OK for repairing 9 wind farms in Galicia to increase their production by 35%

The Restoral recovery makes it possible to maximize the production of renewable energy sources And increase the efficiency of wind farms. The process consists of replacing the old turbines that are in operation by others, technologically more advanced and more powerful.

Because the new produce more energy than the previous one, fewer units will need to achieve the same amount of energy. This implies a significant decrease in the landscape effect, which contributes to Considerably increase both efficiency and sustainability In energy generation.

Wind Repotentiación and Galicia

The President of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, today remembered that the Galician government gave the environment of the projects of «in the past year in the past yearVoluntary recovery of nine wind farms«, Which will result in a substantial improvement in efficiency and will at the same time reduce the impact on the territory and the landscape. This is, because it will eliminate “286 wind turbines (those that are currently 75) and increases the production capacity of the renewable energy by 35%,” he explained.

This is collected in a report from the Department of Environment and Climate Change on the processed windminding projects and that Analyzes his contribution to the objectives set in the issue of carbon and energy transition.

All these improvements will be achieved thanks to a greater efficiency of the current parks, since «Repower consists of Replace machines installed with more modern and more efficientSo that with far fewer wind turbines it can be guaranteed almost the same power and even considerably increase renewable production, ”said Alfonso Rueda.

In fact, it is estimated that once the improvements have been made, These nine wind farms rang the generation of 615,000 MWh/year at 828,000 MWh/yearWhich is equal to the electricity consumption of more than 230,000 families (more than the population of the city of a Coruña).

In any case, this will not be the only environmental benefits associated with the projects, because, once the requested repower has been carried out, the nine parks will increase More than 100,000 tons of CO2 who are avoided annually in the atmosphereThat is, the same that would generate 81,000 cars that are circulating for a day.

In this way, the Xunta continues to improve the process of low -carbon and energy transition of the community. And it also does it, which applies the same criteria as the EU, which regards the renewable energies of higher public interest “both as they are new implementation projects and to convert improvements in existing”, since then “, since then Contribute to the fight against climate change and safety and the health of people.

Based on that interest in the renewable sector -and in particular of winds and within the framework of its dedication to administrative simplification, the Galician government streamlines the processing of voluntary recovery. Since 2024, the deadlines for administrative authorization have in fact been considerably shortened that they last years to months, which shows that the Xunta is the mandate of the community of aGilis these types of procedures to ensure that no more than two years are extended.

That is why three of the nine wind farms with Repowering projects submitted their requests in December 2023, February 2024 and March 2024, respectively, and They received the environmental permit of the Xunta within a year or less.

In any case, after surpassing the nine repower projects, the President of the Xunta indicated the environmental procedure that “Four already have the necessary permission to initiate adjustment worksAnd the other five are awaiting the latest procedures, so they are expected to be authorized in the coming weeks ».

The shepherd «is not new in Galicia“, Referring that” five parks have already completed the process and have succeeded in reducing the number of wind turbines by 80% without reducing energy production. The total investment in these nine projects acquires 321 million euros and has a subsidy of more than 54.58 million from European funds.

Net emission reduction

Alfonso Rueda remembered that the net emission of greenhouse gases in Galicia «that In 2022 they reduced by 59.8% compared to 1990 ″, a reference year for climate policy At community level it makes a fact that it makes the community that has achieved a greater reduction in this period and that “the goal of the EU is already exceeding by the end of this decade (55%).”

Moreover, he also pointed out that at the moment ‘almost the 45% of the final energy consumption in the community is already from renewable sourcesSo the purpose of the Community Directive for the year 2030 is also achieved, which determines this percentage with a minimum of 42.5%».

Therefore, after years of work in this area, the starting situation of Galicia to the Climate neutrality involvement on the Horizon 2040 – that, ten years before that of the European Commission, because it is marked in the future Climate Act in which the Xunta works- it is good.

However, the economy is increasingly being electrified and the demand level in terms of challenges in the field of low -carbon continues to rise. For this reason, the Judicial blocking situation that influences the wind sector Gallego compromises achieving the objectives in the medium term and also explains why Galicia, a community with excellent wind sources in the field of territory, went into terms of wind energy that was installed to fall to the fourth position .

Waiting for the fabric

In Betting on renewable energy sources, Galicia must increase the current installed wind energy -Algo more than 3,900 MW divided between 190 parks- to approach the goal to reach climatic neutrality on the Horizon of the year 2040. However, a total of 98 wind farms with authorization by the Xunta and with a current of 2,555 MW are affected in the community as a whole by judicial resources.

This situation has a Direct impact on Galician carbon confirmationBecause only with the implementation of the currently blocked projects, the issue of 2.5 million tonnes of CO would be avoided₂ Every year, that is, the fourth part of the ton that Galicia should reduce to achieve the purpose of climatic neutrality.

In that sense, it is necessary to remember that the Xunt last November Environmental processing of wind projects in GaliciaA step that the central government also took to defend the conversion of the Community Directive he made in the 2013 Environmental Evaluation Act.

In fact, the Xunta expects the resolution to take place as soon as possible to understand A judicial ruling of the EU would clarify and accelerate the implementation of the paralyzed projects in the communityIn addition to preventing legal uncertainty in this sector, to expand other countries with sector laws that are comparable to Spanish.