Enercon installs new wind turbines in Germany

ENERCON has installed the first E-nacelle for a customer WEC this past Sunday (3 April).  The E-160 EP5 E3 is erected at the wind farm in Hämelhausen (Lower Saxony / Germany), one of three wind energy converters based on the new WEC concept. For WEC manufacturer ENERCON, this is an important milestone on the road to even more competitive products.

‘The E-nacelle is one of our most important product developments,’ says ENERCON CTO Jörg Scholle. ‘By integrating the power system into the nacelle, we have taken the final step towards a state-of-the-art product design for this main component – a substantial contribution to lowering the cost of energy.’

The new E-nacelle is box-shaped, 14.06 metres long, 4.99 metres wide and 3.40 metres tall. Its compact design realises cost savings in production, transport and logistics as well as installation. E-nacelles are fully cabled and tested already at the factory. And switching the power cables from low voltage to medium voltage means faster commissioning.

‘We are proud that we can install the first wind energy converter with E-nacelle. The new concept has already proved its worth in the real world. Its plug & play features optimise processes at the construction site significantly,’ says project manager Christoph Madena. Söhnke Schierloh, Managing Director of the Schierloh Engineering Group, a shareholder of operating company M+S Wind GmbH & Co KG, also expresses his satisfaction: ‘The excellent, trusting cooperation that has grown between ENERCON and the Schierloh Engineering Group during the last few years has found its continuation in this project. This is true for the entire process from project planning to the permitting process to the actual construction work at the site. We thank the entire team who are putting such great work and commitment into this project.’

The E-160 EP5 E3 has a nominal power of 5.56 MW and a site-dependent annual energy yield of about 21,000 MWh. There is a selection of tower versions with hub heights between 99 and 166 metres. The rotor diameter of the E-160 EP5 E3 is 160 metres – the largest yet of all ENERCON wind energy converters.