Sweden's Skara region has launched the world's first commercial wind turbine, with a tower made of laminated veneer (LVL), i.e. processed wood rather than metal.
The height of the Modvion tower reaches 105 meters, and the turbine's capacity is 2 MW, Dezeen reports.
It is noted that laminated veneer is used for beams and supporting building structures. Usually, strips of wood several millimeters thick are glued together in one direction. However, for wind farms, the fibers are laid in different directions, which improves the material's characteristics.
The rotor blades and generator hub of the wind turbine are made of traditional materials.
Modvion claims that LVL is strong enough to withstand the load of a rotating turbine. In addition, this material is more environmentally friendly for sustainable construction. After all, steel wind turbine towers generate significant emissions during metal production.
"Our towers, just during their production, create 90% less emissions than steel towers doing the same job," said Modvion CFO Maria-Lina Hedlund. "And then if you add carbon absorption [fixed in wood carbon – ed.] then you actually get a negative -- that is carbon sequestration. That's great if we want to get to net zero energy production."
She explained that thanks to LVL, the weight of the tower is reduced, and thus the structural load it has to carry.
Hedlund added that the tower has a modular design, which facilitates logistics. However, large metal towers cannot be transported along some routes because the metal cylinders are too large for a number of bridges, tunnels and roads.
According to her, metal towers can also be made modular, but their joints need to be systematically maintained, especially under conditions of high dynamic load.
It is noted that another company, Voodin Blades, is working on the development of wooden blades for wind turbines.
As GMK Center reported earlier, the Danish wind turbine giant Vestas has announced a new chemical solution that will allow breaking and recycling wind turbine blades made of durable epoxy resin.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Spain, the energy company Soleolico has created the world's first wind turbine with solar panels, the performance of which is 25% higher than that of other wind turbines. The solar wind power plant has a special Pure.Tech coating that can absorb greenhouse gases from the air.
