The compact “lightweight” E-160 EP5 E1 flagship for IEC IIIA sites is fitted with custom-developed 78.3-metre LM blades for one of the wind industry’s largest onshore rotor diameters at 160 metres. These are also the longest blades ever to be fitted on an Enercon turbine.
The prototype features a 120-metre bolted wide-base modular steel tower (MST), but there will be a 166-metre hub-height option too, plus various other tower solutions. Enhanced ‘Mark 2’ MSTs are being increasingly deployed for Enercon’s EP3 turbines, and now being extended to the EP5 platform, because the company considers these the most efficient in terms of transport logistics.
Normal tubular steel towers offer an economical solution for lower hub heights and in international markets, but demand for classic concrete-steel hybrids is falling and the latest next generation hybrid towers are now being phased out.
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