Energiekontor AG, a pioneer in renewable energies since 1990 and listed on the SDAX of the German Stock Exchange, has teamed up with Omega-Tools and surface specialist BASF to successively equip its wind turbines with a highly technical riblet foil and thus make them more efficient. With its microscopically fine line structures, the functional film ensures a noticeable increase in the yield of wind turbines. The so-called “riblets” reduce the occurrence of unfavorable air turbulence on the surface of the rotor blades, so that a larger proportion of the wind can be used to generate electricity. In a measurement campaign that has been running for around a year, an increase in electricity yield of up to three percent was determined. For this verification, BASF Novaflex BladeUp was installed on a 1.3 megawatt SWT 1.300 turbine (formerly AN Bonus) in Ilsede, Lower Saxony.
“We are impressed by how significantly the electricity yield can be increased with Novaflex BladeUp. It is therefore all the more important that we implement this option for our plants in a timely manner and thus make a contribution to the energy transition,” says Carsten Schwarz, CEO of Energiekontor AG. The company has placed an initial order with Omega-Tools to equip wind turbines of the tested type with the BASF film and intends to include further turbine types. In the future, Energiekontor AG would like to equip all available systems – its own and those managed by the company – with Novaflex BladeUp.
“Retrofitting the functional film to existing wind turbines is feasible without long downtimes and can be implemented for any model,” says Olaf Dostalek, Managing Director of Omega-Tools GmbH, whose company is responsible for installing Novaflex BladeUp on Energiekontor AG turbines throughout Europe and acts as a contact and sales partner for this technology on the market.
Source:
Joint press release by BASF, Energiekontor and Omega-Tools dated 22.09.2022
https://www.basf.com/global/de/media/news-releases/2022/09/p-22-348.html
