WINDBLATT - Enercon · 2015. 9. 16. · near Balve (Sauerland). At peak gusts with average wind...

WINDBLATTENERCON Magaz ine fo r wind energyI ssue 01 | 2007

www.enercon.de

PORTUGAL 1,200 MW of wind energy:

Portugal opts for ENERCON

turbines

Page 6

PRACTICERepowering wind farms:

The Fehmarn model

Page 8

TECHNOLOGY E-44 in Manastir/Turkey:

Heavy-duty turbines

braving the Aegean winds

2

SUPPLIERIMO Momentenlager GmbH:

Central Franconia on the ball

Page 14

CLIMATE RESEARCHMojib Latif: Climate change

must become top political

priority

Page 16

Editorial

ENERCON NewsShort news from the ENERCON World

Title Story1,200 MW of wind energy:Portugal opts for ENERCON turbines

PracticeRepowering wind farms:The Fehmarn model

TechnologyE-44 in Manastir/Turkey:Heavy-duty turbines braving theAegean winds

InternationalE-70/2,3 MW in Hundhammerfjelletand Valsneset: Solid foundation onNorwegian rocks

Nunobiki/Japan:Windfarm with volcano view

SupplierIMO Momentenlager GmbH:Central Franconia on the Ball

Climate ResearchProf. Dr. Mojib Latif: Climate policymust become top political priority

Events and AddressesENERCON Addresses Info-Service

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Page 8

Page 10

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EENNEERRCCOONN GGmmbbHH,, IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall DDeepptt..

Otto-Lilienthal-Str. 25 · 28199 Bremen · GERMANYPhone +49 421 2441520 · Fax +49 421 2441539

e-mail: [email protected]

AAUUSSTTRRIIAA

ENERCON Austria Ges.mbH · Hauptstrasse 19 2120 Wolkersdorf · AUSTRIA · Phone +43 2245 82828

Fax +43 2245 82838 · e-mail: [email protected]

BBEENNEELLUUXX

ENERCON Benelux BV · Paxtonstraat 1 a 8013 RP Zwolle · THE NETHERLANDS

Phone +31 38 4228 282 · Fax +31 38 4228 010e-mail: [email protected]

BBRRAAZZIILL

Wobben Windpower Ltda.Av. Fernando Stecca nº 100 · Distrito Industrial CEP

18087450 Sorocaba · São Paulo · BRAZILPhone +55 15 2101 1700 · Fax +55 15 2101 1701


CCAANNAADDAA

Wind Power Inc.Suite # 222 Lebel Mansion · 696 Kettles Street,

Pincher Creek · Alberta TOK 1WO · CANADAPhone +1 403 6272 923 · Fax +1403 6273 239


DDEENNMMAARRKK

ENERCON DenmarkBredkær Parkvej 62 · 8250 Egaa · DENMARK


EEGGYYPPTT

ENERCON Egyptc/o Zaki International Trading · 23 Kasr El-Nil Street

Cairo 11111 · EGYPTPhone +20 2 3923 670 · Fax +20 2 4170 023


FFRRAANNCCEE

ENERCON GmbH bureau français1, rue des Longues Raies · ZAC des Longues Raies

F-60610 La Croix Saint Ouen · FRANCEPhone +33 3 44 83 67 20 · Fax + 33 3 44 83 67 29

GGRREEAATT BBRRIITTAAIINN

ENERCON Great BritainAxiom House, Station Road

Stroud, Glos. GL5 3AP · GREAT BRITAINPhone +44 1493 782 018 · Fax +44 1493 789 094


GGRREEEECCEE

ENERCON Hellas S.A.20, Pentelis Avenue · 15235 Vrilissia, Athens · GREECE


IINNDDIIAA

ENERCON India Ltd.Kolsite House, Plot No. 31 · Shah Industrial Estate

Veera Desai Road, Andheri (West)Mumbai 400 053 · INDIA

Phone +91 22 569 248 48 · Fax +91 22 267 300 85e-mail: [email protected]

IITTAALLYY

ENERCON ItaliaVia Luciano Manara, 5

00044 Frascati (Roma) · ITALYPhone + 39 06 94 01 69 1 · Fax + 39 06 94 01 69 299


PPOORRTTUUGGAALL

ENERCON Portugalc/o Gellweiler S.A. · Rua Vitor Cordon, 37-4° Dt°

1200-481 Lisboa · PORTUGALPhone +351 21 340 71 65 · Fax +351 21 340 71 69


SSPPAAIINN

ENERCON Spain S.A.València Parc Tecnològic, Av. Juan de la Cierva, 27

46980 Paterna (València) · SPAINPhone +34 961 366 461 · Fax +34 961 366 469


SSWWEEDDEENN

ENERCON Swedenc/o Energy Converter AB

Stenåldersgatan 1921376 Malmö · SWEDEN


TTUURRKKEEYY

ENERCON Servis Ltd. Sti.Bagdat Cad. No 187 A Blok daire 5

Selamicesme KadikoyIstanbul · TURKEY


ENER

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IMPRINTPublisher: ENERCON GmbH · Dreekamp 5 · 26605 Aurich · Germany

Phone +49 4941 927-0 · Fax +49 4941 927-109 · www.enercon.de/en/_home.htm

Editorial office: Volker Uphoff, Ruth Brand

Printed by: Steinbacher Druck GmbH, Osnabrück, Germany

Copyright: All photos, illustrations, texts, images, graphic representations, insofar as this is not expressly stated to the

contrary, are the property of ENERCON GmbH and may not be reproduced, changed, transmitted or used otherwise without

the prior written consent of ENERCON GmbH.

Frequency: The WINDBLATT appears every three months and is regulary included in the

New Energy, magazine for renewable energies, of the Federal Association for Wind Energy, Germany.

Subscribe: Phone +49 4941 976-283 or www.enercon.de/en/_home.htm; stamp duty 2,- € per issue.

Cover photo: Wind farm Pinhal Interior, Portugal (by Wolf Winter)

E D I T O R I A L WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 3

Last year there was more talk about our energy supply than since the oil crisis in theSeventies. This was in part due to high oil prices, but also to the fact that climate change andits devastating effect on flora, fauna, and humans are already leaving significant traces.According to renowned researchers, the current rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations aresufficient to hinder the next Ice Age anticipated 50,000 years from now.

