According to Modvion, using wood for wind power is the future. The Swedish start-up has just built the tallest wooden turbine tower on the planet. It’s 150 m to the tip of the highest blade, and the 2 megawatt generator has just started supplying electricity for about 400 homes.
On the horizon near the Modvion project, a short drive outside Gothenburg, several similar-looking turbines are turning. But steel is the key material for them. Strong and durable, steel has enabled huge turbines and wind farms to be constructed on land and at sea across the globe.
Steel limiting how tall new turbines can be
But the prominent material is not without its limitations. As demand for taller turbines that harvest stronger winds has grown, the diameter of the steel towers to support them has had to grow too. But getting those huge pieces of metal to sites has become a headache.
The difficulty has subsequently limited how tall new steel turbines can be. Modvion believes its turbine’s biggest selling point is towers can be built in smaller, more easily transported modules. That will make it easier to build really tall towers and to take the pieces to challenging locations.
Trees used in Modvion tower farmed sustainability
Though wind power is cheaper and cleaner than almost all other forms of electricity generation, making steel involves extremely hot furnaces and almost always the burning of fossil fuels. The start-up says using word eliminates the turbines’ carbon footprint entirely.
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Modvion had to use roughly 200 trees for the turbine tower. They were the same species – Spruce – that is used for Christmas trees. The company says the trees are farmed sustainably, implying when they are harvested more are planted.
