The World’s Tallest Wind Turbine

Tallest wind turbine

Here’s a glimpse of world’s tallest wind turbine, towering above the trees surrounding it.

Currently under construction in Hausbay in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the wind turbine structure has a hub height of 164 metres and a rotor length of 65.5 metres.

From the base of the structure to the tip of the blades it’s just under 230 metres. From the ground to the lower blade tip, it’s a height of 100 metres. The tower itself is comprised of a 100-metre concrete section and two tubular steel tower segments.

The Nordex 3.3MW N131/3300 wind power system has  been designed for low-wind regions with wind speeds of an annual average of up to 7.5 m/s.

“..the N131/3300 will be able to make use of air layers offering a greater yield, thus increasing annual output,” says Nordex.

World's tallest wind turbine

The company states the N131/3300 has a noise emission level of  104.5 dB(A); maintaining that comparatively low level even in yield-optimised operations without the use of any acoustic assistance. That may seem rather loud, but here’s some notes on sound measurements and wind turbines from Wind Measurement International.

So, we’ve covered the longest turbine blade this week and now the tallest turbine; but what about the world’s largest capacity wind turbine currently in operation?

According to Wikipedia, that distinction currently appears to belong to the Vestas V164; a model used for offshore wind power applications. It has a rated capacity of 8.0 MW and an overall height of 220m.

How long Vestas will retain the record it has held since 2014 isn’t clear – there’s a number of other turbines under development tipping the 10MW capacity mark, and no doubt Vestas is working on bettering its achievement too.

Back to Nordex – in other recent news, the company announced earlier this week it will be replacing 16 legacy N60/1300 wind turbines at the Altenbruch wind farm in Germany with nine more powerful N117/3000 models by the end of 2016.

While the number of turbines at the facility will nearly halve, yield is expected to more than double. Other benefits from the replacement program will be an increase in full-load hours, improved grid compatibility and significantly lower rotor speeds and noise emissions states the company.

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