Under the new cooperation model, project participants will work closely together as equal partners to make wind power expansion in Germany more attractive as market conditions become tougher. The wind farm project in Coesfeld highlights the importance of new kinds of partnerships and intensive discussions among all project participants in challenging times. “There are obvious advantages for the end customer in buying the hybrid towers directly, and this substantially increases the profitability of the Coesfeld project,” states Josef Knitl, CEO of Max Bögl Wind AG.
Solution for challenging times and projects
Siemens Gamesa is also sure the partnership will be a success: “In recent years, we have brought down the costs of wind energy significantly through technological innovations and efficient project management. The Coesfeld project shows how close cooperation between suppliers and project developers can lead to profitable wind farms even at challenging sites,” says Clark MacFarlane, Siemens Gamesa Onshore CEO for the NE&ME region. “We are delighted that together with SL NaturEnergie and Max Bögl Wind AG, we have succeeded in launching a major project that demonstrates the great potential of wind energy in Germany.”
Major project an encouraging sign in difficult times
With 13 state-of-the-art wind turbines, the project in the western Münsterland region is currently one of the largest wind energy projects in North Rhine-Westphalia. It therefore sends out a positive signal for he wind power industry as a whole. Despite the difficult political environment, project planners like SL NaturEnergie remain committed to clean electricity from renewable sources.
The Coesfeld Letter Bruch wind farm will be operated by SL NaturEnergie together with Emergy as a joint venture owned by the Coesfeld and Borken municipal utilities and Letter Wind, a “citizen energy association”. In this way, as much of the value generated by the plant as possible will stay in the region and benefit local people directly. “The wind farm has the broad support of local citizens and the community. It sets an example for the region and beyond. In Coesfeld, from the outset we focused on cooperating with municipal utilities and landowners. This is complemented by citizen participation and a civic foundation that supports local social initiatives. It is important to us that as many people as possible who are involved in the energy transition and helping to protect future generations should also be able to share in the value created,” says Milan Nitzschke, managing director at SL NaturEnergie.
The wind turbines in Coesfeld will play a significant role in making the town’s energy supply more climate-friendly. They will produce around 125,000,000 kWh of clean electricity every year, enough to supply almost 36,000 three-person households, while saving more than 53,000 tons of climate-harming CO2.
Commissioning planned by early 2021
Eight type SWT-142 turbines are being installed at a hub height of 165 metres, each on a Hybrid Tower 2.0 by Max Bögl Wind AG, as well as one type SWT-130 turbine also at 165 metres on a first generation hybrid tower. Four additional type SWT-142 turbines are being installed on steel tube towers at a hub height of 129 m. For all 13 wind turbines, the foundations and concrete segments will be provided by Max Bögl Wind AG.
Symbolic groundbreaking for the wind farm near Coesfeld, with f.l.t.r.: Marco Lange (Communications Manager Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy), Mechtild Schulze Hessing (Mayor of the city Borken and deputy chairwoman of the Emergy shareholders‘), Thomas Stallmeyer (chairman of the Supervisory Board of Wirtschaftsbetriebe der Stadt Coesfeld), Heinz Öhmann (Mayor of the city Coesfeld and chairman of the Emergy shareholders’) sowie Johannes Peter (local farmer and co-director of Letter Wind GmbH) und Klaus Schulze Langenhorst (Founder and managing director of SL NaturEnergie).
Source: SL NaturEnergie GmbH