With more than 200 GW of new offshore capacity projected by the Global Wind Energy Council to be installed by 2030, it is critical to quickly introduce recyclable solutions.
Siemens Gamesa is leading the way for a sustainable future with the RecyclableBlade, the world’s first recyclable wind turbine blades ready for commercial use offshore.
These wind turbine blades are made from a combination of materials cast together with resin to form a strong and flexible lightweight structure. The chemical structure of this new resin type makes it possible to efficiently separate the resin from the other components at end of the blade’s working life.
This mild process protects the properties of the materials in the blade, in contrast to other existing ways of recycling conventional wind turbine blades. The materials can then be reused in new applications after separation.
The first six 81-meter long RecyclableBlades have been produced at the Siemens Gamesa blade factory in Aalborg, Denmark.
Many components of a wind turbine, such as the tower and nacelle components have established recycling practices. Until now, the composite materials used in wind turbine blades have been more challenging to recycle.
Built on proven, reliable processes, the Siemens Gamesa RecyclableBlade breaks this mold and is the first of its kind, enabling recycling at the end of its lifecycle, and sets the path to a future where the full recyclability of projects will be a market requirement.
Siemens Gamesa is committed with RWE to install and monitor the world’s first wind turbines with recyclable blades in Germany at the Kaskasi offshore wind power plant. Current plans are for the project to be producing energy from 2022 onwards.
Reference- Siemens Gamesa Newsroom, Wind Insider, Forbes, Mercom india