Wind energy in Germany: enduring success
How high is renewable energies’ share of total electricity production in the world’s larger economies? The answers to this question vary considerably from country to country. In Germany, for example, according to the German Wind Energy Association, the figure was already 19.9% in 2011. Wind energy’s share of the electricity mix amounted to 7.6%. The LMT Group is also involved in the production of wind turbines. It develops and produces high-performance tools that are used in the manufacture of wind turbine components.
Wind energy’s success story in Germany began in the mid-1990s. According to figures published by the Wind Energy Association, while new installations with a total output of only 500 megawatts were installed in 1995, the new wind energy capacity that came on stream in 2002 had already risen to 3,247 megawatts. Growth slowed down slightly after that, but has remained at the level of roughly 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts of new installed capacity a year since 2004. As a result, the number of installations is impressive: by mid-2011 there were just under 22,000 wind turbines operating in Germany.
Great overall potential
What is the potential of this technology in such a densely populated country? In May last year the German Wind Energy Association published an interesting study with regard to the use of wind turbines on land (these currently form by far the largest category). It found that almost 8% of the land area in Germany outside forests and protected nature reserves was available for this purpose. If each state were to use just 2% of its potential area, this would generate a total energy output of 390 terawatt hours – or 65% of Germany’s gross electricity consumption in 2010.
Yet wind energy is continuing its success story worldwide. According to estimates by the World Wind Energy Association, global electricity production by wind turbines totalled roughly 240,000 megawatts at the end of 2011 – an increase of around 45,000 megawatts compared with the previous year.
LMT tools in operation
A wind turbine’s transmission system is a very important factor in its efficiency and stability. These systems are subjected to enormous strains. A comparison makes this clear: while engineers design a normal car engine to operate for 4,000 to 6,000 hours, a wind turbine has be able to withstand 120,000 hours of extreme loads caused by fluctuating winds. When it comes down to it, the more smoothly the gear elements interact, the more efficient the entire installation. As a specialist for gearwheel elements, LMT Fette offers a tool programme that is specially tailored to these requirements – for example, hobs and gear cutters that provide high productivity in the manufacture of large-modulus rotary assemblies and gears. This involves the use of indexable inserts with innovative LMT coatings like Nanotherm that guarantee extreme performance increases in the production of large gearwheels.
