Windpower Monthly’s Shaun Campbell and David Weston discussed their decision to name Nordex’s N149 turbine as the winner in the Best Onshore Turbine 3MW+ category in the 2018 awards.

In August, less than a year after announcing its Delta4000 platform, the Nordex Group installed an N149/4.0-4.5MW prototype, with a second following in November.

This is a major achievement, which spearheads the competition in the race for new onshore turbines with supersize rotors.

"The key thing about the turbine was that it was the first to market of this new wave of 4-5MW turbines with rotar diameters of up to 150m. Nordex has simply got there before everybody else" said Campbell. 

The varied locations of orders was also noted.

"It’s received orders everywhere from Finland to Turkey which have very different environments and wind regimes. That proves the flexibility [it has] within the market" said Weston. 

"Another key thing is that there’s plenty of development potential with this turbine.

"We know that Nordex is working on a 4.8MW version with a shorter roar diameter for high wind speeds which does suggest that there’s going to be plenty to they do with it over the next few years," concluded Campbell. 

Read more about Nordex's award here 

Look at the other winners in more detail here