- First N163/6.X turbines coming off the production line in Rostock on schedule
Together with Jochen Schulte, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labour of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and plant manager Alexander Farnkopf, today Nordex CEO José Luis Blanco pressed the start button for series production of nacelles for turbines in the 6-MW class in front of some 800 employees at the assembly plant in Rostock.
The production facility in Rostock is the primary facility for nacelle production in the Nordex Group’s global production network. Some 50% of Nordex nacelles worldwide are manufactured in the German plant.
'Just seven months after the installation of the first two prototypes of the Nordex Group’s most powerful large turbine to date, the N163/6.X turbines in the 6-MW class are now being produced in series in our German production plant. In the long-term annual output of these large turbines alone is to amount to approx. 1 GW here,' said Blanco during the celebration of the series start.
The plant is currently the only one in the Group to manufacture and assemble nacelles, drive trains and switch cabinets for all the Nordex Group’s turbine models from the 2.4 to the 6-MW class
Blanco: 'For us the start of series manufacture of the N163/6.X is a logical and consistent step forward. In the past this primary facility already produced the most nacelles for the latest turbine types. In addition to this, production processes and improvements are tested here and if shown to be suitable are also put into practice at other facilities in the production network. We have invested some two million euros in redesigning the production system in Rostock.'
The 6-MW turbines from the Delta4000 series manufactured are going straight to two projects in the Netherlands, together amounting to 102 megawatts. The Nordex Group has already received orders amounting to 1.1 GW for the supply and installation of N163/6.X turbines. Here the orders come especially from the developed markets, i.e. the Netherlands, Finland, Turkey, Estonia and Germany. Here many projects are being planned for locations with low wind speeds. For these areas the Nordex Group has developed the N163/6.X with an output that can be configured flexibly in the 6-MW range.
Rostock plant manager Alexander Farnkopf: 'We want to meet the rapidly increasing demand for the N163 as comprehensively as possible and with this in mind over the past few weeks we have extended our three main production lines especially for this powerful turbine type.'
The first N163 nacelles, hubs and drive trains have already successfully passed through the flow production process, optimised for this turbine type, in the Rostock plant in order to ensure a trouble-free start of the series.
'Over the past weeks the whole workforce has been intensively preparing for the start of production for this new turbine,' adds Farnkopf. 'These are experienced members of staff, who have been producing nacelles for other Nordex turbines for years. Today we employ around 770 people at the production plant. However, we would like to take on and train around 75 more specialists and welcome them as new colleagues to complement the 2,600 employees we have in Germany today.'
Source: Nordex