Renewables are our only guarantee for long-term climate-friendly CO2-free power supply.Today, even the once more conventional power industry has started to take notice: Large uti-lities are now investing more and more in renewable capacities. That’s a good way forward,because when it comes to human survival, it’s essential that we all pull together. However,the reality of current research is another story. At the moment, the only large joint scientificresearch project is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project ra-tified in 2006 – five billion Euros being invested in technology which may only begin provi-ding useful energy forty years from now! And Germany’s concrete actions seem to be head-ing more in the direction of a renascence of coal and nuclear power rather than concentratingmore on climate-friendly renewable power. Besides nuclear fusion, other technologies highon the priority list are those intended to increase the efficiency of coal and gas power plants,as well as storing carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel power generation in undergroundcavities.

For ENERCON, these are yet more reasons to make an even greater effort in the research anddevelopment of renewables. In 2006, we were able to launch three new wind turbine typescapable of achieving good yield even at medium wind sites further inland: the E-20, the E-53 and the E-82. Only through constant innovative developments such as these will we beable to provide electricity at prices lower than conventional energy sources. Developmentwork will thus be stepped up in 2007: By autumn we want to install the first E-126 prototype.

This giant wind turbine is expected to reach at least 6 MW rated power continuing the trendtowards producing more clean power with fewer wind turbines. Climate change and dwind-ling energy reserves are occasion enough to accelerate a changeover to renewable energies.Let’s use the months ahead to focus on mankind’s existential problems and finding ways ofproviding durable solutions.

Dear Readers,

Aloys WobbenManaging Director ENERCON GmbH

Yours sincerely

alition contract and urgently need to be imple-

mented when the EEG (Renewable Energies

Act) comes up for review in 2008. What’s mo-

re, the onshore wind energy sector needs a

change in trend to prevent more good sites

from being barred from the economically wise

use of wind energy due to generalised di-

stance and height restrictions.

ENERCON turbines braved “Kyrill”

On January 18 and 19, the low mountain ran-

ges in Germany were particularly hard hit by

this year’s winter storm “Kyrill”, as can be

seen by the picture of the ENERCON turbine

near Balve (Sauerland). At peak gusts with

average wind speeds up to 46 m/s (measured

in the 20 second mean), the E-53 had to tem-

porarily shutdown its power production. But

while the storm knocked over entire forested

areas, Germany’s wind turbines held up to hur-

ricane-strength winds of over 200 km/h.

“Not only did all ENERCON machines in Ger-

many brave Kyrill, no major damage was re-

ported either”, reports Michael Hölscher, ma-

nager of ENERCON Service Deutschland

GmbH in Aurich. During the storm ENERCON

did, however, receive more error messages

than usual which had to be checked. Service

was well-prepared though: As soon as they

got word of the oncoming storm, they reinfor-

ced the teams.

ENERCON Germany’s market leaderagain in 2006

Looking back on 2006, the German wind indu-

stry had reason to be pleased: New turbines

with a total capacity of 2,233 MW were instal-

led in Germany taking the overall capacity up

to 20,621 MW. In an average wind year, Ger-

many’s wind generators can produce up to

37,800 GWh of clean current thus covering

5.7 % of the country’s annual power con-

sumption.

ENERCON still holds the lead position in the

German market with a 38.4 % share of instal-

led capacity. The average capacity of newly

installed machines went up further in 2006

and now lies at 1.85 MW continuing the trend

toward ever more powerful wind turbines.

Last year an overall capacity of 15,000 MW of

wind turbines was erected worldwide, brin-

ging the general output capacity to roughly

75,000 MW.

In 2006, the United States were the front-run-

ners with 2,800 MW. ENERCON’s largest custo-

mers last year were Portugal – 139 MW, Aus-

tria – 125 MW and the Netherlands – 109 MW.

Germany, however, still remains ENERCON’s

largest market. The company installed 480

new turbines with a capacity of 851 MW.

Maintaining growth in the domestic market

means a new legislative framework for the

promotion and the use of renewable energy.

Aids and incentives for repowering were alrea-

dy announced in the federal government’s co-

4 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 N E W S

Turbines which shutdown due to strong gusts

like the machine in Balve, reported no failures.

ENERCON turbines equipped with the storm

control feature don’t shutdown unless the

wind speed exceeds 35 m/s. The highest

speed registered at ENERCON wind turbines

with remote monitoring was 57.9 m/s at the

top of the Hoher Kölbling in Lower Austria.

EU targets for further development ofrenewables by 2020 too general

In January, the European commission relea-

sed an entire package of documents concer-

ning the European Union’s energy policy. The

“Renewables Roadmap” sets targets for the

main elements of renewable energies in the

energy mix beyond the year 2010. At the EU

level, the current policy for power generation

from renewables foresees 21 % power con-

sumption derived from renewable sources by

2010. These targets are only “indicative” for

each state: if these objectives are not reached

there is no risk of sanctions from Brussels. Yet

the objectives laid out in 2001 set off consi-

derable momentum for the development of re-

newables: One only has to look at develop-

ments in France once quite anti-wind.

The commission has now established a man-

datory (legally binding) target of 20 % for re-

newable energy’s share of primary energy

consumption in the EU by 2020. Besides elec-

tricity, it includes heating and cooling as well

as the transport sector. The regulations are

binding for each individual state; however, the

percentage target per sector is to be determi-

ned by each state itself. ENERCON views the-

se plans with a discerning eye: An overall ob-

jective would trigger a long drawn out debate

amongst the EU states as to what share of

electricity should be derived from renewable

sources and thus possibly create uncertainty

amongst planers and investors.

ENERCON’s managing director Aloys Wobben

is therefore appealing to the Federal Govern-

ment to push setting ambitious objectives for

each sector, to prevent losing the wind in the

sails of wind energy development once the

current electricity policy expires in 2010.

Market share of producer in Germany 2006, basis2,233 MW of installed capacity (in percentage)

After the storm: An ENERCON E-53 at the top of amountain near Balve, Sauerland

Vestas34,6%

Repower7,6%

GE Energy5,7%

Nordex 4,8%

Siemens 4,7%

Fuhrländer 2,4%

Gamesa 1,3%

Sonstige 0,6%

ENERCON 38,4%

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Heads of government and state are expected

to make a final decision concerning the policy

by April.

Greenpeace and EREC: Halving CO2

emissions by 2050 is possible!

CO2 emissions could be cut by 50 % by the

year 2050, by introducing efficient energy sa-

ving measures and massively increasing the

use of renewable energies to cover 50 % of

the demand. This is the main objective of the

“global master plan” released by Greenpeace

and the European Renewable Energy Council

(EREC) at the end of January. If key factors are

respected, there is a reasonable chance that

the increase in global temperatures could re-

main below the crucial 2º C limit until 2100.

