World

- Pilot project near Cologne produces much higher energy yield

Grevenbroich - One of the world’s biggest wind turbines with hybrid tower is being built at the wind test site in Grevenbroich, about 50 km west of Cologne. The innovative tower combines a lower segment consisting of long, narrow pre-cast concrete components made by Netherlands tower specialists Advanced Tower Systems (ATS) and an upper segment made of conventional steel elements. Altogether the turbine will measure 180 meters with hub height at 133 meters. The tower is being installed and will be operated by the ATS Projekt Grevenbroich company, in which juwi Netzwerk GmbH &Co. KG, Mecal Projects GmbH, Hurks subsidiary HB Bau GmbH and Siemens Project Ventures (SPV) are equal partners.

"This innovative tower enables a higher hub height to produce more energy at comparatively low overall cost. It’s also light cargo," says ATS managing director Frans Brughuis, pointing out the many benefits of this pilot project. Compared to widespread hub heights of 100 meters, ATS’ system yields about 20% more energy. The higher expense incurred during installation is recuperated within about four years. The maintenance costs are very low. Over the long course of a project this ultimately means much lower electricity generation costs compared to today’s commercially available systems. At inland locations with lower wind speed that’s particularly important and so opens up new development potential for clean wind-generated power. "This innovative concept will make effective climate protection even more economically efficient than before," says ATS sales manager Johannes Bietz.

The various elements of the hybrid tower are designed to be easily transportable even to difficult locations, such as forests. The tower also stands out for its quick installation time and can be combined with different brands of components (nacelles, rotors, etc.). "We’re proud and very glad that such a farsighted project is being implemented at our premises," says Monika Krämer, managing director of Windtest Grevenbroich GmbH, the company that manages the turbine testing field.

With annual revenues of some EUR 400 million, the juwi group ranks among Germany’s leading renewable energy companies. With about 400 staff, juwi is involved in the entire service value creation chain in the segments of photovoltaics, wind energy and bioenergy. So far juwi has implemented projects amounting to 300 wind turbines – altogether more than 450 MW. In the solar segment, juwi had implemented approximately 800 PV installations representing more than 150,000 kilowatts of capacity by the end of October 2008.

Siemens Project Ventures GmbH (SPV) is a subsidiary of Siemens Financial Services. Together with renowned partners SPV invests equity capital in the development of infrastructure projects internationally, predominantly in the energy, transportation and telecommunications sectors. SPV has been involved in the development of ten international power generation projects representing total capacity of more than 6,600 megawatts as well as three telecommunications projects and an airport, with total investment volume amounting to USD 7 billion.

Mecal is an independent engineering company specialising in applying mechanics to industrial products in order to achieve a technological advantage for their customers. Mecal has a track record of more than ten years experience in wind turbine technology. Founded in 1989, Mecal has grown into an organisation with 100 professionals at three locations.

Hurks Groep is one of the largest general contracting companies in The Netherlands. The company has a leading position as builder of high-tech pre-cast concrete constructions, is reputedly innovative, and operates internationally. Hurks is a financially strong partner, with a turnover of 350 million Euro per year. It is the holding of 15 companies, with a total of 1000 employees.


Grevenbroich, November 18th, 2008


Publication and Reprint free of charge; please send a voucher copy to
Advanced Tower Systems (ATS).


Attention editorial offices: For further questions please contact:

Mr. Johannes Bietz
Sales Manager Advanced Tower Systems (ATS)
Energie-Allee 1
55286 Wörrstadt
Tel.: 06732 - 96 57 2810
Mobil: 0172 - 66 99 216
Mail: bietz@ats.eu
Internet: http://www.ats.eu


Mr. Ralf Heidenreich
Pressesprecher juwi Holding AG
Energie-Allee 1
55286 Wörrstadt
Tel: 06732 - 96 57 1207
Mobil: 0173 - 65 98 211
Mail: heidenreich@juwi.de
Internet: http://www.juwi.de

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