First full-height timber wind turbine opens in Sweden
CategoriesArchitecture

First full-height timber wind turbine opens in Sweden

The world’s first full-scale timber wind turbine has started turning in Sweden, with a tower built by wood technology company Modvion.

The 105-metre-tall tower, located in the region of Skara, is Modvion‘s first commercial wind turbine tower, and follows on from a smaller 30-metre-high demonstration project the company completed in 2020.

While its rotor blades and generator hub are made of conventional materials, the tower is made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL), a type of engineered wood made of thin veneer strips glued together and often used for beams and load-bearing building structures.

Portrait photograph of a tall wind turbine against a bright blue skyPortrait photograph of a tall wind turbine against a bright blue sky
The tower of a wind turbine in Skara is made of engineered wood

The company says that this type of wood is not only strong enough to withstand the forces of a turning turbine, it is much more environmentally sustainable to build with than the currently used steel.

While wind power plays an important role in providing the world with green renewable energy, there are still ample carbon emissions created during their construction — in part because of the steel towers.

Modvion describes its wood towers as reducing the carbon emissions from wind turbine construction by over 100 per cent, due to the combination of a less emissions-heavy production process and the carbon storage provided by trees.

“Our towers, just in the production of them, they emit 90 per cent less than a steel tower that will do carry the same work,” Modvion chief financial officer Maria-Lina Hedlund told Dezeen. “And then if you add the carbon sequestration, then you actually end up with a minus — so a carbon sink. This is great if we want to reach net zero energy production, and we need to.”

Photo of the inside of a large timber cylinder, with a ladder going up the middlePhoto of the inside of a large timber cylinder, with a ladder going up the middle
The type of wood used is laminated veneer lumber

Hedlund, who is also an engineer, describes LVL as having a construction “similar to carbon fibre”, with strips of veneer just three millimetres thick sandwiched and glued together, giving it a high strength-to-weight ratio.

This lightness is a benefit, reducing the amount of material needed overall. With a heavy material, there is a “bad design spiral”, says Hedlund, as the weight of the tower itself adds to the load that it needs to carry.

And while some LVL has all their veneer strips facing in the same direction, Modvion uses its “own recipe” specifying the directions of the fibres, improving the material’s performance even more.

Photo of three people in work gear on top of an incomplete wooden towerPhoto of three people in work gear on top of an incomplete wooden tower
The turbine tower is the tallest so far built by Swedish company Modvion. Photo by Paul Wennerholm

The production process involves timber boards being made to order in a standard LVL plant and then delivered to Modvion’s factory. There, they are glued together into larger modules and bent into a rounded form in a step called lamination, and then very precisely machined to fine-tune the shape.

“In the wood industry, you usually see centimetre tolerances, while we are in the sub-millimetre scale,” said Hedlund.

The modular nature of LVL construction addresses another problem Modvion has observed with steel: that with turbines getting ever bigger to give more power, it’s becoming impossible to transport steel towers to site.

They are built as essentially large cylinders and transported by truck, but the base diameter desired for the tallest towers is getting to be taller than some bridges and roads can allow.

Photo of a giant module of curved laminated veneer lumber being engineered in a factoryPhoto of a giant module of curved laminated veneer lumber being engineered in a factory
The timber is laminated into modules at Modvion’s factory

“We’re now reaching a point where they will not get through anymore,” said Hedlund. “So we will see a transition in the wind power industry to modular construction, because this is the way to get them there. And one of the big advantages of building in the material we do is that it’s naturally built modular.”

While steel could also be built modular, it would require bolts rather than glue to join it together on site, which Hedlund says is a disadvantage.

“Bolts are not very nice when you have so much dynamic loading, because it will loosen over time,” she said. “So first of all, you have to have to put them in place which is a lot of work, and then you have to also service them over the lifetime.”

Photo of a worksite with a man in hi-vis operating machinery in the foreground and a large curved module being lowered into place in front of himPhoto of a worksite with a man in hi-vis operating machinery in the foreground and a large curved module being lowered into place in front of him
The modules were assembled and glued together on site

The Skara turbine has a capacity of two megawatts, which represents the maximum power output the turbine can achieve under ideal conditions. This is a bit lower than the average capacity for new turbines built in Europe.

On the outside, the tower has a thick white coating that makes it look similar to steel, and it’s rotor blades and generator hub, which are not supplied by Modvion, are made of conventional materials like fibreglass. This may change in the future, however, with another company, Voodin Blades, working on the technology for wooden blades.

Modvion was founded in 2016 by university peers David Olivegren and Otto Lundman. While its current focus is wind turbines, it is dedicated to wooden technology more broadly, and Hedlund told Dezeen that the team believes it has “the world’s strongest joint for timber construction”, which could also be put to other uses.

Another recent milestone for wind power came in the form of a wind-powered cargo ship, which had been retrofitted with two 37.5-metre-tall sails.