The scenario assumes rigorous energy saving

measures as well as the introduction of the

“polluter-pays” principle to foot the bill for

greenhouse gas emission costs. Extensive use

of renewables is essential: According to the

study, 70 % of the electricity is supposed to be

derived from renewable sources. Production

capacities would have to grow from today’s

800 GW to 7,100 GW. A major portion of this

energy would be from hydropower and wind

energy and as of 2020 more widespread use

of geothermal energy, biomass, photovoltaic

and solar heat would be added.

In order to achieve these goals, the study sug-

gests either fining emitters or rewarding non-

emitters through energy tax exonerations. The

report stresses that authorisation and licen-

sing procedures for future renewable energy

development should be standardised and sim-

plified, efficient grid infrastructure established

and more geared toward renewables. Rene-

wables should have non-discriminated access

to power grids, third party access fees should

be equitable and transparent and priority ac-

cess should be given to renewable generators.

Greenpeace and EREC compared the Interna-

tional Energy Agency’s conventional “World

Energy Outlook 2004” with the “energy [r]evo-

lution scenario”. While “business as usual”,

the liberalisation of energy trade, the deregu-

lation of the energy markets and emissions

trading led to a global energy consumption of

800,000 petajoules (3.6 PJ = 1 TWh), the al-

ternative scenario depicted that human society

would be able to manage with a little more

than half the energy and cut emissions by

50 %. And at lower costs! Whilst with a con-

ventional system, current power supply costs

of 1.1 bn dollars would rise to 4.3 bn dollars by

the year 2050, power supply according to the

“energy [r]evolution” would drop by a third.

The editors also assume that in order to reali-

se this scenario, governments will have to pha-

se out subsidies for fossil and nuclear energies

currently amounting to 250 to 330 bn euros

per annum. And power utilities should consoli-

date production and sales.

The study urges setting out legally binding tar-

gets to promote renewables

as well as defined and stable

returns for investors. It says

that this type of system

would be the only feasible

way to implement the “pollu-

ter-pays” principle. In this re-

spect, fixed power purchase

prices such as those in Ger-

many, Denmark and Spain

are seen as extremely positi-

ve, because these schemes

are exceptionally successful,

easy to handle at the admini-

strative level and guarantee

more efficient planning.

Renewable Energies 2007 (Böblingen/Germany)02.03. – 04.03.2007Trade fair and congress on renewable energy and energy efficient construction and renovationENERCON at Hall 2, Stand B2www.erneuerbareenergien.com

“ee07” – Annual General Meeting Renewable Energy(Berlin/Germany)15.03. – 16.03.2007 Conference for the renewableenergy industry focussing on economy and employmentwww.jahreskonferenz.de

“Energy” at Hanover Fair (Hanover/Germany)16.04. – 20.04.2007Trade fair for renewable andconventional power generation,transmission, distribution and utility managementENERCON in Hall 13, stand B78www.hannovermesse.de

EWEC 2007(Milan/Italy) 07.05. – 10.05.2007European Wind Energy Conference and ExhibitionENERCON at stand C0 47www.ewec2007.info

energethica(Genoa/Italy)24.05. – 26.05.2007 2nd Exhibition for renewable andsustainable energyENERCON at boot S, position 341www.energethica.it

INFO

-SER

VICE

N E W S WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 5

Global electrictiy generation under energy [r]evolution scenario

Nuclear

Coal

Gas & Oil

CHP Fossil

Biomass

Hydro

Wind

Concentratingsolar power

PV

Geothermal “Efficiency”

Ocean energy

50,000 –

45,000 –

40,000 –

35,000 –

30,000 –

25,000 –

20,000 –

15,000 –

10,000 –

5,000 –

TWh/a 0 –

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6 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 T I T L E S T O R Y

Last October, at the cornerstone laying ce-remony for ENERCON’s new production fa-cilities, Portugal’s Minister of the EconomyManuel Pinho hailed wind energy as the“Energy of the Future”. For Portugal, windenergy means clean power production and

the opportunity to break away from its cur-rent dependency on imported fossil fuels.

As a member of the “Eolicas de Portugal”consortium, ENERCON is investing in thenorthern Portuguese harbour city to meet

the order to erect a total of 48 wind farmsthroughout Portugal. Energias de Portugal(EDP), Portugal’s largest utility, will be hea-ding the consortium. Other companies in-volved are Termoélectica Portugues andFinerge, both subsidiaries of the Spanishenergy concern Endesa, as well as the Portuguese wind farm developers GrupoGenerg.

In Phase A of the public tender for the windpower licenses, the consortium won the bidfor the construction of wind generators with

1,200 MW of wind energy

Portugal opts for ENERCON turbines

Portugal’s Minister of the Economy, Manuel Pinho, and ENERCON’s managing director, Aloys Wobben at the cornerstone laying ceremony in Viana do Castelo.

As part of a consortium, ENERCON will be installing 1200 MW of windenergy in Portugal over the years to come. The consortium was recently awarded the concession for the installation and grid con-nection of wind farms tendered by the Portuguese government. In order to meet the demand, ENERCON is establishing new productionfacilities in the northern Portuguese municipality of Viana do Castelo.

a total capacity of 1,200 MW. One of theprerequisites for a successful bid was to as-sure a major share of local production.ENERCON’s preferred site for its new pro-duction facilities is the North Portugueseharbour city, Viana do Castelo.

Five new production plantsThe industrial park in Viana do Castelo willcomprise five new production plants: a con-crete tower factory, rotor blade manufactu-re, generator production, turbine assemblyand shops for E-module construction. “Inaddition to the factories, we’re also settingup administrative offices to coordinate theexpansion of the Portuguese subsidiaries”,reports Heiko Frerichs, who conducted thetender at ENERCON’s head office in Aurich.ENEOP 3, the name of the new holdingcompany for the Portuguese undertaking, isderived from the name of the consortium“Eólicas de Portugal” (ENEOP).

1,100 Jobs for the Viana regionThe factories around Viana do Castelo arescheduled to go into operation mid 2008generating roughly 1,100direct jobs in the surroun-ding region. Overall, thePortuguese Ministry of theEconomy expects a 1.7 bil-lion Euro boost in invest-ment.

Included in this figure arecustomer expenditures fornew wind farms as well asinvestments in developingand expanding supplierproduction sites. Siemens,for example, will be adap-ting its Portuguese trans-former plant to meet thedemands for ENERCON E-82 wind farms and Saar-tex, the carbon fibre manu-facturer, is also planning toset up a factory in the vici-nity of Viana do Castelo.

ENERCON has been activein Portugal for more than

a decade now; the first wind farm was in-stalled near Villa Real in the Algarve. In themeantime ENERCON can rely on well-esta-blished smoothly running structures fortheir current expansion project. ENERCON’sservice company, EWG Ltd, in Amarante innortheast Portugal has already connected360 wind turbines to the grid.

