The Netherlands is sending its worn-out wind turbines to Ukraine instead of the scrapheap

Ukrainian factories running on a few hours of electricity a day when Russia targets the Ukrainian power grid are buying up the Netherlands' worn-out wind turbines and putting them back to work, De Telegraaf reported. Hundreds of Dutch machines are nearing the end of their working lives at home. Instead of the scrapheap, many are being refurbished and shipped east.

A second life in a war zone

A Ukrainian entrepreneur named Serhii has already bought six of them. He runs a factory in the south that presses oil for the world market, and he wants nine turbines standing on a nearby hill by year's end. His power supply is the reason. The grid gives him roughly two hours of electricity, then ten hours without. A single Dutch turbine can change that math.

The war reaches the machines too — Russian attacks target not only substations and conventional power plants but also solar and wind arrays. A Russian drone hit the blades of one, Serhii said, and his crew set about repairing it. He plans to order three more before the year is out.

Explore further

Netherlands transfers sixth mine countermeasures vessel to Ukraine—named Henichesk after ship sunk in 2022

Between 700 and 800 Dutch machines face the scrap heap in the coming years, with no reuse in sight. Yet many still have fifteen to twenty years of life left. Owners are replacing them with turbines that generate five or six times as much power, a practice the industry calls repowering, according to De Telegraaf.

The reconstruction billions

The Dutch wind trade association, NedZero, sees a bigger prize in Ukraine. It named a vice-chair from the diplomatic world, Bert van der Lingen, a former Dutch ambassador to Lithuania with experience in emerging markets.

Explore further

Wind farms are harder to destroy—so why won’t Ukraine let them scale? (INFOGRAPHICS)

Van der Lingen knows the lenders financing Ukraine's reconstruction, including the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Alongside the tens of billions of euros pledged for weapons and drones, he said, civil support is growing, with tens of billions more set aside.

The catch is scale. Support "tickets" from the big lenders start at €10 million ($11 million), too large for a handful of turbines. So the industry bundles small installations into single big projects, which is where Ukraine's needs become the selling point. The turbines help decentralize Ukraine's grid and deliver green power, and Dutch firms could even become co-producers of wind farms. Eight turbines, he said, are ready to go.