Nordex aims for stronger winds with new 200-metre turbine tower

Nordex is expanding its range of towers for the N175/6.X turbine with a new 200-metre hybrid steel-concrete tower, which the German OEM says is its highest to date and well suited for low-wind locations.

But due to the elevated hub height, the turbine's rotor with a diameter of 175 meters can catch wind currents with much higher speeds and less turbulence.

The tower is based on the design of the Nordex hybrid tower developed in-house, which the company has already tested in 2024 with two prototypes and a complete wind farm in Finland.

The new hybrid tower underlines the company’s planned expansion of product variants for this machine and is aiming at markets like Germany, Finland and Sweden.

The OEM so far had offered the N175/6.X turbine on tubular steel towers with hub heights of 112 metres, 142 metres and 162 metres as well as on hybrid towers with a hub height of 179 metres.

Nordex Thursday also said it has won its first order in Latvia, for the 109MW Laflora wind project southwest of Riga, which it will install on hybrid towers with hub heights of 179 metres.

The OEM will supply 16 of its N175/6.X turbines in a cold climate version to Sia Laflora Energy, a unit of peat extraction and processing company Laflora.

“We are thrilled to introduce the first N175/6.X turbines to the Baltics – to date, they will be the biggest turbines in the region in terms of rotor diameter and with a hub height of 179 metres,” chief sales officer Patxi Landa said.

“We believe the N175/6.X is the perfect fit for plenty of projects in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.”

The order includes a 35-year service contract.

Latvian wind energy company Windy developed the project on behalf of Laflora in a former peat extraction area of the Kaigu bog in the municipality of Līvbērze in the Jelgava region.

State-owned energy firm Latvenergo has acquired a 100% stake in the project that is slated to start operations in the summer of 2026.