Wind farm to be set up on recultivated land of a former open cast lignite mining site, Garzweiler.
innogy SE has commissioned the Nordex Group to equip the “Jüchen A44n” wind farm with six N149/4.0-4.5 wind turbines, all with hub heights of 164 metres.
The “Jüchen A44n” wind farm will be built next to the A44 motorway on around 90 hectares of recultivated land formerly used by the Garzweiler open cast lignite mining site, located to the south of the town of Jüchen in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The wind farm will be run as part of a partnership between innogy SE and NEW Re GmbH, a subsidiary of the municipal service company NEW in the area of regenerative projects. The co-operation was successful in the German auction for onshore wind turbines at the beginning of 2020 and therefore awarded the contract from the Federal Grid Agency for a firm electricity feed-in tariff to operate the 27 MW wind farm.
Construction started in April and the wind farm will begin operation one year later. “The wind farm Jüchen will supply clean electricity for around 26,000 households. The site on recultivated land formerly used for brown coal mining could not be more symbolic in terms of CO2-neutral energy production and the energy transition. We are delighted that innogy and NEW Re will be using our turbine technology in this landmark project,” says Patxi Landa, CSO of the Nordex Group.
In October 2018, innogy and the Nordex Group agreed on a strategic partnership with a view to promoting future growth with onshore wind power projects in a highly competitive environment in an optimal manner. The wind farm “Jüchen A44n” is the first German project to be implemented as part of this partnership.
Renewable energy at innogy
We plan, install and operate wind turbines for generating electricity and producing energy from regenerative sources. Our portfolio includes wind and hydroelectric power plants as well as solar and biomass plants. At the moment we are particularly active in Germany, our domestic market, followed by Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy. Our aim is to rapidly extend the use of renewable energy on a global basis on our own and together with partners. In this way we can bring about the energy turnaround together. innogy is one of the largest operators in Europe in the area of onshore and offshore wind power. In addition to wind energy we also want to grow in the field of large-scale solar power plants. Apart from our core markets, we already operate in new markets such as the USA, Australia and Canada.
NEW is a municipal service company with strong roots in the Lower Rhine area. The Group includes several subsidies in Mönchengladbach, Erkelenz, Geilenkirchen, Grevenbroich, Viersen, Schwalmtal and Tönisvorst. NEW supplies some 400,000 customers with electricity, 150,000 with gas and 100,000 with water. NEW Re, the NEW company for regenerative energy, deals with the expansion of renewable energy on the Lower Rhine. This includes the planning and operation of renewables-based plants. Here NEW Re works in close contact with the municipalities in the region. A total of EUR 100 million has been set aside in the NEW Group for the expansion or renewable energy. NEW’s regional and partnership-based approach brings a lot of advantages. The value added remains in the region as the municipalities benefit financially and the electricity produced is marketed locally. NEW stands for partner-based, regional and innovative energy and water supply together with related services.
The Group has installed more than 28 GW of wind energy capacity in over 40 markets and in 2019 generated revenues of EUR 3.3 billion. The company currently employs a workforce of approx. 7,500. The joint manufacturing capacity includes factories in Germany, Spain, Brazil, the United States, India, Argentina and Mexico. The product portfolio is focused on onshore turbines in the 2.4 to 5.X MW class, which are tailor-made for the market requirements of countries with limited space and regions with limited grid capacity.
