Wind turbine manufacturer Enercon is joining forces with Salzgitter and TM Group to produce a lower-emissions steel tower – the first of its kind in Germany.
Enercon will collaborate with Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH, a subsidiary of Salzgitter, and TM Group company SMB Schönebecker Maschinenbau GmbH for the project, which they say marks an important step towards achieving more sustainability in the production processes of wind turbines.
The new steel tower components will be put to use early in 2025 on an E-138 EP3 wind turbine as part of the Diepholzer Bruch wind farm project in Lower Saxony, Germany.
This will make it one of the first onshore wind turbines in Europe – and the first in Germany – to feature a tower made from lower-emissions steel, often referred to as “green steel”.
“Working together with such strong partners from the steel industry means we are making significant progress in our mission to integrate sustainability systematically and measurably in our products and processes,” said Enercon global procurement director for towers Stefan Frey.
“By pooling our expertise, we can reduce the CO2 footprint of this steel tower by more than 70 per cent.
“This cooperation provides us with an important basis from which we can offer our customers an even more sustainable tower option in future, while of course maintaining our high-quality standards and using state-of-the-art tower technology.”
Steel production is an energy-intensive process. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production of heavy plates, Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH is using physically CO2-reduced slabs from its sister company Peiner Träger GmbH and another European partner company for this project.
They are produced entirely from scrap in an electric arc furnace.
Managing director of sales at at Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH Thorsten Gintaut said: “We are working closely with strong research and industry partners to achieve a steel production that is as climate-neutral as possible.
“We are therefore very pleased to be producing the first lower-emissions tower for a wind turbine in Germany together with Enercon and other companies from the steel industry.”