Photos of Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog or polder in Schleswig-Holstein’s Dithmarshen kreis hosted Germany’s first wind farm in 1987. Dubbed Windenergiepark Westküste, the site included 30 wind turbines with a total capacity of one megawatt.

Adjoining the project is Windtest Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog where Growian (Grosse Windenergieanlagen) was installed and briefly operated. In the late 1990s, MAN’s second generation Growian was installed on the same site.

The original turbines at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog were dismantled a decade later and replaced with multi-megawatt turbines.

Among the turbines installed at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog was the 25 meter diameter, 165 kW Adler 25. The three-blade, downwind turbine was developed from the work of Jens-Peter Molly on the DEBRA (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luft und Raumfart, DFVLR) research turbine. The Adler 25 was built by Köster Maschinenfabrik in nearby Heide and named after a famous German engineer and wind turbine designer of the 1920s.

There were 20 two-blade AeroMan turbines installed at the site. Like those in Tehachapi, they were installed on very short towers. Later, the short towers were replaced with somewhat taller towers.

Five 25 kW elektrOmat turbines and five Enercon E-16, 55 kW turbines were also installed.

In their first full year of operation, the turbines generated 2 million kWh.

I visited the site several times in the 1980s.