The Nordex Group has started production at its new rotor blade factory in Menemen, Izmir, in Türkiye, the German wind turbine maker said on May 22, 2026. The plant sits in the Izmir Free Trade Zone, covers about 130,000 square metres of land with a 90,000 square metre production building, and is designed to make up to 1,200 rotor blades a year at full capacity, employing around 1,200 people.
What the factory will make
The Menemen plant will produce rotor blades for Nordex's latest Delta4000 turbines, including the N163 and N175 platforms aimed at medium to strong wind sites. Those turbines anchor Nordex's onshore portfolio in the 4 to 7 MW+ class, where blade length and weight directly determine site economics. Running four shifts at full capacity, the factory is sized to feed a multi-gigawatt pipeline of new wind projects.
Why Türkiye, and why now
Nordex has been active in Türkiye since 2009 and says it has been market leader there since 2017 with about a 34% share. The Menemen plant is meant to keep the company aligned with Türkiye's YEKA tender rules, which include local content requirements. It will initially supply blades for projects awarded under the YEKA-4 and YEKA-5 programmes, the latest two rounds of the country's renewable energy resource area framework.
"The start of production at our new blade factory in Menemen marks an important milestone in strengthening Nordex's manufacturing footprint in Türkiye and supporting our long-term growth strategy in the country," CEO José Luis Blanco said in the company's announcement.
A second hub for European wind exports
The Izmir site is strategically positioned to do more than serve the domestic market. Nordex plans to use the facility to export blades to European wind projects, joining a manufacturing network that already includes factories in Germany, Spain, Brazil, India and the US. A blade plant inside a free trade zone, close to deep-water ports on Türkiye's Aegean coast, fits a wider European pattern of moving renewable supply chains closer to demand centres while keeping local content compliance manageable.
How it fits into 2026 renewables data
Production starts as wind and solar generation continue to scale globally. We recently covered an 11% jump in US renewable generation in Q1 2026, China's commissioning of the world's first undersea wind-powered AI data centre and Adani Green's record 3.37 GWh battery installation at Khavda, all of which underline how blade and storage manufacturing capacity has become a bottleneck for the next phase of buildout.
The economics behind a new blade plant
A modern blade factory at this scale is a long-cycle, capital-intensive bet. Nordex generated about EUR 7.6 billion in consolidated sales in 2025 and has commissioned more than 64 GW of wind power capacity since 1985. Spinning up a dedicated Türkiye blade line lets the company shorten logistics chains for one of its highest-share markets, while creating optionality to redirect capacity to other regions as European tender pipelines firm up.
What to watch
Three near-term signals worth tracking: (1) how quickly Menemen ramps from initial production to its 1,200-blades-per-year design capacity; (2) the share of output that goes to YEKA-4 and YEKA-5 versus exports to other European projects; and (3) whether Nordex follows up with additional nacelle or tower investment in Türkiye, which would deepen the local supply chain beyond blades and lock in its lead position in the market.
Reporting based on coverage from Nordex SE, Energy Global, reNews and Renewables Now.