Full wind speed ahead

In Heroldstatt, our predecessor company, Energie-Versorgung Schwaben (EVS), commissions its first wind turbine: it features a conventional three-bladed rotor. Another turbine follows in 1990: the newly developed Darrieus prototype with a vertical axis. It did not gain widespread acceptance—due to its lower electrical output.

In the early 1990s, wind energy—supported by government subsidies—experienced its first boom. However, a lack of public acceptance, as well as challenges related to planning and supply reliability, made things difficult for the industry. In 2000, the first Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) went into effect—an important step toward the energy transition. More and more wind farms were built in Germany—such as our facilities in Westerheim, Schnittlingen, Eppenrod, and Düsedau in 2001 and 2002.

Today, many of EnBW’s wind farms are located in northern Germany—where the wind blows the strongest. Our Buchholz wind farm in the Heidekreis district of Lower Saxony has been in operation since 2009. It originally consisted of 18 turbines but was expanded in two additional construction phases in 2012 and 2017 to a total of 24 wind turbines. This makes it one of EnBW’s largest onshore wind farms.

According to the BWE, 22,297 wind turbines were in operation in Germany in 2011, accounting for 8 percent of the energy mix. Following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Germany has decided to accelerate its phase-out of nuclear power—and with it, a comprehensive shift in energy production toward more renewable energy sources. Wind power will also play a significant role here in the future.

Aalen-Waldhausen, Bühlertann, Dünsbach, Goldboden-Winterbach, Rosenberg: These are just a few of our many wind farms currently under construction. This often follows lengthy planning and construction phases, as the requirements—ranging from environmental protection to historic preservation—are stringent. In Langenburg, we are testing an innovative safety lighting system with radar technology that activates only when aircraft approach. Meanwhile, so-called demand-driven nighttime lighting is now required by law.

North of the town of Häusern in the Waldshut district, a wind farm with two wind turbines is being built. The site is the Gießbacher Kopf, a forested ridge that experiences high wind speeds due to its elevation of more than 1,000 meters. The wind farm is currently EnBW’s highest-elevation facility and will be the first to be equipped with a battery storage system shortly thereafter.

In the area around the Hanseatic town of Osterburg in Saxony-Anhalt, we carried out our first repowering project at Düsedau wind farm, which was built in 2003. As part of this project, we are completely dismantling the five old wind turbines—which have a hub height of 70 meters and a total installed capacity of 7.5 megawatts—and replacing them with four 169-meter-tall turbines with a total installed capacity of 22.4 megawatts.

For the first time, we have equipped a wind farm with a battery storage system. The two wind turbines in Häusern were already connected to the grid in September 2023. The associated storage system consists of 12 modules, each measuring 1.30 x 1.30 m and 2.80 m high. The system is supplemented by inverters, a transformer, and a switchgear. The pilot project in Häusern makes it possible to divert up to 2.2 megawatts (MW) of the 6.9 MW generated into the storage system. 10 percent of the wind power generated by the two turbines will be routed through the storage system.

EnBW is acquiring the project rights to four offshore wind farms in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea. This lays the foundation for EnBW Baltic 1 and 2 (Baltic Sea) as well as EnBW Hohe See and EnBW He Dreiht (North Sea).

We are making offshore history by beginning construction of Germany’s first commercial wind farm in the Baltic Sea: Baltic 1. On April 3, 2011, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel commissioned the wind farm, which has a capacity of just under 50 megawatts. The 21 turbines, located about 16 kilometers north of the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula, can theoretically supply electricity* to around 50,000 households.

Just two years after Baltic 1 went online, EnBW Baltic 2 followed. In 2015, then-CEO Frank Mastiaux inaugurated the wind farm—from aboard the museum ship Gorch Fock 1. With a capacity of 288 megawatts, Baltic 2 generates five times more power than its predecessor.

At the same time, we set our sights on the North Sea and secured another offshore project in 2014: EnBW Albatros, located 105 kilometers north of Borkum and northwest of Heligoland.

In Germany’s first tender for an offshore wind farm project, we secured the contract for the EnBW He Dreiht wind farm (Low German: “It turns”) in the North Sea. The offshore wind farm is one of the first projects without feed-in subsidies—meaning it is designed to operate without government support, receives no feed-in tariff under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), and is financially viable thanks to long-term power purchase agreements.

In 2018, two more offshore wind farms will begin operations in the North Sea. Built at a cost of €2.2 billion, the 87 turbines—spanning an area of 53 square kilometers and generating a total capacity of more than 600 megawatts—will be fully connected to the grid in early 2020. This is enough to power 710,000 households. EnBW Hohe See and EnBW Albatros are located close to each other and share a common infrastructure for maintenance and supply.

April 15, 2023, at 11:59 p.m.: Unit II of the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant (GKN II) is taken offline as scheduled - marking the end of the era of nuclear power in Germany. That same year, we reaffirm our commitment to wind power with the final investment decision for EnBW He Dreiht, allowing construction to begin.

The construction phase of our largest offshore project to date has been completed: all 64 wind turbines have been erected. The first turbines are already feeding electricity into the grid. Full technical commissioning will take place in the coming months. With a total capacity of 960 megawatts, He Dreiht has the theoretical capacity to supply over one million households with electricity. With a capacity of 960 MW, He Dreiht is one of the most significant projects for supplying Germany with renewable electricity.