One of the highest-capacity onshore wind farms in Germany shifts into the implementation phase with the Papenburg project. At a public contract signing ceremony at the Husum Wind trade fair today, the order for 20 turbines from Nordex with a total rated capacity of 140 megawatts was signed by Gernot Gauglitz, Managing Partner of the UKA Group, which is responsible for the design of the project. The concrete foundations and concrete parts for the hybrid towers, with a hub height of 164 meters, are supplied by Max Bögl Wind AG.

The wind farm will be constructed on the Mercedes-Benz automobile testing site near Papenburg in Lower Saxony. The corresponding contract was signed as recently as in May 2023, and since then UKA as the energy farm developer has completed both the planning and the approval processes in a very short timeframe.

Prior to signing the contract for the purchase order, Gernot Gauglitz, Managing Partner of the UKA Group, said: “I am proud of the fact that we, as owners of the future wind farm, will be supplying Mercedes-Benz AG with electricity for the next 25 years. This project shows that UKA, which generates its own climate-friendly electricity, is an attractive supplier of electricity even to large industrial corporations. Despite some challenges – for example at the construction site – the project team is pressing ahead with the construction of the wind farm in record time. The wind farm on the Mercedes-Benz testing area is a flagship project in our portfolio of onshore wind farms currently under construction in Germany, representing more than 1.5 GW in total.”

José Luis Blanco, CEO of Nordex Group, said: “We are pleased to be able to continue our existing collaboration with UKA in Germany. We especially appreciate the renewed trust in our technology and our project management at the Papenburg wind farm, particularly given the size and significance of this project for everyone involved.”

Stefan Bögl, CEO of the Max Bögl Group, added: “New plant generations require a stable foundation to ensure operation of the wind farm for two decades. The practical combination of state-of-the-art turbine technology from Nordex and our proven Bögl hybrid tower promises exactly this: The ability to successfully harvest power from wind. We are pleased that, together with UKA and Nordex, we are part of this major project and are thus working together to drive forward the expansion of wind power in Germany.”

Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, responsible for Production, Quality and Supply Chain Management: “The wind farm in Papenburg is an important building block of our sustainable business strategy - from an ecological and also an economic perspective. The start of construction impressively illustrates that we are consistently putting our ambitious sustainability goals for the production network into practice and thus achieving a measurable impact. We are pleased with the great progress made and are proud as Mercedes-Benz, together with our strong partners, to expand the use of wind energy in Germany with the new wind farm in Papenburg.”

If everything goes according to plan, the first turbines will begin operation on a trial basis by as early as 2027. Once fully commissioned, the wind farm will cover about 20 percent of the annual electricity needs of Mercedes-Benz Group AG in Germany. When it is completed, it will be one of the largest onshore wind farms in Germany, with an electricity generation capacity of about 140 megawatts. The electricity supply contract was concluded for a term of at least 25 years from the start of delivery. The planned wind farm is part of energy farm developer UKA’s extensive 11-gigawatt project pipeline in Germany.

The project will involve 20 turbines from German manufacturer Nordex (N163/6.X), each with a capacity of 7 MW. The concrete foundations and concrete parts for the hybrid towers at the wind farm, with a hub height of 164 meters, are manufactured and installed by Max Bögl Wind AG.

left José Luis Blanco, CEO Nordex Group, middle Gernot Gauglitz, Managing Partner of the UKA Group, right Stefan Bögl, CEO of the Max Bögl Group

Picture: UKA-Group