Wind power from north to south
We do not only operate onshore wind farms in Baden-Württemberg but now operate them throughout Germany. We had wind power plants with a total capacity of 270 megawatts in operation by 2016. A further 16 wind farms with a capacity of around 200 megawatts will be added to the grid in 2017. Our staff at the project development offices in Hamburg, Berlin, Erfurt, Trier and Stuttgart are working on these projects. It is due to these wind farms, which were approved in 2016, that we have risen to become one of the leading project developers for the first time. In order to maintain this progress, we are continuing to search for new sites and also aiming to further expand our cooperation with other project developers.
We have also identified potential for onshore wind power in Turkey, where we have already realised the “Bandirma” and “Balabanli” wind farms with our partner Borusan since 2009. The "Balabanli” wind farm was expanded to include three additional turbines in early 2017. The capacity of the wind farm has thus been increased to 60.5 MW.
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 are being placed into operation in 2017.
Yet EnBW is not only pushing forward with onshore wind power in the windy north: 11 of the 16 wind farm projects approved in 2016 are located in Baden-Württemberg and will be constructed there in 2017. They will provide around 145 megawatts of power.
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.