German wooden wind turbine blade manufacturer Voodin Blade Technology has announced the world’s first prototype installation of its 19.3m wooden wind turbine blades.
The blades have been installed on an existing wind turbine in Breuna, Germany. Using laminated veneer lumber (LVL) as a material is more sustainable than current materials and enables noticeably better recycling of decommissioned blades, a high level of automation, and more flexibility.
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Standard wind turbine blades are made of fiberglass and carbon fibre bound together with epoxy resin—a material that is difficult and expensive to break down. While up to 90% of wind turbines are recyclable, the blades are currently not.
“At the end of their lifecycle, most blades are buried in the ground or incinerated. This means that—at this pace—we will end up with 50 million tonnes of blade material waste by 2050. With our solution, we want to help green energy truly become as green as possible,” Voodin Blade Technology CEO Tom Siekmann explains.
Voodin Blade Technology’s wooden wind turbine blades are made of LVL. Wood is a much more sustainable raw material than the currently used composite materials.
The company uses CNC milling machines that are particularly effective in creating complex 3D shapes. This allows for a high level of automation, as no mold is needed in the manufacturing plants.
By increasing the level of automation, the need for labor decreases. As a result, manufacturing does not need to be done in countries with lower labor costs, where it is currently often done. This then means that production is also possible closer to the wind farms, allowing transportation costs and emissions caused by transportation to be reduced.
Furthermore, wood, and especially LVL, are highly durable materials; even more durable than the currently used composite materials. Voodin Blade Technology has conducted laboratory testing to ensure the material will thrive in even the toughest conditions of onshore wind energy production, which takes up approximately 85% of the current wind energy sector.
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“We have conducted hundreds of laboratory tests during the past two years to perfect the blade material. According to all our tests, our blades are even more durable than the existing fiberglass blades, as they show fewer fatigue characteristics and are proven to endure all kinds of onshore weather conditions extremely well,” Voodin Blade Technology co-founder Jorge Castillo says.
The company is building new prototypes, including bigger 60m and 80m blades, as a next step.
