MAKE is issuing new guidance pertaining to treatment of repowered wind turbines in the U.S. as it applies to new unit market share.
MAKE’s initial guidance on 80/20 repowering was only to count nacelle swaps for new unit builds, driven pre-dominantly by the need to capture a change in turbine OEM branding for those sites. Over the course of the past nine months, repowering activity has accelerated, with many turbine OEMs dedicating substantial resources to this effort.
The desire to properly capture this activity has been focused on counting those retrofits/overhauls as new unit build, reflecting the extension of life and substantial investments being made within the US wind fleet.
MAKE has decided to only include new full wind-turbine installations in our reported market share analysis. The 80/20 partial repowering that is occurring in the United States for PTC extension will not be included in our OEM market share reporting.
It understands the criticality of these capacity accounting options, and above all else, wishes to ensure an equitable and transparent methodology is applied to properly characterize the state of the market. Consequently, MAKE is modifying its existing guidance per the bullets below:
- ONLY traditional repowering will be included in new unit build tallies that dictate market shares for the country
- Traditional repowering follows our existing definition
- The entire structure of a wind turbine within a wind farm, including foundations, towers, nacelles and blades, is removed and the site re-graded and decommissioned. A new turbine is installed and commissioned in its place
- ALL 80/20 repowering activity, including nacelle swaps, will be captured in a SEPERATE analysis specific to the United States
- Our desire will be to characterize this market activity in terms of units impacted and the scope of the repowering activities being executed
- MAKE will seek information to characterize the extent of the repowering activity in a yes/no type of survey executed at the FARM level for impacted wind farms
- CRITICAL information includes any changes in rotor diameter or nameplate rating of the turbine
- DESIRED information to characterize scope of repowering activities includes an understanding of which components were exchanged – rotors, main bearings, main shafts, gearboxes, generators and power converters
- Any changes in nameplate rating will NOT count towards new unit MW installations and instead will be focused on the installed base and CUMULATIVE market share of the turbine OEM within the United States
- Our desire will be to characterize this market activity in terms of units impacted and the scope of the repowering activities being executed
MAKE believes that this represents the most equitable arrangement for the major turbine OEMs engaged in the market place. Further, MAKE believes this aligns with other global markets where major overhauls are being conducted.
Finally, it also believes that this massive undertaking within the U.S. will be properly captured and illustrated in the separate analysis we referenced above, and in fact will call additional attention to the enormous market opportunity associated with the installed base of wind turbines in the United States and the enhanced longevity of wind turbine technology.
Filed Under: News, O&M, Repowering
