Germany has the third highest construction in Europe. With its 368 meters, the Fernsehturm, or the Berlin television tower, is a lighthouse in the German city. It will remain the highest construction in the country, but by little. About 130 kilometers, near the town of Schipkau, the works to lift another colossus have started: the highest wind turbine in the world.
And beyond its dimensions, which are imposing, what really attracts attention is that … it is not Chinese.
Peculiar design. It was last year when we met the project for this wind turbine. The idea is that of a tower with a center at 300 meters above the ground level and a total height telling 365 meter blades. It is very tall, yes, but the blades are less impressive than those of the Chinese wind turbine, with its diameter of 270 meters in which three soccer fields would fit from one end to another of the rotor, which is capable of altering the microclimate.
To achieve such a height, the conventional “Palote” design would not be viable, so that those responsible for Gicon have devised a support similar to that of high voltage towers, but crowned with the turbine and blades. It is something that can be seen in this 3D animation:
It is not a whim. Operating at that height has two advantages. One is that the wind speed is greater and, theoretically, it would allow to increase wind production by 40%. As we read in the Heise, Jochen Grossmann, General Director of Gicon, comments that “the performance of great altitude turbines is double that of conventional facilities.” But it is not just about taking faster winds, but about generating more electricity in fields that already had wind turbines.
They have defined this project as a three -level generation, with solar panels on the ground, installed on land where there were already traditional generators and, as their new ‘mills’ are so high, they could be integrated in parallel to the traditional ones. They would not be stolen wind and the gain would be optimized.
Ambition. At the moment, they have already started the construction and, although they had planned to start producing this year, a small delay has moved the inauguration until some time of 2026. The idea, however, is to install up to 1,000 turbines of these characteristics by the country before 2030.
Complaints. From Gicon it was announced that part of the economic benefits will be shared with the local population, but as we read in the RBB environment, this giant wind turbine has felt good. The Schwarzheide air club submitted an application to the authorities by stating that its location, about two kilometers from the airfield, will harm its activity.
The Superior Administrative Court of Berlin, however, backed down the complaint. And it seems a curious case because the application was filed when the airfield had already been dismantled after the termination of the use contract between Schipkau and Schwarzheide. But well, although it seems that the times are too dilated for the construction of a single wind turbine (for the moment), from the company they have claimed that they prioritize the precision over the speed.
And we will see if things march well in Germany and these projects can be exported to countries such as Spain, one of the countries with more wind installed.
Image | Gicon
In WorldOfSoftware | China installed in August the most powerful “wind turbine” capable of resisting typhons. Two blades have just been broken
