Energiekontor and BASF Team Up to Increase Wind Turbine Efficiency
Energiekontor AG, a German renewable energies company, has teamed up with the international maintenance company Omega-Tools GmbH and BASF’s coatings division to gradually equip its wind turbines with Novaflex BladeUp, thus making them more efficient. With its microscopic line structures, the functional film ensures a noticeable increase in the yield of wind turbines. The riblets reduce the formation of unfavorable air turbulence on the surface of the blades, so that a larger proportion of the wind can be used for generating electricity. In a measurement campaign that has been running for about a year, an increase of up to 3% in power output was determined; for this purpose, BASF Novaflex BladeUp was installed on a 1.3-megawatt SWT 1,300 turbine (formerly AN Bonus) in Ilsede, Lower Saxony, Germany.
“We are impressed with the significant increase in power yield with Novaflex BladeUp. This makes it all the more important that we implement this option for our plants in a timely manner and thus contribute to the energy transition,” said Carsten Schwarz, member of the management board from Energiekontor AG. The company has awarded Omega-Tools GmbH a first contract to equip wind turbines of the tested type with BASF’s film. Omega-Tools GmbH intends to include further turbine types. In the long term, Energiekontor AG wants to equip all available turbines – their own and those managed by their company – with Novaflex BladeUp.