Roughly 100 employees currently provideENERCON’s standard, installation, mainten-ance and repair service. In future, EWG willalso be in charge of servicing the 48 newwind farms. The location in Amarante is ide-al because most of the projects scheduledin the tender are situated on the slopes ofthe low mountain ranges in the North.

In the medium term, 60 % of production destined for export“In the call for tender, Lisbon pursued theapproach of providing a contingent of1,200 MW grid capacity for wind energy in-vestors, who in return would assure an in-crease in local economic development andcreate new jobs”, explains Frerichs. This

was a wise decision, as the better or bestwind sites in Portugal will soon be exhau-sted. So the government is banking on ex-porting the final products of the new facili-ties. In the medium term, 60 % of the windgenerators produced in Portugal by ENEOP 3is destined for export markets. The tende-ring authority, DGGE (Portuguese Directora-te General for Geology and Energy), a sub-division of the Ministry of the Economy, willbe providing regular reports concerning fur-ther project developments and schedules.

Staff recruitment has already begunOn the day of the cornerstone laying cere-mony in Viana do Castelo, the first job adsfor the new production plants were placedin the papers. From this point of view, Vianado Castelo turns out to be an extremely fa-vourable site. “There’s a large shipyard inthe vicinity with lots of well-trained skilledworkers”, says Heiko Frerichs.

“With these new projects we’ll not only beincreasing the capacity of wind turbines atattractive wind sites in southern Europe; Vi-ana do Castelo is also a strategically conve-nient point from which we can export ourturbines around the Iberian Peninsula aswell as overseas.”

T I T L E S T O R Y WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 7

Évora Mérida

Sevilla Faro

0 50 100 km

Lisboa

Coimbra

Porto

Viana do Castelo

Portugal

Norte

Centro

Lisboa e

Alentejo

Algarve

Vale do Tejo

Guad

iana

Chanç

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Sado

Mondego

Zézere

Tejo

Douro

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Minho

Viana do Castelo located in the north of Portugal.

Model of new production facilities in Viana do Castelo.

8 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 P R A C T I C E

“We will halve the number of wind turbineson Fehmarn, and at the same time increasethe total capacity from 45 to 160 MW”, saysKarl Detlef, a Dänschendorf farmer andchairman of the Fehmarn-Mitte wind farmoperating company. The western part ofFehmarn is considered one of the cradles ofwind energy in Germany: As early as 1983,the first individual turbines were built, andthe years 1987 to 1993 saw a further in-crease in turbine construction activity. In the1990s, the Fehmarn municipality developeda zoning and land use plan that set the fra-mework for the continued expansion ofwind energy generation. “The new turbinegeneration will enable us to make optimumuse of the limited area zoned for wind ener-gy generation”, explains Detlef.

Four to five years of preparationFehmarn’s five operating companies havebeen preparing their wind farms’ overhaulsince 2001. “At first we had to convince ourpartners of the cost efficiency of our plan”,

explains Matthias Witt, farmer and mana-ging director of the Fehmarn-Presen windfarm. Technical feasibility suggestions fromENERCON, reports from tax experts as wellas profitability calculations by wind energyexperts provided the basis for this discussi-on. “Our goal was to design a financing mo-del that would allow all owners of old turbi-nes to be part of the new projects.” Once abasic consensus was reached, prerequisi-tes for the necessary permits were agreedwith Fehmarn’s very future-oriented localgovernment.

Turbine owners come together Up until then, operators/owners had beenacting independently of each other. But thetime had come to consolidate the five ope-rating companies, comprising of a total ofabout 150 local farmers. “The local com-mune was very keen to see individual turbi-nes removed that were scattered across theisland and were not included in any windfarms”, remembers Witt. In an effort to fulfil

this requirement, a shared-ownership mo-del was developed to make the dismantlingof such scattered turbines attractive fortheir respective owners – whose permitsafter all meant they were entitled to keeptheir turbines running in their original loca-tions. “We could only do it by offering sha-res in the repowered wind farms”, explainsMatthias Witt. Owners of individual turbineswere offered shares according to their pre-vious capacities, multiplied by a factor toaccount for the increase in capacity achie-ved by the repowering. All individual turbineowners accepted the offer, reports Witt. Ba-sed on the agreement made, the first of theold farmyard turbines on Fehmarn will bedismantled once the repowered wind farmsare up and running. The last ones will be ta-ken off the grid in five years from now.

Turbines move apart“Since 1992 we have been cooperating clo-sely with the ENERCON management andtheir service department. So we felt right

The Fehmarn model

Step by step, old WECs on Fehmarn are replaced by new turbines of the 2.3-MW class.

The world’s largest repoweringproject is currently under wayon Fehmarn. On this island inthe Baltic Sea, wind farmers arecompletely replacing their first-generation wind turbines, withrated power ranges from 225 to500 kW, with new, powerful E-70turbines. The project is schedu-led to complete by the end of2007, by which time there willbe a total of 68 turbines in the2.3-MW class in operation. As apositive side effect, the five in-dividual wind farms on Fehmarnwill function as one large renew-able power plant in the future.

REPOWERING WIND FARMS

P R A C T I C E WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 9

away that we also wanted to do the repo-wering with ENERCON”, says Martin Stör-tenbecker, Witt’s neighbour and chairman ofthe Klingenberg wind farm on the island’seast coast. The wind farm site had to becompletely redeveloped. Wider spacing alo-ne made this necessary: The distance be-tween two turbines needs to be at least tri-ple the rotor diameter. The number ofturbines in Klingenberg was reduced from21 E-40 to 11 E-70 models. “In some cases,we could continue to use the old roads, butfor the most part, we had to build newones”, says Störtenbecker. The existing ca-bling was not adequate for post-repoweringdemands, either: Its capacity was alreadymaxed out with four E-70 turbines running.Cables from the remaining turbines are nowrouted to the joint transmission substationin Fehmarn-Mitte.

Among the positive results of the 140-milli-on-euro repowering project is thatFehmarn’s WECs are now consolidated intoone single power plant. “The most impor-tant pillar of the project is a transmissionsubstation that transforms the medium vol-tage generated in the wind farms to 110-kVhigh voltage”, explains Karl Detlef. Whilecost-benefit analyses and efficiency consi-derations were all pointing to repowering asthe way forward, quadrupling overall per-formance, there was one problem: The gridcould not support it.

Then E.on, the distribution grid operator, of-fered the transmission substation in Göhlnear Oldenburg/Holstein as connectionpoint. The implication was that the islandershad to install a new 110-kV cable of 32 ki-

lometres length, part of which crosses theBaltic Sea, plus two new transmission sub-stations: one substation on the island, andanother on the mainland side of theFehmarn sound to prepare the feed into thehigh-voltage grid.

