Five out of the planned eleven E-126 wind turbines have been successfully completed at the Etinnes wind farm in Belgium. The E-126 series is currently the world's most powerful wind turbine with 6 MW of capacity (capable of 7+ MW). The five units at the wind farm were inaugurated by EU Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbas.

The E-126 itself is a very impressive machine, with a rotor diameter of 127 meters, and installed height of 198 meters, it's truly a collosal site. Compared to an advanced 2 MW wind turbine, the E-126 increases the utilisation of wind energy, expressed with MW/km2, by a factor of 2.3, which means a wind farm featuring these turbines will have a much smaller number of installed units.

In order to erect the E-126 turbines, engineering is pushed to the limit of modern construction techniques. Construction engineers used the largest crawler crane available, 1600 t, which was developed and made especially to lift the giant 127 meter rotor of the turbine.

The Estinnes wind farm is a co-finance project by the European Union. The goal was to test the 6 MW turbine's perfomance at higher levels. Another objective was to assess the process of integration of these mega-turbines into the power grid. Enercon claims that the turbines will reach an annual yield of 187 GWh, which is enough clean energy to power some 50,000 average EU homes.

According to Benhard Fink, head of Enercon Sales Department in Belgium, the company is going to take performance further and reach the intended 7 MW output per unit, at least. Furthermore, he pointed out this project's significance in showing how much onshore wind energy potential there actually is in Europe.

[source: Enercon, image: Enercon]