Sector News
Reaping the wind with the biggest turbines ever made
When engineer Lukasz Cejrowski finally saw the world’s largest wind turbine blades installed on a prototype tower in 2016, he stood in front of it and took a selfie. Obviously.
“It was amazing” he says, recalling the moment with a laugh. “The feeling of happiness – ‘Yes, it works, it’s mounted.'”
Those blades, made by Danish firm LM Wind Power, were a record-breaking 88.4m (290ft) long – bigger than the wingspan of an Airbus A380, or nearly the length of two Olympic-sized swimming pools. The swept area of such a mammoth rotor blade would cover Rome’s Colosseum.
But things move quickly in the wind turbine industry.
In just a few years, those blades could be surpassed by the company’s next project – 107m-long blades.
LM Wind Power is owned by global engineering firm General Electric (GE), which announced in March that it hopes to develop a giant 12MW (megawatt) wind turbine by the year 2020.
A single turbine this size, standing 260m tall, could produce enough electricity to power 16,000 households.
The world’s current largest wind turbine is a third less powerful than that, generating 8MW. Various companies, including Siemens, are working on turbines around the 10MW mark.
When it comes to wind turbines, it seems, size matters.
This is because bigger turbines capture more wind energy and do so at greater altitudes, where wind production is more consistent.
But designing and manufacturing blades of this size is a significant feat of engineering.
Mr Cejrowski says that the firm could in theory use metal, but the blades would be extremely expensive and heavy. Instead, they use a mix of carbon and glass fibre.
First, they make a glass-fibre and polyester shell for each blade – in two halves. Then the spar cap is added. That’s a length of reinforcing material that runs down the inside of each of these halves.
For this, Mr Cejrowski’s team uses a glass-carbon composite fabric, infused with a special resin that hardens in place.
These ultra-large blades are extensively tested
Prototypes are bent, stretched, buffeted in wind tunnels and, during “fatigue tests”, flexed back and forth quickly millions of times to simulate a lifetime of use. They’re also tested against lightning strike.
The world’s biggest wind turbines are generally installed offshore rather than on land. That way, they avoid being gigantic eyesores in our midst and are able to harness the powerful winds out at sea.
The potential of offshore wind has prompted some to draw up plans for future windfarms on an enormous scale, in waters many miles from land.
Offshore wind cheaper than new nuclear
US researchers recently showed that a huge amount of untapped energy could be harnessed by building a giant windfarm in the North Atlantic.
Separately, Dutch firm TenneT has developed a concept for a very large windfarm that could be built at Dogger Bank, an area of shallow water in the North Sea.
It would include a man-made island where substations could be located and, with many hundreds of turbines, supply power to countries including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
In total, it could have a capacity of some 30GW (gigawatts), the company says.
To put that in context, the average electricity demand for the whole of the UK is 36GW.
Henrik Stiesdal, a former chief engineer at Siemens’ wind power division who now works at Danish Technical University, says there are numerous advantages to building supersized offshore farms like this – even cosmetic benefits.
“If you’re more than 40km (25 miles) out, the curvature of the earth means the turbines will be below the horizon,” he says.
Mr Stiesdal says various organisations, including his own institution and the University of Oxford, are working on ways to make offshore wind turbine foundations cheaper.
One idea is to develop floating platforms that would be cheaper to manufacture in large quantities in factories.
But if the cost of foundations does come down, it could then be cost-effective to install larger numbers of smaller turbines rather than fewer big ones.
“The chasing of the big machines will continue only as long as the infrastructure costs are high,” he explains.
For this reason, wind turbines are unlikely to exceed the 12MW models, he believes.
One downside of building offshore windfarms with many smaller turbines, though, is that there are many more individual bits of equipment needing to be serviced and maintained out at sea, where the conditions can often be inhospitable, to say the least.
For the more immediate future, expect to see offshore wind farms continue to multiply, especially in Europe, says Joel Meggelaars at industry association Wind Europe.
“GE is definitely the biggest announcement that we’ve seen so far,” he says, referring to the planned 12MW turbine. (Source: bbc.com)
Two experienced professionals in Türkiye’s wind energy sector are taking their long-standing relationship to the next level through a strategic collaboration. Alper Kalaycı, Co-Founder of EnconIQ Energy Consultancy Ltd., and Levent İshak, Co-Founder of Lewind Energy Consultancy Ltd., will collaborate to develop new projects and improve the performance of existing wind power plants.
Kalaycı and İshak, whose friendship dates back to their studies at Dokuz Eylül University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1991, are carrying nearly 35 years of shared experience into this new partnership. Both have been actively involved in the wind energy sector since 1998 and aim to further leverage their accumulated expertise through this collaboration.
By combining their complementary capabilities, the two will work together on both the development of new investments and the enhancement of operational efficiency in existing wind power plants.
Türkiye’s targets provide momentum for the sector
Commenting on the collaboration, Alper Kalaycı highlighted Türkiye’s energy transition:
“In line with our country’s 2035 targets, we need to increase our current wind installed capacity by approximately three times. This clearly demonstrates the strong growth potential of our sector. In the coming period, significant opportunities are expected both in new investments and in local manufacturing. With this collaboration, we aim to make more effective use of these opportunities.”
Operation and maintenance play a critical role
Levent İshak emphasized the importance of the operational phase:
“One of the most significant cost components in wind energy projects is operation and maintenance. Structuring these processes correctly from the outset, designing contracts accordingly, properly identifying risks, and managing them effectively are of great importance. Ensuring that this structure is implemented correctly during operation is critical for long-term performance. With this collaboration, we aim to create value both in structuring long-term contracts for new projects and in improving the performance of existing power plants.”
