Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has won an order from E.ON subsidiary Avacon Natur for a 29MW wind farm being built at a challenging site on a steel production facility in Germany’s Lower Saxony state.
The order for seven of the OEM’s V136-4.2MWs also covers the civil engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) part of the project, including the design and building of foundations, roads and crane pads.
“We were faced with a unique project environment which required innovative solutions such as a Vestas Ice Detection system, a project specific installation concept meant for sites with extremely limited space and a condition monitoring system for the rotor blades,” said Nils de Baar, president at Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
The facility’s limited space and industrial infrastructure meant the project, which was launched through Vestas’ New Business Segments unit as part of a push “to identify new customers and projects outside our standard scope”, required specific transportation and installation solution for construction without disrupting ongoing steel production.
Avacon Natur project manager Torsten Hausmann added: "Due to the location, it is undoubtedly a lighthouse project. After an intensive planning phase and many hours together with Vestas, we are looking forward to the successful execution of this unique project and are excited about operating this project in this special environment for many years to come.”
Once installed, the project will produce around 75GWh a year, enough clean energy to provide the energy consumption of more than 20,000 German households.
