Germany's wind power sector is booming: it employs well over 60,000 people and generated a turnover in 2004 of around 7.1 billion euro – more than half of it in exports. The country's largest manufacturer of wind turbines is Enercon GmbH, which was founded in Aurich by Aloys Wobben in 1984. Their turbines have an innovative drive concept: the absence of a gear between the rotor and generator increases e ciency and reduces wear and maintenance. Enercon relies on a high level of vertical integration in its production systems, and one of the components it manufactures in Aurich is the rotor blade, using glass bre-reinforced plastic (GRP). The individual blades are up to 50 metres long and are very light in weight despite being extremely strong. They are rst laminated and then cured before

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