Repowering: Elster Wind Farm Goes Live

LBBW is co-financing one of Europe's largest repowering projects and thus continues to drive the energy transition forward.

On 15 August 2025, VSB Group officially commissioned the fully repowered Elster wind farm. 16 state-of-the-art wind turbines with a total capacity of 105.6 megawatts replace 50 older units that had been in operation at the site since 2000.

The annual electricity output of the Elster wind farm has increased from 36 to an impressive 235 gigawatt hours; more than a six-fold increase in capacity. This now supplies around 150,000 people with energy. At the same time, the land area required has been reduced by one third.

Infrastructure financing in transition

From a financial perspective, the Elster wind farm also highlights the potential of repowered infrastructure projects. The project was financed with a total loan volume of EUR 211 million, of which EUR 175 million was provided as long-term debt with a maturity of around 20 years. LBBW and DZ BANK shared the financing and supported the VSB Group throughout the entire process.

Repowering: forward-looking use of technology

The Elster wind farm is a compelling example of how exsisting sites can be made future-proof. The new turbines achieve an output of 6.6 MW each - eleven times the capacity of the previous installations. At the same time, the project has used innovative technology to reduce the area used at the site without limiting energy production.

"We have been supporting this site for over 25 years. With the repowering, we significantly reduce the resources required and create a future-proof infrastructure," explains Thomas Winkler, Managing Director of VSB Germany. Most of the old wind turbines have been reused or repurposed as a source of spare components.

Repowering: from a niche topic to a billion-euro market

Repowering is becoming a megatrend in the wind energy sector. By 2030, turbines with a total capacity of 18 GW in Germany will reach the end of their economic lifecycle and fall out of EEG subsidy schemes. This creates a significant investment requirement of up to 30 billion euros to upgrade or replace existing infrastructure.

Dr. Felix Grolman, CEO of the VSB Group, comments: "The Elster repowering project demonstrates how targeted investments in existing assets can stabilize energy supply and strengthen Europe as an industrial hub in the long term.”

Copyright Picture VSB Gruppe