Renewable energy is the future. RES technologies make it possible to obtain clean, and therefore environmentally friendly, energy. Its traditional sources, based on fossil fuels, cause far-reaching environmental degradation. Therefore, for the good of them all, it is simply necessary to move away from them. This is causing intensive work on the development of RES technologies. Not every upgrade is a breakthrough, but actually each one is worth noting. Sometimes a return to the past turns out to be an interesting idea. An example in this regard comes from Sweden, where the question was asked: can a modern wind turbine be placed on a tower of wood? The answer turned out to be positive.
A wind turbine can be installed on wood
We are talking about the solution used by the Swedish company Modvion, which decided to bet on wind turbine towers made of wood, instead of steel, as is commonly accepted. Installing a turbine on a wooden tower turned out to be a complicated undertaking, requiring a lot of conceptual work. In the end, however, it was successful. According to the manufacturer, the tower itself is 105 meters long. Counting together with the rotor blades, it is 150 meters.
Admittedly, it is difficult to talk about a breakthrough, but certainly the successful commercialization of this kind of project gives hope for its development, which certainly requires time and correspondingly large expenditures. The use of wood for wind energy production seems to be a more environmentally friendly solution, but it should not be forgotten that the steel components of a wind turbine structure can be recycled. The problem in this area, on the other hand, is the turbines.
Recycling wind turbines
Wind turbine blades are the most difficult to recycle. All due to the fact that they are made of fiber-reinforced polymers, which are extremely expensive to recycle and therefore uneconomical. Therefore, the current focus is on extending the life of the turbines, which in turn will allow the time necessary to develop techniques for recycling them effectively. Still, technologies of this kind are at an early stage of development, not promising rapid implementation. Without a doubt, therefore, this is currently one of the main challenges for the renewable energy industry.