Last year, ENERCON maintained its pole position on the German market. Achieving 59.5 % of new installations, the Aurich-based wind turbine manufacturer is once again well ahead of its competitors. Vestas holds second place with 21.0 % of the share, followed by REpower Systems (9.7%) and then Nordex (3.9%). These figures were recently announced by the German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI) based in Wilhelmshaven. (Note that the survey also includes figures for offshore installations which ENERCON is not involved in).
According to DEWI, a total of 895 new wind turbines with an overall rated power of 2,007 MW were installed in Germany in 2011 (2010: 1,551 MW). Out of the 895 machines, ENERCON installed 552 with a total rated power of 1,189 MW. “We are very pleased with these results,” commented ENERCON Head of Sales, Stefan Lütkemeyer. Concentrating on their core activities on the German market has definitely paid off for ENERCON.
Lütkemeyer also sees the extensive development in southern Germany as a favourable sign. According to the DEWI survey, the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate (258 MW new installations) and Bavaria (164 MW newly installed turbines) are currently ranked in 3rd and 5th position with Lower Saxony holding first place (431 MW) and Schleswig Holstein (299 MW) coming in second.
“With these developments, prospects are looking good again this year," says Lütkemeyer. In 2012, ENERCON expects projects at inland sites to increase. One of the major contributing factors to the increase in installations in Southern Germany is the choice of taller towers. Taller towers make inland sites more viable. With its latest model, the 3 MW E-101 turbine (99 and 135m hub height), ENERCON is well-geared for this trend. Also in Bavaria the first E-101 machines are already up and running. And Lütkemeyer expects an even more favourable outlook with the option of an additional tower version available for the E-101 as of 2013. The new concrete tower (149m hub height) rounds off the selection of towers for the E-101.
Caption: Good prospects for Southern Germany: ENERCON has already installed the first E-101 WECs in Bavaria.