Voodin Blades is a German-based start-up company aiming at developing sustainable rotor blades for wind turbines. Stora Enso is a global supplier of mass timber products, including laminated veneer lumber, which is a construction material suitable for wind power construction. The aim is to offer of innovative solutions to replace less environmental-friendly materials with renewable ones made from wood.
Wind power blades are typically produced with fibreglass and carbon fibre, energy-intensive non-renewable plastics made from petrochemicals that cannot be easily recycled. Tens of thousands of ageing blades have ended up in landfills to date. Stora Enso and Voodin Blades say they can make the blades lighter and reduce the overall dependency on fossil fuel extraction.
Stora Enso is providing 100% sustainable wood for the new blades. The first 20 m blade will be developed using Stora Enso’s LVL, a mass timber product that has a high load-bearing capacity that easily supports large scale rotary blades. LVL is relatively lightweight for transport on-site and is a renewable material with a minimal carbon footprint. The 20 m blade will be installed on a 0.5 MW turbine near Warburg, Germany by the end of 2022.
In addition to its collaboration with Voodin Blades, Stora Enso recently announced a partnership with wood technology company Modvion to establish wood as the material of choice for wind turbine towers.
