Wind farms End of life strategies - Uruguay's future challenge

Uruguay has reached levels of wind energy participation in the energy matrix that make it rank among the top countries in the world. The levels of wind power in the country, now bring a concern for a future challenge. What to do when these plants reach the end of their useful life? Lifetime Extension, Repowering or Decommissioning? Lifetime extension of a wind power plant consists of replacing some components in order to increase its operating period. Repowering consists of replacing old turbines with new ones, and decommissioning is the complete removal of the plants. The objective of this paper is to present the current situation in Uruguay in terms of the operating time of wind power plants, to verify the current existing regulations for the end-of-life of plants, and to suggest action plans. Plants were identified that by 2028 will have reached 20 years of operation, with the most critical period being 203 more turbines/year reaching end of life as of 2034. There is a long technical and regulatory path for wind power plants in Uruguay to the end of their useful life, it is necessary to start studies as soon as possible, considering that there are several cases in the world, where repowering is recommended even before the end of the useful life of the wind power plant.