Escrapalia, a specialised auction platform of the Surus Group, is auctioning 73 wind turbines as part of the project to modernise the Koudia Al Baida wind farm in Morocco
The Vestas V42 wind turbines, manufactured between 1999 and 2000, have an output of 600kW, includes the nacelle and rotor blades.
The sale will be divided into different online auctions through Escrapalia. The first of these, already available on the portal, features 12 complete wind turbines that can be purchased as a single unit, as individual lots or as a joint lot of all ten units.
The remaining auctions will be held until 5 March 2023 throughout the dismantling process.
The auction is part of the complete dismantling project of the Koudia Al Baida Wind Farm, located in Tangier-Tetouan-Al (Hoceïma). The project has been awarded by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, which in turn relies on the expertise of Surus in charge not only of the sale but also of its associated processes. Surus will manage the dismantling of the wind turbines to minimise the visual and environmental footprint.
The Surus Group will apply to this project the experience acquired in Zas and Corme (La Coruña), where 141 wind turbines were replaced by 17 wind turbines maintaining the same power output (42.3MW); or in Malpica (La Coruña), where 69 turbines generating 15.07MW were replaced by seven new ones that produce 16.45MW. This represents 65% of the total MW repowering carried out in Spain.
Blade recycling is one of the biggest complications to address in terms of sustainability when repowering a wind farm, as fiberglass management is very complex. In the case of this project, Surus will be in charge of recycling the surplus blades, which will be taken to a specialised plant where they will be shredded. This shredded material will be taken to a cement factory and used for the manufacture of cement, thus re-entering the production process, which means the generation of zero waste. In this way, 241 tons of waste that would be generated by the blades alone will be avoided.
In addition to managing the sale of the wind turbines, a second life will also be sought for the wind farm's transformer substations.