Largest privately-owned110-kV Grid“This extra effort was a huge challenge forus”, remembers Karl Detlef. Adds MatthiasWitt, managing director of the Presen windfarm, “this requirement put an almost im-possible burden on us, and it meant that thecost efficiency of our project was in serious

jeopardy.” But faced with the alternative ofwaiting for the grid operator to install thenew cable across the Fehmarn sound, theisland wind farmers decided to tackle theconstruction themselves. The cable trenchhad to be 2 m wide and 1.5 m deep. Theymanaged to install the high-voltage under-ground cables and build the substations inonly ten short months, including planningthe route, acquiring rights for crossing pri-vate property where necessary, and theconstruction work itself.

“We had to come to agreements with 37farmers, and to get five municipalities, thewater board, transport and maritime autho-rities, and the German railway corporationon board”, explains Detlef. In addition, ex-

pert reports had to be drawn up, assessingthe biological impact on flora and fauna ha-bitats and on fishing, and a report on theimpact on bird migration and bird rest stopsas well as soil conditions. A herculean task.

And so, quite by accident, the wind farmerson Fehmarn have become the operators ofthe largest privately owned 110-kV powergrid in Germany. “And we have not regrettedour decision”, says Matthias Witt. The trans-mission substations are run by an operatingcompany founded jointly by the wind farmcompanies, each of which is represented bya spokesperson. There has always been apositive working relationship with the distri-bution grid operator, and since the decisionin favour of the cable route across theFehmarn sound, this relationship has deve-loped into more of a partnership, accordingto Karl Detlef. The island’s grid capacity isnow such that future initiatives in renewableenergies can be easily accommodated.

Vision for Future Repowering Detlef emphasises the huge gain in profes-sionalism as a result of this repowering pro-ject. He is already envisioning the next ro-und of repowering, which he thinks can beexpected in 12 to 15 years. Until then, com-plementary energy projects such as biofuelor solar power plants will be taken underconsideration, and the dialogue with envi-ronmental groups about the appropriaten-ess of current height restrictions will have tocontinue. “If we can make progress in theseareas, in the next repowering, maybe in2016, we will be able to increase our capa-cities yet again threefold”, says Detlef.

Matthias Witt (Presen wind farm), Arnt von Drathen(ENERCON Sales), Martin Störtenbecker(Klingenberg wind farm).

The new Fehmarn-Mitte transmission substation.

Karl Detlef, Dänschendorf wind farm operator andspokesperson of the Fehmarn grid operating company.

10 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 T E C H N O L O G Y

Mare Manastir is a joint venture with ENERCON’s Turkish partner Demirer Hol-ding, in Istanbul. “The groundwork for thisproject was already laid back in 2000,” re-ports Christof Büttner from ENERCON’s In-vest Department in Aurich. However, sincethe Turkish government decided to cancelthe BOT Tender (Build-Operate-Transfer) forrenewable energy projects (valid until theend of 2000) and, since no adequate follow-up agreement was available, the situationwas too insecure and plans were put on thebackburner.

Turkish Renewable Energies ActThings picked up again though when Turkeypassed a Renewable Energies Act in May2005. With the new energy feed regulati-ons, power supply companies are obliged toobtain at least eight per cent of their annualrevenue from the sale of renewable ener-gies, provided sufficient supply is available.In addition, a minimum power purchase pri-

ce amounting to the previous year’s aver-age inflation-adjusted price for electricity isguaranteed until the end of 2011 or at leastuntil the seventh operating year, wherebythe Turkish Council of Ministers is allowedto order a premium of up to a maximum of

20 % at the beginning of the respectiveyear. As soon as the new renewables actwas signed, ENERCON and Demirer got theball rolling again. Originally, only E-48 turbi-nes were intended for the site, reports Bütt-ner: “Our Site Assessment Department took

E-44 IN MANASTIR/TURKEY

Heavy-duty turbines braving the Aegean winds

Construction of E-44 in Manastir specially designed for strong-wind sites, E-48 in background.

The first ENERCON series E-44recently went into operation onone of western Turkey’s favouri-te holiday resort peninsulas.Manastir, situated a good 10 kmdrive southeast of the smalltown of Çesme offers outstan-ding wind conditions. As of thisyear a total of 32 E-44 turbineswill be producing clean energyalongside 17 E-48/800 kW ma-chines. Average wind speeds ofabout 8.8 m/s at hub heightpromise good yield for this ENERCON project to be opera-ted by Mare Manastir.

measurements at the location and resultsindicated that the wind around most of thesite was more in Wind Class I.” So it wasdefinitely certain that strong-wind turbineswould be a better choice. In this case, the E-44, ENERCON’s latest edition to the family,was the best choice. The E-44 is a smallerversion of the E-48.

Rotor blades from IzmirBased on load calculations for the largerturbine, tests were done to determine whichrotor diameter would be the best to main-tain the same load levels at windier sites.The result was to size the rotor down to44 m. The tried and tested rotor blade de-sign has also been incorporated in this newmodel to enable the turbine to withstandextreme gusts of up to 70 m/s. And, as isthe case with the other strong-wind mo-dels, the 55 meter tower is much lowercompared to those in Wind class II. Sincerated power has a decisive influence on ou-tput at gusty sites, this was also increasedto 900 kW.

Up to now, all turbine components wereproduced in Germany and then shipped toTurkey. However, in the meantime the firstE-44 rotor blades have been provided bythe Aero Rüzgar Endüstrisi Anonim Sirketiproduction facilites in Izmir, only 50 kilome-tres away from Manastir. The E-44 is thebest-suited machine for Turkish Wind ClassI sites, so it is far more economical to pro-vide the components directly from a facilitynear the construction location.

Power purchase price guaranteed for eight yearsThe wind farm in Manastir is ENERCON’sfirst project in Turkey to fall under the newenergy feed act. A conservative economicfeasibility study for this project took into ac-count a power purchase price of approxi-mately 0.05 Euros per kilowatt hour, Büttnerexplained. The new law, however, containsa few undetermined factors. Although it gu-arantees purchase of renewable power at aprice equivalent to the average electricityprice, the purchase of power from renewa-bles is only an obligation as long as the cu-

mulated output from all renewable sourcesdoes not exceed 8 % of Turkey’s overall po-wer consumption. “I don’t think that theeight per cent limit will be reached withinthe next seven to eight years”, says Büttner.A good indication is that currently only verylittle renewable energy is on the market andelectricity consumption is expected to con-tinue to rise annually at a two-digit percen-tage rate.

