RWE Builds R&D Purposed Wind Turbines in Eemshaven, The Netherlands

Last week construction started on the first turbine at the Wagenborg Stevedoring premises. A huge crawler crane (type LR13000) with power boom took care of spectacular lifting work and could be seen from afar. When the construction of the first windmill is finished, the crane will be (partially assembled) moved  to the location of the second turbine.

The wind turbines are being built by RWE/Essent. Each of them has a capacity of a little over 6 MW and thus belong to the biggest wind turbines in Holland. One of the hubs even has a helicopter deck. This way the turbine is reachable even in bad weather conditions.

The hub itself is 22 metres long, 6,3 metres wide and 7 metres high. The tip of the wing will reach a height of a staggering 177 metres. In comparison: The ‘Domtoren’ in Utrecht is 122 metres high and Hollands highest building, the Maas tower in Rotterdam, measures 165 metres.

Transport of the large parts of the turbines has been taken care of by Wagenborg Nedlift.

Both turbines together can provide power to over 10.000 households. This type of mega turbine is being built for offshore purposes. RWE/Essent is building these 2 turbines on land to gain experience in building, maintaining and exploitation of the turbines.

Eventually, RWE plans to build 48 of these wind turbines at the North sea location Windpark Nord See Ost. This wind park is located 30 kilometres from Bremerhaven, to the North of the German island Helgoland.

It is expected that the turbines in Eemshaven will be operational in the course of 2012.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, July 3, 2012; Image: Wagenborg