Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Enercon: 1984-2012
In 1984, Aloys Wobben founded a company that would become
one of world's largest and the most influential ever in the wind
industry. After building two self-made turbines (a wind rose and a
15 kW three-bladed machine), the company Enercon was founded,
that specialised in frequency converters and wind turbines. In
1985, the first 55 kW Enercon-15 (15 m diameter) was set up at
Aurich, northern Germany. Very quickly, this turbine became a
focus of attention, for its excellent design and production values
as well as its high grade of technological maturity. These features
led to a fast rise of Enercon turbines. In 1986 the first wind farm,
comprising four Enercon-15 on the island Norderney, was realised
followed by another three wind farms the year after. While the
first Enercon-15 machines still used Danish Alternegy blades,
the successor, Enercon-16, already employed the company's own
blades—a tradition that is still being practiced. Enercon quickly
became a popular name in the circles of the German wind turbine
industry and abroad. In 1988 a 300 kW prototype (Enercon-32) was
erected at Pilsum, northern Germany. It was a big step for German
conditions at that time. Enercon constantly managed to turn old
well-proven ideas into serial production. Be it the serialisation of
ring generators in 1993, when the E-40 clearly revolutionised the
development of wind turbines. Or the adaptation of the old 1920s
blade designs since 2003 that were developed by Albert Betz.
Figure 18.7
Enercon's 500 kW E-40 near Leer, northern Germany, 2008.
Thousands of E-40 working with a ring generator were sold
(Photo: Arne Jaeger).
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