Areva Wind

Areva Wind is a subsidiary of Areva, a French nuclear company. The company designs, assembles, installs and commissions 5-Megawatt wind turbines for offshore wind farms, a growing international industry. Each turbine can produce enough electricity to power 4,000 to 5,000 homes. Areva also designs and manufactures rotor blades through its subsidiary Areva Blades. Areva Wind is headquartered in Bremerhaven, Germany and Areva Blades is located in Stade, Germany.

Areva Wind produced 6 of 12 turbines for the first German offshore test field alpha ventus and is producing turbines for commercial wind farms in the North Sea. Areva says it is Europe’s second largest offshore wind industry player, and it will have installed more than 120 turbines in the waters around Europe by 2013. The company is active in the UK and France and has stated that it plans to develop offshore wind in North America.

Areva Wind began as Multibrid GmbH which, along with Areva Blades, was owned by the energy company Prokon Nord Energiesysteme. The Areva Group first invested in Multibrid in 2007, buying 51% of the company’s shares from Prokon Nord Energiesysteme for €150 million. It bought the remaining 49% of shares in 2010. In 2009, Areva acquired Areva Blades, formerly PN Rotor, and added the subsidiary to its Renewables business group.

Areva Wind is one of four units in Areva’s Renewable Energies business group (AREVA Renewables). Jean Huby is Areva Wind’s Executive Vice President. Areva Wind is headquartered in the North of Germany. All of its M5000 wind turbines are developed and manufactured at Bremerhaven. The blades for the M5000 are manufactured in Stade (Areva Blades). Both plants are located near the port of Bremerhaven or Hamburg.

Areva operates a 50/50-joint venture for offshore turbines with Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica called Adwen. For the year of 2015, Adwen had a market share of 18%.

The Areva M5000 (the M stands for “Multibrid”, which means multi-megawatts and a hybrid design) is designed for harsh offshore conditions. The design has been made by aerodyn Energiesysteme. The turbine design has got the iF Design Award 1999 [Bartsch / aerodyn]. It can power up to 5,000 households. Its hybrid drive system and lightweight blades were designed for compactness and reliability. Weighing 815 metric tons (including the 500-metric ton tower), the wind turbine operates at wind speeds of 3.5–25 m/s. The hub height is 90 m (LAT), and the diameter of the rotor is 116 m. The turbine includes a unique anti corrosion system. This innovation has got the European Inventor AWARD 2008 by European Patent Office.