General Economic Analysis about the Wind Farms Repowering in Spain

Environmental pollution and emissions from greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuel use are a threat to sustainable development. With renewable energy sources, no polluting emissions are released into the atmosphere. Therefore, using these sources on a large-scale is a key to reducing emissions and meeting the commitments established by Kyoto Protocol. Moreover, EU wants that the 20% of energy consumption is renewable in 2020. This study describes economic aspects, such as net present value and internal profitability rate, of the repowering process for the wind farms. Repowering can generate considerably more power with fewer facilities. This process was the result of a growing demand for renewable energies, facilitated by the great potential of wind energy in the north of Spain. The wind farms studied in this work were set up before 1998 and they had obsolete machinery with low power. There are strong indications that repowering is a profitable endeavour.