Germany is one of the leaders for onshore wind power in Europe with around 54,000 MW of installed output. EnBW has also contributed to this total and is pushing forward the expansion of wind power – not only in its heartland of Germany but also in selected foreign markets.
Onshore success across Germany
We operate wind farms both in Baden-Württemberg and across the whole of Germany. By the end of 2019, we were operating wind turbines at 44 different sites with a total output of around 500 megawatts. We are continuing to focus on expansion with a secured project pipeline of 1,400 MW. While we continue to search for other suitable sites, we are also focussing on existing wind farms that are coming towards the end of their operating lives: we provide a wide range of services from continued operation – even beyond the term covered by EEG funding – through to dismantling and repowering.
Securing a broad level of public support for our wind power projects is important to us. Representative studies carried out by the forsa institute in 2017 in Baden-Württemberg and 2018 in Thuringia both demonstrated that the expansion of wind power has a great level of support and approval amongst the majority of the population.
Onshore success in foreign markets
EnBW is also successfully engaged in expanding onshore wind power in its first selected European markets that have good prospects for renewable energies. In June 2019, it acquired “Groupe Valeco” based in Montpellier, France, which has now become the EnBW brand for renewable energies sourced from the wind and sun in France. Valeco is currently one of the top 10 players in the wind and solar sector in France and had around 430 MW of installed output from onshore wind power by the end of 2019.
EnBW has also successfully established itself on the onshore wind market in Sweden since it founded EnBW Sverige AB in 2018. Following the acquisition of seven wind farms in 2018 and the expansion of the portfolio in 2020, EnBW now has more than 100 MW of installed output in Sweden. Another wind farm with three turbines is currently under construction in Rammarehemmet.
We are also exploiting the potential for onshore wind power in Turkey, where we have already expanded our portfolio to more than 430 MW of output since 2009 together with our partner Borusan. After completion of the Saros and Kiyiköy projects by the end of 2020, the installed capacity of onshore wind power of Borusan EnBW Enerji will increase to nearly 650 megawatts.
After completion of the Saros and Kiyiköy projects by the end of 2020, the installed capacity of onshore wind power of Borusan EnBW Enerji will increase to nearly 650 megawatts.
Shining a light on wind power
EnBW demonstrated that a wind farm is about much more than just technology in summer 2019 when it participated in the Remstal Garden Show 2019 with the “Shining a light on wind power” art project. 16 cities and municipalities participated in the garden show, which for 164 days placed the spotlight on the landscape across an entire region measuring 80 kilometres in length. In the EnBW project that ran for the months of July and August, the three wind turbines at the Winterbach wind farm became the centrepiece of a light and colour show designed by the graduate designer and freelance artist Gisela Meyer-Hahn.
Wind power with a tailwind
Our largest onshore wind farm to date is located in Buchholz in Lower Saxony, north of Hanover. Since the end of 2012, the 20 turbines in Buchholz have delivered an annual yield of around 78,000 MWh. It can thus now already cover the aggregate requirements of 25,000 households. Four further turbines each with a capacity of 3.3 MW were placed into operation in 2017.
Yet EnBW is not only successfully engaged in onshore wind power in the windy north: In Baden-Württemberg, EnBW also placed the Langenburg wind farm with 12 turbines into operation in 2018. EnBW currently has around 500 MW of installed output in the onshore sector, of which about 140 MW is installed at 13 sites in Baden-Württemberg.
Wind flows on the coast and the hinterland
Overall, the wind does not blow as strongly inland as it does in coastal regions. Forests, hills and other uneven types of terrain also slow down the wind. Therefore, inland sites only experience similar wind speeds to those found on the coast at greater heights. The construction of a wind power plant is worthwhile if the average annual wind speed is around 22 kilometres per hour. This means that the hub height of a turbine needs to be greater inland than those installed on the lowlands near to the coast.