Growian
| GROWIAN | |
|---|---|
GROWIAN in 1984, with one wind gauge pylon | |
| Country | Germany |
| Location | Schleswig-Holstein |
| Coordinates | 53°55′38″N 8°57′00″E / 53.927333°N 8.950066°E |
| Status | Decommissioned |
| Construction began | 1976 |
| Commission date | 1983 |
| Decommission date | 1987 |
| Owner | Growian GmbH |
| Operator | Growian GmbH |
| Wind farm | |
| Type | Onshore |
| Hub height | 100 metres (330 ft) |
| Rotor diameter | 100 metres (330 ft) |
| Rated wind speed | 12 metres per second (39 ft/s) |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 3 MW |
| Annual net output | 12 GWh |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
Growian or GROWIAN (short for German "Große Windenergieanlage" - "Large wind turbine") was a publicly funded wind turbine built in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog near Marne for purposes of technology testing in the 1980s. It was a two-bladed "lee runner" (the rotor was situated on the downwind side of the tower) with a hub height of about 100 metres (330 ft), and at 3 Megawatt, it was the world's largest at the time, being operated since 1983. It was Design by committee, with some partners even expressing interest in the project to fail, which it duly did. It delayed the progress of Wind power in Germany and Energiewende (German for 'energy turnaround') by two decades.
For a long time Growian was the world's largest wind turbine. Many features of the installation were novel and had not previously been trialled at this scale. Due to manufacturing faults in the casing, the turbine could not be run at full performance, and various issues with materials and construction prevented continuous testing. Consequently, the installation was idle for the greater part of the period between the first test run on 6 July 1983 (official start of operations was 4 October 1983) and end of operations in August 1987. Growian was decommissioned over the course of 1987, and dismantled in summer 1988.