Reference

Wind turbine bioplastic can be recycled into gummy bears
CategoriesSustainable News

Wind turbine bioplastic can be recycled into gummy bears

Spotted:  While wind power currently represents 6 per cent of global electricity production, one major obstacle to overcome is the disposal of decommissioned turbines. Most turbine blades are made of fiberglass, which is difficult to recycle. As a result, tens of thousands of discarded blades find their way into landfills every year. Now, Michigan State University may have found a solution to this problem. Researchers there have developed a new turbine blade material that can be easily recycled at the end of its life span. 

By combining glass fibres with a plant-derived polymer and a synthetic one, Dr. John Dorgan, Ph.D., and colleagues have developed a thermoplastic resin that can be recast into new products.

To recycle panels made from the new resin, the team dissolved the used composite in fresh monomer, physically removing the glass fibres. They were then able to recast the material into new composite sheets, making new blades with the same physical properties as their predecessors.

In addition, the team’s work suggests that other applications for recycled carbon fibre composites may be possible. For example, the researchers found that digesting the resin in an alkaline solution produced potassium lactate, which is commonly used in sweets and sports drinks. The potassium lactate could even be used to make the gummy bears beloved by children around the world.

“The beauty of our resin system is that at the end of its use cycle, we can dissolve it, and that releases it from whatever matrix it’s in so that it can be used over and over again in an infinite loop,” explains Dorgan, representing the team at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The next step is for the researchers to build test turbine blades using the material. As for potential food-grade uses, the question is whether the public will be willing to eat something that was once used for such a clearly non-edible application. Dorgan’s response is that a carbon atom is a carbon atom regardless of where it comes from.

As wind turbines become more prevalent and the problem of their disposal becomes more apparent, Springwise has covered other methods for recycling wind turbine blades. These include a recyclable composite innovation turning turbine blades into snowsports equipment, and the UK’s first turbine blade recycling project.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Email: jd@egr.msu.edu

Website: msu.edu

Reference

A new onshore turbine for quieter wind power
CategoriesSustainable News

A new onshore turbine for quieter wind power

Spotted: Wind manufacturing world leader Nordex Group has installed its first turbine in the 6-megawatt class at an onshore wind project in the Netherlands. Among other benefits, the new model is much quieter than its predecessors – reducing the impact on the local area.

The turbine—known as the N163/6.X—was launched in September 2021 as the latest upgrade from Nordex‘s Delta4000 series. Compared to its sister model in the 5-megawatt class, it is able to produce an up to 7 per cent higher annual energy yield thanks to its much higher rated output. Thanks to its flexible configuration, it can be adapted to the specific conditions at each project site, resulting in a tailor-made solution for each client. The design’s lifetime is 25 years, with an extended 35-year lifetime available for specific sites.

Nordex has installed a total wind power capacity of more than 32 gigwatts in over 40 worldwide markets since it was founded in 1985. Among its hosts are Germany, Spain, Brazil, India, Mexico, and the United States.

José Luis Blanco, CEO Nordex Group explains that, “Our turbines in the Delta4000 series are based on a standard technical platform. Consistent modularisation means that type-specific components, such as rotor blades or gearboxes, can be adapted for different variants. The N163/6.X is yet another example of how highly efficient solutions that have proved successful in practice can be specifically implemented for special geographic regions.”

Nordex installed its first N163/6.X in May 2022, and it’s expected that the model will be one of the most popular turbines on the market due to its low noise pollution levels.

The amount of wind energy generated worldwide grew by 17 per cent between 2020 and 2021. Recent wind power innovations spotted by Springwise include a wooden wind turbine that stores carbon, a sensor that monitors the strength and efficiency of wind turbine blades, and a two-bladed floating turbine that can handle almost any weather condition.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Website: nordex-online.com

Contact: nordex-online.com/en/contact-form

Reference

A sensor monitors the strength and efficiency of wind turbine blades
CategoriesSustainable News

A sensor monitors the strength and efficiency of wind turbine blades

Spotted: Considered a cost-efficient source of renewable energy, wind farms are under near-constant pressure to produce more power as quickly as possible. To help meet the demand, designers and manufacturers are working to create ever longer blades. While the longer blades produce more power, they also require additional maintenance. Current monitoring systems are not built to track the full length of the world’s largest blades, and updated materials technologies are also adding complexity to such oversight, with designs that bend more and in multiple directions.

One company seeking to provide a smart solution to the growth of the industry is Porto and Rotterdam-based Fibersail. Fibersail is piloting its shape-sensing wind turbine blade monitoring system in five European locations. The shape sensor tracks the full shape and curvature of each blade, identifying the most efficient positions for each turbine.

The continuous monitoring also provides owners and maintenance managers with the means to detect when a part is working below capacity – much earlier than is currently possible. Rotor and blade loads are adjustable—depending on weather conditions and local needs—and the system helps calculate the volume of production that maximises the lifetime capacity of each turbine.

A recent funding round is helping the startup to expand its team, and the company is seeking industry partners for further pilot sites.

Other recent wind power innovations that Springwise has spotted include home turbine systems and a forecasting system for renewable energy that helps producers match supply and demand. 

Written by: Keely Khoury

Email: info@fibersail.com

Website: fibersail.com

Reference