Trier/Saarbrücken. After about 7 months of construction, the time has finally come! The Pfaffenkopf wind farm has started its operation and is now feeding electricity into the public grid. The two Enercon E-115 wind turbines will supply numerous households in the Saarbrücken area with clean and sustainably generated electricity. This is their contribution to the success of the energy transition.

The two turbines are operated by Windpark Pfaffenkopf GmbH & Co KG. The wind farm, located on forest land owned by SaarForst, was approved in August 2018 and the infrastructure works began in March 2020.

Constructing wind turbines within forest areas is also always a challenge. In case of the Pfaffenkopf wind farm, explosive ordnance remnants from World War II also came into play. With the commissioning, interested citizens can now experience the wind turbines in addition to the recreation still possible in the forest and the remaining protection of nature. There need not be any concerns about ice throw and fire hazards. The turbines are equipped with appropriate technology to prevent this. The turbines are shut down at certain times by means of recording wind conditions and temperature to protect native species such as bats and migratory birds such as the crane when the conditions are met in accordance with the permit conditions.

In the coming weeks, the final standard tests will be carried out and work will begin on dismantling the construction areas. Afterwards, valuable mixed forest will be planted there again. Further compensatory measures, which are also already being implemented, will be completed this year. With the finalization and acceptance by the permitting authority, we will then be able to hand over the wind farm in total from the planning and development department to operations management.

The project is our third wind farm realized in the Saarland.