German wooden wind turbine blade manufacturer Voodin Blade Technology has announced the world’s first prototype installation of its 19.3-meter wooden wind turbine blades. The blades are installed on an existing wind turbine in Breuna, Germany.
The turbine is made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) a material that is more sustainable than current materials and enables noticeably better recycling of decommissioned blades, a high level of automation – which is not possible with current materials – and more flexibility.
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 fiberglass and epoxy resin cannot be reused, meaning the material will go to waste after the blade is decommissioned.
“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,” says Tom Siekmann, CEO at Voodin Blade Technology.
The first prototype blades have been installed on an existing wind turbine in Breuna, Germany, near the city of Kassel. The company is building new prototypes, including bigger 60-meter and 80-meter blades, as a next step.
Voodin Blade Technology 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. The CNC milling also enables more flexibility because the technology can be used for manufacturing any type of blade.
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.
“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,” said Jorge Castillo, Co-Founder at Voodin Blade Technology.
Furthermore, wood, and especially LVL, are highly durable materials, even more durable than the currently used composite materials. Through intricate laboratory testing, Voodin Blade Technology has ensured that 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.
