The 365m-high turbine is under construction in the Lusatia region of northeast Germany.  

Costing between €20m and €30m, it’s being financed by the Federal Agency for Disruptive Technologies (Sprind) and built in collaboration with Dresden-based engineer Gicon.

The turbine uses conventionally-produced 65m blades and can be extended like a telescope to its full height, which allows it to take advantage of the tendency for wind speed to increase with altitude. 

“At that height there are practically no areas any more with a lack of wind,” said Martin Chaumet, head of Sprind subsidiary Beventum.

The turbine is scheduled to begin generating electricity next summer. 

Gicon has been working on high-altitude wind turbines for 10 years, and earlier this month erected a 300m-tall wind measurement mast, the world’s tallest.

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