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Panther Creek III, which began operating in 2009 with 133 turbines, underwent a repowering project with longer blades and upgraded gearboxes. The work raised the wind farm’s capacity to 215 MW and was designed to increase annual electricity production from the existing turbines. Nearly 90% of the blade material by weight was set to be reused as engineered material for cement manufacturing. The changes increased Panther Creek III’s installed capacity to 215 MW, according to an RWE official press release. RWE’s announcement said the longer blades and upgraded gearboxes would improve the performance of the 133 turbines, while the removed blades would enter Veolia’s cement-kiln processing system.
The project therefore increased the output potential of the existing 133-turbine site without adding another set of turbines to the wind farm.
Veolia North America, which is involved in processing the removed blades, said the increase was achieved by replacing the existing blades with longer versions and upgrading the turbine gearboxes. A wind farm in West Texas has gained additional generating capacity while giving its old turbine blades a new industrial use. At the same time, the blades removed during the upgrade were processed for use in cement production. The Panther Creek III project brought together two aspects of wind-farm repowering: increasing the productivity of an existing installation and finding a use for components removed during the upgrade.
