Major wind turbine company Siemens Gamesa aims to launch 100% recyclable wind turbine blades by 2030, and has now made new progress, with the first batch of recyclable wind turbine blades already operating at the Kaskasi offshore wind farm of RWE in Germany.
Siemens Gamesa’s RecyclableBlade technology hopes to resolve the global replacement issue of offshore wind turbine blades by recycling composite materials of the blades through simple degradation procedures, before once again going through a new manufacturing process of wind turbine blades. Siemens Gamesa pointed out that the technology primarily utilizes weak acid solutions to separate materials such as resin, glass fiber, and wood, allowing these materials to transform into suitcases or outer shells of tablets without additional raw materials, thus achieving a circular economy.
The Kaskai offshore wind farm is located 35km north to Helgoland, and has a capacity of 342MW, where 9 of the 38 wind turbines are installed with handmade B81 RecyclableBlade wind turbines, with each blade measuring at 81m in length. The RecyclableBlade technology can also be applied on the 108m long blades of SG 14-222 DD offshore wind turbines, as well as the 115m long blades of SG 14-222 DD wind turbines.
Siemens Gamesa develops recyclable blade technology in Aalborg, Denmark, and produces blades in Hull, England, while the cockpits of wind turbines are produced and installed at Cuxhaven, Germany. The company aims to achieve 100% recyclable wind turbine blades by 2030, before developing recyclable wind turbines in 2040.
Marc Becker, CEO Offshore Business Unit of Siemens Gamesa, commented, “It merely took us 10 months to push the RecyclableBlade technology to the market, and we had installed the recyclable wind turbines at RWE’s Kaskasi in July 2022 after the initial launch in September 2021, which is quite impressive as it highlights how necessary it is to accelerate in providing enough power to respond to climate change.
(Cover photo source: Siemens Gamesa)