360-meter giant: The world’s tallest windshield is being built in Germany

In one area of ​​Germany that was once dominated by coal mines, a remarkable process of cleaning energy is underway.

The big crane is in good condition, the steel belts are being assembled and the noise level is gradually rising to the sky. If all goes well, the world’s longest wind turbine will be built here in Schipkau, a small town in Brandenburg.

At a time when the war in Iran is escalating energy prices for Europeansthe project could not be more necessary. “This will help us become independent from oil and gas from other parts of the world,” said Germany’s Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider.

A telescopic device will raise the wind turbine to its full height

When completed, the turbine will be 360m high, equivalent to a 100-storey building. It will be the second tallest building in Germany, after the 368m tall Berlin television tower.

What is the use of such a large building? The wind blows strongly and consistently over 300m, which allows for a large amount of wind power to be produced.

You might be wondering how the format is so narrow and free like turbine it can be built so high. Conventional cranes don’t get the job done, after all. Instead, a patented telescopic device will be used.

the turbine will initially reach a height of 150 meters, then the telescopic device will rise to 300 meters.

The original plan had problems. At the end of 2025, problems were discovered with the metal parts which meant that the work had to be stopped. So thankfully it’s back on track now. “Safety and quality come first in this unique global project,” says Jochen Großmann, CEO and founder of the construction company GICON.

If all goes according to plan, the wind energy giant should be connected to the grid by the end of 2026.

How much power will the windshield produce?

GICON says they hope for annual electricity production of 30-33 gigawatt hours and electricity production costs of less than five cents per kilowatt hour. This is 220 percent more than conventional nearby turbines and can power up to 7,500 families of four.

High efficiency wind turbines can be a success in European countries with less wind

When a wind turbine stands tall, the wind blows more evenly and strongly. GICON, which says it has been working on the technology since 2010, wanted to verify this assumption scientifically.

On behalf of beventum GmbH, a subsidiary of the Federal Agency for Leap Innovations (SPRIND), the company built a wind measuring canvas in the neighborhood of Klettwitz. This showed that the wind blows slower and stronger at a height of 300 meters than at the height of conventional wind turbines.

Large parts of Europe, from Poland east to the Iberian Peninsula, have difficulty benefiting from wind power due to weak ground winds. High wind towers may be the answer. SPRIND emphasizes: “Europe needs a strong position in the construction of wind turbines in order to guarantee its energy production.”

Where is the tallest wind turbine in the world?

Schipkau is located in Lusatia, an area that was famous for coal for decades before undergoing dramatic changes. Local authorities are now promoting clean energy projects, providing space, infrastructure and political support.

Over time, the site will be developed into a hybrid power stationwith two levels of wind power and a solar park on the ground.

This triple use should quintuple the energy production compared to pure solar use. The combination of different energy sources should also make it possible to generate electricity all year round.

Clean energy is failing all over Europe due to outdated grids

This ambitious project highlights a problem that is becoming increasingly apparent across Europe: outdated grids cannot keep up with the increasing growth of renewable infrastructure.

In Germany, this creates a costly dilemma: if more electricity enters the grid in the windy northeast of Germany than the grid can carry to the south, the wind turbines must be turned back or shut down. This means that fossil gas and other dirty fuels must fill the gap, causing higher prices for consumers as well as producing more carbon.

According to an analysis of the German media Tagesspiegel, about 9.3 hours of wind energy were lost in 2023 alone. The costs of congestion management have reached almost 3 billion euros and these are borne by consumers through network charges included in their electricity bills.

GICON and its customer SPRIND argue that high-altitude wind towers can reduce this problem in the long term: because high winds blow equally and the turbines can also be operated economically where ground winds are very weak, expansion can be further reduced.

Europe loves wind power

By the end of 2025, about 304 gigawatts of wind power have been installed on and off the coast of Europe, according to the German Wind Energy Association.

With about 77.7 gigawatts of installed capacity, Germany was ahead of the UK with 31.6 gigawatts and Spain with 31.2 gigawatts.

With 5,735 megawatts of newly installed energy, Germany has added more than any other European country by 2025.

Germany is pushing for more renewable energy

At the end of March, German Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider presented the Climate Protection Program 2026 to the Bundestag: 67 measures aimed at saving another 25 million tons of CO₂ by 2030.

An additional 2,000 turbines will be offered in future tenders than originally planned. In addition, 12 gigawatts of wind power will be commissioned to connect to the grid by 2030.