RWE has commissioned its new Muel wind farm, located in the Aragon region near Zaragoza, Spain. Within just eight months, 27 wind turbines (Nordtank 600KW) with a combined capacity of 16.2 megawatts (MW) were dismantled and replaced by three modern turbines (Nordex N163/6.X) with a total capacity of 19.97 MW. The use of more powerful turbines will more than double production from a calculated 9,400 to 21,000 Spanish households supplied - and that with the same grid connection. As 99.82% of the materials of the old wind farm have been recovered or recycled, the project has received the ZeroWaste certificate from the independent Bureau Veritas Group. A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the asset has been secured with an undisclosed offtaker.
Katja Wünschel, CEO RWE Renewables Europe & Australia: “This is repowering at its best! From 27 to three turbines in just eight months, while more than doubling the number of homes supplied. Muel has perfectly demonstrated that repowering gives wind farms a valuable second life with close to zero waste. Many of the old components will be reused in our wind fleet and even the blades will be recycled and repurposed. Special thanks go to the RWE team, the relevant authorities, and our partners BBA1, GES, Nordex and RenerCycle.”
Innovative solutions for circularity and zero waste
At the beginning of April 2025 the old turbines were disconnected from the grid after 27 years of reliable service. Circularity company RenerCycle, which develops solutions for achieving zero waste in the end-of-life process of wind farms, dismantled the old Muel wind farm and took care of all components: 1,350 old components will be refurbished for later use in other RWE wind farms, 1,825 metric tonnes of ferrous material will be recovered and more than 99.8% of the materials will be recycled, including the 81 blades, the aim being to recover components such as fiberglass and resins for reuse in various sectors.
Funding
The Muel repowering project receives funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021, through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – financed by the European Union - NextGenerationE.
Huge potential for repowering in the Spanish onshore wind market
A total of around 10 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity in Spain will reach 25 years of operation, representing a huge potential for repowering. Repowering represents an important opportunity for Spain to increase renewable energy production while reducing the environmental impact of projects and improving integration into the electricity system through modern wind turbines with enhanced performance.
RWE Renewables Iberia
RWE Renewables Iberia is a key driver of the Spanish energy transition, developing green projects across the country. The company operates 18 onshore wind farms with a total capacity of around 500 MW and seven large-scale solar power plants with a total capacity of around 300 MWac on the Iberian Peninsula.
A picture of the new Muel wind farm for media use (credit: RWE) isavailable at the RWE Media Centre.
