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Nordex Group installed 52 wind turbines in its “Xtended Power Upgrade” to increase their total power output of 135.5 MW at two wind farms in Ireland. The upgrade boosts the annual energy production of Greencoat Renewable PLC (“GRP”), despite severe grid-related production limitations.
GRP operates two wind farms in Ireland: Glencarbry and Knockacummer both in the Republic of Ireland. These turbines are N90/2500 Gamma series and N100/3300 Delta models respectively. They were constructed between 2014 and 2017. The client purchased the Nordex “Xtended Power” upgrade to the turbines as part of GRP’s Performance Enhancement Strategy.
After Nordex’s thorough analysis of the potential to optimize each project in the summer 2021, the nominal power for all wind turbines was increased within a few months thanks to this upgrade. The turbines can now produce clean electricity.
Greencoat has been working hard on its global performance optimization plan for the past few months. This has resulted in significant improvements to its base case model. These optimizations were categorized into different buckets such as Revenues, Opex and PPA. In this case, the “Generation” category led to an upgrade of several Nordex turbines. This collaboration with Nordex Group was a great success for Greencoat.
The Group offers its clients the option of Delta generation turbines, “Xtended Power Delta”, as an additional package. More than 180 wind turbines across Europe have been upgraded to date. The company also offers “Xtended Power Gamma” to N90/2500 Gamma machines. The “Xtended Power” upgrade can increase the annual energy production by as much as 3 percent due to its higher nominal power.
Nordex Group uses its expertise as a manufacturer of high-efficiency turbines to implement state-of-the-art developments, from current series production to continuous performance improvement for older generation turbines. The Nordex Group’s “Upgrade” or “Xtended Power” products offer wind farm operators the chance to quickly upgrade their turbines to new generation performance levels. This is possible through products that are tailored to their specific needs. With “Xtended Lifetime”, wind turbines can continue to operate reliably well beyond the time they were originally designed for.
