L R AS Published on Friday 28 February 2020 - n° 311 - Categories:power plants
A new future activity, repowering of power plants
Repowering of solar power plants should take place fairly quickly. Usually it is the inverters that need to be changed first, but the panels could also be changed. This would be the case if
projects were originally poorly designed, had guarantees that turned out to be worthless, or were completed too quickly to meet the deadline for obtaining certain tariffs. Wood Mackenzie estimates that 67 GW (half of the world's annual installed capacity) of solar capacity will reach its 20-year mark in this decade, much of it in Europe. The incentive to increase capacity will be particularly evident in the United Kingdom and Germany, where plants lose their financial support as early as 20 years of age.
A number of power plants have to change their inverters. To replace them, the manufacturer must be able to supply them. If it is no longer available, replacement becomes impossible, which can lead to the replacement of the entire equipment. There are many different reasons for a complete changeover: this can range from increasing the production capacity of the panels (possibly with two-sided panels), adding revenue from the grid, or installing batteries to increase revenue after the subsidy period. For example, the replacement of a faulty tracker in Texas required the entire installation to be changed.
The choice to change panels also depends on the subsidy policy of the states. States may not be willing to pay for more power output (e.g. from 250 W to 400 W panels), especially at a very high tariff level. For this reason, some public authorities limit the permitted increase in power. France limits this increase to 1%. Italy limits it to 10%. The only certainty is that it is in the interest of power plant owners to increase the power of their panels.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-repowering-could-be-coming-sooner-than-you-think
GreenTech Media of 26 February
Editor's note Wood Mackenzie is a bit quick to point out the potential for replacement of the photovoltaic installation due to obsolescence or failure of the installations. The 67 GW mentioned will mainly be in the period 2025 - 2030. The replacement volume will then be less than 10 GW per year, which is marginal for global production and will not constitute a particularly promising stimulus.
