Before the rotor blades start turning

Thirty-five tons of reinforcing iron, over 300 cubic-metres of concrete, tower elements up to 30 metres long: The construction of a wind power plant is a logistical tour de force. Once the various components of the wind power plant are on site, the erection and commissioning of a wind farm only takes 8 to 12 weeks thanks to coordination and precision.

The foundation of a wind power plant is a reinforced iron construction filled with concrete that has to harden for at least 4 weeks. After that everything goes very quickly. Various specialists work hand in hand according to a tight schedule: The tower is placed into the foundation (Fundament), the nacelle that houses the gearbox (die Gondel mit Getriebe), brake (Bremse) and Generator (Generator), and the hub (Nabe) with the rotor blades (Rotorblättern) are mounted on the tower.

Then the interior work begins, which includes the installation of the power cables from the nacelle to the foundation. After successful commissioning including safety tests, the wind power plant under goes a test operation phase. In the test phase the plant must produce during 120 to 240 hours without any intervention from the technicians. The plant must successfully pass this test before final acceptance.

Once the plant is in operation, it generates electricity for some 1650 households.