Voodin blade technology revolutionizes wind energy with wooden blades
Wind energy opponents often raise the difficulty of recycling wind turbine blades. The German company Voodin Blade Technology has decided to tackle this problem by introducing wooden blades to the market. The first ones have already been installed on a turbine.
18 May 2024 14:38
Although wind power plants produce cheap and clean electricity, they have a significant drawback: the recycling of turbine blades. Standard blades are very difficult to recycle, so they are either buried or stored in hopes that scientists will develop a method for their reuse. There is also the idea of using parts of the blades as architectural and construction elements. Scientists from Gdańsk University of Technology are among those working on reusing blades.
Voodin blade technology introduces wooden turbine blades to the market
The German company Voodin Blade Technology is taking a different approach to solving the problem of recycling turbine blades. It plans to introduce fully recycled wood wind turbine blades.
According to interestingengineering.com, the first blades from Voodin Blade Technology were installed in May. The 19-meter-long (62 feet) blades were installed on a wind turbine at a wind farm in Breuna, central Germany.
Wooden blades may be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than their plastic counterparts. They are made from laminated veneer lumber, machined by CNC routers, without special molds. The company claims this is an efficient and inexpensive production method and allows for the creation of blades in any shape.
There may be more benefits associated with wooden wind turbine blades. First and foremost, there is a good chance that they can be produced closer to the farms, reducing the transportation costs associated with building these farms.
Will wooden blades turn out to be better than those made of fiberglass?
Jorge Castillo, co-founder of Voodin Blade Technology, reported that the company conducted numerous laboratory tests over two years, aimed at demonstrating that wooden blades could be competitive with traditional fiberglass blades.
According to Castillo, the tests showed that wooden blades are more durable than those made of fiberglass, as they have fewer fatigue properties and withstand all weather conditions on land very well.
Voodin now plans to build larger blades, with the goal of reaching lengths of 60 and 80 meters (197 and 262 feet), which could be used in larger power plants.
