World's Tallest Wind Turbine Hits 1,197 Feet in Germany — SkimNews
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- GICON's pilot turbine in Schipkau, eastern Germany, now stands 365 meters (1,197 feet), including its blades, making it the world's tallest wind turbine and Germany's second-tallest structure behind Berlin's TV tower.
- The turbine's 3.8 MW capacity and 300-meter rotor hub could produce approximately twice as much energy as a conventional turbine with the same rotor diameter, per GICON; future versions are planned to exceed 7 MW.
- SPRIND (Germany's Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation) commissioned the project, with official turbine commissioning scheduled for November and final work still to be completed.
- GICON built the turbine using a telescoping tower and a specialized lifting system that raised the inner tower through the surrounding lattice, avoiding the need for a crane capable of reaching the full height.
- GICON and SPRIND envision adding these taller turbines as a "second tier" above existing wind farms, with their assessment suggesting up to 4,000 high-altitude turbines could be accommodated across Germany's current wind farms.
Why it matters: SPRIND has commissioning set for November, but the turbine's claimed energy output remains unproven in operation. If GICON's "twice the energy" figure holds, the company's plan to retrofit up to 4,000 of Germany's existing wind farms with taller "second tier" turbines would add generation capacity without requiring new wind farm land — a different scaling math than building new farms.
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