Nordex starts mass production of 6-MW turbines

German wind turbine maker Nordex SE (ETR:NDX1) today launched series production of nacelles for 6-MW class turbines at its assembly plant in Rostock, Germany.

“Just seven months after the installation of the first two prototypes of the Nordex Group’s most powerful large turbine to date, the N163/6.X turbines in the 6-MW class are now being produced in series in our German production plant,” said chief executive Jose Luis Blanco, who pressed the start button for the series manufacturing in the presence of about 800 employees on site.

The factory is the company’s main nacelle production facility, making some 50% of Nordex nacelles worldwide. It is expected to produce 1 GW of these large turbines a year in the longer term.

The first 6-MW turbines will be delivered for two projects in the Netherlands totalling 102 MW. The manufacturer said it has secured 1.1 GW of orders for N163/6.X turbines in markets including the Netherlands, Finland, Turkey, Estonia and Germany.

Nordex currently employs 770 people at the Rostock plant and 2,600 in Germany. After the start of production of the new turbine, it plans to hire 75 people.

In 2022, the German manufacturer saw its order intake contract by 20.4% in annual terms to 6.33 GW in the wake of the challenging macroeconomic environment.

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