Rescue at Lofty Heights – Research Test Site as Training Platform

Occupational safety is a fundamental component of the research test site’s operations. For this reason, in addition to the annual “Refresher training on PPE for fall protection and rescue,” annual inspections are also carried out with safety experts. Furthermore, there is close cooperation with the experts from the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Electrical, Textile, Energy, and Media Industries (BG ETEM).

During the creation and review of the rescue concept, the idea arose to make the test field available for rescue training, which would benefit both the emergency services involved in rescue operations and the ZSW as the operator. At an initial meeting in mid-2025, representatives of the Integrated Control Center (ILS) Göppingen, the volunteer fire departments of Donzdorf and Geislingen, the Geislingen-Wiesensteig mountain rescue service, the high-altitude rescue groups of the Stuttgart and Ulm fire departments, and the Stuttgart police helicopter squadron discussed various training options and scenarios at an on-site meeting at the test site in the presence of BG ETEM and the ZSW.

In mid-October, two rescue training sessions were held by the Stuttgart Fire Department at the WINSENT research test field. The first session focused on rescuing people from the hub, which proved to be a very difficult undertaking given the relatively small space available in the hub and hub cover. The aim was to transport the injured person either over the hub or sideways along the cast-iron hub body into the machine room and past the gearbox and control cabinet to the point from which the next rescue step could be carried out via a hatch into the depths. Various rescue options were tested, and transport half-shells and even a “cable car” were used.

On October 22, 2025, the Stuttgart Fire Department’s high-altitude rescue team, together with the Stuttgart Police Helicopter Squadron, conducted the first-ever training exercise in Baden-Württemberg involving approaches and rescues from the nacelle roofs of the two wind turbines at the WINSENT research test site. In the presence of representatives from BG ETEM, approaches and departures were practiced with the rotor in the Y position and in the position with a horizontal rotor blade – in each case with the lowering and lifting of persons using the winch installed on the helicopter. With hub heights and rotor diameters becoming ever greater, the approach of medically trained high-altitude rescuers to a wind turbine using a helicopter and the associated rapid first aid or initial care is an option for future rescue operations. Transport from the roof of the nacelle could also be incorporated into future rescue concepts and chains.