prokon | Expertise to the power of 19

19 times the expertise

Securely fastened to a safety rope, the service team fights its way upwards to its workplace at a height of 69 meters. Truly not a job for people with a fear of heights. It takes the technicians ten to fifteen minutes to climb the around 250 ladder steps up to the tower of the Nordex N-60/1300 type facility. A total of 19 identical wind turbines with a combined capacity of 24.7 MW are located in the wind farm in Ihlewitz, a sparsely populated community on the edge of the Eastern Harz Mountains.

Since 2022, it has been technically maintained by Prokon's service subsidiary Pros. With so many locations to work on, there is always something to do: "Whether it's maintenance, repairs, or immediate fault finding - our employees are in the tower almost daily," says Pros sales manager Oliver Hansen.

A look inside the nacelle: Ihlewitz Wind Farm

Three teams ensure that the facilities built in 1998 continue to "run smoothly" and generate reliable returns after more than 25 years. After all, their operator, Windpark Ihlewitz GmbH & Co. KG, intends to continue operating the park until 2025.

Pros has essentially "inherited" this task. "Our technology and maintenance contract partner was the company StiegeWind for many years," says Wilfried Schäfer, Managing Director of Windpark Ihlewitz Verwaltungs GmbH. However, after the acquisition of StiegeWind by the Prokon subsidiary, he saw no reason to question the cooperation. After all, they already knew - and appreciated - each other from another project. "We successfully operate the Citizen Energy Park in Gagel together with Prokon. Therefore, we were aware of the excellent technical expertise of the Itzehoer wind park specialists," says Schäfer.

View of the Ihlewitz Wind Farm with Rainbow

Remote monitoring with on-site support

The data remote monitoring centre is also located at the company's headquarters in Itzehoe. A team here oversees all the facilities managed by Prokon and Pros, coordinating the necessary service activities. Monitoring is carried out 24/7, 365 days a year through real-time data transmission. The 19 facilities in Ihlewitz, Saxony-Anhalt, also regularly transmit operational data such as power production, generator speed, wind speed, vibrations, temperatures, and electrical currents.

In case of disruptions, the employees decide based on the error log whether they can resolve the issue remotely via the reset function. If that's not possible, the operator or the dispatch informs. They then plan an intervention at the WEA.

Ihlewitz fits perfectly into the service portfolio of Pros, which specializes in existing systems that have been running for a long time and for which the manufacturer has released the control technology. "Only then can external service providers come into play," says Pros expert Hansen. Whether Nordex, Enercon, General Electric, or Vestas - Pros has the necessary expertise for all common systems.

"From our many years of experience, we also know the typical weak points of the systems."

Oliver Hansen, Pros Sales Manager

Better service, higher performance

With the wind farm operator in Ihlewitz, a so-called basic maintenance contract was agreed. It includes the semi-annual, regular maintenance and inspections of the plant as well as minor maintenance measures and fault clearance. If necessary, Pros technicians also take on more complex repairs. As they live in the region, they can quickly be on the spot in case of emergency. A service point with a tool store and spare parts depot supports the technicians.

If that is not enough, the service teams in the two Prokon spare parts warehouses can draw on a plentiful supply - one of them containing major components such as gearboxes, generators, and transformers. The high availability of components in Itzehoe also benefits the wind farm operator in Ihlewitz. "We only bought a generator from Prokon in January," Schäfer said. "Especially with older systems, such spare parts are sometimes hard to come by. This delays procurement, and the system is out of operation for weeks. Of course, we want to avoid such cost risks."

Service technician on a nacelle in Ihlewitz Wind Farm

19 times the expertise

Remote monitoring with on-site support

Better service, higher performance

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