Enercon installs first EP3 turbine with E-nacelle technology at Dutch wind farm

Enercon has installed its first EP3 type turbine to feature its E-nacelle at a wind farm in the Netherlands. In total, three E-138 EP3 E3 turbines, with a rotor diameter of 138 metres and a nominal power capacity of 4.26MW, will be installed at the Staphorst wind farm, North of Zwolle.

Enercon installed the first EP3 turbines to feature E-nacelles at a site in the Netherlands (pic credit: Klaas Eissens/Enercon)

Already used with its EP5 platform, the turbines for Staphorst are the first in the EP3 platform to feature Enercon's E-nacelle.

The electrical systems for the EP5 and EP3 E-nacelle are fully integrated in the machine house. A separate E-module in the tower base is dispensed with, resulting in "substantial benefits in terms of costs and time expenditure for production, transport and logistics, and during installation and commissioning", Enercon said. The component is completed and tested at the factory, and is transported to the installation site plug-and-play ready.

The approximately 72-tonne EP3 E-nacelle contains Enercon's new full-scale energy converters, with higher performance ­­– these have been specially designed for onshore wind applications with a high proportion of partial load operating hours. In addition, they meet the highest requirements for connecting to electrical energy networks worldwide, Enercon says.

The new E-nacelle and electrical engineering technology will also be used for Enercon's latest E-175 EP5 turbine, which the company unveiled at the Hamburg WindEnergy trade fair (27-30 September).

‘"The EP3 E-nacelle is an important milestone in our technology roadmap towards a sustained reduction of the cost of energy’, says Enercon's chief technology officer, Jörg Scholle.

"Step by step we are bringing new technologies and improvements for our two most important product platforms onto the market – always with the aim of offering our customers strong, reliable products perfectly tailored to meet their requirements."