My wind parts has a very, very large warehouse. And for good reason. This Hérault-based company, which has specialized since 2016 in the sale of wind turbine spare parts and in improving their performance, set itself a new challenge last year: to give a second life to these huge machines, which produce energy with the force of the wind. The goal: “to respond to an emerging need on the French market”, as Sébastien Duchesne, founder of this flourishing company, confides.
Indeed, the wind turbines established on the territory, when the sector experienced a real boom, 15 years ago, “are reaching the end of their life”, continues this wind engineer. And the remuneration contract, which guarantees a certain level of purchase price for the electricity produced to the operator, is coming to an end. “It’s much less interesting for the operator and owner of wind farms,” explains Sébastien Duchesne. He then finds himself with fields of aging machines, completely outdated technologically, less reliable and less profitable. “He will then dismantle these old machines, to put in more powerful ones, confides the entrepreneur. But for me, it bothers me deeply to see these wind turbines, which are still able to operate, perhaps another 15 years older, being dismantled and sent for recycling. »
Less expensive machines
My wind parts therefore embarked on the repair of these steel monsters, before reselling them, cheaper. “15 years ago, a 2 megawatt machine was sold for around 2 million euros,” continues the entrepreneur. Today, on the second-hand market, which is a really nascent market, the machine costs around 300,000 euros. The company even offers to sell the reconditioned wind turbines in pieces. In France, the stakes are enormous: a peak in the installation of wind turbines took place in 2008, and next year, they will all be affected by their exit from the guaranteed tariff.
And if, until now, the second hand was excluded from the wind power market, little by little, the regulations are changing. “It was not possible, until 2021, to benefit from a contract of additional remuneration because the conditions of eligibility included the novelty of the components of the installation, confides to 20 minutes Camille Charpiat, head of onshore wind power at the Renewable Energies Syndicate. The specifications of
new tender provided for by the Multiannual Energy Program (PPE) introduced several new features compared to the previous call for tenders. Among these novelties is the possibility of installing second-hand components. »
This new call for tenders, launched last summer, indicates that “only new installations” of wind turbines in France can compete, but that “are considered as new the elements which have never been the subject of prior use or items that have been refurbished”. A godsend, for My wind parts.