On Ross Island in Antarctica, New Zealand’s Scott Base has been operating with renewable energy for many years. Three Enercon E‑33 wind turbines have been running for several seasons in the harsh Antarctic environment. As part of the Scott Base redevelopment, these 300 kW turbines will be replaced with three new EWT DW54X Extreme Cold Climate 1MW wind turbines.

Last week, a team from Business in Wind travelled to Antarctica to prepare the project for both the decommissioning of the existing turbines and the installation of the new ones. This preparation is essential to ensure smooth operations in such a remote and difficult‑to‑access location. You can’t simply go to a hardware store to buy missing tools down there! Thorough planning is crucial.

At the end of 2026, the next phase of the project will begin: Decommissioning the three existing turbines and installing and commissioning the first of the three new turbines. As you can see on the pictures; the foundation for the first new turbine is already installed on the right place. Because no concrete can be poored at this location, prefabricated blocks are shipped and put into the ground and with a rock anchor fixed to the soil. On top of this a steel construction is made as the foundation for the wind turbine.

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Antarctica is larger than Europe and approximately 1.5 times the size of Australia. It is the fifth largest continent, located around the South Pole. It is the coldest, driest, and windiest place on Earth, with 99% of its surface covered by a thick layer of ice. It is an internationally protected nature reserve (14 million km²) where no military exercises take place and which is mainly visited by scientists and tourists. A total of about 2,000 people live there. Less than 0.002% of the world’s population has ever been to Antarctica.