Nordex has begun serial production of nacelles for turbines in its 6MW class.
To mark the occasion CEO José Luis Blanco pressed the start button for production in front of 800 employees at the assembly plant in Rostock and also in the company of 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.
The factory in Rostock, Germany, is the primary facility for nacelle production in Nordex’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 6MW 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 1GW here,” said Blanco.
Blanco added: “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.
The first 6MW turbines from the Delta4000 series manufactured are going straight to two projects in the Netherlands, together amounting to 102MW.
Nordex has already received orders amounting to 1.1GW for the supply and installation of N163/6.X turbines, for wind projects in low-wind speed locations in the Netherlands, Finland, Turkey, Estonia and Germany.
Farnkopf added: “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.
“Over the past weeks the whole workforce has been intensively preparing for the start of production for this new turbine,” added 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,” he said.