Tuesday 22 September 2020

Vattenfall to trial wooden towers to cut emissions from wind turbine construction

Energy company Vattenfall has entered into an agreement with Swedish engineering and industrial design company Modvion to use wooden towers for onshore wind turbines.

The innovative venture is forecast to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing by at least 25%, as around a quarter of the climate impact of building wind turbines comes from the tower, which is generally constructed of steel or concrete.

In April, Modvion erected the first wooden tower in Björkö outside Gothenburg, Sweden, which is 30 metres tall - the company plans to build its 'first' commercial tower in 2022.

For the manufacturing of these wooden towers, certified sustainable wood is used and new trees are planted to replace those used for the towers.

Daniel Gustafsson, Vattenfall's Head of land-based Wind Power Development in Sweden, said: "We see that wooden towers can be part of our solution for decreasing our carbon dioxide footprint, which can complement the work we are already doing with fossil-free steel as an example."

Otto Lundman, CEO of Modvion AB, commented: "With towers made of wood, wind power can potentially become fully climate neutral."