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New hybrid steel tower variants cover expected volume and make high hub heights available worldwide
ENERCON is developing additional and taller hybrid steel towers (HST) for the current EP5 turbine types. With the additional steel tower variants, the tower portfolio will be expanded to cover the expected demand against the background of increasing customer demand and to be able to offer towers with high hub heights worldwide and deliver them as early as 2026.
Until now, ENERCON customers planning EP5 turbines with high hub heights have only been able to choose hybrid towers with a combination of concrete and steel segments. ‘In order to be able to deliver for our customers in the coming years and to prevent the onshore expansion, which has finally gained momentum, from stalling again due to limited capacities, we are expanding the tower portfolio for the EP5 with an additional technology,’ says Maria-Josefa Brand, Tower Product Manager at ENERCON Product Management. ‘This step puts tower production on a broader footing and reliably secures our volume for the coming years.’
The HST tower is a hybrid steel tower technology (Hybrid Steel Tower) developed by ENERCON. It combines segments of the Modular Steel Tower (MST) consisting of folded steel plates bolted together for the tower base with segments of a tubular steel tower (ST), which are placed on the lower MST segments.
The HST technology has already proven itself in practice and is also available for new tower variants with high hub heights at short notice. It also offers advantages for international markets: the components are easy to transport and use simple installation concepts, and production can be localised without major effort – for example in countries with local content requirements.
‘With the new HST towers, we will also be able to offer EP5 customers in international markets tower variants with high hub heights in the future,’ says Timo Müller, EP5 Platform Manager at ENERCON Product Management. ‘Due to the transport restrictions for HT towers, high hub heights were previously reserved for our customers in Germany.’ As a first step, ENERCON is offering the new tower variants ‘HST 162m’ for the E-175 EP5 E1/E2, ‘HST 175m’ for the E-175 EP5 E2 and ‘HST 166m’ for the E-160 EP5 E3. ENERCON is focussing on minimising the effort required for any changes to approvals for customers during the launch in Germany and is well prepared.
In the medium/long term, there could be further advantages in terms of sustainability properties if HST towers can be manufactured from CO²-reduced steel or even CO²-neutral steel. Thanks to the technology and the stable material value due to the price of steel, HST towers offer customers significant cost advantages when it comes to subsequent dismantling or repowering.
As a provider of integrated solutions for the connected Green Energy Ecosystem, ENERCON supports its customers in the realization of onshore wind energy projects. To fully unlock project potential, the company combines its high-performance, high-yield wind turbines with complementary solution components and services, enhancing customer benefits and the overall value of wind energy. The range of the solution portfolio, from which customers can select modules according to their requirements, extends from planning and installation to management and control, service and maintenance, and optimization of system performance during the operational phase.
As a pioneer in renewable energy with over 40 years of experience and a deep understanding of the demands of a changing energy system, ENERCON’s scope has always extended beyond mere wind turbines. With the mission ‘Energy for the World’, the company has been committed to sustainable energy generation from onshore wind since 1984. Thanks to its innovative turbine technology, high quality standards, and an installed total capacity of more than 65 gigawatts, ENERCON is among the world’s leading renewable energy companies.
With extensive expertise in the area of ‘holistic project development’, ‘connected operations’, and ‘smart optimization’, a dense service network, and a broad network of partners and service providers, ENERCON is a competent and reliable partner for its customers in all project phases. Headquartered in Aurich, Lower Saxony, the company employs around 13,000 people at administrative, sales, production, and service locations worldwide.
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