Windpower Engineering & Development

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Most recent posts
    • News
    • Featured
  • Resources
    • Digital issues
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
    • Events
  • Videos
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

GE and Max Bögl to install world’s tallest wind turbine — integrated with pumped storage

By Michelle Froese | October 3, 2016

ge

While power produced by the turbines and pumped storage unit will both feed the grid, additional energy will also be stored as hydro capacity to help balance the intermittent nature of wind power.

General Electric Company (GE), through its GE Renewable Energy business, has signed a turbine supply agreement with Max Bögl Wind AG to deliver and commission the world’s tallest wind turbine — and first ever turbine integrated with pumped storage hydro-electric power.

The full scope of the Gaildorf project, located in Germany’s Swabian-Franconian Forest on the Limpurger Berge uplands, will consist of four units of GE’s new 3.4-137 turbine technology and a 16-MW capacity pumped storage hydro-electric power plant. The hydro plant will be supplied under a separate agreement between Max Bögl, Naturspeicher and Voith.

The base and surrounding area of each wind-turbine tower will be used as a water reservoir, effectively increasing tower height by 40 meters. At a total tip height of 246.5 meters, once installed these units will become the tallest wind turbines in the world to date.

“We are very excited to collaborate with Max Bögl on this pilot project; a first for the industry,” said Anne McEntee, President & CEO of GE’s Onshore Wind business. “We are committed to exploring innovative renewable energy technologies that have the potential to improve grid flexibility in Europe and around the world.”

The Gaildorf project marks a major step forward in balancing power demand and supply fluctuations using renewable energy sources. The combined wind and hydro power plant will provide balancing power for fast-response stabilization of the grid, maintaining a low cost of electricity for residents in Germany.

GE’s 3.4-137 wind-turbine generators will sit at a hub height of 178 meters, while the lower 40 meters of each tower and its surrounding area will be used as active water reservoirs to store energy. A nearby valley, about 200 vertical meters below the turbines, will house an additional lake and a 16-MW capacity pump/generator hydro plant.

During times of peak demand and high electricity prices, the hydro plant will be in production mode. During times of low electricity demand and lower prices, the hydro plant will be in pump mode, pumping and storing water and, therefore, energy in the upper reservoir for later use.

While the actual electricity produced by the turbines and the pumped storage unit will feed the wider grid, the net effect will be to use the stored hydro capacity to balance the intermittent nature of wind power through the optimal use of energy at different times of the day.

GE’s 3.4-137 machine is part of its new 3-MW wind platform, unveiled late last year; a platform well-suited for a variety of wind conditions throughout Europe.  The new units feature software and analytics capabilities that are compatible with GE’s Digital Wind Farm ecosystem, powered by the Predix* software platform.

The four wind turbines are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2017 and the full Gaildorf power plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.


Filed Under: News, Projects, Towers, Turbines
Tagged With: GE
 

About The Author

Michelle Froese

Related Articles Read More >

Equinor launches ECO Liberty service operations vessel for Empire Wind offshore project
Triton Anchor receives U.S. patents for offshore anchor
US government allows Empire Wind offshore project to resume construction
Richardson Electronics to deliver pitch energy modules to TransAlta wind fleets

Podcasts

Wind Spotlight: Looking back at a year of Thrive with ZF Wind Power
See More >

Windpower Engineering & Development Digital Edition Archive

Digital Edition

Explore the full archive of digital issues of Windpower Engineering & Development, presented in a high-quality, user-friendly format. Access current and past editions, clip, share, and download valuable content from the industry’s leading wind power engineering resource.

Windpower Engineering & Development
  • Wind Articles
  • Solar Power World
  • Subscribe to Windpower Engineering
  • About Us/Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising

Search Windpower Engineering & Development

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Most recent posts
    • News
    • Featured
  • Resources
    • Digital issues
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
    • Events
  • Videos
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe