Re-powering

A second wave of installation

Mature wind markets in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States are reaching the end of the design life of their first-generation onshore fleets. 1.0 MW to 2.5 MW machines installed in the 1990s and 2000s are being retired. The economic and grid case for re-powering is strong and growing: taking the same site, with the same interconnection and the same wind resource, and installing a 4.0 MW or 6.0 MW machine in place of the original. Industry estimates put the addressable re-powering market in the tens of GW per year through 2030.

Why this matters for the lift

Re-powering is two operations stacked on top of each other: a decommissioning lift and a new-build lift, on the same site, often within the same project schedule. Doing both with different equipment doubles mobilization cost and stretches the schedule. Doing both with the same platform shortens the project, reduces the equipment cost, and keeps the site footprint tight.

How CLS Wind helps

KINKA LIFT™ performs both operations from the same elevating platform. The legacy turbine is removed, the foundation is inspected and (if compatible) reused, and the new turbine is installed in place. Site preparation, road reinforcement, and equipment mobilization are all single-pass rather than double. For projects where the existing foundation cannot carry a larger machine, the platform also enables foundation-replacement work without changing the lifting equipment.

Where the existing tower is structurally compatible with a larger nacelle, the same lift mode supports a tower-retain re-powering: replacing only the nacelle and rotor while preserving the steel tower, foundation, and grid interconnection. In industry usage this variant is sometimes called recommissioning. KINKA LIFT supports both modes from the same platform configuration.

Which platform to ask for

• Onshore re-powering: KINKA LIFT. Decommission and install on the same platform, on the same site, in a single mobilization.