchase of wind farm shares, ENOVA Value also offers the complete takeover of older wind farms. ENOVA has many years of experience in the project business, in technical management and in maintenance and repair. This enables ENOVA to optimise the added value of the wind farms in order to operate them economically even without EEG compensation. Therefore ENOVA Value is able to pay very attractive purchase prices for the old plants.

Not every wind farm is suitable for repowering. The affiliated company ENOVA Service has been servicing Enercon systems since 2017 through predictive and needs-based maintenance and repair. In this way, Enova Service ensures reliable and profitable continued operation of the old systems and prevents unplanned damage and downtimes.

Further information on ENOVA’s focus on the new requirements of the wind industry can be found here.

Since autumn 2019 ENOVA Wind Farm Management is offering vibration analyses within the scope of condition monitoring. In the course of expiring full maintenance contracts and continued operation of old wind power plants for more than 20 years, the early detection of major damages is an elemantary issue.

“Especially on rolling bearings of gearless wind turbines, harmful influences should be detected before they lead to damages. This enables us to have repairs carried out by the full maintenance contractor before the full maintenance contract ends. This prevents cost-intensive consequential damages and the associated plant failures”, says Technical Wind Farm Manager Ralf Brinkema. The vibration analysis is an essential component in the overall evaluation of a possible further operation of old plants which is superviced by the ENOVA Wind Farm Management. The results allow actuarial questions to be answered and give an estimate of the further operating time. That knowledge is an effective protection against expensive bad investments.

The time has come: The Dueddingen wind farm will be connected to the grid after a successful repowering within the tight schedule! In mid-March 2018, the first construction measures began in the area of ​​the Wesermarsch. Approx. eight months later, the four new Enercon E-70 E4 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW, were completed and commissioned. The old NEG Micon 1500-64 from 2000 was dismantled and replaced by the new ones.

David Szilagyi, Project Developer at ENOVA, said: “We made it! And the whole thing according to plan. Despite some adversities, the project was implemented very well thanks to the dry summer and the well-rehearsed performance of all project participants and subcontractors.” The project schedule was particularly stringent with the tight schedule and the necessary extensive coordination between the trades. During the dismantling of the old plants were still in full swing, the new wind turbines were already being built elsewhere. Another obstacle was the current situation of access via a private railroad crossing, which made larger transport difficult. However, this hurdle was taken sovereign.

The new plants reach with a hub height of 64 meters and a rotor diameter of 71 meters a total height of about 100 meters. They will produce over 15,142,000 kWh of electricity annually. This is enough to supply just under 4,000 households with renewable energy, resulting in CO2 savings of around 9,000 tones.

Oldenburg, Bunderhee, Leer, August 31, 2018. The EWE ERNEUERBARE ENERGIEN GmbH from Oldenburg and the ENOVA IPP GmbH & Co. KG from Bunderhee have bought the wind farm Hohegaste in the East Frisian town Leer. Each company acquired 50 percent of the shares from the previous owners. The wind farm has been repowered in 2017: 13 of the older wind turbines of the first generation have been replaced by four Enercon 101 wind turbines with a total energy output of 12.2 MW. The purchase price is kept in silence.
EWE and ENOVA will share the technical as well as the commercial tasks of the operation of the wind farm.

Dr. Jörg Buddenberg, Head of EWE ERNEUERBARE ENERGIEN, emphasized: “With the new wind turbines in Hohegaste we are expanding the onshore wind energy portfolio of the EWE Group to a total energy output of more than 280 MW. Our short and medium term goal is to continue to grow. The current cooperation with ENOVA shows that this can be done with a good partnership aswell.“

Hauke Brümmer, Head of ENOVA, pointed out: “We are happy to expand our existing portfolio, with our share in the wind farm Hohegaste, especially because it is located in our home region. With EWE, we have a partner whose services complement ours well. In this constellation, we are able to buy further repowering capable projects.”

EWE and ENOVA have been working together on projects in the energy transition for 15 years. In 2013 the energy provider and the wind farm project planner realized the first commercial off shore wind farm RIFFGAT in the German North Sea, among other projects.

About ENOVA:
The ENOVA Group is operating as a family business since 1989 in the area of renewable energies. As an innovative pioneer with 30 employees, ENOVA develops, realizes and supports wind energy projects on shore and off shore. The services range from project initiation and realization to wind farm management, repowering and maintenance. As a comprehensive project developer and energy service provider, ENOVA offers complete packages for operators and investors for the energy source wind. Nationwide cooperation with energy providers, municipals and forest administration see the reliability and know-how of the “ostfriesischen” wind power pioneers. With the founding of ENOVA IPP, the wind region is expanding its business model at its new location in Hamburg.
More information at: www.enova.de

About EWE:
As an innovative service provider, EWE is active in the fields of energy, telecommunications and information technology. The EWE Group combines its expertise in these areas to design a smart and efficient energy transition and to offer optimal solutions for its customers. In doing so, EWE focuses on partnerships, new markets and grabs the chance of digitalization. With more than 9000 employees and sales of EUR 7.6 billion in 2016, EWE is one of the largest energy companies in Germany.
The company, headquartered in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, is predominantly in municipal hands. It supplies the northwest of Germany, Brandenburg and the island Rügen, as well as internationally in parts of Poland and Turkey over 1.3 million customers with electricity, 1.8 million with natural gas and around 780000 with telecommunication services. For this purpose, various companies of the EWE Group operate about 205000 kilometers of energy and telecommunication networks. In the coming years, EWE will invest more than EUR 1.2 billion in an extensive fiber-optic expansion, creating the basis for the digitalization of the Northwest.
Find out more about EWE at www.ewe.de