Project Repowering Technical Services
Repowering provides owners and investors with improved production, extended asset life, and lower O&M costs, and, if repowering a US-based renewable energy project, benefits from the production tax credit (PTC).
The teams of engineers and analysts at ArcVera Renewables offer a comprehensive range of project repowering services for aging wind, solar, and hybrid assets.
We help you evaluate and understand the benefits of repowering your operating assets and provide the technical due diligence required for repowering or purchasing a planned repowered asset. You can depend on ArcVera’s experience to provide the risk mitigation needed to ensure the success of your repowered renewable energy project.
Repowering Wind Assets
Our proven methodology uses pre-construction wind resource data and available operational data to estimate the energy production of the new repowered configurations. Preconstruction data is used to estimate the un-waked gross energy production, and operational data provides site-specific losses and availability to estimate the net energy production of the repowered configuration. The term we use for this analysis is operational backcast energy assessment (OBEA). Learn more about ArcVera’s operational assessments and OBEAs here.
Whether the prospective repowered project will be a full replacement of wind turbine technology or a partial replacement of components or systems of components, ArcVera’s thorough understanding of wind turbine technology informs the necessary technical due diligence.
Our engineering due diligence for a repowered wind energy asset includes the evaluation of the useful life of reused components, OEM site suitability analyses, and wind turbine supply agreements of all new technology proposed for the new technology configuration.
Once the repowered project is designed, the contracted power curves of the new configuration will need to be verified with a power performance test (PPT) to ensure the repowered project is indeed an improvement to the previous configuration. Learn more about ArcVera’s IECRE-approved, a2La-accredited PPT services here.
Repowering Solar Assets
Repowering increases the production and capacity factor by replacing degraded or dated technology with new, more efficient technologies. For solar projects operating in the US, repowering could be used to take advantage of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) recently included for solar in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Relying on the PTC means that solar tax equity investments benefit from more reliable inverter technology, accurate energy production estimates, and efficient O&M plans to improve availability.
ArcVera provides solar asset owners with technical support to upgrade their facilities and optimize the value of their renewable energy assets.
Our repowering services include:
«We greatly enjoy working with ArcVera — their speed to turn challenging projects helps enable our project evaluation, acquisition, and execution activities. Whether we need to quickly evaluate the wind at a potential new site or quickly re-design an acquired site in support of a key deadline, ArcVera is a great resource.»
JIM MARETT
Senior Associate, Swift Current Energy
Related case studies
Sweetwater 1, 2 and 3 Wind Farms Repowering
In 2018, Leeward Renewable Energy (Leeward) asked ArcVera Renewables to apply its wind resource assessment expertise to support the repowering of their Sweetwater 1 & 2 wind farms.
Leeward is a leading renewable energy producer that currently owns and operates 21 wind farms across the United States, with a total installed capacity of exceeding 2,000 megawatts. Leeward owns and operates the Sweetwater projects located in Nolan County, Texas.
The Sweetwater projects are relatively mature. Phases 1 & 2 became commercially operational in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The projects utilized GE 1.5S and GE 1.5 SLE model wind turbines. With significant evolution of GE wind turbine technology in the 15 years since the project was constructed, and the passage of U.S. tax reform to support renewable energy development, the Leeward’ team elected to undertake a repowering of the Sweetwater 1 & 2 project to enhance the performance of the project.
WIND ENERGY ASSESSMENT SWEETWATER 1 & 2 REPOWERING PROGRAM
As a leading wind industry consultant and a trusted Leeward development wind energy project technical partner, ArcVera advised and supported the repowering of Sweetwater 1 & 2. To do so, ArcVera developed a unique hybrid methodology that combined traditional pre-construction wind energy resource assessments with operational energy assessments. ArcVera has employed state-of-the-science mesoscale modeling combined with advanced tools to predict the energy production for the repowered Sweetwater 1& 2 projects.
RESULTS
In January 2018, Leeward announced the successful completion of the repowering of the projects. The Sweetwater 1 & 2 repowering enhanced the performance of the wind farms by replacing major existing components, resulting in a material increase in annual energy production. Through the repowering project, the companies installed state-of-the-art technology at the facilities to increase the sites’ efficiency, reduce costs and extend the life of some of Leeward’s oldest operating assets.
On November 23, 2020, Leeward Renewable Energy announced the successful completion, in late September, of the repowering and final financial close of its Sweetwater 3 Wind Farm in Nolan County, Texas. GE Energy Financial Services and BHE Renewables provided tax equity financing. As with Phases 1 & 2, ArcVera Renewables technically advised and supported the repowering of Sweetwater 3.
“Since Sweetwater 1 and 2’s new commercial operation date, the projects have achieved ArcVera’s energy yield performance estimate and the production delivered by the new GE wind turbine technologies,” said Jason Allen, Leeward Renewable Energy Interim CEO. “Leeward is impressed with the results of the project performance meeting the estimated values ArcVera Renewables provided.”
Crescent Ridge Wind Project Full-Scale Repowering
Leeward Renewable Energy chose ArcVera Renewables’ technical expertise to support the tax equity financed full-scale repowering of its Crescent Ridge wind energy facility. Now operational, the project capacity was increased from 54.45MW to 60.9MW. Net energy is expected to be much higher due to the improvements in wind turbine technology. Tax equity was utilized for project financing and a formal Reliance Letter was executed on September 21, 2021, by ArcVera Renewables, Leeward Renewable Energy development joint-venture LLC, Wells Fargo Bank, and Santander Bank, N.A.
ArcVera used a ‘hybrid’ approach to its wind energy resource assessment (WERA) methodology where both preconstruction and operational wind energy resource data were utilized. ArcVera’s latest WERA techniques deliver a much-improved wind energy resource assessment. Based on our benchmarking studies our methodology achieves a project lifetime performance ratio of 98.8%, excluding unknown curtailment at 28 of 31 projects and a standard deviation of 4.7%. When global curtailment adjustments are applied, the performance ratio is 99.9% with a standard deviation of 4.8%.
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