Harnessing Wind in West Texas
Brazos Wind Farm embarks on the replacement of its turbine infrastructure to construct more efficiency with fewer turbines and higher energy generation capacity.
West Texas seems to have more sky the further you drive. As the sun sets, those skies are draped with stars as far as the eye can see. An hour and a half south from Lubbock, Texas, you come upon the Caprock Escarpment, where the Llano Estacado dramatically drops to the Rolling Plains, with wind turbines galore. This sprawling land where the air flows freely and the sun shines more days than not is prime for the future of energy generation.
The small town of Fluvanna is home to a maze of windfarms – and one spot in particular, the Brazos Wind Farm, is creating enough energy to power more than 67,000 households.
The winds of change
Sitting on approximately 10,000 acres, Brazos Wind Farm, constructed in 2003, was nearing the end of its design life - the standard lifespan of turbine components are 20 to 30 years. In 2021, a repower was planned, consisting of full removal and replacement of the turbine infrastructure. Along with replacement of the turbine infrastructure, a full redesign was undertaken to construct a more efficient facility with fewer turbines and higher energy generation capacity.
With the repower completed in 2023, 160 turbines have been decommissioned and replaced by 38 next-generation Nordex turbines. The Nordex turbines allow for improved remote monitoring and data generation used for advanced analytics, improving overall reliability and safety. These updated turbines will increase energy generation capacity by approximately 14%, generating 182.4 megawatts (MW) of electricity with 122 fewer turbines on-site.
The afterlife of turbine blades
From those 160 decommissioned wind turbine blades, 2100 tons of fiberglass were removed and transferred to a new repurposing facility, which will produce repurposed products from wind turbine blades for use in concrete, asphalt, composites, and bulk molding applications, without relying on a thermal or chemical process.
Dana Herrera, General Manager Onshore Operations”As these earlier generation wind sites reach end-of-life, it’s important for us to continue to source innovative and sustainable ways of repurposing the blades.”
The way the wind blows
Shell sold 60% interest in Brazos in 2023, though retains 100% of its electron offtake, supporting Shell’s integrated power strategy as the company focuses on opportunities to integrate across the value chain through trading and optimization.
Glenn Wright, Senior Vice President, Shell Energy“As Shell continues to move toward becoming a net-zero emissions energy business, the clean energy from assets like Brazos will help get us there.”
