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German company Voodin Blades has a first by attaching its first large wind turbine blades to a wind turbine. The nearly 20-meter-long turbine blades are made of wood and can be recycled at the end of their useful life.
After this pilot, Voodin Blades plans to develop even larger wooden blades. | Credit: Vooding Blades
When we interviewed Siekmann in
Inverted 3D printer
Exactly how Voodin Blades makes the blades Siekmann did not want to reveal at the time. "Basically, we have developed a machine with software that can cut a blade out of LVL (laminated veneer lumber, a highly processed type of wood, ed.). It's basically a kind of reverse 3D printer that removes material instead of adding it.
Biomass or roofs
By using wood, Voodin Blades can produce blades with 78 percent less CO2 emissions than conventional blades made of plastic, fiberglass and resin. But the most imaginative advantage of wooden blades is that they are recyclable at the end of their useful life, for example as biomass or as components for roof structures. Standard composite blades are still very limitedly recyclable. Most of the discarded blades end up in giant holes in the ground.
Onshore wind turbines
But according to Siekmann, it is not enough to count on success just because the blades are made of biological material. "We have to be at least as good at energy production and strength as conventional turbine blades," he said. Operationally, Siekmann sees no limitations of Voodin's blades compared to traditional blades. They should be able to handle the same wind speeds and grow large enough to work for megawatt-scale turbines. For now, however, Voodin is focusing only on onshore turbines.
The coming period with the turbine in Breuna should prove to what extent Siekmann is right. In any case, his company has big plans. In the next phase, it wants to build a 60-meter blade and later even an 80-meter blade.
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