Triple securityThe risks for Mare Manastir are minimal:There’s an option to sell the energy outputon the “free” market. And power prices inTurkey are so high at the moment that thismay actually be the most lucrative option.Should this option fail due to either electri-city or currency fluctuations another alter-native still remains. A private industrial ent-erprise is alsowilling to buy theelectricity produ-ced at MareManastir at a mi-nimum Euro-ba-sed price.

Turbine mainten-ance and serviceis scheduled tobe carried out byone of the sistercompanies ofENERCON. A fiveman service team made up of 4 techniciansand one engineer selected from the erec-tion teams will be stationed directly on theManastir wind farm. So, they will be able toreact immediately whenever necessary.“The Service teams are part of the installa-tion teams so once the machine is installedthey feel like it’s their ‘baby’”, reports FrankWübben from ENERCON Service Center.

Another smaller ENERCON wind farm withthree E-40 turbines installed earlier in AlizeRez will also be part of their service region.According to Wübben, the second TurkishService support base will be in Çanakkale,situated on the banks of the Dardanelles,the narrow strait connecting the Aegean

and Marmara Seas. In Intepe, not far fromthe 75,000-resident city, ENERCON is cur-rently installing yet another farm with 38 E-48 turbines. And a further project in theregion is scheduled to follow this year. FromÇanakkale it is also not far to the Aegean Is-land of Bozçaada where in 2000 ENERCONerected the country’s largest wind farm inco-operation with Demirer Holding. 17 E-40machines are reaping the wind’s energywhich, at 30 meters height, has an outstan-ding average speed of 8.5 m/s.

Wind in the sails“We’re also considering installing moreENERCON-owned wind farms near the Bos-porus”, says Christof Büttner. In the long-term, he sees great potential for renewablesin Turkey. Annual investments of 2.5 millionEuros have been estimated for the future in

order to cover the growing energy demand.Increasing development in less developedregions such as eastern Turkey is pushingup the demand for electricity.

Compared to the 63,700 GWh consumptionin 2005, experts predict that this figure willquadruple by the year 2020. “Turkey has about 8,000 km of coastline with very gustyareas, so it is an attractive place for windenergy. And since the country doesn’t haveany substantial fossil fuel sources, the go-vernment is extremely interested in reducingTurkey’s dependency on imports.” What’smore, wind energy offers excellent new pro-spects for economic development in areaswhich are otherwise quite barren.

T E C H N O L O G Y WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 11

Hub of E-44 generator in Manastir.

12 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 I N T E R N AT I O N A L

The sites are situated in central Norway,where the mean wind speed at hub heightaverages over 8 m/s. While the owners arepleased with exceptionally high output,rough climatic conditions posed a challengefor the installation teams. Due to the remo-

teness, special logistics concepts had to bedevised and standards demanded by thedistribution grid operator (generally accu-stomed to hydropower) are amongst thestrictest in Europe.

Dozens of large projects are currently beingdeveloped along the Norwegian coastline –some with an overall capacity of more than100 MW. A steady wind whistles along thecoast and over the rounded caps of the“Fjelle”, as these barren mountains are cal-led in Norwegian. The solid rock, found al-most everywhere under a thin layer of earthand moss, offers an exceptionally stable fo-

undation for wind turbines: Steel anchorstransmit extreme tensile forces out of thefoundation into the foundation soil.

In fall 2006, ENERCON erected an E-70/2 MW turbine on the top of a mountain

cap in Hundhammer-fjellet, on Vikna penin-sula north-west ofNamsos, and five E-70/2.3 MW machi-nes in Valseneset onFosen northwest ofTrondheim. “We usedrock-anchor foundati-ons for all machines”,reports Robin Borgert,ENERCON’s Aurich sa-les rep in charge ofNorwegian projects.

Specialist contractors anchored the concre-te foundations to the rock with 12 cables: Amobile drill bores 15 m deep holes with a15-20 cm diameter through jacket tubes onthe circumference of the foundation. Bund-les of steel cable strands are then introdu-ced into the holes. Once hardened, cementmortar binds the rough surface of the steelcable to the rock. The cables are tensioned,clamped and fixed with bolts. The steel ca-bles are however only bonded to 5 m indepth not the entire length: This depth issufficient to pre-stress each anchor with200 t. Thus, the whole foundation is fixed tothe ground with the force of 2,400 t.

“We were able to halve the foundation dia-meter thanks to the rock-anchor and savetwo thirds of the amount of concrete”, re-ports Borgert. The foundations at both sitesare only 9 m in diameter instead of the re-gular 18 m E-70 flat foundations (64 m hubheight). The steel cables cost less thantransporting huge quantities of concrete toremote locations. Borgert: “Whether this ty-pe of anchorage is worth using has to bedetermined on a project by project basisthough, as the anchors are not cheap.”Roughly 90 % of all Norwegian sites are onsolid rock. With rock-anchor foundationsENERCON is able to offer their customersthe ideal solution.

The Norwegian transmission network isquite coarsely meshed due to the country’svast distances. Nevertheless, ever more lar-ge wind farms are being connected. This re-quires special technological features, as sti-pulated in the grid operators’ grid codes.ENERCON wind turbines, in combinationwith the SCADA remote monitoring system,greatly fulfil the Norwegian standards, suchas providing reactive power to regulate vol-tage, undervoltage ride through and bott-leneck management.

A good example of this capacity to adapt tothe grid is in Bessakerfjellet, also on Fosen.ENERCON is currently installing a wind farmcomprising 25 E-70/2.3 MW with an outputcapacity of 57.5 MW for the Trondheim po-wer utility: TrønderEnergi. This farm will bedirectly connected to the grid. “With theENERCON transmission configuration, allspecial requirements stipulated in the Stat-nett’s grid code are fulfilled”, says Chri-stoph Hilling, in charge of technical supportat ENERCON International Sales.

ENERCON is expanding its presence in the Norwegian market. Firstevidence of this are two E-70 projects in Valsneset and Hundham-merfjellet installed at the end of 2006. Both projects are convincingevidence of ENERCON technology’s ability to stand up to the extremeconditions of the North.

E-70/2,3 MW IN HUNDHAMMERFJELLET AND VALSNESET

Solid foundation on Norwegian rock

One out of five E-70/2.3 MW in Valsneset.

With 66 MW installed, the Nunobiki projectis the largest wind energy project in Japan.From the plateau, there is a nice view toBandai-san, one of Japan’s many beautifulvolcanic mountains. During summer, theplateau is used for growing white radishes.In the winter, it is covered with deep snow.“Before the wind park was built, nobody ca-me to the plateau during the winter”, re-ports Jørn Kristensen, ENERCON sales ma-nager for East Asia.

