IN Brief:
- Nordex has secured orders for 12 turbines totalling around 82MW across Lower Saxony.
- Ten N175/6.X machines will use 179-metre towers, alongside two N163/6.X turbines at 164 metres.
- Infrastructure work starts at the end of 2026, with installation in 2027 and commissioning targeted for spring 2028.
Nordex Group has secured orders from EFG Energy Farming Group for 12 onshore wind turbines across Lower Saxony, giving the package a combined installed capacity of around 82MW.
The contracts cover the Erlte-Endel project in the district of Vechta and a cluster of projects at Bad Essen in the district of Osnabrück. Both packages include 20-year Premium Service agreements, extending Nordex’s role from equipment supply into long-term maintenance and operational support.
Erlte-Endel will use five N175/6.X turbines on hybrid towers with hub heights of 179 metres. The Bad Essen cluster will contain seven machines: five N175/6.X turbines on 179-metre towers and two N163/6.X turbines with 164-metre hub heights.
The Bad Essen order spans four developments — Langewiesen-Nord, Langewiesen-Süd, Rabber Wiesen, and the Wimmerbruch repowering project. Initial infrastructure work is scheduled to begin at the end of 2026, turbine installation is planned during 2027, and commissioning across both project areas is targeted for spring 2028.
EFG developed the projects for operation by landowners and regional citizen wind companies. The ownership structure keeps the developments tied closely to local participants while relying on utility-scale generation equipment, specialist construction, grid connection, and long-term service support.
Ten of the twelve machines will use the N175/6.X, Nordex’s large-rotor platform for low and medium wind conditions. The model uses a 175-metre rotor with a swept area of 24,053 square metres and is offered at flexible ratings above 6MW, with an 85.7-metre single-piece blade.
A larger rotor increases the area available to capture wind energy, while taller hub heights can access stronger and more consistent wind conditions at some sites. The trade-off is a more demanding transport and installation programme, particularly for blades, tower sections, nacelles, cranes, foundations, and access roads.
Those logistics will shape the Lower Saxony programme well before the first turbine is erected. Infrastructure work beginning at the end of 2026 gives the project teams time to prepare roads, crane areas, foundations, cable routes, and electrical interfaces before major components arrive during 2027.
The two N163/6.X turbines add a different machine configuration within the Bad Essen cluster. Turbine selection can vary within a wider development where wind resource, planning limits, noise requirements, site geometry, transport access, structural loads, and permitted hub heights differ from one location to another.
Electrical work will progress alongside the civil programme. Each turbine needs medium-voltage collection, protection, control, communications, and a route through the project substation into the wider network. Commissioning then has to prove the turbines and balance-of-plant systems against their connection and operating requirements.
The 20-year service agreements form a substantial part of the operating model. Larger turbines concentrate more generating capacity in each machine, so prolonged downtime at one unit removes more megawatts than it would on an older, lower-rated platform.
Condition monitoring, scheduled maintenance, remote diagnostics, spare parts, and access to trained technicians therefore sit directly behind long-term energy yield. A service contract does not guarantee availability, but it establishes responsibility and support arrangements for equipment intended to operate for decades.
Nordex has been building a substantial German order book around the same platform family. A separate 700MW package for UKA announced in July covered 100 N175/6.X and N163/6.X turbines across several federal states, also supported by multi-year service arrangements.
The EFG order is smaller, but its delivery chain is much the same. Citizen wind projects still depend on turbine factories, tower and blade logistics, civil engineering, substations, cabling, grid connection, commissioning, software, spare parts, and maintenance capacity.
Wimmerbruch adds a repowering element to the programme. Reusing an established wind location can increase output with newer turbines, but it still requires fresh planning, dismantling, foundation work, transport, electrical design, and confirmation that the revised plant can operate within the available network connection.
Nordex has commissioned more than 64GW of wind capacity across more than 40 markets and operates manufacturing facilities in Germany, Spain, Brazil, India, Türkiye, and the United States. Its current portfolio is concentrated on onshore machines in the 4MW to 7MW-plus range, including platforms intended for lower-wind sites and constrained locations.
For the Lower Saxony developments, the latest orders secure the principal generation equipment and a two-decade service framework, but most of the physical programme lies ahead. Roads and foundations must be built, turbines manufactured and delivered, electrical infrastructure completed, and each machine tested before commercial generation can begin.
Spring 2028 is the useful deadline. Until then, the 82MW remains contracted capacity in a construction programme; after commissioning, the same figure becomes operating plant whose performance will depend on wind conditions, network availability, and the reliability of twelve large turbines spread across several sites.
