Old wind turbines need replacement
[Thodoris Nikolaou]
The first generation of wind turbines, installed starting in the mid-1990s, is rapidly reaching the end of its lifetime and some are overdue for a replacement. It is estimated that about 775 wind turbines will have to be replaced by 2030.
PPC Renewables, a subsidiary of state-controlled Public Power Corporation, is the only company that has been systematically taking down and replacing its wind turbines: from 2018 and 2021, it uninstalled 101 and replaced them with 23 more powerful ones.
But private firms have largely not followed: some installations are lying abandoned, with fragments of blades lying about and polluting the ground with microplastics, such as on the island of Evia.
