World's Tallest Wind Turbine Goes Up in Former Coal Country

In a small German town that once relied on coal, the world's tallest wind turbine is rising into the sky, and it could change how we think about clean energy.

The massive structure in Schipkau, Brandenburg will stand 360 meters high when complete later this year. That's just 8 meters shorter than Berlin's iconic television tower, making it Germany's second tallest structure.

The real innovation isn't just the height. Above 300 meters, winds blow stronger and more steadily than near the ground, allowing this single turbine to generate 220 percent more electricity than conventional turbines in the area.

Getting a turbine this tall required solving a major engineering challenge. Conventional cranes can't reach these heights, so engineers developed a patented telescopic device that will lift the turbine from its initial 150-meter height all the way to 300 meters.

The project hit a snag late last year when steel parts needed replacing, but construction is back on track. "Safety and quality have absolute priority in this globally unique project," says Jochen Großmann, CEO of GICON, the construction company leading the effort.

Once connected to the grid, the turbine will power approximately 7,500 four-person households annually. It will produce electricity for less than five cents per kilowatt hour, making clean energy more affordable at a time when the Iran war is driving up energy costs across Europe.

The Ripple Effect

This breakthrough could unlock wind power across Europe. Large swaths of the continent from Poland to Spain struggle with weak ground-level winds that make conventional turbines impractical.

High-altitude wind towers could change that equation entirely. By tapping into the steady winds that blow hundreds of meters up, regions that once seemed unsuitable for wind energy could join the clean energy revolution.

The timing matters for another reason. Germany's outdated electrical grid can't handle the renewable energy boom, forcing operators to shut down turbines in windy regions while firing up fossil fuel plants elsewhere. In 2023 alone, Germany wasted 9.3 terawatt hours of wind power, costing consumers nearly €3 billion in grid fees.

More decentralized high-altitude turbines could ease this problem by generating power where it's needed, rather than only where ground winds are strongest.

The symbolic power of the project runs deep. Schipkau sits in Lusatia, a region defined by coal mining for generations. Local authorities are now actively supporting clean energy projects with space, infrastructure and political backing.

The site will eventually become a hybrid power plant combining two levels of wind power with solar panels on the ground, quintupling the energy output compared to solar alone.

A coal region is becoming a clean energy pioneer, proving that even the most fossil-fuel-dependent communities can lead the transition to a sustainable future.