First turbine erected at Vaðölduver wind farm Iceland as 120MW build progresses

Enercon has completed the first turbine erection at the Vaðölduver wind farm Iceland project on schedule, as the 120MW development in southern Iceland moves through what is shaping up to be the country’s most logistically complex onshore wind build to date.

The German turbine manufacturer said the project comprises 28 E-138 EP3 turbines with a hub height of 81m, delivering a total installed capacity of 120MW. One turbine is now standing. Twenty-seven more need to follow before the claims on the nameplate become operational reality.

Heavy haulage across five municipalities

The supply chain picture here is worth examining, because it illustrates exactly why Iceland’s wind resource has remained largely untapped at scale. Enercon described the transport campaign as the largest heavy haulage operation in Iceland to date. Components travel roughly 120km from port to site, passing through five municipalities, with operations running six evenings a week to minimise disruption. That is not a logistics footnote; it is a material project risk that the team has, so far, managed to hold to schedule.

‘It was a tremendous achievement by our team to keep to the schedule under these conditions, many thanks to everyone involved,’ said project manager Katarzyna Ralowiec.

The scale of the haulage effort is a direct consequence of Iceland’s infrastructure: a sparse road network not built with 80-metre turbine blades in mind, and a coastline that concentrates import capacity at a handful of ports far from the highland interior where the wind resource sits.

Vaðölduver wind farm Iceland: location, ownership and timeline

The project is led by Landsvirkjun, Iceland’s national power company, according to MarineLink. The site sits near the Sultartangi Hydropower Station in south Iceland, a pairing that is more than geographical coincidence. Co-locating wind generation with an existing hydro facility creates a natural storage and balancing relationship: hydro reservoirs can absorb surplus wind output and release it when wind drops, a combination that could make the project’s output profile considerably cleaner on a Scope 2 basis than standalone wind in a grid with less flexibility.

On commissioning, Landsvirkjun has set out a phased target: half the turbines commissioned by autumn 2026, with the full 120MW in operation by the end of 2027. That gives roughly eighteen months from first erection to full commercial operation, which is credible for a 28-turbine site given the logistical constraints already documented.

Enercon described the Vaðölduver development as Iceland’s first large-scale wind farm built exclusively with its technology. That framing deserves a mild asterisk: “large-scale” is doing some work here, and the claim is specifically about Enercon’s own equipment footprint rather than a broader industry first. Iceland has had smaller wind installations. What Vaðölduver does represent, more precisely, is the first time the country has attempted wind at a scale where the output materially contributes to the national grid rather than serving a local or industrial load.

What the schedule milestone actually tells us

Hitting the first turbine erection on time is a genuine operational marker, not a trivial one given the conditions. The 120km haulage corridor, the six-evenings-a-week operating pattern and the five-municipality coordination all create schedule exposure that simpler projects do not face. The fact that the team has maintained the programme to this point is worth acknowledging without overstating: one turbine erected is one turbine. The autumn 2026 partial-commissioning target is the next meaningful checkpoint.

For the broader question of whether Iceland can become a serious wind market, Vaðölduver is a proof-of-concept build as much as a commercial project. MarineLink has reported the project’s location near Sultartangi and the Landsvirkjun-led ownership structure, details that matter for understanding how the output will be integrated and balanced. If the phased commissioning timeline holds and the hydro-wind pairing performs as the site geography suggests it could, it will be a reference case worth watching for other markets where constrained grid infrastructure has kept wind ambitions on paper.

The next test is autumn 2026, when Landsvirkjun aims to bring the first batch of turbines online.