News from Nordex

Since Nordex announced plans last week to build their $100 million U.S. wind  turbine production facility in Jonesboro next year, their Web site has been on my watch list.

Here's what's new from Nordex:

Cause for celebration: Nordex produces its 1,000th large-scale turbine

Proven plant engineering and optimised production process

Rostock, Germany 27 October 2008.  - Celebration at Nordex in Rostock: today the company completed the 1,000th turbine in its N80/N90 series. Nordex is considered a specialist for proven multi-megawatt turbines. “We produced our 1st 2.5 MW machine in the year 2000 – a world record at the time”, recalls Carsten Pedersen, COO Sales and Marketing. “More than eight years of wide-ranging experience with this turbine class in all climate zones give us a considerable competitive edge.”

  

1,000 N80/N90s also mean eight years of “evolution” in production processes and plant engineering. As a result, this year alone the manufacturer has managed to reduce production hours by around five percent thanks to increased numbers and improved processes. In addition, Nordex developers are constantly optimising their turbines on the basis of long-term practical experience with this turbine class. The most recent member of the product family is the N100, which is designed for inland locations with an extra-large rotor diameter of 100 metres.

  

Some 60 persons worked in shifts on the jubilee machine. As with every turbine at Nordex, it passed through six production stages with a total of around 570 parts being installed – from the gearbox down to the smallest screw. The “Number 1,000” is intended for the “Lisset Airfield” project in the United Kingdom. At this site, some 40 minutes to the North of Hull in Yorkshire, Nordex will be installing 12 N90/2500 turbines for Novera Energy Ltd as of November.