The time had come: now we could start on the foundation excavations for the wind turbines in the new Felsberg Wind Farm / Markwald. The wind farm site in Felsberg is special for vortex energy for a number of reasons: firstly, it is the second forest project of the Kassel-based project planner, and secondly it is in its home region - in Northern Hesse. A further exciting fact is that one of the six units is a community wind turbine.
Long before commencement of the actual construction the initial work was performed in the area of the wind farm. Even at this early stage steps were taken to compensate for the unavoidable intervention in the natural environment. For example, for three years now live traps have been set for dormice in the area of the wind farm. The traps contain nesting material to enable the small creatures to settle in there and then, after a time, to be resettled together with their new home. At a safe distance there awaits an attractive new biotope with raspberry and blackberry hedges for the resettled dormice.
Preparations have also been made for bats who seek refuge in trees in the area of the wind turbine: for a tree in the clearance area which displayed signs of a bat hole or crevice two new bat boxes were hung up at a safe distance. In a few years a check will be made to establish whether nature has managed to reconquer the relevant forest area or whether supporting measures will have to be taken.
"The construction site for the new Felsberg Wind farm / Markwald is in our home region of Northern Hesse, a mere half an hour from the vortex office in Kassel. In our new project we lay great store by regionality," Dr. Till Jeske, CEO vortex energy Holding AG, explained. He listed the relevant aspects:
- Material from quarries in the region would be used in the construction
- The clearance work had been performed by a company from Northern Hesse
- The surveyors were based in Northern Hesse
- The company responsible for constructing the transfer station was from Kassel
- Parts of the site infrastructure came directly from Felsberg
And then the construction work on the new wind farm will proceed apace: in December the work will be performed on the cable run, where a total of 22 km of cable has to be laid. Construction of the towers will begin in January 2017 and the heavy transport operations will proceed as from February. The rotors and the power houses will be assembled from March next year. In April the first wind turbine will finally supply electricity, and in May the other five will follow.
CEO Jeske is proud: "From the planned six wind turbines it is expected to obtain an annual electricity production of about 50 million kilowatt hours; this will be enough to supply 15,000 homes with environmentally friendly, renewable electricity."
Long before commencement of the actual construction the initial work was performed in the area of the wind farm. Even at this early stage steps were taken to compensate for the unavoidable intervention in the natural environment. For example, for three years now live traps have been set for dormice in the area of the wind farm. The traps contain nesting material to enable the small creatures to settle in there and then, after a time, to be resettled together with their new home. At a safe distance there awaits an attractive new biotope with raspberry and blackberry hedges for the resettled dormice.
Preparations have also been made for bats who seek refuge in trees in the area of the wind turbine: for a tree in the clearance area which displayed signs of a bat hole or crevice two new bat boxes were hung up at a safe distance. In a few years a check will be made to establish whether nature has managed to reconquer the relevant forest area or whether supporting measures will have to be taken.
"The construction site for the new Felsberg Wind farm / Markwald is in our home region of Northern Hesse, a mere half an hour from the vortex office in Kassel. In our new project we lay great store by regionality," Dr. Till Jeske, CEO vortex energy Holding AG, explained. He listed the relevant aspects:
- Material from quarries in the region would be used in the construction
- The clearance work had been performed by a company from Northern Hesse
- The surveyors were based in Northern Hesse
- The company responsible for constructing the transfer station was from Kassel
- Parts of the site infrastructure came directly from Felsberg
And then the construction work on the new wind farm will proceed apace: in December the work will be performed on the cable run, where a total of 22 km of cable has to be laid. Construction of the towers will begin in January 2017 and the heavy transport operations will proceed as from February. The rotors and the power houses will be assembled from March next year. In April the first wind turbine will finally supply electricity, and in May the other five will follow.
CEO Jeske is proud: "From the planned six wind turbines it is expected to obtain an annual electricity production of about 50 million kilowatt hours; this will be enough to supply 15,000 homes with environmentally friendly, renewable electricity."
