The 117 metre tower was designed and built by SeeBa Energiesysteme for Günther Polte, a farmer in North Rhine Westphalia with his heart set on a wind turbine in the Black Forest. By lifting the rotor of the Vestas 1.65 MW unit above the treetops, a wind speed of 5.8 m/s can be reached, says SeeBa's Ewald Seebode. Compared with the 7-8 m/s available with towers of 40-60 metres in more windy European countries, 5.8 m/s is not much. Previously, SeeBa's tallest lattice tower measured 77.5 metres.
Tall towers needed
A new era of truly tall lattice towers is starting in Germany in an effort to reach winds worthy of exploiting in the mainly land-locked country. Following installation of a first 117 metre wind turbine tower last year, a second is in place and 11 more are following.
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