The wind farm was erected in summer andautumn 2006 under the supervision of ex-perts from ENERCON Germany and with ad-ditional supervisors from Hitachi Enginee-ring & Service Co., ENERCON’s Japanesepartner for sales, service and installation.The customer is J-Power, an electric powerproject developer and provider with headquarters in Tokyo. Technicians from JP-Hytec and from transport specialist Nip-pon Express did the installation. Nippon Ex-press undertook the local transportationand made cranes available.

“Transportation was complicated due tonarrow roads and many tunnels”, says Kri-stensen. A special trailer had to be con-structed in Germany and sent to Japan. Ittook four days to transport each generatorfrom the harbour to the site. Every time thetrailer passed a tunnel, the generators had

to be moved from a til-ted into a vertical posi-tion, and vice versa lea-ving the tunnel.

In Japan, the develop-ment of wind energyand other renewableprojects are driven bythe Renewable PortfolioStandard (RPS) Law. According to this act,each electric power company has to distri-bute a small percentage of the electricityfrom renewables: the minimum is 1.35 % by2010 and 2.0 % by 2014, the latter calcula-ted to correspond to 4.6 GW of installedwind power. The law stipulates that eachpower company can either invest in and ge-nerate renewable energy themselves, or buyit from other power companies that have anexcess compared to their targets or from in-dependent power producers. The price perkWh consists of a price paid by the powercompany and a RPS premium for the powercompanies to fulfil their quotas.

About ten big power companies share theJapanese market. Tokyo Electrical PowerCo. (TEPCO) being the largest among themdoes not have enough sites inside its distri-bution area for investments in wind energy.Thus, they either have to buy renewable po-wer from local companies covering the nor-

thern windy areas of Japan where morethan enough wind energy is installed orfrom other independent producers sellingtheir RPS value to TEPCO.

Although situated in the district of the utili-ty Tohoku EPC, the Nunobiki project is ow-ned and operated by a subsidiary of J-Po-wer called Green Power Koriyama Nunobiki.The power is sold to TEPCO, because thecompany owns the transmission lines co-ming from a hydro project in the mountains.

For ENERCON, the project is a milestone inthe development of the Japanese market. In2006, Japan was its fourth biggest countryof exportation. At present, a total of 1,345 MW wind energy are installed in Ja-pan, 300 MW of which were built up lastyear. Kristensen: “ENERCON has a marketshare of 25 %. Within the next few years weexpect to continue to perform on this level,installing 60-70 MW per year.”

I N T E R N A T I O N A L WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 13

On a plateau overlooking Nunobiki, a village 200 kmnorth of Tokyo, Japan’s largest wind farm so far wasinaugurated in February. 33 E-70/2 MW machines arenow producing environment-friendly electricity in themiddle of a majestic volcano landscape. The projectwas developed by Tokyo-based J-Power, the power ispurchased by TEPCO, Japan’s largest power provider.

Wind farmwithvolcano view

NUNOBIKI/JAPAN

Nunobiki wind farm is located within a beautiful volcanic mountain landscape.

14 WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 S U P P L I E R

In this sector, the Gremsdorf-based com-pany is one of ENERCON’s major suppliers.From Gremsdorf, IMO Momentlager GmbHdispatches the parts to exclusive ENERCONsuppliers such as SKET in Magdeburg andfor final machine assembly to Mechanic An-lagenbau GmbH in Aurich.

Each ENERCON wind turbine comprisesthree blade bearings and, at the top of thetower, a yaw bearing which supports thenacelle. The blade bearings constitute astorm-proof connection between the rotorblades and the hub while, depending on thewind conditions, providing variable rotorblade adjustment to control the rotor speedand regulate the turbine’s output. The IMOslewing rings in the yaw bearing are part ofthe yaw mechanism which enables thenacelle to be adjusted to the best positionaccording to the prevailing winds.

Blade bearings absorbingextreme aerodynamic forces“Heavy-duty large roller bearings for windturbines have to be made of tough hardquenched and tempered steel”, says Wer-ner Schröppel, Managing Director of theGremsdorfer firm. “The rotor blades, whichare nearly 40 meter long, are subject to ex-treme aerodynamic forces. These forces actlike a huge lever on the hub and have to beabsorbed by a blade bearing which is onlyabout two meters in diameter”, saysSchröppel describing the challenge windenergy poses. This means that the tensileand notch impact strengths of the heat-treated steel used in the blade connection

bearings have to be especially high. IMOuses a steel alloy, which, after heat treat-ment i.e. quenched and tempered, is morethan twice as resistant as conventional con-struction steel.

ENERCON uses IMO’s double row ball-bea-ring slewing rings. The steel bearings rota-te between two superposed steel ringtracks, so that the rings are able to rotate inopposite directions in order to, for example,pitch a rotor blade into position. For heavy-duty work and long service life, the heat-treated steel ball tracks, tooth profiles, andinterior root surfaces are hardened. Usingan electromagnetic inductor to heat the me-tal until it glows, it is then immediately

quenched in a special emulsion – a processwhich changes the structure of the steelmaking it harder.

Zero backlash requirements fulfilledThe balls in the roller-bearing reduce fric-tion on the ring and keep rotational resi-stance to a minimum. Steel balls, slightlylarger than the space available, are manual-ly inserted through openings in both tracksof the bearing rings. This ensures that zerobacklash requirements are fulfilled.

During assembly ENERCON then securelyfits the “double ring” to the hub. The sle-wing rings IMO produces for ENERCON wind

Central Franconia on the ballIMO Monmentlager Gmbh in Gremsdorf near Nuremberg provide ENERCON with large precision roller-be-arings. Currently, these slewing rings from Central Franconia are being used as blade and yaw bearingsparticularly in the E-70 and E-82 wind turbines.

IMO MOMENTENLAGER GMBH

Blade bearing for E-70 in preparation for varnishing.

turbines are toothed on the outside edge sothey can gear into the electric drive pinionon e.g. a tower bearing with several yawdrive motors.

Thousands of blade bearings forthe E-40IMO Momentlager has been providing sle-wing rings for the wind industry ever since1988. Cooperation with ENERCON began in1994 when IMO began supplying compo-nents for the E-40/500 kW machine. “In oneof the most widely installed turbines world-wide, over a thousand of our blade bearingshave stood up to the test of time. A goodpart of them have been in service for morethan ten years”, says Schröppel, who ma-nages the company along with Associate-Manager Erich Russ.

IMO has been contributing to the ever gro-wing wind energy branch for roughly tenyears now. The division of slewing rings forwind turbines is a major sector of the busin-ess, reports Schröppel who points out thatIMO actually grew together with ENERCONfrom the early stages of the branch.

