Thor’s Mighty GreenerTowers: Hammering Down CO2 Emissions
02/17/2025 - Ilsenburger Grobblech, a Salzgitter AG subsidiary, and Siemens Gamesa, a wind turbine manufacturer, have signed a contract to deliver 25,000 tons of heavy plates for the construction of 36 wind towers for the Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea off the coast of Jutland, the companies announced.
Siemens Gamesa estimates the towers, featuring their GreenerTower design, will have emissions of less than 700 kg of CO2 per ton of steel. Thor will be Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm with 72 towers total and a capacity of more than 1,000 MW.
According to the press release, the heavy plates for the 36 GreenerTowers will be provided by Ilsenburger Grobblech and Mannesmann Grobblech.
“We have invested in new equipment to be able to supply such wind projects with 18–24-meter-long plates. This includes, for example, the investment in the transport line for finishing with an overhead crane and a mobile roller table extension,” said Oliver Laubner, sales manager at Ilsenburger Grobblech.
The companies said some of the slabs are produced with low CO2 emissions using scrap-based electrical steel and renewable energy at Peiner Träger. Salzgitter Mannesman International will provide the remaining slabs from European sources with low CO2 emissions.
“If all towers installed by the company in one year were replaced with GreenerTowers, it would be equivalent to removing over 466,000 cars from European roads for a year. Innovations like this are crucial to achieving our sustainability goals,” said Maximilian Schnippering, head of sustainability at Siemens Gamesa.
The heavy plates for the GreenerTowers will be delivered to the wind tower manufacturers Windar in Spain and Welcon in Denmark between March and October 2025, according to the companies.
Thor is estimated for completion at the end of 2027.
According to the press release, the heavy plates for the 36 GreenerTowers will be provided by Ilsenburger Grobblech and Mannesmann Grobblech.
“We have invested in new equipment to be able to supply such wind projects with 18–24-meter-long plates. This includes, for example, the investment in the transport line for finishing with an overhead crane and a mobile roller table extension,” said Oliver Laubner, sales manager at Ilsenburger Grobblech.
The companies said some of the slabs are produced with low CO2 emissions using scrap-based electrical steel and renewable energy at Peiner Träger. Salzgitter Mannesman International will provide the remaining slabs from European sources with low CO2 emissions.
“If all towers installed by the company in one year were replaced with GreenerTowers, it would be equivalent to removing over 466,000 cars from European roads for a year. Innovations like this are crucial to achieving our sustainability goals,” said Maximilian Schnippering, head of sustainability at Siemens Gamesa.
The heavy plates for the GreenerTowers will be delivered to the wind tower manufacturers Windar in Spain and Welcon in Denmark between March and October 2025, according to the companies.
Thor is estimated for completion at the end of 2027.