In front of more than 100 invited guests from politics and business the founder of the engineering service provider GICON ® , Prof. Jochen Großmann, symbolically cut the ribbons of eight balloons.
The location of the world's highest wind measuring mast on the Klettwitz hill is ideal for research due to the adjacent wind farm.
During his visit, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Michael Kellner, emphasized the pioneering role of the region in the energy transition. "Lusatia is an energy region and is about to transition into the age of renewables. With research into high-altitude wind turbines, we will be able to realize wind farms more efficiently in the future, with higher utilization and at the same time using less land. This helps with the goal of 80 percent renewables by 2030 and with the question of Energy independence. The expansion of renewable energies and the development of a hydrogen economy will secure highly qualified jobs in the region's energy sector."
For twelve months, the wind measuring mast will record not only wind speed, air pressure, temperature and precipitation, but also the behavior of bats. For this purpose, batcorders were attached along the mast, which convert the ultrasonic sounds of the animals into audible sounds.
The State Secretary for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture of the Free State of Saxony, Dr. Gerd Lippold emphasized the performance of the Saxony-based GICON® Group for the current transformation process.
“The project shows how great the potential for increasing wind energy yields still is. I am particularly pleased that the company from Saxony can make a contribution to climate protection with its engineering services in order to develop this potential. It is also a symbol of the successful transformation of the region when, after the largest overburden conveyor bridge, the world's highest wind measurement mast now goes into operation."
As a company of the GICON® Group, GICON ® -Großmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH implemented the project from planning to commissioning completely from a single source.
"A big step for the region, the energy transition and for us as a company. My thanks go to the entire project team,” said GICON ®-Founder Prof. Jochen Großmann at the event.
The focus of the GICON ® order is not only wind measurements up to a height of 300 meters, but also two LiDAR systems, which carry out the measurements from the ground and are calibrated with the met mast. The LiDAR system uses radar waves to optically measure distance and speed. With a calibrated LiDAR system, high-altitude wind measurements can be carried out much more easily in the future and measurement times with wind measurement masts can be significantly reduced or even eliminated altogether.
The wind measurement mast and measurement campaign project has a total volume of approx. 2.8 million euros and was commissioned by beventum GmbH.
beventum GmbH is a subsidiary of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation SPRIND and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The aim of the company is to develop the potential of high-altitude wind for the first time and thus, among other things, to solve the location problem for wind turbines in Germany. The Renewable Energy Sources Act stipulates that a total of " 71 gigawatts of onshore wind energy " will be created nationwide by 2030.
beventum Managing Director Dr. Martin Chaumet, said, "The world's tallest wind measuring mast is our first step towards developing the high-altitude wind, which should be followed as soon as possible by prototypes for high-altitude wind turbines. As the first measurements indicate, in the future it will be possible to generate electricity from high-altitude wind turbines anywhere at acceptable prices.”
High-altitude wind turbines are about twice as high as previous wind turbines and are intended to use the significantly more productive winds at high altitudes. Yields in the range of twice that of conventional wind turbines are expected. Furthermore, the high-altitude wind turbines can be integrated into existing wind farms as a second level. This means that you can achieve a significantly higher energy yield on the same area and produce more wind power much faster.
"In addition to the possibility of a rapid expansion of wind energy through a second level in existing wind farms," says Dr. Chaumet, "there are special opportunities in the subsequent use of the opencast mining regions and in the future also in the local generation of wind power using solitary high-altitude wind turbines."
Schipkau's Mayor Klaus Prietzel campaigned for the project and is aware of the importance for his community. "A project like this is also an example for other communities that the further development of innovative technologies for the use of renewable energies is worthwhile. Our goal is not only to lay the foundation for a high-altitude wind tower, but also to use the green energy generated here regionally. It is precisely for this regional use and thus value creation that we want to further develop the wind farm.”
A camera at a height of 220 meters is located at the top of the mast for a view from a world record height. Visitors to the Hochkippe and those interested can now also view pictures from the record height online. The camera, which creates a 360-degree image every ten minutes, can be reached via the LINK: https://www.gicon.de/windmessmast .
