In February of this year, the Nordex Group installed a 3-MW turbine on a 134-m tubular steel tower in a test field operated by Windtest Grevenbroich for GP Joule, a project developer. Prior to this, Nordex has always installed its turbines with hub heights in excess of 120 m, in continental Europe on hybrid towers — a combination of concrete and tubular steel towers.
Starting in mid-2018, Nordex’s new tower technology will be available for the recently launched N131/3600 and N131/3900 wind turbines and available in international markets.
The reason for this is that for very high hub heights the diameter of a conventional lower tubular steel segment would be more than 4.30 m, which would make it impossible to transport them under bridges. The diameter of the lower segment of the new tower is exactly 4.30 m, which solves the bottleneck problem.
The aim of the new tower concept is to extend the know-how and experience with respect to high towers as an alternative to the use of hybrid towers. The results of the latest tests conducted already confirm that the tubular steel tower is perfectly suitable, given the 20-year service life of the turbine.
The site of the project is located in North-Rhine Westphalia, in the Grevenbroich wind test field. It is also operated by Windtest Grevenbroich. For Nordex this test field has a historic importance. This was where, in the year 2000, the company installed and commissioned the world’s first multi-megawatt machine, the N80/2500.
“We are very happy that GP JOULE was able to successfully complete the planning and construction of the 3-MW turbine on the Grevenbroich wind test field,” said GP JOULE founder and CEO, Ove Petersen. “This is now the second collaboration with Nordex in the context of planning, installing and operating a new type of turbine on a wind test field.”
The first light-wind turbine from Nordex, the N131/3600, was installed by GP JOULE on the Windtestfeld Nord in the Südermarsch, near Husum.
“The fact that Nordex has again placed its trust in GP JOULE for the Grevenbroich project shows that the expertise of our company in planning and implementing complex problems is perceived and respected in the market – also by prestigious industrial companies such as Nordex,” added Petersen.
Filed Under: News, Projects, Turbines
