Siemens Gamesa has launched a recyclable blade for onshore wind power projects, increasing the circularity of the sector.
The Siemens Gamesa RecyclableBlade for offshore was brought to market in only 10 months, launched in September 2021 and installed at RWE’s Kaskasi project in Germany in July 2022.
The corresponding onshore solution is now ready for customers to employ at their onshore wind sites. Further development by Siemens Gamesa and partners ensure full compatibility with the product and process requirements for onshore blades.
The RecyclableBlade recovery process uses a mild acidic solution to separate the materials at the end of the wind turbine’s lifetime. Those materials can then be recycled for use in other industrial applications like construction, consumer goods, or the automotive industry.
Prior to the launch of the RecyclableBlade, blade recyclability was a tricky issue for the wind industry. The complex production process for blades, involving composite materials including resin, glass and carbon fibres, made disposal at the end of the wind turbine’s lifecycle challenging.
While around 85% of a wind turbine can be fully recycled, regretfully many blades were sent to landfill upon decommissioning.
In addition to developing the world’s first fully recyclable blade, Siemens Gamesa is working with industry body WindEurope and other major industry players in calling for a Europe-wide ban on landfill for blades.
Both onshore and offshore markets around the world continue to set ambitious targets for installed wind power capacity, with the demands for ensuring recyclable solutions gaining more importance.
Turbine sizes, and in turn their blades are growing rapidly, making it even more imperative to find solutions to ensuring their circularity.
“Launching our RecyclableBlade for onshore sites is another outstanding achievement from our dedicated professionals. The concept was always foreseen to encompass solutions for offshore and onshore, and we’re pleased to now provide them commercially to our customers in both market segments,” said CEO of Siemens Gamesa Jochen Eickholt.
Siemens Gamesa COO and Chief Sustainability Officer Tim Dawidowsky added: “We are driving the wind industry towards full circularity with our commitment to make wind power as sustainable as it can be at every stage of its lifetime.
“Together with our customers and our suppliers, we want wind power solutions from Siemens Gamesa to continue to help countries around the world meet their net zero carbon emission goals.”