Siemens Gamesa Rolls Out First 11 MW Wind Turbine Nacelle

The first serially-manufactured SG 11.0-200 DD nacelle left the Siemens Gamesa factory hall in Cuxhaven on Friday, 14 January.

The factory has been converted and upgraded for the new product generation over several months since the summer. Now serial production has started and the first turbine has been assembled.

”Rolling out the first serially-manufactured SG 11.0-200 DD is a terrific start to the year. I am very proud that we managed to stay on schedule and carried out a smooth product changeover at the plant despite the adversities of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Anton Bak, Siemens Gamesa’s plant manager in Cuxhaven.

The nacelle will be installed at Vattenfall’s 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm in the Netherlands.

A total of 140 turbines from Cuxhaven will be installed at the Hollandse Kust Zuid, making it the largest in the world at the time of commissioning. It will also be the world’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm.

Compared to the predecessor model, the annual energy production of the SG 11.0-200 DD gearless direct-drive model is increased by up to 40 per cent, Siemens Gamesa said.

The turbines have an output of 11 MW and will be equipped with 97 metres long rotor blades, resulting in a rotor diameter of 200 metres and a swept area of 31,400 square metres. This corresponds to an area of more than four football fields.

The Siemens Gamesa plant in Cuxhaven was opened in 2017 and the first nacelle was manufactured in February 2018.

From 2018 to 2019, Siemens Gamesa built 7 MW offshore wind turbines in Cuxhaven. Subsequently, more than 400 8 MW offshore wind turbines were manufactured until the summer of 2021, when their production ended with the conversion work for the new turbine generation.

Marc Becker, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit and Managing Director of Siemens Gamesa in Germany, said: ”Production in Cuxhaven is going very well. The plant and the SG 11.0-200 DD will play a central role in the global growth of offshore wind energy. We are particularly pleased to be able to support the German government’s new offshore targets with local production and value creation to ensure the success of the energy transition in Germany.’‘

Hollandse Kust Zuid is being constructed at the site located between 18 and 36 kilometres from the Dutch coast, not far from The Hague and Zandvoort. The turbine installation is scheduled to begin this spring and the wind farm is expected to be commissioned in 2023.