The world’s first commercial factory to manufacture wooden wind turbine blades has taken an important step forward this week, after German pioneer Voodin Blade Technology confirmed it had been awarded €48 million from the European Union.
Founded in 2021, Voodin Blade Technology makes fully recyclable wind turbine blades from Nordic spruce, layered and bonded into laminated veneer lumber – a mostly natural and renewable resource, rather than the traditional mix of fibreglass, plastics and carbon fibre.
According to Voodin, their laminated veneer lumber blades are significantly cleaner than traditional blades, producing 78 per cent less CO2 emissions compared to fibreglass blades during construction. They are also cheaper and easier to build, costing 20 per cent less.
The biggest selling point, however, is the fact that these wooden turbine blades are fully recyclable at the end of their life, as compared to fibreglass blades which – despite a growing number of methods to recycle or reuse the materials embedded within the blade – are often found filling up landfills.
This week Voodin announced on LinkedIn that is had been awarded a €48.18 million grant from the European Innovation Fund towards building a “first-of-a-kind” factory, dubbed VB1F, which will be capable of producing up to 160 turbine blade sets each year.
VB1F, which is expected to begin operations in 2031, will use precision-machining guided by a digital model, rather than a the traditional fixed mould production process.
Voodin says this will allow the factory to make blades of different lengths and design without the need to retool. It also means replacement blades for old designs can be readily made when needed – an impossibility with mould-based designs, which throw away the mould when the design is retired.
Over the first decade of the facility’s operation, it is expected to avoid more than 2.4 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent and create approximately 450 local jobs with an all-European supply chain.
Voodin’s VBIF is also fully replicable through licensing for deployment near wind farms around the globe.
The funding comes over two years after Voodin installed the world’s first wooden turbine blades at an existing wind turbine in Breuna, Germany.
To join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
