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ENERCON achieved the technological breakthrough in the 1990s with the legendary E-40/500 kW. The gearless drive concept introduced for the first time with this wind turbine type still characterises ENERCON wind energy converters to this day. It also forms the basis for the new top-of-the-range model E-175 EP5 that ENERCON is currently rolling out in series production.
The components of the ‘old-timer’ are not easy to find. They are somewhat hidden from view in the outdoor storage area at ENERCON’s Mechatronics centre of excellence in between current EP3 machine houses and hubs, material containers and logistics equipment. Compared with the modern EP3 components, machine house and rotor head of the E-40 seem almost miniscule, but impressively illustrate the extent of four decades of technical progress in the wind energy sector.
We have an appointment with Arno Hildebrand, Head of Turbine Engineering at ENERCON R&D, to talk about the E-40. He has been an engineer at the company for 33 years and, in the 1990s, was part of the development team headed by company founder, Aloys Wobben, that designed the E-40, ENERCON’s first gearless wind energy converter that made such a crucial contribution to ENERCON’s success story. ENERCON still keeps the main components of its earlier wind energy converter types available for major component replacements even today. A good opportunity then to take a closer look at an important chapter of the product history.
‘Aloys Wobben realised at an early stage that the gear would cause a lot of problems,’ recalls Arno Hildebrand. ‘He was annoyed that this component was susceptible to faults in the early ENERCON machines. He therefore set himself the goal of eliminating the gear from the wind energy converter.’ Back then, ENERCON manufactured geared types such as the E-17 or E-32 in series. Very little attention was being paid at that time to the direct drive project that was soon to bring the technological breakthrough for ENERCON. ‘A small team headed by Aloys Wobben was working on the development of the E-40,’ says Arno Hildebrand. ‘Everything was top secret – no one was allowed to know what we were working on, even within the company.’
The prototype was built in 1993 and when ENERCON presented the E-40 and the new drive concept at the Husum wind energy trade fair in the same year, interest was tremendous. The original exhibit presented on the open-air site was one of the most popular attractions. The operation of the E-40 also convinced customers and the new turbine soon became a best-seller. WEC after WEC was built, initially in northern Germany, and soon also beyond. Wind farms with the revolutionary direct drive concept were built in countries such as Portugal, Brazil and India. During the course of its production years, 4,400 E-40s were installed worldwide. If we include the WEC types E-44, E-48 and E-53 that were further developed on the basis of the E-40, we arrive at a track record of 9,120 wind energy converters.
‘The direct drive concept proved to be so reliable and superior that Aloys Wobben systematically adopted it,’ says Arno Hildebrand. ‘Since then, the direct drive has been part of the ENERCON DNA. Even to this day, the new ENERCON top-of-the-range model, the E-175 EP5, is still based on it.’ Today, though, everything is a few sizes bigger: The E-40 had a nominal power of 500 kW and a rotor diameter of 40 metres. The E-175 EP5 today generates 7 MW with 175 metres – 14 times the power of the E-40 and almost 4.5 times its rotor diameter.
In addition to the direct drive, the E-175 EP5 has other features that were already included in the E-40, such as the grid-friendly properties of the electrical systems, as Arno Hildebrand explains: ‘When it comes to topics such as Fault Ride Through (FRT) – in other words, the capability to ride through grid faults – the provision of reactive power or the controllability of the grid feed-in behaviour, ENERCON was a leader right from the start. The electrical equipment and grid feed system of the E-175 EP5 are still very much in keeping with this tradition.’
‘The same goes for ENERCON quality to which we attach great importance and that sets us apart from the competition. High quality standards were already important to Aloys Wobben – his motto was: “Make it a bit thicker, it has to last”,’ reports Arno Hildebrand. ‘ENERCON quality is also a crucial product feature of the E-175 EP5. Furthermore, the E-175 EP5 is based on decades of experience from our product and technology development process as well as our operational and service practice. This experience that we have gained since the days of the E-40 series has now been incorporated into the development of the new product.’
As a pioneer of wind energy technology and a committed supporter of the energy transition, we have specialised in developing, producing, selling and servicing onshore wind turbines. Pursuing our mission of ‘Energy for the world’, we have been championing sustainable energy generation from onshore wind since 1984. Thanks to our innovative wind turbine technology, high quality standards and many years of experience, we are one of the industry’s leading manufacturers anywhere in the world.
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