Hub Height Continues to Rise: Nordex Installs First Wind Turbines on The Company's Tallest Hybrid Tower to Date

Hamburg, Germany - Nordex is currently installing the first Nordex N163/5.X turbines for a consortium consisting of the Finnish utility Helen Ltd and the Ålandsbanken Wind Power Fund at the "Karahka" wind farm site in the North Ostrobothnia region of Finland.

Specially developed concrete-steel hybrid towers with a hub height of 168 metres are being used at the wind farm for the first time.

The concrete tower elements for the turbines at the "Karahka" wind farm have been produced locally in Finland by Lujabetoni Oy since summer 2023. A hybrid tower consists of convex concrete segments up to 20 metres long, which are assembled and braced on site before the steel sections, nacelle and rotor are installed on top. The hybrid tower with a hub height of 168 metres is the tallest tower that the Nordex Group has ever erected.

The development is based on many years of experience in the in-house development and production of Nordex concrete towers, including in Brazil, South Africa and Mexico. According to Nordex, a total of more than 2,500 units have been successfully commissioned to date.

Based on a fully validated hybrid tower technology, Nordex says it will also be able to realise higher hub heights in the coming years in order to enable even higher production of clean wind power. The first installation of a 179 metre high hybrid tower based on the same technology is planned in Germany in 2024.

The "Karahka" wind farm was developed by the Finnish subsidiary of the German project developer and operations manager for wind energy and photovoltaics, the Dresden-based VSB Group. The site is located north of the town of Oulainen, around 40 kilometres east of the Gulf of Bothnia.

Due to the harsh weather conditions in the winter months, Nordex is supplying the turbines in the cold climate version and is also equipping the turbines with its Advanced Anti-Icing System to prevent icing on the rotor blades.

The order placed in 2022 comprises a total of 25 N163/5.X turbines with 147.5 MW.

The Nordex share has not been able to score in today's trading. The share is currently down 1.85 per cent at a price of EUR 9.884 (1:15 p.m., 12 December 2023, Stuttgart Stock Exchange).

Source: IWR Online, Dec 12 2023