World's tallest wind tower built in southern Brandenburg

Not even the Chinese are building to these heights: the highest wind tower in the world has been built in southern Brandenburg; the operators hope to achieve twice the energy yield of a conventional wind turbine. A pilot project should now bring clarity.

The world's tallest wind turbine, at 365 meters, in Lusatia in southern Brandenburg, is to be tested in a small wind farm in the future and brought onto the market. “What we have learned will next be implemented in a small pilot wind farm, 3 to 5 turbines, where we will then take the step of profitability and market launch,” said the founder and head of the Dresden company Gicon, Jochen Großmann, next to the high-altitude wind tower in Schipkau.

According to him, in a further step, 100 systems will later be built in Germany. The aim is to prove the economic viability of such XXL systems and to use them to retrofit existing wind farms.

The high-altitude wind tower is 365 meters high including the rotor blades and was built as a research facility with the help of the federal government at a cost of 25 million euros. The 3.8 megawatt system reached its final height days ago. After the final work has been completed, it is scheduled to start operations in November, as the company announced.

According to the Federal Wind Energy Association, there is no taller wind turbine anywhere else. "China, everyone tried to get to this height and we did it," said Großmann.

The Gicon Group, headquartered in Dresden, built the wind tower on behalf of the Federal Agency for Jump Innovations (SPRIND). Sprind's project manager, Julius Keil, spoke of a "prospect of bringing another 1,000 to 2,000 systems into the world."

Entrepreneur Großmann said: "If you think it's megalomaniacal, we have screened the existing wind farms in Germany alone. We can retrofit 4,000 systems into the existing wind farms, taking all the boundary conditions into account." There are now also inquiries from other countries. “And now we simply have to have the courage, pool our strengths, in order to ultimately bring development here to the world.”

According to Gicon, the huge wind tower can achieve twice the energy output of a conventional wind turbine. Since they can be built in existing wind farms, no new areas are required.

The first high-altitude wind tower of this type will feed in electricity in the future. According to the company, the system is built to last 20 years.