One of Europe’s 500 fastest growing firmsAnnual turnover figures and the number ofemployees have been increasing for years,bringing the medium-sizedcompany up to the top 500range of Europe’s fastest gro-wing firms. The group, whichalso includes IMO An-triebseinheit GmbH, Grems-dorf, reached a 90 million eu-ro turnover in 2006. Everyyear IMO MomentenlagerGmbH produces over 30,000ball and roller-bearing sle-wing rings representing thelion’s share of their revenue.Slewing rings from CentralFranconia can also be foundin cranes, bottling plants,heavy machinery, medicaltechnology and steelworks. Alarge portion of their pro-ducts are exported.

Currently IMO has more than 720 employ-ees in Gremsdorf, including a developmentand engineering department consisting ofaround 20 engineers and technicians. Ta-king ENERCON’s specifications into consi-deration, they develop serial products witha long service-life expectancy which fulfilGermanischen Lloyd’s strict regulations.

IMO’s production is spread out over about adozen halls. The Gremsdorf plant receivesseamless pressed blanks from the roller

mill which are then turned and drilled, too-thed, tempered, assembled, varnished andindividually inspected for quality before thefinal products (blade and yaw bearings) areshipped to Magdeburg or Aurich.

The metal working company manufacturesin batches. “When ENERCON orders a cer-tain number of blade bearings to be deliver-ed for a particular date, our productionplanning department schedules the machi-nes and processes according the specifica-tions so the complete order can be finishedin one go”, says Schröppel.

IMO moving up to ENERCON’sA supplier group“It’s great doing business with IMO”, saysOliver Smidt from Mechanic AnlagenbauGmbH Materials Management Dept. explai-ning ENERCON’s relationship with the sup-plier. Over a decade ago, the Aurich basedwind turbine manufacturer convinced IMOto take wind energy up as a new division.Since then, IMO has become one of the fourlargest ball-bearing slewing ring manufac-turers, worldwide. Smidt especially appre-ciates IMO’s excellent technical support,dependable delivery and professional hand-ling. As of 2007, IMO will be moving up tothe A supplier group and will thus also beinvolved in strategic decision-making.

S U P P L I E R WINDBLATT 01 | 2007 15

Checking for cracks on the induction hardened track with a magnetyoke.

Automatons drilling borings for blade bearing fitting.

WINDBLATT: The title of your new book toappear soon is called “Are we disturbingclimate cycles?” Does climate actuallyfollow cycles? Mojib Latif: Well, there are phenomenawhich occur at regular intervals. These in-clude short-term occurrences such as sea-sonal cycles and long-term cycles like glaci-al/interglacial periods. Unfortunately, we arecurrently deviating from natural cyclical fluc-tuations due to unprecedented greenhousegas concentrations in the atmosphere.

WINDBLATT: Seen on a long term basis, isthe ongoing global warming somethingexceptional?Latif: Yes. Of course fluctuations also oc-curred in the past, but evidence shows thatsince the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago, theaverage annual temperature has increasedby approximately 5° C. However, if the cur-rent trend continues, the temperature couldbe 5 degrees warmer in 100 years. Thiswould be an exceptional rate. Temperatureswould also reach an absolute record high;reliable scenarios predict average annualtemperatures of 20° C by the year 2100.

WINDBLATT: When do you expect the cur-rent warming trend to reach a peak? Latif: That depends on our behaviour. If wecontinue to emit ever more greenhouse ga-ses, the temperature will continue to rise.Eventually, there will be no more oil and co-al and then we will be hitting the limit. Thiswill probably be in 200 to 300 years. It will

take another 1,000 years after that beforethe situation starts getting back to normal.

WINDBLATT: You specialise in the influenceof ocean currents on our climate. How dothe results fit in with global warming?Latif: Ocean currents are a decisive factorfor regional climate change. There was ascenario which depicted that a Gulf Streamshutdown could compensate warming inEurope. However, this would not affect Cen-tral Europe: Even if the Stream shuts downby the year 2100, there would still be a hu-ge increase in temperature. The lack of ther-mohaline circulation is likely to affect anoverall temperature increase of 5 degreesby cooling off a maximum of 1 or 2 degrees.

WINDBLATT: How do you counter criticswho argue that forecasts down to a tenthof a degree are not possible with a com-plex phenomenon such as climate?Latif: This is where there’s a misunderstan-ding. For climatologists it’s not a matter ofproviding actual forecasts, but rather typicalweather. We’re not checking whether the-re’ll be snow at Christmas in 2100. We onlycalculate the probability of snow in that pe-riod. Complexity is not a valid argument: Ifthis were the case, I wouldn’t be able topredict the seasons, for example.

WINDBLATT: At present, German utilitieswant to prolong the service life of theirnuclear power plants justifying this with,among other factors, climate protection.

Latif: Germany wants to set an example. So,if we start saying that the only way we canget a grip on CO2 reduction is with nuclearpower, this would be a disastrous messageto the world. Thousands of nuclear powerplants would start mushrooming all over theworld. This is not in anyone’s interest. Wedon’t have to look at places like Iran andNorth Korea to realise how gullible it wouldbe to believe that civil and military use ofatomic energy could be disassociated.

WINDBLATT: How can we curb climatechange?Latif: We can’t stop atmospheric warming.However, we can attenuate it. If one assu-mes a maximum warming of 2 degrees bythe year 2100 as opposed to the pre-indu-strial era, and this is the target the EU is ai-ming at, one has to cut current emissionsby 50 % by the year 2050 and by 90 % till2100. That’s a hell of a difficult task for po-litics. For one thing, there’s a huge potenti-al which could be activated to save energy.Secondly, we have to continue developingrenewable energies so that they can be wi-dely used 20-30 years from now.

WINDBLATT: Do you think the ClimateSummit in Nairobi last fall was able to mo-ve things forward?Latif: That was only a lot of hot air. With thistype of event, we’re not going to make anyprogress. The climate problem has to beco-me a G8-summit topic. Heads of govern-ment from major industrialized nations ha-ve to come to a consensus on reducingemissions, saving energy and renewableenergy – and ensure that these decisionsare put into practice at all levels, simulta-neously!

Mojib Latif, 52, is a professor at the Leibniz-Institute for Marine Sciences in Kiel. Part of his

research consists of developing climate models and studying man’s influence on climate.

For his achievements, he received the “Sverdrup Gold Medal” from the American Meteoro-

logical Society and he is the author of several popular science books on climate change.

WINDBLATT

Mojib Latif: Climatechange has to have toppolitical priority

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WINDBLATT - Enercon · 2015. 9. 16. · near Balve (Sauerland). At peak gusts with average wind...

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