Repowering is the tuning of wind energy projects. By renewing existing projects, wind energy is used much more efficiently. Older turbines are replaced by modern and more powerful ones. In this way, more electricity is generated on the same area with fewer turbines.

This is all made possible by the research of recent years. Compared to the early days of wind energy in the 1980s, wind turbines in Germany are now being built with hub heights of up to 169 m instead of 30 m, for example. Wind turbines in 2024 are up to 600 times more efficient.

Most wind turbines in Germany are located in Schleswig-Holstein between the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas. The repowering rate here was already 25 percent in 2015. The increase in efficiency thanks to modern turbine technology often makes repowering attractive even before the planned service life of the existing turbines has expired.

While repowering has progressed at a rather low level in Germany since 2018, the all-time high of 1,148 MW from 2014 was narrowly missed in 2023 with a replaced capacity of 1,076 megawatts.

WindEurope estimates that around 27 gigawatts of wind energy capacity will be dismantled by 2030. Around 16 gigawatts of this is to be repowered. 11 gigawatts will be decommissioned. The total capacity will be increased to 28 gigawatts.

In order to achieve the climate targets, around 33 gigawatts of wind energy must be added each year in Europe. An expansion of wind energy of around 29 gigawatts per year is currently considered realistic. This would mean a total of 174 gigawatts of wind energy by the beginning of 2030.