| This will enable us to react flexibly to any increases in demand with a tried and tested supplier. |
| Bernd Treiber, Nordex SE |
From 2015 Carbon Rotec will produce Nordex's NR50 and NR65.5 rotor blades – the latter for the new N131/3000 (3 MW) turbine – in addition to the NR58.5 for the popular N117/2400 (2.4 MW) turbine.
Carbon Rotec operates a 75,000 m2 factory in Lemwerder, near Bremen, Germany. The company has been manufacturing wind turbine blades from fibre reinforced plastics since the 1980s. It currently produces some of the world’s largest blades, using glass fibre and a mixture of carbon and glass fibre, for onshore turbines with rotor diameters of more than 130 m. The blades are produced using the vacuum infusion process and epoxy resins.
As an independent blade manufacturer Carbon Rotec builds blades according to customer design specifications ('build-to-print').
“The quality of the rotor blades we use is crucial for the yield of our customers’ wind farms," says Bernd Treiber, Head of the Nordex SE Blade Centre.
"This is why we are continuing the successful partnership with Carbon Rotec. This association has enabled us to build technically sophisticated rotor blades with carbon fibre structures."
Blade strategy
The Nordex blade strategy covers its own lead factory in Rostock and the international production network of its strategic suppliers TPI Composites, which is producing Nordex blades at its Turkish factory, and Carbon Rotec (previously SGL Rotec GmbH & Co KG, part of the SGL Group).
Nordex is currently investing some €50 million in extending the capacity of the international production network as well as in modernising and expanding its own blade production facility.
Nordex says it is benefitting from the global trend towards larger wind turbines. Its Generation Gamma range comprises the N90/2500 2.5 MW, N100/2500 2.5 MW and the N117/2400 2.4 MW turbines. To date more than 2600 turbines from this platform have been produced. Its Generation Delta range offers 3 MW and 3.3 MW turbines.
Exports account for around 80% of Nordex's business.
In September, Nordex announced plans to grow sales to €2 billion by 2017 (2013: €1.4 billion) while substantially improving its operating result to an EBIT margin of 7-8% (2013: 3%).