Germany - Ten thousandth ENERCON turbine installed

Since 9 October 2006, the ten thousandth ENERCON wind turbine is connected to the grid. It is located on a mountain ridge just above the small village of Kisselbach in the Hunsrück region (German state of Rhineland-Palatinate): A milestone in ENERCON’s company history!

The ENERCON E-82/2MW with a 108 metre hub height was bought by JUWI GmbH in Mainz, one of Germany’s leading companies in the renewable energy industry. The high performance E-82 is one of 10 wind turbines that have been erected at the Kisselbach wind farm (see image). The site is located 475 metres above sea level in a wooded area near a 640-inhabitant village nestled in the Hunsrück region. Particularly due to this location, installation is a special challenge as ENERCON’s project manager, Thilo Schmidt, explains. “There’s not much room and the lorries have to climb quite steep slopes.”

This is a typical site for wind farms in Rhineland-Palatinate. The mountain range covered with dense forests also offers excellent wind conditions at these elevations. “State authorities have recognized this potential and have took the appropriate constructive measures to promote this”, explains Thilo Schmidt. Hence in this state alone, ENERCON and JUWI are currently working on projects totalling roughly 50 turbines. “We only needed one year to plan the wind farm, which is quite unusual for wind turbine planning. This was mainly facilitated by the quick and efficient processing of the permit application and by the two communities involved: Kisselbach and Liebeshausen”, reports Matthias Willenbacher, Managing Director at JUWI.

“We've been following ENERCON’s success story for years and are delighted that the jubilee turbine is one of our projects especially since we've been working so successfully with them for such a long time”, Willenbacher adds. The E-82 model was chosen because of its excellent performance at inland sites and because of its extreme reliability based on the tried and tested technology of its predecessors, the E-66 and E-70.

JUWI, which is in charge of this project, will also be looking after the commercial and technical management once installation has been completed. The actual owner is an international investment group. So far, JUWI has already installed more than 200 wind turbines at over 40 sites with a total output capacity of over 300 megawatts. Most are situated in Rhineland-Palatinate, but others can be found in North Rhine-Westphalia and France (Brittany).

Gordon Hoch, sales manager for ENERCON’s sales office in Bingen, points out that working with JUWI has always been pleasant, constructive and geared towards solutions. “Our joint cooperation is facilitated by the short distance between Bingen and Mainz.”