Complementary expertise, shared vision
The collaboration brings together Alper Kalaycı’s experience in manufacturing, localization, and project development with Levent İshak’s expertise in turbine supply, maintenance, service, and operations, aiming to create a strong synergy within the sector.
ENERCON will supply wind turbine technology for another major project in Türkiye. For the “Balıkesir 1” wind farm in the northwest of the country, operator Polat Enerji has ordered 23 wind turbines of ENERCON’s new flagship model, the E-175 EP5 E2. The supply contract was signed on 27 April in Istanbul. With a total capacity of 161 MW, the wind farm is part of the YEKA 5 tender, for which Polat Enerji recently received the award from the Turkish Ministry of Energy.
“We have enjoyed a long-standing and close cooperation with Polat Enerji in the expansion of wind energy in Türkiye,” said Udo Bauer, CEO of ENERCON. “With ‘Balıkesir 1’, we will have jointly realised more than 1 gigawatt of installed capacity in Türkiye. We intend to continue this partnership for the energy transition together in the future. We are very pleased to implement the ‘Balıkesir 1’ project together using our new E-175 EP5 E2 turbine model.”
“Our journey began a quarter-century ago with an early and firm belief in Türkiye’s renewable energy potential,” said Evren Güvenç, CEO of Polat Enerji. “Today, Polat Enerji has evolved into a strategic player managing high-scale investments across Türkiye and Europe. The Balıkesir 1 project, secured through the YEKA tenders, is a testament to our continuous growth; for us, leadership is defined by more than just increasing installed capacity. We measure our progress not only by power output but by our optimisation capabilities and system flexibility. By leveraging our end-to-end expertise – from investment to operation – we are reinforcing our position as a pioneering actor shaping the transformation of the entire energy landscape.”
The E-175 EP5 E2 is ENERCON’s new top model. With a rated power of 7.0 MW and a rotor diameter of 175 metres, it is one of the most powerful onshore wind turbines in Europe in terms of energy yield. The E-175 EP5 E2 is also a central pillar of the company’s market strategy and forms the basis of the solution portfolio with which ENERCON supports its customers.
The supply agreement for the “Balıkesir 1” wind farm marks another milestone in the market launch of the E-175 EP5 E2 in Türkiye. The country is an important international strategic target market for ENERCON. To supply Turkish wind farm projects with the new E-175 EP5 E2, ENERCON will continue its proven localisation strategy with long-standing Turkish production partners and will also manufacture selected main components of the new top model in the country in the future.
“This allows us to meet the local content requirements of the Turkish tender system,” said Arif Günyar, Regional Head of the Central Asia / Middle East / Africa (CAMEA) region. “We are fully committed to the Turkish market and to the energy transition in Türkiye. We look forward to opening a new chapter of cooperation with Polat Enerji as well as with other Turkish customers and interested parties.”
Construction of the “Balıkesir 1” wind farm is scheduled to begin in September 2027, with commissioning expected by the end of December 2027. A total of 23 wind turbines will be installed on steel towers.
Gülle Entegre Tekstil İşletmeleri, one of Türkiye’s leading integrated yarn and fabric manufacturers with 55 years of experience, has signed a wind turbine supply and service agreement with Goldwind for the Gülle Wind Power Plant (WPP) Project. The project aims to meet the energy consumption of its production facilities located in Ergene, Tekirdağ.
According to the agreement, the project, located in the Ergene district of Tekirdağ, will utilize Goldwind’s GW155-4.8MW turbine model, featuring a hub height of 110 meters, a capacity of 4.8 MW, and a rotor diameter of 155 meters. The agreement also includes a 10-year full-service package covering maintenance and availability services.
The Gülle WPP Project is planned to be commissioned in December 2026. Upon completion, the plant is expected to reach an annual electricity generation capacity of approximately 16 million kWh.
Mature Capital has provided two-phase advisory services to Gülle Entegre Tekstil from the initial concept stage of the investment. In the first phase, project development, advisory services included the preparation of economic and technical feasibility studies in line with current investment conditions, as well as strategic and procedural guidance on regulatory and permitting processes (such as EPDK, EIA, zoning, and grid connection procedures).
In the second phase, once the project reached a certain level of maturity in terms of permits, Mature Capital provided advisory services for wind turbine selection, final supplier decision-making, and the negotiation of turbine supply and service agreements.
Habib Babacan, General Manager of Mature Capital
Commenting on the agreement, Habib Babacan, General Manager of Mature Capital, stated:
“We are very pleased to see the outcome of our efforts and work materialize with this important agreement, which marks the realization of our approximately three-year collaboration with our investor, Gülle Entegre Tekstil.
We would like to thank the Goldwind Türkiye team for their cooperation and support during the contract phase, and our investor Gülle Entegre Tekstil for their trust in Mature Capital. We wish the Gülle WPP Project to be beneficial for both parties.”
About Mature Capital
Since 2022, Mature Capital has been exclusively focused on the wind energy sector, providing advisory services to investors in the areas of business development, project development, strategy formulation, and project transfer (M&A) for wind power projects.
In its fourth year of operation, the company has continued to expand its activities and has successfully completed 18 advisory projects with 15 different investor groups since its establishment.
Mature Capital will continue to provide high-quality and reliable services to wind energy investors in Türkiye.
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